Charities criticise Apple for blocking donations The iPod-maker was condemned by leading charities for "preventing direct donation from apps." The report, produced by The Big Society Network, said: "When considering the potential of giving powered by apps, the Apple app store's policy was highlighted repeatedly as a barrier to significant uptake." The charities added that Apple's policies forced them "into the arms of [Google] Android," where users were significantly less likely to spend money because Android customers buy fewer apps and spend less on them and through them. The report added that while technology offered huge opportunities for charities, as demonstrated by the use of websites such as JustGiving.com and text message donations, most charities struggled to properly use it to their advantage. Steve Moore, chief executive of the Big Society network said: "Giving hasn't increased in the past 30 years a proportion of household spend, and only about 3 per cent of all donations are made via web/mobile." He added that just one in every 2800 Google searches are for a charity. Apple has been criticised in the past for its attitude to charity, although new chief executive Tim Cook has introduced an employee-giving scheme. The company donated $100,000 in 2008 to a group seeking to block a move that would have banned same-sex marriage in California. But the firm was called one of "America's least philanthropic companies," by the Stanford Social Innovation Review in 2007. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.