Inside Philanthropy

Who's Funding What & Why

|

Google.org

OVERVIEW: Google names racial justice, COVID-19, economic empowerment, technology & innovation, and learning as its main focus areas, but in actuality the organization’s grantmaking is exceptionally broad, including support for housing, humanitarian aid and refugees.

IP TAKE: Since 2020, the lion’s share of Google’s philanthropy has gone to human rights initiatives. This is a bureaucratic funder that otherwise prefers making proactive grants. The Google Foundation’s grantmaking approach ultimately works to accelerate impact through a “combination of funding, innovation and technical expertise.”

The Google Foundation is reasonably accessible, posting opportunities from time to time, though it is hard to contact. It offers cash grants and employee volunteer services, as well as donated products. Google does this through capacity-building and technical assistance, general support, and program support. It does not appear to accept contact or unsolicited applications; however, this funder runs open impact challenges that are similar to RFPs, but these challenges do not always reflect the organization’s main areas of grantmaking.

PROFILE: Google.org is the philanthropic arm of Google, the multinational internet technology company. Google’s philanthropic work consists of both grantmaking and technology support, and its overarching goal is to “support underserved communities and provide opportunity for everyone.” Google names racial justice, COVID-19, economic empowerment, technology & innovation, and education as its main focus areas, but in actuality the organization’s grantmaking is exceptionally broad, including support for humanitarian aid and refugees.

In addition to making grants in its stated areas of interest, Google runs “impact challenges,” which target “nonprofits and social enterprises with ideas that can create change at the pace and scale that the world needs today,” and often do not reflect the organization’s main focus areas.

Grants for Global Health

Since 2020, public health has been Google’s largest area of giving, with funds mainly supporting COVID-19 treatment and relief efforts around the world.

Google earmarked $100 million for its COVID-19 funding initiative, which, in addition to health, supports economic recovery and distance learning programs. Health funding focuses on relief efforts and data tracking, with relief grants going to the World Health Organization’s Solidarity Response Fund, New York’s COVID-19 Technology SWAT Team and the Center for Disaster Philanthropy. Data tracking grantees include Doctors without Borders and the Boston Children’s Hospital’s Health Map, which was developed with google technology. 

Grants for Racial Justice and Criminal Justice

Racial justice and equity have been a main focus area of Google’s philanthropy for several years, but giving in this area increased in 2020 in response to the widespread protests against the murder of George Floyd and widespread police brutality in the U.S. The foundation’s racial equity work includes several priorities:

  • Expanding more “quality data for a more equitable criminal justice system,” primarily through the Google Fellowship, which is a pro bono program that matches Google employees with nonprofits and civic entities for up to six months on full time technical projects. In other words, fellows leave their day jobs at Google to work alongside the organization’s staff to build scalable solutions for lasting impact.

  • Racial equity work also measures bias in police behavior, makes local jail population more accessible, and compares criminal case performance.

  • Legal representation and advocacy.

  • Reducing disperate racial outcomes.

  • Support for community banks that invest in Black-owned SMBs.

Early estimates suggest that Google has made more than $100 million in donations and grants to organizations involved in the movement for racial equity, including $1 million to the Center for Policing Equity. Other recent grantees include the NAACP, the Marsha P. Johnson Institute, the Educational Fund’s Policing Reform Campaign, the Movement for Black Lives, Morehouse’s Satcher Health Leadership Institute, and the Essie Justice Group, among other grantees.

In house, Google added an Accelerator for Black Founders to its signature Google for Startups service. 

Grants for K-12 Education

Google’s K-12 grantmaking, which it names learning, supports organizations that promote “equitable access to learning materials, computer science education and digital responsibility resources.”

  • Grantmaking prioritizes organizations based in the U.S.

  • Computer science education, AI technology, equity in education, and classroom support are all education priorities.

Google made a $6 million commitment to the national organization 4H to help rural students who typically lack access to technology learn computer science and explore career opportunities in the technology industry. Another grantee, the Kapor Center, used funding to develop curricula and teaching practices that encourage Black and LatinX students to achieve equity in computer science. Google also gave over $20 million to U.S. public school teachers’ classroom projects via DonorsChoose.

Other past education grantees include Can’t Wait to Learn, ChalkLit and the Foundation for Learning Equality, which used funding to make open-source learning materials free and available to teachers everywhere. 

Grants for Economic Development

Google names economic empowerment as an area of grantmaking interest and funds programs that help jobseekers develop technology skills and organizations that provide equitable financial services and loans to small- and medium-sized businesses.

One grantee, the Opportunity Finance Network, used Google funding to help minority- and women-owned businesses gain access to equitable financial services and loans. Google has also supported technology education programs and scholarships through Year Up, Merit America, Per Scholas, Goodwill Industries, the United Service Organization and Upwardly Global. 

Grants for Humanitarian Aid and Refugees

In addition to its extensive COVID-19-related grantmaking, Google has responded to natural disasters and humanitarian crises around the world with rapid response grants for relief, recovery and preparedness.

Past relief grants have gone to organizations including the American Red Cross, UNICEF, Médecins Sans Frontières, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Rescue Committee, Save the Children, Mercy Corps and NetHope. 

Grants for Technology and the Environment

While the Google Foundation makes grants for technology across all giving areas through a racial equity lens, its investments in technology overlap with environmental funding. Google supports organizations that use “technology to address societal and environmental challenges.”

It also works to “empower third-party advocates to share the value, responsibility, and accessibility of AI and emerging technology.” The Google AI Impact Challenge, which gave $25 million to twenty organizations and coaching from Google’s AI experts to identify drawbacks and opportunities for AI learning.

Other Grantmaking Opportunities

Google.org’s Impact Challenges provide “participatory philanthropy” opportunities to nonprofits and social enterprise initiatives in thematic and/or geographic areas that may not be related to its other funding initiatives. Similar to RFPs, impact challenges are run like contests; proposals are evaluated by expert panels for their potential for success and broad impact. Awards generally consist of both funding and technical support or partnership with Google and its products. Challenges have addressed the use of artificial intelligence to improve quality of life, safety and digital inclusion. Most recently, it has focused on efforts to empower women and girls economically. Recent geographic targets have included France, the San Francisco Bay Area and Colorado. 

Google’s U.S. initiatives also include funding for a homelessness through a guaranteed income pilot in San Francisco, where its corporate sister is headquartered. IP reports on this five-year randomized control trial, called It All Adds Up, which will focus specifically on families at high risk of homelessness.

Important Grant Details:

Google.org makes over $100 million in grants a year, with many grants exceeding $1 million.

  • Grantees tend to be organizations with technological capacity and/or those that are poised to effect large-scale change in Google.org’s areas of interest. For information about past grantees and partnerships, see Google’s Our Work or pages. 

  • Google does not place geographical limits on its grantmaking and has supported organizations on every continent. In the U.S., however, grantmaking has mostly gone to organizations based in New York, Massachusetts, California, Texas, Michigan and Alabama. 

  • Google.org only accepts applications for its impact challenges. For all other programs, nonprofits are vetted internally.

Prospective grantseekers should check Google.org’s opportunities page, which is updated frequently, for current impact challenges, which may not reflect the organization’s main areas of grantmaking. Google.org does not provide a direct avenue for getting in touch, but posts an impact challenge FAQ on its website. 

PEOPLE:

Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).

LINKS: