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Big brands stepping up their philanthropic efforts amid crisis
By Ross Forbes | 21 April 2020 | Culture
Amid the global pandemic, several large businesses have seized the initiative to help the fight against the coronavirus outbreak by making significant charitable donations, as well as repurposing production. British watchmaker Bremont has contributed to manufacture ventilators, and other brands helped produce hand sanitizers in response to the lack of medical supplies around the world. But…
Amid the global pandemic, several large businesses have seized the initiative to help the fight against the coronavirus outbreak by making significant charitable donations, as well as repurposing production. British watchmaker Bremont has contributed to manufacture ventilators, and other brands helped produce hand sanitizers in response to the lack of medical supplies around the world.
But it's not just the battle against coronavirus that has caused large companies to make sizable generous contributions. Plenty of brands have used their corporate powers to help those in need, so let's do a rundown of the most famous brands stepping up their philanthropic efforts.
Online betting and casino companies making charitable donations
While online betting companies face strict regulation at the moment, this hasn't stopped many of these brands pioneering several impressive charitable projects. Some of the businesses that you'll find listed among popular online casinos in the UK are making significant contributions to help keep their communities safe. Bet365 chief executive Denise Coates has donated £10 million to the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust.
This follows on from her other charitable acts that are featured in her Denise Coates Foundation that has donated over £100 million to over 20 UK charities including Oxfam and the Douglas Macmillan Hospice.
And this is something that stretches abroad as online gaming brand LeoVegas has also stepped up its forces to help to fight the current health crisis. Earlier this month, we saw the company donating 300 lunches to doctors and nurses at Danderyd Hospital in Stockholm. >>
* Facebook’s Headquarters in Euston
Tech giants increase their philanthropic activities
While the world's major tech brands have come in for plenty of criticism as a result of their unregulated power, some of the key players at these companies have been trying to show the world that they are good guys after all.
Some famous tech-bosses around the world have already started to make their moves into philanthropy. The Twitter boss, Jack Dorsey announced that he would pledge $1 billion in a bid to combat the devastating effects of the coronavirus outbreak.
We've seen similar philanthropic commitments made amongst some of the biggest names in the tech world. From Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg donating $30 million to find an effective treatment for the disease to Amazon's Jeff Bezos giving $100 million in charitable donations to food banks across the USA, it seems that these businessmen are keen to lend a helping hand.
However, they all have some way to go before they catch up with Bill Gates. The co-founder of Microsoft is well-known for his devotion to philanthropy, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is currently the world's wealthiest charitable foundation.
Sporting clubs and brands chip in with acts of charity
There's also been a welcome trend for some of the world's biggest sporting clubs to set up their own foundations to generate funds for charitable organisations. This is the case in the Premier League where we've seen the likes of the Everton in the Community project and Watford FC's Community Sports and Education Trust working wonders for the local community.
The total charity spend of the Chelsea FC Foundation was an impressive £7.6 million in 2019 alone. Such efforts have proven pivotal in doing anything from running programmes to help disabled people enjoy the sport to raising attention about social issues such as antisemitism.
We have also seen several major sporting brands helping out with their philanthropic efforts. Recently we saw Nike pledging to donate $15 million to help out with food banks and medical research organisations across the US.
In addition to this, individual sporting stars have also joined in the charitable action with the likes of the England women's team donating to the Players Together fund to help the NHS cope with the current coronavirus crisis. All of which shows that charitable actions can come from all manner of surprising places.