Some of you (hopefully all of you) have been following the UCSF drive to build a children’t hospital in San Francisco. We are enthusiastically supporting the project, as are countless other businesses, blogs and individuals. Marc and Lynne Benioff, in a hugely generous moment, gave $100 million to help build the hospital. Zynga has also gotten in the mix and is likely to contribute a substantial amount as well through the sale of virtual candy canes.
And now Hewlett Packard is supporting the project. Which we applaud.
Like us, they’re also matching donations. And like us, they’ve capped it at $10,000. Wait, what?
The HP Match
To stoke the fires of this competition, HP is launching a mini-challenge that kicks off today. HP will match every donation made between now and December 16, up to a total contribution of $10,000. In keeping with the spirit of the Challenge, HP is supporting all levels of contribution to this cause, whether it’s $10 or $1,000, until the $10,000 maximum is reached.
So. Weak.
I’m matching this personally, out of my own bank account. It’s one of the charities I’ll support this year along with Golden Gate Lab Rescue, Samasource and a few others.
I’m very sure that HP has many other charitable endeavors as well. But For a company that did $126 billion in revenue last year and $11 billion in pre-tax profit, I say this.
IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?
That’s right. I’m calling you out, HP. Blow this thing out. Donate $.10 for every computer you sell in December (they sell 2 per second – that would be half a million dollars). Or give everyone who donates $10 or more a $100 coupon off any HP goods sold directly from HP.com. Make it a $1,000 minimum purchase and you can call this a brilliant marketing spend, not a charitable gift.
Do it, HP. Don’t let a humble blogger make you look bad.
:-)