Apple Accepting Donations for Hurricane Harvey Relief Efforts

Apple has added banners to its United States website and iTunes Store in an effort to encourage its customers to donate to those affected by Hurricane Harvey.

hurricane harvey apple donations
Similar to past relief efforts, users can choose to donate $5, $10, $25, $50, $100, or $200, and Apple will transfer 100 percent of the proceeds to the American Red Cross, which is providing relief efforts for people in the path of Hurricane Harvey. All donations will be processed as normal iTunes purchases through a connected Apple ID.

Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted about the donations early this morning, as rescue workers in Houston and other parts of southeast Texas attempt to help residents trapped in their homes by "catastrophic flooding." Harvey made landfall late Friday night as a Category 4 hurricane and has since been downgraded to a tropical storm, which is expected to stay in the region over the next few days.

Apple is known to create donation pages across its various storefronts in the wake of natural disasters. In the past, Apple has collected Red Cross relief funds for the British Columbia Wildfire, Hurricane Matthew, the 2016 Louisiana floods, the 2015 Nepal earthquake, and many more.

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Top Rated Comments

dominiongamma Avatar
98 months ago
I don't trust the Red Cross no thanks. It will go into the pocketbook of the CEO probably.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Arran Avatar
98 months ago
At least Apple's doing something on the front page of its website.

I had a look at other companies websites to see what they're doing:

* Microsoft - nothing
* Google - nothing
* Amazon - nothing
* Visa - nothing
* MasterCard - nothing
* American Express - nothing
* Target - nothing
* Walmart - nothing


Wow.

Now, remember that Houston is the oil capital of the US, with no less than 25 Fortune 500 companies headquartered there. Surely they'd step up and offer web resources to help their local community organize and recover? Wouldn't you think? (Self interest, if nothing else.)

So I checked the websites for the ten largest Houston corporations (the number below in bold is their Fortune 500 ranking). These are big, multinational, oil-rich players who pump money out of the ground 24x7:

* 4 Phillips 66 ('https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillips_66')
* 45 ConocoPhillips ('https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConocoPhillips')
* 64 Enterprise Products Partners ('https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_Products')
* 65 Sysco ('https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sysco')
* 77 Plains All American Pipeline ('https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plains_All_American_Pipeline')
* 106 Halliburton ('https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halliburton')
* 135 Baker Hughes ('https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker_Hughes')
* 144 National Oilwell Varco ('https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Oilwell_Varco')
* 167 Apache ('https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_Corporation')
* 174 Marathon Oil ('https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon_Oil')

Nothing.

So well done Apple. Thinking different indeed.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
2010mini Avatar
98 months ago
Before I donate, anyone know ther percentage the Red Cross actually gives out of every dollar?
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sparkhill Avatar
98 months ago
Before I donate, anyone know ther percentage the Red Cross actually gives out of every dollar?
Red Cross is pretty good, not perfect at 90%: https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3277

That said, for a massive effort like this, the infrastructure of a huge charity like Red Cross is valuable.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pat500000 Avatar
98 months ago
Donated directly to non profit organization. No need to donate to rc.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
norbinhouston Avatar
98 months ago
Thanks for the help. I can’t describe how devastating the flooding is in Houston. Most went to bed last night thinking we survived Harvey just fine but then it started raining. So a lot of us were surprised to find water in our houses when we woke up! Some one posted we got a years worth in 24 hours!
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)