Yesterday, we wrote about Microsoft’s pledge to feed the hungry if you download their web browser. That campaign is misleading, and it really shows when you compare it to another campaign of a similar nature.
Today, while at Facebook’s new headquarters in Palo Alto, we noticed that it too is involved in a campaign to end hunger. But rather than pledging to feed hungry people only if you download something from Facebook, the company is doing it on the down-low, asking its employees to help out, in its own cafeteria.
As you can see in the poster in this post, ShareYourLunch.net asks you to “Share Your Lunch With 20 Children For Just $10.” Right off the bat this is better. First and foremost, rather than trying to tie the number of people being saved into some marketing number (8 for IE8), ShareYourLunch picks a round number that actually makes sense.
Secondly, either ShareYourLunch is getting a worse deal, or they’re being more realistic with their money. While Microsoft’s promotion was saying that $1.15 would provide 8 meals (about $0.14 a meal), this campaign says that $10 will provide 20 meals (about $0.50 a meal). And these meals are for small children, not adults like at least some of Microsoft’s campaign would presumably be for.
Third, rather than claiming it is providing 8 meals to people, when that really just means that it’s sending the charity a set amount of money based on some regulatory guidelines for what a “meal” is (here’s the crux of the statement I got from representatives from Microsoft on the matter: “The USDA defines a meal as 1.28 pounds of food”), ShareYourLunch is actually buying real food. From the site:
We use cash donations to buy healthy foods that are appealing to children, such as fresh produce, granola bars, juice, cereal, tuna and crackers. We have nutritionists on staff to ensure that all food allocations are balanced and meet the minimum food guidelines.
It just seems like Facebook is working towards ending hunger in a much more classy way, that’s not so misleading. That’s not to say that Microsoft’s money pledge isn’t helpful, mostly I just think it’s kind of tacky to tie it into a web browser promotion based on the version number. I guess if there’s ever an IE9, more people will be saved from hunger because they’ll be able to jack up the number of people fed to 9.
I get it. But, there are hundreds of companies around the country who do something very similar. I don’t usually respond to many posts; but really?
Couldn’t agree more. An entire post about some poster in someone’s cafeteria.
Why don’t you write about how Microsoft matches employee donations, etc? http://www.thea...sa/06092291.htm
And why is the following even relevant? “Right off the bat this is better.” This isn’t a competition. If both Microsoft, Facebook, etc are willing to donate to charities, all the better. At least they’re trying to make a difference. Why don’t you write about what YOU’VE done for charities lately instead of just criticizing other programs?
I agree
I too agree. This guy is waisting his and our time.
Thanks bro
This is news.
On a related note I have a friend playing golf all day in a pledge drive. Even classier than Facebook, those louts.
thank you bro
Yeah… so there’s a relevant distinction between putting up one’s own money (MSFT) and asking employees to donate (FB).
Also MG, do try to ease up on the first person pronouns. Your posts are littered with them in comparison to other TC writers.
You bashed Microsoft yesterday without even reading the site that was actually going to handle the food. You were wrong, apologize for not checking, and just move on. A lot of places do this(my small little job included), so this is really no story.
Siegler, give it up. You’ve dug a huge hole for yourself with your MSFT post and there is no climbing out of it.
Every company I’ve ever worked for encouraged their employees to donate for cause — most of them have even matched donations up to a few thousand dollars a year.
You’ve proven yourself and ignorant and entitled person. I am very surprised Arrington is keeping your around.
i agree…i think that ms is probably sleeping around with a few of the pr forks at google and facebook aka addressbook aka plaxo.
lance lee
whoa, wait a minute! kicking around MG is ok, thats the right of passage…. youth in the office is fun for that very reason.
he’ll get it figured out and grow into it. but ultimately, we gots to give him bob dobbs style slack.
Of course Arrington must keep him around!
MG’s posts generate billions of page views and thousands of comments for TechCrunch! Accuracy and objective journalism be damned.
Tabloids need writers like that!
yep. billions. and billions.
Michael,
How about you write another article about how you will not take s@@t from anyone anymore and especially your readers and how censoring comments will become the defacto standard of TechCrunch?
A lively debate would be very good for your revenues but that can’t be done with censoring.
touche.
here is a good article about how in 2008 Microsoft donated almost $500 million (thats 1/2 billion).
http://arstechn...500-million.ars
not to mention facebook isnt even a sponsor of the shareyourlunch website. ebay is, along with other companies but facebook isnt. so is facebook actually putting any money towards this or are they just trying to encourage their employees to donate while they sit on their ass – now that would be some real journalism if you investigated that one.
The amazing (and good) truth is that Microsoft donated a lot of money to charity of the years. More than any other tech company and definitely more than the darling Twitter, Apple, Google, and Facebook.
+1001 =)
Also worth noting that Microsoft capped their donation at $1,000,000, which translates to less than 850k downloads of IE8. One would have to assume they surpassed that in a matter of hours since Safari 4 with ~5% the market share of IE had 11 million downloads in its first 3 days.
How much did Mozilla, Apple or Google donate for downloads of their browser? They may have – I really don’t know…my point is, why are we sitting here shitting on a company that is giving away free money to a good cause?
Nice ,i agree with your comments.
I am going to echo the comment of @JoeCure – why are you comparing Facebook’s campaign where they ask their employees to contribute versus Microsoft’s campaign where they are donating money themselves for something that won’t cost people who download their product a penny?
While the amount of “meals” may be misleading, they did get most of it from the partner – either way, I don’t see how this not only deems two entire posts (geez, I can think of some much more deserving start-ups) but your animosity as well MG.
How much money have you or TechCrunch given to feed the children lately? Tell Mike to use up some of that valuable ad space on the right, etc if you think this is so important – and make sure not to mislead us in the quest.
…and also, how do you know MSFT isn’t encouraging their employees to do the same? Something tells me they aren’t letting you tour their halls much at all given your biased nature.
They might not, don’t get me wrong – but a lot of companies do encourage philanthropy with their employees and many times match or beat their contributions as well…you just don’t hear about it as much.
I don’t think that MG wants to really hear our comments. TechCrunch and its authors are sitting on a pedestal that they believe is unreachable. They continue to disseminate hateful information and opinions about companies that they would like to see fail and continue to overglorify companies that at one point or another probably had an interest in.
The amazing (and good) truth is that Microsoft donated a lot of money to charity of the years. More than any other tech company and definitely more than the darling Twitter, Apple, Google, and Facebook.
There are many companies around the country who do something very similar.
This guy is still trying to defend his stupid reporting yesterday.
This is how it’s done:
http://www.tech...s_48088037.html
… But Feeding America’s Fraser says it’s “upsetting when someone snipes about someone who is very generously trying to help us.”
Yeah… they’re saying MG is a moron. We all knew that already, didn’t we?
hey MG
OUCH ..twitter is in big trouble …
@MG you became dirty
They have just gotten dirtier by deleting my comments which countered MG directly and showing that Microsoft has donated over a billion dollars to charity and non-profit companies over the last several years!
Bad Tech Crunch.
he deleted your’s too? same here. he seems to love dishing dirt but hates when someone counters him on his stupidity
Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one. ~Abbott Joseph Liebling
I’d rather see the energies being put into encouraging people to stop breeding. If you can’t take care of your own personal reproduction, then don’t have one.
Why do we need passports, drivers licenses, social security numbers, etc.. but there’s absolutely no regulation for pumping out a little doppelganger? I think China’s on to something with their 1 child policy.
The planet is too small to sustain current human population growth. Only hypocrites, the uneducated and the super wealthy can get away with being both environmentalists and humanitarians.
Haha, I think for Siegler’s parents, it should have been a 0 child policy. No disrespect to his siblings, if he has any.
Hey MG, stop these nonsense bashing of Microsoft and its legitimate charity claim.
Check out Meal Exchange – same sort of idea and all about the power of students:
http://www.mealexchange.com/
http://www.face...65538465?ref=ts
To be clear: at this time Microsoft has likely donated (or pledged to donate) $1,000,000 to charity to promote IE8, while Facebook has a poster in its cafeteria urging employees to give $10 to a similar cause.
TC/MG is criticizing Microsoft.
I really hope I’m missing something…
“Ahh, but the strawberries that’s… that’s where I had them!”
–Capt. Queeg, The Caine Mutiny
MG: Desperation, sir. Desperation. The painter’s tape is a nice touch, though.
Said wonderfully on another site:
Entitled Bay Area geek who probably hasn’t donated a dime to a charity in years finds fault with a million dollar contribution to feeding the hungry. Film at 11.
nicely said
In years? I think you give him too much credit.
What Microsoft & Facebook is doing is great. Their aim is to help and raise awareness for the general public. More companies, big and small, should lend a hand and help.
That’s real charity and not a publicity stunt.
MG,
While it is true that Facebook has a charity program, so do many other companies and many of them are not exactly run by the company itself. It is common practice for agencies to administer these and those companies take a “management” or “administration” fee to take care of managing these programs.
As far as Microsoft goes, over the years, their programs included cash donations, software donations, computer donations, and meal and food donations. The value of these has been estimated to be at approximately 1 billion dollars in the last ten years. This is an amount that has been controversial but no one can dispute that it has done good over the years. Regardless if it is a meal or a computer or software for non-profit organizations, the spirit of giving is what is important as it sets an example to other companies.
