An Open Letter to Hewlett-Packard

January 23, 2008 at 7:02 pm (furkids, life)

An Open Letter to Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd, 

 

Regarding this letter that I sent to HP via your “Contact Mark Hurd” form on the website:

—–Original Message———————————————

From: xxxxxxxx@hotmail.com 

Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 4:04 PM

To: External ceo-communication

Subject: Feedback to CEO and President Mark Hurd from Lunzie

This is a message to HP’s CEO, from a valued customer: Lunzie.

Customer’s Phone: xxx-xxx-xxxx

Customer’s E-Mail: xxxxxxxx@hotmail.com 

Feedback Area:

- Product experience

- Philanthropy

- Ideas and Suggestions

Message:

Hello!

As a loyal HP customer for years (within the past 4 years, my husband and I have purchased FOUR HP laptops for household use, and in the past we have purchased personal computers as well), I would like to make a request. I am making this request on MY behalf and not on behalf of any organization or group.

We recently had dealings with a local animal rescue group, and met some wonderful people! We adopted a dog through them in 2006, and we couldn’t be happier. Unfortunately, rescue is a thankless job with long hours and financial stress. One of the women who runs the rescue branch in New Jersey mentioned tonight that she doesn’t have a very good computer.

I thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice if one of the big computer companies donated a couple of PCs to the rescue organization so that she had one less thing to worry about at the end of the day?”

It’s tax deductible for you, right?

And then I remembered how happy we’ve been with our HPs over the years. I bought my husband a laptop right before he was deployed to Iraq, and we still use it. After he returned, we bought one for me. The following Christmas, another, and just recently, we bought a fourth. All Hewlett-Packard.

We LOVE our HPs!!!

And we’d like to give someone else a chance to love them too! Please feel free to contact me if you’d like more information. I look forward to hearing from you!

Thank you very much for your time.

Warmest Regards,

Lunzie

———————————————————————-

And your response:

Dear Lunzie:

This is in response to your inquiry dated January 11, 2008, regarding a potential donation from HP.

Regrettably, we must decline your request as it does not align to our philanthropic focus. HP strategically focuses its social investments in areas where we can make the greatest impact by virtue of our specific technology assets and expertise. In doing so, we invest in tax-exempt non-profit organizations or educational institutions that advance educational opportunity for people in underserved communities in the US and around the world. Our philanthropic giving deliberately supports systemic, rather than individual, change in public education, micro-enterprise development, and environmental sustainability. You can learn more about HP’s community investments at http://www.hp.com/go/grants .

With regard to your cause, you may find it useful to refer to http://www.foundationcenter.org for information about grantmakers who invest in your area of need.

Best regards, HP Global Philanthropy

———————————————————————–

I appreciate you taking the time to acknowledge the letter.

What I don’t appreciate is your uninformed dismissal of my request. I would have appreciated the opportunity to explain more about rescue organizations to you. Unfortunately, most peoples’ view of rescue organizations is incorrect. I will elaborate here, because you did not take me up on my offer to give you more information.

In your letter to me, you wrote “we invest in tax-exempt non-profit organizations or educational institutions that advance educational opportunity for people in underserved communities…Our philanthropic giving deliberately supports systemic, rather than individual, change in public education.”

I resent your implication that animal rescue organizations do not provide education and advancement in their respective communities.

1.) Reputable Rescue Organizations are tax-exempt non-profit organizations. This means that their “employees” are either volunteers, or paid so little that it is guaranteed that they do it purely for love of the animals. You’re right…people like that don’t deserve a donation.

2.) Reputable Rescue Organizations DO advance educational opportunity in their respective communities. I quote the ARWNY web site “We are here to offer adoptions, health education, temperament information, and training guidelines for your [dog].”

 I’m not sure how much more systemically educational animal rescue can get. It affects everyone in a community. According to American Humane, people who have a history of animal abuse are statistically more likely to abuse a human being.  Read over the site. It’s well-documented.

3.) If you don’t consider New Jersey an underserved community, then you haven’t been to New Jersey in a while. And for the record, I don’t know of any rescue organizations that are NOT underserved. With all of the media regarding Michael Vick and the dog fighting outrage, the plight of animal rights activists everywhere, and the increasing need for animal rescue due to negligent, ignorant, and uninformed ownership, I would think that a rescue organization is one of the most deserving recipients of ANY donation.

I would have appreciated the opportunity to tell you more about the rescue organization on whose behalf I made the request. Surely two or three PC’s wouldn’t have set you back too far. Perhaps I will petition some of the others and see what they have to say.

Dell

Macintosh

Acer

Gateway

IBM

Sony

Thanks again for acknowledging my existence. It’s the least you could do.

The VERY least.

Sincerely,

Lunzie