BinaryThing, the parent company of Planet PDF, PDF Store, ARTS PDF and other Acrobat/PDF-oriented business ventures, is expressing its concern and support for the Asian disaster relief efforts through several fund-raising efforts aimed at helping the survivors of the December 26, 2004 earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean region.
"Having personally visited a number of the seriously affected areas
such as Galle, Sri Lanka and Phuket, Thailand, in the last few years,
I'm absolutely devastated to hear of the extent of the recent tragedy and destruction," says Karl De Abrew, BinaryThing CEO. "It seems incomprehensible to say the very least."
"I have family members in the regions that were fortunate to be
relatively unaffected," says De Abrew. "Sadly, other staff members are still
awaiting news."
"At Planet PDF, we're heartened to see the rapid response from the global community rising to this challenge, and of course, we're digging deeply ourselves," says De Abrew. "To all those from the region, our hearts and minds go out to you."
BinaryThing's current relief support efforts include:
Soliciting and enhancing donations within the company -- with staff and offices in Australia, the United States and Europe -- matching staff monetary contributions 2-to-1 to support the important, life-saving work now underway by select international relief agencies such as World Vision, American Red Cross and UNICEF. (Link to more detailed lists of relief resources further below.)
Encouraging support from PDF Store vendor partners by way of one-time cash donations and/or a percentage of sales revenue. For example, ARTS PDF is donating a percentage of its revenue during January.
Other PDF Store vendors who have recently pledged similar in-kind relief support include:
We strongly encourage the support by our own global community of Tsunami relief efforts, especially from agencies and workers that are doing heroic work in the 12 countries impacted by the twin natural disasters that struck a wide region. We particularly encourage cash donations -- the most-needed type of relief at this time -- to:
We'll continue highlighting names and contributions of other PDF Store vendors who join in our support campaign. Adobe Systems likwise has pledged its support of the Tsunami relief efforts on its homepage, with a direct link to the "Tsunami and Earthquake Relief" information organized by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Other companies have also made separate donations to support these and other reputable agencies that are providing a range of aid and services to survivors.
U.S. taxpayers may want to check on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulations regarding charitable donations and deductions -- Publication 78 offers a list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions and Publication 526 [PDF: 178kb] on "Charitable Contributions" contains more detailed information about the deductibility of contributions. Titled "Disaster Relief: Providing Assistance through Charitable Organizations," [PDF: 507kb] Publication 3833 explains how the public can use charitable organizations to help victims of disasters, and how new organizations can obtain tax-exempt status.
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We strongly encourage the support by our own global community of Tsunami relief efforts, especially from agencies and workers that are doing heroic work in the 12 countries impacted by the twin natural disasters that struck a wide region. We particularly encourage cash donations -- the most-needed type of relief at this time -- to:
