For all his fame and fortune, Steve Jobs has what some consider to be a blight on his record: a lack of public philanthropic activity. Andrew Ross Sorkin laid it all out just last week, but the issue has long been discussed and debated. Why wouldn't Jobs join Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and pledge to give away half his fortune? Why hasn't Jobs devoted more of his time and money to charitable causes?

Jobs' personal attitude towards philanthropy is said to have trickled down through the ranks of Apple over the years. But all of that is changing now, as Apple adopts an impressive corporate matching policy for charitable contributions. It might feel like a small change, but make no mistake: this is Cook starting to leave his mark as CEO and he's moving in a direction that no one expected from Jobs.

Mr. Cook announced on Thursday morning in a company-wide email that Apple would now honor a charitable matching program. The announcement was sent to us by internal sources this morning, and has been verified as accurate. (MacRumors, however, reported the news first).

Team: I am very happy to announce that we are kicking off a matching gift program for charitable donations. We are all really inspired by the generosity of our co-workers who give back to the community and this program is going to help that individual giving go even farther. Starting September 15, when you give money to a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, Apple will match your gift dollar-for-dollar, up to $10,000 annually. This program will be for fulltime employees in the US at first, and we'll expand it to other parts of the world over time. Thank you all for working so hard to make a difference, both here at Apple and in the lives of others. I am incredibly proud to be part of this team. If you'd like more information on the program, you can get it on HRWeb, which can be easily accessed through AppleWeb. Tim

It wouldn't be accurate to say that Jobs has never done anything charitable—he did campaign for better transplant rules in California, for instance, and Apple joined the consumer-facing Product (RED) program under his leadership. And Apple certainly hasn't been shy about its values, even if it's not opening its corporate wallet much. Its last major corporate gift came in the form of a $100,000 donation to help fight California's Proposition 8 in 2008. Still, the comparative lack of activity between Jobs (and Apple under his tenure as CEO) and other demigods of tech generally do not compare favorably.

Whether the lack of public giving at Apple reflected poorly on Jobs and the company depends, of course, on who you ask. Felix Salmon made the argument that maybe Steve Jobs is the kind of person who finds public giving a distraction of sorts, for instance. Others have argued that all charity should be anonymous. Whatever the case, it's clear now what Tim Cook thinks. He wants Apple and its employees to be charitably engaged, and has wasted no time in encouraging such activity.

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