Nonprofits Tell Steve Jobs: Don’t Be a Bad Apple

Apple has infuriated the nonprofit community by banning apps that accept donations to charities. The reason for the ban? Apple doesn't want to be held responsible for ensuring that the charitable funds reach nonprofits, even though major competitors like the Droid support donations to nonprofits through their apps. Feeling even more inspired to pressure Apple; Care2 launched a petition, aimed at Steve Jobs, to reverse the ban and start accepting donations via the iPhone apps. More than 5000 people have already signed it.

"That may not sound like a big deal, but for owners, the phone has become an important tool for how they live, including how they connect to causes they care about.

And the same is true for nonprofits--they depend on making it easy for their supporters to give. Otherwise their ability to do good in the world is jeopardized,” the Care2 petition states.

Beth Kanter has been quite vocal in expressing her disgust with Apple’s app policies. She is protesting by letting her iPhone contract expire and will be begin using her new Droid starting December 27^th. 

Kanter says since 2009, Apple’s policies has put nonprofits at a disadvantage and that Apple’s suggested workarounds – linking to a donate button is a big barrier in the donation process, ultimately leading to less donations then if it was built into the apps.

“Some folks wonder why this a such a big deal when you can, after all, have donors who use iPhones go out to the web and make a donation through the web site using Safari or find creative workarounds.   Workarounds put nonprofits at a disadvantage.  This forces all charitable apps to introduce a level of barriers to impulse giving, and also removes one of Apple’s most powerful tools – the 1-click purchase and in-app transaction system,” said Kanter in a recent blog post.

Many in the nonprofit community feel it’s time for Apple to take the next step and start looking at solutions.

“Now is the time for Apple to engage with the nonprofit community," said Dan Moore, Vice President of Nonprofit Programs at Guidestar. “The sector as a whole is full of innovation and there are a lot of great solution-oriented ideas out there. Apple has been at the forefront of problem solving in the past, and this is just one more problem for them to tackle in style.”

Moore also says that “GuideStar is perfectly suited to vet charities and nonprofits for Apple and others; we do it all the time for a multitude of private sector clients.”

Will Jobs take GuideStar up on their offer? Or will Jobs continue to be a bad apple?

PS: Don't forget to sign the petition!