Corporations Provide Tsunami Relief in Dollars and Products
Corporate America is contributing to relief and recovery efforts for victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami at a record pace, USA Today reports.
Last week alone, Save the Children received a record $5 million, $2 million of it from businesses, said Mike Kiernan, a spokesman for the organization, while U.S. companies gave nearly half the $12 million pledged to UNICEF. In fact, if the pace of corporate giving continues at its current rate, donations (cash and in-kind) for victims of the tsunami disaster could reach $750 million, surpassing the $450 million given by U.S. companies in the months after the 9/11 attacks, said Curt Weeden, president of Contributions Academy, a consulting firm.
In the week since earthquake-triggered tsunamis struck, dozens of U.S. companies have donated cash, services, medical supplies, food, clothing, and other products. They include Coca-Cola, which is donating $10 million to relief and recovery efforts; Microsoft, which has pledged $3.5 million ($2 million in direct contributions and a projected $1.5 million to match employee contributions); Citigroup and J.P. Morgan, which have pledged $3 million each; networking giant Cisco Systems, which is donating $2.5 million and has pledged an networking equipment and assistance for relief and humanitarian organizations; the Gap, which has announced a double matching gift program for its employees, contributing $2 for every $1 donation from an employee; Procter & Gamble, which is shipping 200,000 water-purifying kits to Sri Lanka; and FedEx, which is donating emergency shipping services to the affected countries.
According to the Associated Press, pharmaceutical and healthcare firms have been among the most generous. Last week, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced it would donate $10 million in cash for relief efforts and $25 million in medicine to relief organizations. Merck & Co. has announced a $3 million cash donation, while Johnson & Johnson and Abbott Laboratories are each donating $2 million and will also be sending drugs and other healthcare supplies to the region. In addition, gifts of $1 million have been announced by Bristol-Myers Squibb (along with $4 million in antibiotics and antifungal drugs), Nike, American Express, General Electric, the Walt Disney Co., and First Data Corp.
