Posted on January 24, 2005

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Corporations Support Tsunami Relief, Seek Public Approval

The worst natural disaster in decades has created a deluge of its own in the relief world, overwhelming nonprofits with donations and requests for corporate tie-ins, the Boston Globe reports.

According to the Contributions Academy, a for-profit consulting firm that tracks corporate philanthropy, relief efforts in response to the Indian Ocean tsunami are expected to generate some $750 million in cash and in-kind gifts from U.S. corporations, topping the amount corporations contributed in the wake of 9/11. Giving in response to a disaster that has claimed at least 162,000 lives, many of them children, is almost a no-brainer, said Dwight Burlingame, associate executive director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, who called the tsunami "a great opportunity" for U.S. companies "to be seen as a positive contributor to something that isn't going to alienate any of their potential customers."

Pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Merck, which have been barraged by negative publicity, rank among the largest donors to tsunami relief. Pfizer's donation of cash and medicines, valued at some $35 million, far exceeds any other corporate donation, while Merck, which recalled its arthritis drug Vioxx last fall over concerns it can cause heart attacks, has pledged $10 million in cash and in-kind donations.

Most U.S. multinationals have annual budgets devoted to aid and are increasingly sophisticated about giving, distributing money in countries where they sell products, employ people, and/or have manufacturing facilities. "Do companies maybe get a halo effect because they've been a good corporate citizen? Probably," said Paula Luff, senior director of international philanthropy at Pfizer. However, the primary reason for donating, she said, is that "the world has changed. Employees, investors, and their management have an expectation that companies will play an economic and social role in society and in supporting efforts such as tsunami relief or ongoing relief."

Not everyone sees corporate giving as motivated solely by altruism, however. Doctors Without Borders, which stopped accepting tsunami-targeted donations more than a week ago, has adopted a strict policy with respect to corporate gifts and recently cut its ties with an airline donor that wanted the organization to do more marketing on its behalf, said Patricia Surak, the organization's director of foundation and corporate relations. "Our name should represent the reputable work we do on the ground and not the corporate sponsors that we have."

Brown, Kimberly. “Charities Swamped by Offers of Aid.” Boston Globe 1/19/05.

Primary Subject: Tsunami Relief
Secondary Subject(s): International Affairs/Development
Location(s): Indian Ocean, International, South Asia

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