American Companies Throw Their Weight Behind Haiti (AMGN, MSFT, KO, WMT)

According to Fortune magazine, corporate America has already pledged $40 million in donations to support earthquake relief works in Haiti. At least 22 companies from a cross section of industries have pledged more than $1 million towards the aid effort. Some notable names in the list include Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO).

Walmart (NYSE: WMT), the world’s largest retailer, has pledged $600,000 in support of the Red Cross emergency relief efforts. It also announced that it is sending $100,000 in pre-packaged food kits to Haiti at the request of the Red Cross.

The scale and speed of mobilization of funds has pleasantly surprised most disaster relief veterans. Most have welcomed it warmly, and hope that corporate support continues to be buoyant while Haiti goes through a painful process of rebuilding.

For the record the largest amount of corporate donations ever raised for an international disaster is $566 million, given in response to the Asian tsunami of 2004. Domestically, U.S. businesses donated $1.4 billion in response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.