Google.org Doubles Up Its Commitment to Covid-19 Relief Funding

Google’s charitable arm, Google.org, said Wednesday that it is doubling up on the $50 million in grants that it earmarked for the global response to Covid-19, bringing its total contribution up to $100 million. Google.org vice president Jacquelline Fuller outlined where the funds have gone and will go in a blog post, adding that Google.org fellows will give a total of 50,000 hours to projects related to Covid-19. Up to $10.5 million has been committed to entities including the World Health Organization via public matching campaigns, in which Google.org matches donations from Google employees. Fellowships and grants from Google.org to Boston Children’s Hospital’s HealthMap consortium and France’s Médecins Sans Frontières are supporting the application of artificial intelligence to develop new tools and models that track the spread of Covid-19 and inform policymakers and healthcare systems. Over $15 million in cash grants have gone to nonprofits benefiting underrepresented business owners, and Fuller said $5 million grants are going to Common Future, which will provide capital and technical assistance to 2,000 women and minority small business entrepreneurs in the U.S., and to Youth Business International, which will establish a rapid response and recovery program to provide critical support services, including crisis helplines, to over 200,000 underserved small and midsized businesses in 32 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. More than $10 million will go toward immediate crisis relief grants to nonprofits in communities across the globe where Google has offices. Fuller wrote, “Local organizations know how to best address food security, care for vulnerable homeless populations, support victims of domestic violence or increase access to mental health care within their communities.” Google.org began supporting GiveDirectly’s cash assistance campaign in the San Francisco Bay area last month, and it is expanding those efforts to support GiveDirectly in 12 other locations across the U.S., totaling $8 million in donations via Google.org seed funding and donations from Google employees and the public. The Family Independence Initiative received $1 million, and GiveIndia received grants to support nonprofits that are providing cash assistance to support vulnerable families. Fuller said Google.org’s $10 million distance learning fund helped schools, teachers and parents cope with school closures around the world, and $1 million of that went to Khan Academy, which reaches more than 18 million affected learners every month. Inco received a $2.7 million grant for nonprofits in Europe and Asia to digitize learning materials, and $2 million went to DonorsChoose for its Keep Kids Learning effort, which helps teachers from U.S. public schools in high poverty areas purchase materials for remote teaching and student care packages containing food, books and school supplies. Fuller wrote, “There are thousands of Googlers eager to give money or their own skills to organizations they’re passionate about. At the start of Covid-19, we launched an internal site to help Googlers find Covid-specific giving and volunteering opportunities in their communities. We’re matching skilled volunteers to select nonprofits and civic organizations, including 31 Google.org fellows who are providing three to six months of full-time pro bono support to four Covid-19 specific fellowship projects. We also increased Google’s annual gift match from $7,500 to $10,000.”