Apple opens up iTunes donations for Hurricane Matthew relief
Apple on Monday began taking iTunes donations towards the relief of Hurricane Matthew, which recently tore through a number of Caribbean countries, as well as several U.S. states including Florida and the Carolinas -- killing hundreds, and leaving many more homeless or otherwise in need of aid.
The company is accepting donations in $5, $10, $25, $50, $100, and $200 increments, giving the whole of the money to its usual charity partner for disasters, the American Red Cross. Apple warns that people can't use existing iTunes credit to make a donation, and that people looking to write the money off on taxes are responsible for documentation.
Links to the donation page are currently visible from Apple.com, the iTunes Store, and the App Store.
Apple regularly sets up iTunes donations for well-publicized disasters. Some other recent examples include flooding in Louisiana, and the Fort McMurray forest fires in Alberta, Canada. In the latter case, Apple partnered with the Canadian Red Cross.
The company is accepting donations in $5, $10, $25, $50, $100, and $200 increments, giving the whole of the money to its usual charity partner for disasters, the American Red Cross. Apple warns that people can't use existing iTunes credit to make a donation, and that people looking to write the money off on taxes are responsible for documentation.
Links to the donation page are currently visible from Apple.com, the iTunes Store, and the App Store.
Apple regularly sets up iTunes donations for well-publicized disasters. Some other recent examples include flooding in Louisiana, and the Fort McMurray forest fires in Alberta, Canada. In the latter case, Apple partnered with the Canadian Red Cross.
Comments
I wish Apple would not go through the Red Cross. Why can't it just build up its own funds from these donations and then donate on behalf of Apple users, maybe even kick on some itself?
think about what that would entail. the overhead of having to manage a fund, then find ways to administer the funds, figure out who you're going to give the funds to, vet the recipients of the funds, deal with fraudulent recipients, etc etc...it'd become a job. meanwhile, there's already a well known organization that performs this same job. seems like a no brainer to allow that org to solicit donations at no charge and let your users decide whether the org is worthy of their donations.
i realize red cross has its criticisms. but what other org can a person on the other half of the country or globe donate to instead? they have to have a good reputation and it has to be easy.
I just checked out the Samscum website. They don't have anything at all set up for the victims of our latest national tragedy. How they get any red-blooded American's devotion is beyond me.
Maybe Apple should set up a donation page for the victims Samscum's exploding phones.