Bug in the System: A Look at Giving by Top Tech Companies to Fight COVID-19
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With a big presence in both Seattle and China, microsoft was hit hard by Covid-19 early on. VDB Photos/shutterstock
Most U.S. corporations aren’t known for their bold or creative philanthropy. But when major disasters happen, a who’s who of Fortune 100 companies are often quick to step forward with major pledges of relief. That’s certainly been the case in the past week, as a stream of top firms have announced donations of cash and in-kind efforts in response to the coronavirus. Many of these companies operate in the U.S. and internationally, and so were tuned into the growing pandemic well before it metastasized into a full-fledged public health crisis across the United States.
This is especially true of the tech sector, which was hard hit from the beginning, with its close linkages to China and a big presence in Seattle—the first American city hit hard by the COVID-19 outbreak. The majority of top tech companies have now announced philanthropic pledges to combat the virus. While these same firms are also making other moves against the pandemic—aimed, for example, at easing America’s shift to virtual work productivity and promoting the flow of trusted information—here, we take a look mainly at gifts of cash and in-kind support.
The response by Big Tech to the pandemic is being watched closely. Before the first case of COVID-19 appeared in Seattle, leading U.S. technology companies faced a rising tide of criticism and were fighting calls for greater regulation. None of these underlying issues have gone away. Now, though, with deep pockets and a vast array of other resources, Big Tech is well-positioned to regain some lost public trust by helping to deal with a growing national emergency. But it could also further alienate the public with commitments that are seen as woefully insufficient.
What does Silicon Valley’s COVID-19 philanthropy look like so far? The list of commitments below is based on public announcements as of March 25. We will update it as some of America’s biggest and richest companies make additional donations. Here’s a quick rundown:
Amazon
Staying close to home, Amazon created a $5 million Neighborhood Small Business Relief Fund that will provide cash grants to struggling small businesses in the Seattle region, and committed $1 million to a new COVID-19 fund established by the Seattle Foundation. In the D.C. area, it donated $1 million toward emergency relief funds at the four largest local community foundations, and provided both cash and in-kind support to five foodservice providers.
It’s also stepping up for the independent delivery services partners and drivers, part-time and seasonal workers that keep its supply chain going by establishing a $25 million Amazon Relief Fund that will dole out personal grants approximating two weeks pay. Moving forward, the fund will also support global employees and contractors facing financial hardships. And on an in-kind basis, Amazon Web Services (AWS) Diagnostic Development Initiative is investing $20 million in credits and technical support to help research teams advance COVID-19 detection and understanding, and develop outbreak mitigation.
Apple
Apple is responding to the virus with a combination of cash and in-kind support. It committed $15 million in mid-March “to help treat those who are sick and to help lessen the economic and community impacts of the pandemic,” and will be matching employee contributions at a two-to-one ratio. On March 19, Cook announced that initiatives will include support for both local Silicon Valley efforts like Silicon Valley Strong and international organizations like Protezione Civile, to help the Italian government support first responders. It’s also donating supplies for healthcare workers, most notably 10 million face masks to health professionals in the U.S. and Europe—protective gear that Apple had stockpiled to prepare for wildfires or other disasters, and is sourcing though its considerable supply chain.
Cisco Systems
Cisco’s response to the pandemic includes cash and product donations, globally and locally. Of the global response, $8 million is a cash contribution to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. It’s also funding rapid deployment of its Country Digital Acceleration Program (DCA) for businesses and governments, and providing access to technologies like Webex. Cisco also launched a global employee matching gift campaign of $5 million, and allocated up to an additional $4 million more for a 72-hour campaign to support dedicated funds, plus $1 million for “additional grants.” On March 23, it made a $2 million contribution to an initiative launched by Santa Clara and San Jose officials to help struggling residents pay bills and rent. As of March 25, this new fund had commitments totaling $7.2 million from local tech companies, including Destination: Home, Adobe, Zoom, Facebook and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Dell
Texas-based Dell Technologies committed $3 million in cash and technology to support front-line efforts to combat the pandemic. It’s matching employee donations to the CDC Foundation’s Emergency Response Fund up to $10,000 per employee, and in China, it made in-kind donations of roughly $284,000 to fund protective gear for front line healthcare workers, and $850,000 to upgrade IT infrastructure at the Hubei Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg committed to matching a total of $20 million in user donations to two efforts supporting global relief efforts: $10 million to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, and $10 million to the CDC Foundation, the nonprofit organ of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As of March 25, more than 180,000 members of Facebook’s community had raised over $5 million. Fundraising for the CDC will launch in the next few weeks. Recognizing the business disruptions its advertisers are facing, Facebook is also offering $100 million in cash grants and ad credits for up to 30,000 eligible small businesses in 30 countries. And it’s promoting the free flow of trusted information through the Facebook Journalism Project, which has partnered with the Lenfest Institute for Journalism and the Local Media Association to offer $1 million in grants to U.S. and Canadian local news organizations covering the coronavirus. The networking site is also donating the stash of 720,000 face masks it amassed in response to the California wildfires to frontline healthcare workers.
Google’s initial response to the pandemic included launching a campaign to raise up to $5 million for the United Nations Foundation and World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, and establishing a 2 to 1 dollar match through Google.org. It also mounted a number of public services centered upon helping people find useful information, like an SOS alert to connect people with WHO and CDC announcements, and a “Do the Five” campaign to raise awareness of five simple measures to slow the spread. Google also underwrote $25 million in ads for the WHO and government agencies, and supported productivity for students and remote workers by providing free access to products like Hangout videoconferencing and G Suite for Education. (See more details here.)
