Apparently, there isn’t “an app for that” when it comes to making it easy for charities to collect donations on Apple’s iPhone.
Beth Kanter this weekend pointed to a blistering blog post by Jake Shapiro, the chief executive of Public Radio Exchange, who criticizes Apple for putting too many hurdles in front of charities that want to raise money through its products.
Mr. Shapiro said the technology company prohibits developers of nonprofit-themed iPhone and iPad applications from including links and language about donations.
For Mr. Shapiro, who develops applications for public radio and for the popular show “This American Life,” says Apple’s stance allows the company to benefit from hosting public-radio products without giving public-radio outlets such as NPR the ability to collect donations.
“Apple is effectively blocking a major revenue stream to public media while enthusiastically featuring public-media content and apps that enhance value for its devices,” Mr. Shapiro writes.
In fact, he accuses the company of cannibalizing nonprofit groups in pursuit of its own bottom line.
“I suspect the deeper reasons for Apple’s uncharitable stance is that the nonprofit and education markets are just that — “markets” that represent hundreds of millions of dollars of annual revenue to Apple in the form of computer, software, iPod, and now iPhone and iPad sales,” he writes.
“There is no financial upside for Apple to enable a direct path for nonprofit and charitable support. And note that there is no ‘Apple Foundation,’ no ‘Apple Grants.”
Do you agree with Mr. Shapiro? Does Apple have an obligation to provide nonprofit groups with easier ways to collect donations through its products?
Post a comment below to share your thoughts.
17 Responses to Is Apple Anti-Charity?
ew1000 - June 7, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Great article, great point. Apple, get it together!
rmorley - June 7, 2010 at 2:39 pm
Apple is very generous in support of education, its Number 1 market, with education, knowledge, “how to” partnerships, and on campus support. Apple has never had a corporate culture of giving (not money, not product) and that’s really unusual for a corpation the size and prestiege of Apple, especially when one condsiders Apple’s number one market: education. Let’s campaign to hear from Apple execs about their position on philanthropy! Join me?
mcapone - June 7, 2010 at 3:37 pm
We developed the iPhone Donation App (www.iphonedonationapp.com) and getting it approved has been a marathon of frustration. The iPhone is the perfect platform for mobile micro-donating because every iPhone user already has an iTunes account linked to a credit card so donors can donate in just one-click – without entering credit card or other personally identifiable information. Apple charges a 30% transaction fee on all in-app purchases including donations. Even though Apple agreed twice in writing to waive this 30% transaction fee for 501(c)3s, we could never get them to honor this promise and had to strip this feature out to get our app approved for review. We’re using PayPal to process donations instead. I love Apple products, but the Apple Company is not a model corporate citizen. By the way, the only thing Apple offers the academic sector is a 10% discount on hardware and the discount does not apply to the iPad.
americanforests - June 7, 2010 at 3:44 pm
I’ve had maybe 5 different companies approach me that have already developed and implemented a donoation app – maybe use one of them instead – it’s free.
fatfreddy - June 7, 2010 at 5:12 pm
The drumbeat for donation capabilities is certainly noble, but Apple is this century’s face of innovation, in my opinion, and it is Apple’s innovations that provide new and extraordinarily valuable learning and communication opportunities for nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations. Free podcasts that reach all corners of the globe are, by themselves, invaluable learning tools for nonprofit leaders and others. As I utilize my Apple iPad, iPod, iPhone, and iMac for all things nonprofit, I am an extremely grateful and forgiving Apple customer. There is a bigger picture.
nddicola - June 7, 2010 at 8:02 pm
I think Apple has definitely taken people for a ride with their anti-corporate mantra. It seems as if it is nothing but the bottom line for this company, and I own plenty of Apple products that now have me cringing knowing this is their practice. How difficult is it to allow nonprofits to ask for donations, give users a way to donate, when they already do this for many of their detailed games on the iPhone? Many gaming apps have you purchased more in game items. Apple is not worried about getting that money to the 3rd party is it?I completely feel for you mcapone. And with news that a school has recently traded in their books for iPads (elementary school in the midwest?), Apple purely sees the nonprofit sector as a market, and nothing more. I thought this was a great topic for my blog today, so thanks CoP for adding another resource to my mix – http://nickdicolandrea.wordpress.com/2010/06/07/is-apple-out-to-get-the-nonprofits/
chesterdavis - June 7, 2010 at 8:09 pm
Apple’s decision might seem to be highly unfortunate, but how much will the typical nonprofit suffer for lack of an iPhone/iPod/iPad app for donations? The actual impact seems trivial compared to other online fundraising issues that a nonprofit might need to address. No, I don’t think Apple has an obligation to support or enable online fundraising. They have the right to make marketing decisions that support their long-term strategy. Of course, if the heat gets too hot over this donation issue, a smart Apple will have to re-evaluate.
