Billions of dollars will be donated to the Asian tsunami relief effort but keeping track of who is giving what will be a big and interesting exercise.


Michael Schumacher leads the way on donations

From the January 5 subscriber email



Formula One star Michael Schumacher has set a new benchmark for individual donations to the tsunami relief funds, with a $US10 million pledge announced on German TV overnight, as Reuters reports here.

$US10 million is a big whack even for the world’s highest paid athlete – with an annual salary around $US40 million from Ferrari.

Other celebrity donors include Steven Spielberg who will donate $US1.5 million and Leonardo De Caprio who has given an disclosed amount – believed to be around $US1 million – for tsunami relief in Thailand where he filmed the movie The Beach.

Closer to home, Australians have now pledged more than $93 million to the various charities with Dick Smith kicking in $1 million to Care Australia last night and Commonwealth Bank upping its contribution from $250,000 to $1 million, which seems to be the standard for Australia’s big corporates.

Qantas – $1 million
CBA – $1 million
Fosters – $1 million
Visy Industries – $1 million
Westfield – $1 million
Dick Smith – $1 million
Woolworths – $500,000
Lonely Planet – $500,000
Australia Post – $250,000
Telstra – $100,000

But is that enough? Crikey’s corporate guru Don Boredwalk has weighed into the debate – asking, “Are Australian corporates stingy when it comes to contributing to the various tsunami appeals?” He writes:

There is the argument advanced by some that companies should be wary in donating because they are using shareholders’ money. Here’s a version of that argument from The Age’s website – Private donors assume role of good corporate citizen.

That’s a convenient cop out. Yes, companies have to spend money carefully but with the growing emphasis on ethical and responsible corporate administration, you’d expect supporting tsunami appeals would be a no-brainer.

If companies polled their shareholders they would find an overwhelming majority in favour of a generous level of donations. Many of these supporters would be large institutions who have their own plans (Hunter Hall for example).

After all can anybody put a value on the impact on a corporate’s image (carefully nurtured these days) from being seen to be tight-fisted or stingy? It is in the interests of shareholders to donate to an appeal like this.

Don Boredwalk has more on the site here: https://uat.crikey.com.au/business/2005/01/05-0003.html

How much is enough

From the January 4 subscriber email

Stand by for the largest donations exercise in history as individuals, companies and governments all reach into their pockets to assist the estimated 100,000-plus victims, 5 millions displaced people and devastated regions across the Indian Ocean countries in Asia.

Unless disease really takes hold, the Asian tsunamis will certainly not be the biggest natural disaster in terms of deaths. A subscriber has pointed out that a storm in Bangladesh in 1970 took 500,000 lives. An additional 500,000 lives were estimated to have been lost due to the disease and famine that followed. That doesn’t bode well for the current situation. Similarly, an earthquake in Tangshan, China, in 1976 took a minimum of 250,000 lives.

However, we have never before seen such a global catostrophe with 10 countries directly hit and thousands of residents from visiting countries also dead or missing.

Therefore, in this era of globalisation, the media exposure will be immense and the donations will as well, especially given that it is Christmas, the season for giving. But who is keeping track of what will be a very fast moving and rapidly growing list? We’ll have a crack at it.

Crikey has this afternoon whacked $200 on the credit card through Oxfam Community Aid Abroad and encourages readers to do likewise through this link.

Are Australian corporates and politicians doing enough?

If Sandra Bullock can give the American Red Cross a cheque for $US1 million, surely an Australian corporate can do better than a Hollywood actress?

Corporate donations from Australia’s big business has so far been far outstripped by private contributions, with about $15 million of the more than $80 million raised in Australia coming from business, as The Australianreported yesterday. Compare that with the US where the public has given $US100 million, but the corporate community is not far behind on $US80 million.

The largest Australian donors so far are packaging magnate Richard Pratt and his Visy Industries, Qantas and Westfield, each contributing $1 million. The Packers are doing plenty through promotion on Channel Nine but that is actually smart business – good for ratings and the brand. What has PBL done as a corporate or Kerry Packer in a private capacity?