On March 27, it rocketed its response, announcing donations of more than $800 million in cash and advertising to help stem the virus’s spread and mitigate the impact on small businesses. Google increased its ad grants to help WHO and government agencies from $25 million to $250 million – a 900% increase – and is providing another $20 million in ads to community organizations and small businesses. Google also established a $200 million investment fund to help NPOs and financial institutions provide small businesses with access to capital, adding to the $15 million in cash grants Google.org already committed. Next, it established ad and product credits for businesses and researchers. Small and midsize businesses are receiving $340 million in ad credits that can be used any time in 2020. Researchers and academic institutions are receiving $20 million in Google Cloud credits to advance collaborative efforts on COVID-19 related projects. And it’s throwing financing and know-how behind scaling up production on critical personal protective equipment (PPE) and critical medical devices. In the coming weeks, Google expects its partnership with one supplier alone to yield 2-3 million facemasks for the CDC Foundation.
Intel
Semiconductor leader Intel joined other Bay Area tech companies combating the virus, with a $1 million contribution to International Red Cross, and a commitment to “use its factory stock and emergency supplies” to provide protective gear for frontline healthcare workers, including masks, gloves and face shields.
Microsoft
With the majority of its employees located in Washington state and a big presence in China, Microsoft was hit early. It also responded early, first in China, then in the U.S. On January 26, it made an initial donation of roughly $142,000 USD to relief and containment measures in China. On February 11, it announced a second round of support totaling roughly $6.5 million USD in cash and tech support, which included roughly $677,000 donated by its employees. In early March, it joined Amazon as a lead funder on the Seattle Foundation’s COVID-19 Response Fund with a $1 million contribution. Like others, Microsoft is also providing in-kind support to its user community, offering six months of free access to Teams, its workforce collaboration platform, and helping people stay informed via a new live dashboard that’s tracking the outbreak.
Meanwhile, the philanthropy of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has been responding to the coronavirus for several months, now. Back in January, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation committed $5 million to the 2019-nCoV response in China, and began working with the Chinese public and private sectors to coordinate a response. In early February, it provided $100 million to protect at-risk populations in Africa and South Asia, ensuring the right interventions are prioritized. In early March, it made a $5 million commitment to help health agencies in its home city Seattle. Days later, it collaborated with Wellcome and Mastercard on a collective $125 million effort to identify potential treatments, accelerate development, and ramp up global manufacturing. Twenty million has already been invested in clinical trials at three institutions: the University of Washington, University of Oxford, and La Jolla Institute for Immunology. Most recently, it invested $5 million in Inovio Pharmaceuticals to fast-track vaccine development.
Netflix
Like Amazon and some other tech companies, Netflix’s earnings could rise as a result of a pandemic that is forcing tens of millions of Americans to stay at home. But the company’s content creators have been economically devastated as COVID-19 shuts down Hollywood. Netflix has committed $100 million to create an economic relief fund to help crew members and other members of the film and TV community who’ve been sidelined by the crisis. And it has given $1 million to SAG-AFTRA for its COVID-19 Disaster Fund, $1 million to the Motion Picture & Television Fund, and $1 million to the Actors Fund Emergency Assistance in the United States. Reflecting Netflix’s growing global footprint, it’s also giving $15 million to nonprofits outside the U.S.
Salesforce
Salesforce is focusing its philanthropic efforts on its hometown, San Francisco. On March 12, CEO Marc Benioff announced that the company was donating $1 million to the University of California at San Francisco’s (UCFS) COVID-19 Response Fund, and a half-million to the CDC Emergency Response Fund. Two days later, it donated $1.5 million to the City of San Francisco’s Give2SF COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, which is providing local emergency response to the epidemic. On March 22, Salesforce responded to a call for help from UCSF by delivering 9,000 face masks, and committed to working across its “resources and relationships” to source 5 million more.
Along with other tech firms, the company is also making its technology available to partners, customers and communities in a number of ways. It’s providing free access to Health Cloud for emergency response teams, call centers and healthcare systems. Tableau, its interactive data visualization software, features a free data resource hub that shares coronavirus data compiled by Johns Hopkins, the WHO and the CDC in real time. And Quip Starter, which helps teams collaborate outside the office, is available free to Salesforce customers and nonprofits through the end of September.
Spotify
Believing in the healing power of music, Swedish streaming platform Spotify is working to support creative professionals that have been impacted by the virus. On March 25, it launched the Spotify COVID-19 Music Relief project to shine a light on the efforts of verified support organizations like Musicares, Help Musicians, and Unison Benevolent Fund. Spotify is making donations to the groups it’s featuring, and will match gifts made through the project on a dollar-for-dollar basis, up to $10 million. It’s also working on a feature that will allow artists to fundraise directly, and has waived revenue share and fees on creator tools.
TikTok
The Chinese video-sharing platform TikTok announced a content partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), to arm users with accurate, timely information, then followed up with a $10 million donation to the WHO’s Solidarity Response Fund. It’s also matching employee donations to a range of local and global organizations, including the Red Cross and direct relief programs.
Twitter is donating $1 million to support nonprofit journalism, funds which will go the Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Women’s Media Foundation. The company said the money will “ensure these organizations can continue their work in the face of new economic strains and […] directly support journalists. Their shared efforts to advocate for the rights of vulnerable reporters and to guarantee an equal share of voice for women in the industry has never been more relevant or important.”
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We expect more commitments to be announced in coming days. Check back here for more updates. And if you have news about tech philanthropy related to the coronavirus, email us at editor@insidephilanthropy.org.
