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Apple Accepting Donations for Hurricane Matthew Disaster Relief

Monday October 10, 2016 9:35 am PDT by Mitchel Broussard
Apple today added a banner to its United States website, iTunes Store, and App Store asking customers to provide donations to individuals affected by the recent devastation from Hurricane Matthew. Like its usual relief efforts, all donations collected will go to the American Red Cross.

Donation tiers available include $5, $10, $25, $50, $100 and $200, and will be processed as normal iTunes or App Store purchases through a user's connected Apple ID.

matthew-red-cross
Hurricane Matthew made landfall late last week, hitting the southeast coast of the United States and going on to ravage states like Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. As of yesterday, more than 2 million businesses and homes were without power, and over 3,000 people have been placed in safety shelters.


Following natural disasters, Apple normally puts out a call for disaster relief across its various storefronts. In the past, Apple collected Red Cross relief funds for the August floodings in Louisiana, the 2016 fires in Alberta, the 2015 Nepal earthquake, the refugee and migration crisis in the Mediterranean sea, the 2013 Philippines typhoon, and more.

Tags: App Store, iTunes, Red Cross
[ 52 comments ]


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stevet
28 months ago
Except, your donations will not go directly towards the disaster, they go into a fund. And not all the money that comes in goes the that relief effort.
Rating: 20 Votes
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Crash0veride
28 months ago
Please donate to one of these instead for more meaningful impact:


If you just want to feel good about yourself please donate to the American Red Cross
Rating: 16 Votes
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macjonny1
28 months ago

Please donate to one of these instead for more meaningful impact:


If you just want to feel good about yourself please donate to the American Red Cross



Exactly! The American Red Cross is a terrible place to give your money. Don't give your donation to a wasteful middle man.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/haitians-urging-people-not-give-money-american-red-cross-how-to-help-hurricane-matthew-aid-cholera-a7352681.html
Rating: 8 Votes
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macfacts
28 months ago

Except, your donations will not go directly towards the disaster, they go into a fund. And not all the money that comes in goes the that relief effort.


Plus you don't get a receipt, Apple gets that for tax purposes. Sneaky
Rating: 7 Votes
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Crash0veride
28 months ago

How about the American heart association, lustengarten foundation? I mean, why crap all over this. Charity begins at home after all.


My only real point is the American Red Cross association has a track record of failure with Haiti: the 2010 scandal can be found here http://www.npr.org/2015/06/03/411524156/in-search-of-the-red-cross-500-million-in-haiti-relief

Donate to whoever else, but the organizations in my list are the most direct way to help the Haitians. I'm sure the Haitian people have the best idea of how to help Haitian people though. It doesn't matter where charity begins.
Rating: 6 Votes
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Kaibelf
28 months ago

Apple could also help with their multi billion dollar fortune.


And you could sell your house and give the proceeds to Haiti. Or are you just one of those types who likes to tell everyone else what they should do with their money and wags their finger when you think they have too much of it?
Rating: 6 Votes
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smaffei
28 months ago

Except, your donations will not go directly towards the disaster, they go into a fund. And not all the money that comes in goes the that relief effort.


Unfortunately, you are correct. Many of the funds collected for Haiti in the past (Red Cross and "Hope for Haiti") never reached Haitians or built the houses they supposed to (I think maybe 4 houses were built).
Rating: 6 Votes
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Jeremy1026
28 months ago

So the small text on the donation page that says "This donation may not qualify for any tax deduction or tax benefit", no response to that? Do you know why it says that? Because Apple is already claiming it.


And the text you quoted from the IRS ...
For any contribution of $250 or more (including contributions of cash or property), you must obtain and keep in your records a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the qualified organization indicating the amount of the cash and a description of any property contributed.

That Qualified Organization means the red Cross, not Apple


There is a pretty big difference between "may not" and "does not."
Rating: 4 Votes
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Whimseh
28 months ago
Apple could also help with their multi billion dollar fortune.
Rating: 4 Votes
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Weaselboy
28 months ago

That is a receipt from Apple, not the Red Cross. What you did was called fraud. If the IRS checks, you are in trouble.


No what I did is not fraud at all. You really should research this a little before you say things like that.

Below is the relevant statute from this link.

https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc506.html

For any contribution of $250 or more (including contributions of cash or property), you must obtain and keep in your records a contemporaneous written acknowledgment from the qualified organization indicating the amount of the cash and a description of any property contributed.


The reason Apple put this text on their page is the Red Cross does not have your information, so they will not be able to send you an acknowledgement of the donation as required for donations over $250. For donations under $250, all that is required is some record of the transaction, like my iTunes receipt.
Rating: 4 Votes

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