Rupert Murdoch is now an American citizen running an American company and he has just emailed all staff saying News Corp will donate $US1 million and match any staff contributions. That’s good but not huge when you consider Sandra Bullock’s effort and the fact that Rupert is a $10 billion man running a $70 billion company. When one Fox employee was killed in the S11 attacks, Rupert kicked in $US1 million to the family. The same amount is going to the 155,000 dead and 5 million homeless in Asia.

Various Murdoch outlets will no doubt give free publicity to campaign efforts and this needs to be considered.

Australia Post has announced a $250,000 cash donation to CARE Australia for relief efforts throughout the region and offered its 4,477 retail outlets across Australia to serve as a collection point for donations to the CARE Australia fund from today. The Age’s Misha Shubert seems to have awoken the Governor-General who symbolically made the first Australia Post-CARE donation in Sydney today. Check out the press release here.

American corporations are providing the biggest contributions – CNN.com has compiled an extensive list of US corporate donors here. Some of the highlights include:

Pfizer, said it will give $US10 million to local and international relief organizations as well as $US25 million worth of healthcare products.

Coca Cola is co-ordinating with governmental and non-governmental agencies to provide bottled drinking water, basic foodstuffs, medical supplies, survival kits, transportation and distribution assistance, along with money, clothes and tents.

Exxon-Mobil – $US5 million to assist relief efforts and affiliates in the region have donated planes and medical supplies.

Citigroup – the world’s biggest bank has given $US3 million in support of disaster relief efforts.

Johnson & Johnson is sending six, 10-foot-by-10-foot shipping containers of first aid equipment, medicine and other medical supplies.

Starbucks has made an initial contribution of $US100,000 to international relief organisations CARE and Oxfam UK and will also donate $US2 for every pound of Sumatra, Decaf Sumatra and Aged Sumatra whole bean coffee purchased during January.

Many US corporations are also offering to match any donations made by their employees, similar to what Macquarie Bank and News Corp has done. Given that Macquarie has produced more than 500 millionaires over the years, this could be an expensive exercise for the bank if some staff decide to pull out the cheque books. We doubt the board will be too worried though.

Please email boss @crikey.com.au with examples of other noteworthy donations.

Many businesses will try the tactic of donating a percentage of sales to tsunami victims so that people buying their products can feel good about it. It will also be interesting to see if any businesses attempt to make money out of the crisis.

Check out this report on how Canada’s 5 biggest banks have donated $US425,000 in cash. Have our much more profitable banks given that much? Two of the big banks, the NAB and the ANZ, kicked in with details of accepting donations yesterday as you can see from this ABC online report.

But there is no mention of bank fees. You’d think that the banks, with their many highly paid flaks, would cover the simple things in something like this.

No fees for people donating, no fees for transferring the money and some other assistance as well from their international networks.
Likewise all the credit card companies to with many people having lost their cards and other financial paraphernalia.

And, finally a word of wonder why the Nine Network chose to support just the Red Cross appeal first up, although by late Tuesday they were mentioning the other appeals.

Afterall, Red Cross has copped plenty of grief over that PwC report which showed only $4 million of $14 million raised from its Bali appeal actually went to the victims.

Expect the Red Cross to finish well down the donations league ladder in Australia this time as a result.

What are our politicians doing?

Christian Kerr writes:

We know Derryn Hinch has given $5000 to the tsunami relief fund and we know what Crikey readers are doing – but what about various politicians? Silly old Bill Clinton appeared with Bush senior and junior in the Rose Garden this morning but was caught out admitting having not yet made his “substantial contribution” when on the talk show circuit. The wily old Bush looked much better sitting next to him saying that Barbara had already sent a big cheque to Americare.

On the Australian front, one interesting example is De Anne Kelly. As we learned late last year, the Minister seems very generous – when taxpayer funds and RARA mates are concerned. Ditto half the Cabinet from the Prime Minister down with those generous Coalition donors from Manildra. Have they given anything from their own pockets to the tsunami relief fund?

Let’s include them on the Crikey Roll of Honour. Pols, state and federal, send us through the details of your donation. We boll*ck you all the time, so when you deserve a pat on the back, we’d love to give you one.

PS. No names – but three cheers for one of the very earliest Crikey contributors who has already been off in Indonesia for several days contributing to relief efforts. Onya!