Here’s a letter that Steve Clifford and I despatched to the CEO Tim Prepare dinner of Apple company, whose share of charitable giving relative to its taxable revenue is astoundingly low as in comparison with different companies famous beneath. Apple ought to enhance its charitable giving.

April 24, 2023

Tim Prepare dinner, CEO
Apple, Inc.
One Apple Park Approach
Cupertino, CA 95014

Expensive Tim Prepare dinner,

We’re writing you relating to Apple’s charitable giving.

Your predecessor reportedly believed that he may do extra for the world by making nice merchandise than by donating to charitable causes. Apple’s charitable giving has elevated considerably because you turned CEO, indicating that you just don’t share this opinion.

Apple doesn’t report back to shareholders (or anybody else) whole charitable giving. Nonetheless, from varied press releases, we perceive that beneath your management, Apple has:

• Initiated an Worker Matching Giving program that has raised over $880 million since 2011 for nearly 44,000 organizations. As this can be a 50/50 matching program, we assume Apple contributed $440 million.
• Supported (RED) in its combat in opposition to AIDS. We learn that in 2010 Apple donated $50 million to (RED) and $50 million to Stanford College Hospitals for a similar trigger.
• Launched, in January 2021, a Racial Fairness and Justice Initiative in the USA with the aim of “constructing a extra simply, extra equitable world.” Apple made an preliminary dedication of $100 million, and 7 months later, added an extra $30 million.
• Pledged, in November 2019, $2.5 billion to confront California’s housing disaster. By July 2021, $1 billion of this pledge had been deployed. Whereas these funds appear to have been invested in housing funds, they may not correctly depend as charity. Nonetheless, they’re an essential and wanted motion.

Given the philanthropic path you have got chosen, we share two observations:

First, it’s unattainable to precisely calculate how a lot Apple has donated to charity. One among us is a shareholder, and we each wish to see Apple report its charitable giving in its annual report. Because you presumably are happy with what Apple has achieved on this endeavor, try to be proud to reveal it.

Second, we urge Apple to develop into a frontrunner in charitable giving. Apple is seen by many as the iconic American firm with its merchandise, innovation, and model loyalty. As well as, its monetary efficiency is unequalled. Nonetheless, regardless of its progress since 2011, Apple could be very removed from being a frontrunner in company giving, as measured by the ratios of giving to pre-tax earnings and inventory buybacks.

The ten most charitable corporations among the many largest 75 U.S. public corporations ranked by market worth, donated a mean of 1.3% of pre-tax revenue to charity. * We estimate that Apple’s charitable giving lately was lower than 0.1% of pre-tax earnings. For each $100 in pre-tax earnings, Apple donated 10 cents.

We estimate additionally that Apple donated 10 cents for each $100 spent on inventory buybacks. Between 2017 and 2022 Apple spent $427 billion on inventory buybacks, once more roughly 1,000 occasions what’s donated to charity. (To emphasise the enormity of this quantity, an individual dwelling 427 billion seconds would have been born in 11.417 B.C.E, centuries earlier than the invention of agriculture.)

As you recognize, the tax legal guidelines permit an organization to deduct as much as 10% of its taxable revenue for charitable contributions. We request a dialogue of those strategies with you or with any high-level Apple consultant.

Sincerely yours,
Ralph Nader
Steve Clifford
Former CEO and Creator of The CEO Pay Machine
P.O. Field 19312
Washington, DC 20036
CC: Apple’s Board of Administrators
Events

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