Corporate America Taking Action On Coronavirus? What BlackRock, Tech Giants, Others Are Doing During Health Crisis

KEY POINTS

BlackRock's first tranche of $18 million will go to food aid and organizations that work with vulnerable populations
Facebook, Salesforce and Apple are donating face masks to healthcare workers
Designer Christian Siriano has a team sewing face masks from home

Financial planning and investment management firm BlackRock.com Monday committed $50 million to coronavirus relief efforts to help those facing financial hardship and social dislocation as a result of the pandemic, one of a number of companies attempting to offset disruptions.

Tech giants Apple, Facebook and Salesforce pledged to donate face masks to healthcare workers as companies worked to mitigate the damage caused by the administration’s reported failure to heed early warnings on the virus’ spread – something President Trump disputed, citing his decision to block travel from China.

BlackRock said the money will be directed to offsetting job disruptions, school closures and unexpected parental, childcare and medical costs.

“As the pandemic continues to spread and constrains daily life, it is presenting significant hardship to people around the world – including in the communities where we operate,” Larry Fink, BlackRock chairman and CEO, said in an email to IBTimes. “We believe it’s our responsibility to support those least able to cope and bounce back, and who will feel its impact hardest – both today, and in the months to come.”

The company said in a press release the first tranche of funds, $18 million, would go to food banks and community organizations in the U.S. and Europe that work directly with vulnerable populations to offset declining donations and volunteer numbers.

After UCSF put out a plea for face masks and other protective gear, Salesforce delivered 9,000 face masks and said it was looking for 5 million more.

PLEASE SHARE: UCSF frontline #covid19 care providers are in urgent need of critical supplies such as masks, disposable gloves & more. You can drop off donations at 3 sites in San Francisco and Oakland starting Monday, 3/23.
More info ➡️ https://t.co/vwNQwUx12Y #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/1Y8pISHpfA
— UC San Francisco (@UCSF) March 22, 2020

Thank you to our Ohana for delivering our first 9000 masks to UCSF. We are working hard across all of our resources & relationships to deliver an additional 5 million masks this week plus additional critical PPE. All of us need to focus on getting PPE to our local hospitals. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/y7mgL0KhrT
— Marc Benioff (@Benioff) March 23, 2020

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company would donate 720,000 face masks that it bought when wildfires were ravaging California and was working to source millions more.

Apple’s Tim Cook also said his company was donating millions of masks in both the U.S. and Europe.

Our teams at Apple have been working to help source supplies for healthcare providers fighting COVID-19. We’re donating millions of masks for health professionals in the US and Europe. To every one of the heroes on the front lines, we thank you.
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) March 21, 2020

3M said Friday it is increasing its production of critical supplies, doubling its global output of N95 respirators to 100 million per month and upping production of hand sanitizers, disinfectants and filtration solutions.

And fashion designer Christiano Siriano said he has put together a “full sewing team” working from home on masks.

If @NYGovCuomo says we need masks my team will help make some. I have a full sewing team still on staff working from home that can help.
— Christian Siriano (@CSiriano) March 20, 2020