The controversy stems from Apple’s employee donation-matching programme, which allows workers to make contributions to various non-profit organisations and receive matching funds from the company through a platform called Benevity. Among the charities Apple’s controversial platform allows funds to be sent to are Friends of the IDF
This doesn’t say Apple is donating to the IDF, just that it allows its employees to, and will match that donation. That’s an employee benefit. It doesn’t say how many employees are taking advantage of this, if any.
It doesn’t say if Apple has simply allowed every Benevity cause or some subset of them that happens to include Friends of the IDF.
I get that this was organized by Apple employees, but Benevity is the one facilitating this - and not just for Apple. They should be the ones getting pressured to stop enabling it.
if Apple has that group on their “approved” list and they match donations, they are effectively donating to that group.
Not really.
First, like I said in my previous comment, the article doesn’t say if there’s an “Approved” list or if they just approved everything the donation platform supports (all 2.1 million nonprofits). I’ve never used Benevity and so have no way of knowing how corporations select which nonprofits they’ll match donations to. I looked at the Benevity site and they didn’t make it clear, either.
Secondly, like I said in my previous comment, it doesn’t state whether anyone has actually donated (particularly over the last 9 months or so). Benevity has 2.1 million nonprofits in their database but has only supported less than a quarter of them - 470 thousand.
If nobody has actually donated, Apple hasn’t, either. Heck, suppose a hundred people have donated an average of $100 each. That’d be $10,000 that Apple has donated and $20,000 more than should have been donated, but that’s still ultimately not a remotely relevant amount. The IDF gets $3.8 BILLION every year from US taxpayers. And unlike with donation matching, those taxpayers don’t get a choice in where their money goes. In this case, the employees are in control.
It’s completely feasible that Benevity doesn’t provide an easy way for corporations like Apple to prevent donations to particular “charities” like this one without impacting other donation options. I.e., they might have an all or nothing approach, where the company selects groups of charities, and in order to prevent donations to the Friends of IDF, Apple would need to also prevent donations to every other actual charity in the same group.
It’s also completely feasible that it does provide this option. But the article doesn’t say.
The article also doesn’t explain why the signatories aren’t also making a big deal about the donation platform facilitating donations to Friends of the IDF in the first place. Heck, it doesn’t even mention how many of the “900+ leading brands who use Benevity” have donations to Friends of the IDF enabled.
OP is basically saying “Grab your pitchforks! It’s Apple harvesting time!” and using an article written by someone too lazy to even email Benevity and ask for the basic missing info I’ve outlined above.
Additionally, Benevity could also have an option for donations to pro-Palestinian groups too since the only requirement for registration is that the org be a 501c3 which can be obtained by any non-profit. It’s not like Apple is choosing sides by allowing employees to donate to whichever causes they support as individuals.
Here is the link:
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240612-apple-under-fire-for-matching-employee-donations-to-idf-and-illegal-settlements/
From the article (emphasis mine):
This doesn’t say Apple is donating to the IDF, just that it allows its employees to, and will match that donation. That’s an employee benefit. It doesn’t say how many employees are taking advantage of this, if any.
It doesn’t say if Apple has simply allowed every Benevity cause or some subset of them that happens to include Friends of the IDF.
I get that this was organized by Apple employees, but Benevity is the one facilitating this - and not just for Apple. They should be the ones getting pressured to stop enabling it.
I mean, if Apple has that group on their “approved” list and they match donations, they are effectively donating to that group.
Not really.
First, like I said in my previous comment, the article doesn’t say if there’s an “Approved” list or if they just approved everything the donation platform supports (all 2.1 million nonprofits). I’ve never used Benevity and so have no way of knowing how corporations select which nonprofits they’ll match donations to. I looked at the Benevity site and they didn’t make it clear, either.
Secondly, like I said in my previous comment, it doesn’t state whether anyone has actually donated (particularly over the last 9 months or so). Benevity has 2.1 million nonprofits in their database but has only supported less than a quarter of them - 470 thousand.
If nobody has actually donated, Apple hasn’t, either. Heck, suppose a hundred people have donated an average of $100 each. That’d be $10,000 that Apple has donated and $20,000 more than should have been donated, but that’s still ultimately not a remotely relevant amount. The IDF gets $3.8 BILLION every year from US taxpayers. And unlike with donation matching, those taxpayers don’t get a choice in where their money goes. In this case, the employees are in control.
It’s completely feasible that Benevity doesn’t provide an easy way for corporations like Apple to prevent donations to particular “charities” like this one without impacting other donation options. I.e., they might have an all or nothing approach, where the company selects groups of charities, and in order to prevent donations to the Friends of IDF, Apple would need to also prevent donations to every other actual charity in the same group.
It’s also completely feasible that it does provide this option. But the article doesn’t say.
The article also doesn’t explain why the signatories aren’t also making a big deal about the donation platform facilitating donations to Friends of the IDF in the first place. Heck, it doesn’t even mention how many of the “900+ leading brands who use Benevity” have donations to Friends of the IDF enabled.
OP is basically saying “Grab your pitchforks! It’s Apple harvesting time!” and using an article written by someone too lazy to even email Benevity and ask for the basic missing info I’ve outlined above.
Additionally, Benevity could also have an option for donations to pro-Palestinian groups too since the only requirement for registration is that the org be a 501c3 which can be obtained by any non-profit. It’s not like Apple is choosing sides by allowing employees to donate to whichever causes they support as individuals.