gerrod - June 7, 2010 at 8:42 pm
Apple in under no obligation to channel funds to charitable or nonprofit organizatiions. If management or the board of directors don’t see a need to do so then the point is moot. If on the other hand the company chooses to donate funds, for whatever reason, then it has a right to do so. Ain’t freedom grand?
hvarian - June 8, 2010 at 11:31 am
As someone who works in the non-profit field I have long been aware of Apple’s lack of corporate philanthropy, something that just doesn’t seem to gibe with their brand, marketing and clientele. And yes, no company *has* to give anything away, but I can tell you that its rare when one doesn’t. Blackwater and Halliburton both give funds away, which many would find unexpected. More than that, I personally think companies do have an underlying responsibility to give back in their communities where there operate. At the least.
ericpratum - June 9, 2010 at 9:42 am
I could be wrong, but I’m guessing that they bar iPhone app donations for purely legal and accounting reasons. I can imagine that it could become expensive for Apple to do the proper accounting to pass through those donations.
kcross4 - June 9, 2010 at 12:24 pm
I know it would be great to have an app for sending/receiving donations but websites work just as good, if not better. We recently went with this company, http://www.Events.org, who gives you a secure website you can customize for accepting online donations and registration for events and set up an online auction. We used them for our gala/auction and with the service we got the online reg/donation and also a way to upload all of our item information onto their software so at the end of the night we were printing receipts instead of writing them.Think you can do all of this with an app?
jrisner - June 9, 2010 at 1:33 pm
I would not write that Apple is anti-charity, but it is worth noting that unlike Microsoft and many other software companies, or Dell and HP in hardware, Apple offers only a 5% discount to non profits on computers, and they make it very difficult to get the sales tax exemption for qualified NFP’s.This is in contrast the other companies above who offer 20-50% off to qualified charities. I don’t think this is anti-charity, but rather reflects they don’t really care about nfp’s as a market sector.
ttnestel - June 11, 2010 at 4:33 pm
Apple is missing a huge opportunity to take a stand for what matters and what their customers care about. This is such an opportunity to connect with the generation most interested in their products allowing them to respond to the causes they care about. Instead Apple seems to be choosing to stand for corporate greed. How 80′s is that? Where is the innovation, Apple?
crichison - June 15, 2010 at 10:11 am
Anyone know information re: http://www.apple.com/au/contact/sponsor/? “Only Australian or New Zealand based opportunities are accepted through this form; for any other country, please visit your respective country website.”
11110n - December 16, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Rather than paint Apple as an anti-charity company, we can view it as a smart business decision in respect to the amount of employees they would have to then put towards making sure that the charities were legit, not to mention to confirm that the funds were going towards “just” causes. Apple makes products, and they spend most of their work on promoting these products and then people use this products to create the sort of videos, websites, and presentations that make many charities gain coverage. The use of Apple products begins early for many children as they tend to provide a lot of products to schools.
I understand the negative aspects that some feel about the loopholes to go through to make charities have options via iphone/ipad/etc. products to gain donations. However, based on the requirements to be a non-profit in the USA, I also think it is unfair how hard it is for non-US based organizations to be able to gain access to a lot of the fundraising abilities in our large market. The use of apple products is beneficial and also can lead to more corruption issues for people. Think about all the times you get a message asking you for money or help for a fraudulent organization via e-mail? Imagine if you had to face that same issue each time you were on an iphone or ipad? I think it is not anti-charity as much as it is anti-corruption issues. The company would rather spend more money to have employees working on other things that hiring people with law degrees to deal with iphone application corruption issues. There are many beneficial organizations, and they can all provide information on their iphone apps about how to go to their website. The donation options are still available via twitter and other things which your iphone can connect you to, so it is not as if you do not have a way to use your device towards donations, just not in an app format. ALthough I hear apps have been made that do work for donating.
rossor - January 14, 2011 at 12:49 pm
Apple cannot wave its magic wand and make all things happen for all people.
The company has many issues to address: What charities are legitimate? How do they protect customers against fraud? Note that Android’s marketplace is a “buyer beware” jungle. Apple does not operate that way. It wants to ensure its customers the best experience possible. I’m dismayed that some seem to be commenting without understanding the ramifications.
If you look at the history of Apple, it is rarely the first player to the market. However, it almost always arrives with the best solution.
lgirardin - February 7, 2011 at 6:28 pm
If Apple were interested in a donation program, TechSoup htpp://www.techsoup.org is a nonprofit that runs software and hardware donation programs for many companies, such as Microsoft and Symantec. They ensure that the organizations are qualified for the donation programs, and work with a global partner network to help run donation programs in other countries. Every nonprofit should know about TechSoup!