Christmas is still a long ways off, but in Silicon Valley it already seems like tis the season to be charitable.
The cause of the moment is the dramatic refugee crisis threatening to spin out of control across the Middle East and much of Eastern Europe. Both Google and Apple have in recent days announced big plans to give big in an effort to help out.
The news had barely sunk in that Google had raised more than $11 million in donations to help those caught in the ongoing crisis than Apple announced it was joining the philanthropic fray.
CEO Tim Cook has sent employees a message on the company s intranet site that the iPhone maker would make a substantial donation to relief agencies supporting the migrants and would chip in two dollars for every dollar an employee donated to the cause.
Apple customers were also encouraged to join in by donating through the Red Cross iOS app, as well as through either the iTunes or Apps stores.
The Apple announcement was hardly a surprise to many in the nonprofit world. Cook has demonstrated a charitable side to his management style that contrasts sharply with that of his predecessor and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. As a recent post on Philanthropy.com pointed out, Apple has stepped up its giving game under Cook s leadership:
Jobs was known among nonprofit leaders as a, well, as a guy who felt he could help the world s poor and suffering masses by coming up with life-changing tech tools than by digging into his pocket for spare change:
While Silicon Valley rides to the rescue, so do other major corporate players around the country, including Goldman Sachs and Volkswagen s Audi subsidiary, both of which announced big donations recently, according to :
Credit: Apple