Rather than bashing Microsoft, you should be praising them for leading the way when it comes to technical companies over the last three decades. From Bill Gate’s personal donations to their corporate donations, a lot of good is done due to their leadership when it comes to this area.
no, the heartless bastard that MG is could never see it this way….after all to him anything having to do with MSFT can never be good.
the heartless bastard just sparked a debate that caused 1000’s of people to be more aware of charity!
Actually, it is the heartless bastard that keeps on censoring and deleting other people’s comments that can in turn cause more people to become active with donation and meal programs.
I am a big believer in debating issues but that can not be done when one side is afraid to debate and will not respond to criticism.
One question: Is facebook actually donating money? …or did they just put a poster up in the cafeteria which encourages EMPLOYEES to donate?
Seems to me they are not giving a dime.
How is the relevant? Are we still hating microsoft for giving a million dollars to help hungry people?
hole*
a
LoL, heh not bad..
MG, Go to HELL
after all both are supporting a good cause..
don’t EVEN try to compare their generous donations.
TC should FIRE MG
MG is the best writer they got… sumit, you need to fire that idiot of an avatar you got representing you there…
On a totally unrelated note… MG, you should probably be working on the power Twitter is having over these protest in Iran… the coverage on Twitter is stunning and for more poignant that CNN (#CNNfail)… seems like a story that would be right up your alley. #IranElection
An article that is…
MG,
You are plainly wrong. Don’t forget that large corporations like Microsoft have to play by rules that are set by their accountants, the IRS, and state and county laws. A corporate donation is very different than a personal donation and many rules apply to them that do not otherwise apply to personal donations.
When it comes down to it, all donations are good donations regardless of the amount and that should be the spirit of the story and not the negative spirit that you are portraying by trying to bash Microsoft for something good that they have done!
Microsoft employees donate hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Microsoft matches employee giving 100% which is quite generous.
Please compare apples to apples.
Douchbag
maybe.
Guys I really don’t think MG is a bad guy. I think the criticism is enough. Let it go.
I won’t be surprised if he’s drinking himself silly right now. The only thing is I don’t want him to have Michael Arrington type arrogance.
Just to give you some data so that you can use real data in your articles, Barrons 25 Most Philanthropic Companies list of 2007 showed that
Microsoft had made cash Donations in the amount of $61 Million and goods Donations worth $272 Million. All together, in one year, over $300 million dollars. Apple and Google were not even on the list.
Microsoft is America’s ninth most charitable corporation in terms of cash donations.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest transparently operated private charitable foundation in the world.
“Microsoft donated $322 million worth of software and services in 2007. That’s in addition to $110 million in cash donations, representing 0.5% of operating income–enough to put the company at ninth place in overall cash handouts.”
– Forbes (Full article from October 2008)
MSFT-bashing posts like this are not only immature & misleading, they border on yellow journalism. (But luckily for TC, blogging isn’t journalism).
> worth of software and services
HA HA HA
$110M is susbstantial… maybe aimed at tax deduction…
Regardless, it is a donation. When was the last time that Apple or Google made a donation like that?
You are forgetting that the donation, regardless of whether or not it is done for tax purposes, is still a donation that someone uses. I am sure that the kid using the donated computer and software does not care if the company got a tax break or not.
If 1000 facebook employees shares one lunch per month, it will take 100 months or around 8 years to overtake what MS will shell out in a single campaign. And MG thinks fb is better than MS in this regard. Wow!
Hey MG!
Check out our facebook app, Share your Lunch (http://apps.fac...com/share_lunch).
We have donated $200 to feed the hungry outside US. Let us know what u think!
Cheers
Suchit
Yeah that’s all well and good but what’s TWITTER doing to end world hunger??
…Just kidding
MG,
Dude… your idiotic posts acheived the impossible: Google-loving geeks ganging up to defend Microsoft!
Arrington must be really proud of you.
Dear MG Siegler, would you please be so kind to stop posting this useless stuff on TechCrunch. Once I liked this site, but you are ruining it for all the rest.
Just like your posts yesterday, this one is pathetic, very pathetic.
Or maybe this post is one in a series about ending hunger for everybody.
Slow news day! This is the freaking dumbest post I have ever ever ever read. I have a company of 20 people and we have the same program…hey let’s write about that…oh and last night I saw an infomercial that with just 10 dollars a year I can sponsor a child in need…hey lets blog about that too.
I mean a poster in fb cafeteria, PLEASE!!! Stop the FB ASS KISSING and start writing some damn technology related stories!
witch hunt again on MG?
i understand now why Michael Arrington was asking to stop death threat and other crazy posts.
“goto hell”
“fire him”
…posters we don’t care you opinion, you are expressing feeling that are irrelevant to the weak topic.
go surfing ! [on real waves]
~:)
TC, you guys are really getting on my nerves. You act like MS doesn’t do enough for charity. Well, go ahead – I dare you to compare an average year of philanthropy between MS and any other tech company (including TechCrunch, for that matter!). This is one of so many philanthropic initiatives from Microsoft, that you really have no room to talk.
And yes, of course this is a “gimmick” – but is it really the worst kind of gimmick you could ask for? Like the “I’M” initiative, it increases philanthropic awareness, provides a small boost in usage, and at the same time does a little bit of extra good in the world. Find any other company that will give a dollar of *anything* per user download.
It also peeves me that you imply this is only a “desparate attempt” from MS to “buy users”, when really the only thing “desparate” about the initiative is the need for users to get off of IE6. Take a look at the market share of (IE7 + IE8), versus the market share of IE6. Most of the IE market share decline is in the archaic version 6, while IE7 & 8 seem to be holding there own quite well. A comparison between the IE6 market share and any other modern browser is really a strawman of the worst kind. The problem is that users would sooner download a “new” browser, than upgrade the one they already have. Hence Microsoft’s latest initiative – which I think is rather praiseworthy – unless of course, you happen to be the kind of tech writer who would sooner through stones at the unpopular kid than come up with a real piece of tech writing.
Hey, TC readers. I know that a lot of you (like me) are upset about this and other recent TC posts. Seriously, is there any way we can get this guy fired? TC doesn’t seem to care about quality, so long as page views are up. Let me know if you have any great ideas to increase the quality of tech posts around here.
@MG,
Are you coming up with a third post on IE8-Donations-FB.
You rock man. You can really write crap and keep defending it.
Firing MG won’t help. I equate TC to the LA Times where the editors are the ones that set the tone for the stories. Quality is not as important as controversy.
My journalism teacher started her class with the following saying: “There is no news like bad news”. The same applies here. Controversy generates clicks which in turn generates revenues. That is perfectly okay since after all, this is still a business.
What is not okay is the censorship of comments and the lack of responses from the editors/authors. I, for one, would have been much happier if MG actually responded and tried to defend himself.
Maybe instead of bashing MS and MG we should all blame drew’s cancer?
http://www.tech...amedrewscancer/
Before:
Good: Mike
Middle: Eric Sco
Who? MG
Now:
Good: Mike
Middle: Eric Sco
Bad: MG
should have been on worst.
This article = FAIL
I think there’s something that Microsoft did to you or your cousin which you’re not telling us. Perhaps if you share that then we might understand where you’re coming from. GMS
TechCrunch is getting REALLY arrogant of late.
Second post about same MS donation issue the majority of people thought ridiculous, right again the next day – ignoring everything people rightly said.
Constant posts about Twitter even though a large proportion of the audience are irritated about it. Right now people are finally seeing that Twitter as a media tool was media hyped – and TechCrunch is as much of that as anyone. I actually enjoyed the posts, but the arrogance remains none the less. At least TechCrunch could consider implementing a category/tag filtering system with support on the RSS feeds.
Polemic posts, like the Facebook holocaust thing, restating a past position just because people are coming out on mass and disagreeing with it, turning this site into the authors own soap box.
MG really please stop bashing. If Microsoft gave $1 to the guy at the corner that would be better than nothing. $1M is amazing.
Feed the angry with M.G’s body … sort to problems out
Seriously M.G, you’re initial article should have been “Go download ie8 … even if it’s not actually usable … they’re doing something good”
or
“the charity round up, analysing the different companies’ initiatives”
but what you did is … FIRED
feed the “hungry” with MG’s Body … that was the original joke
– more than 10 pounds of meat obviously – sort out two problems really
I don’t really think MG has to be fired, but he should definitely choose between tabloïds and first-class tech journalism … this is annoying.
If we really want to get rid of MG, the solution is simple. If you see an article by MG Siegler, don’t click on the link. Stop reading his work. Also don’t leave comments. When his articles don’t get any page views and TC isn’t making money on advertisement, then MG will get the boot.
Currently the program is feeding 1,008,518 children in over 5,700 government, government aided schools and anganwadis (day care centers) in 16 locations across India on any given day.
http://www.aksh....org/limca.html
Pretty impressive stats however you look at it.
MG, I challenge you to show stats for the last 4 years and a few days, of what Techcrunch has done for charity. I put this challenge to you because talk is cheap. Action is harder.
Microsoft has one of the largest employee contribution matching programs (and not just in USA – all offices). Just admit it MG – you simply plain hate Microsoft.
And hey! why do ALL my comments get deleted? Do you block users selectively?