Google.org
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| Formation | October 2005 |
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Director
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Jacquelline Fuller |
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Parent organization
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| Website | www |
Google.org, founded in October 2005, is the charitable arm of Google, a multinational technology company. The organization has committed roughly US$100 million in investments and grants to nonprofits annually.
The organization is noted for several high-impact grants to nonprofits using technology and data in innovative ways to support racial justice, educational opportunity, crisis response after health epidemics and natural disasters, and issues affecting the San Francisco Bay Area community where it's headquartered. It also hosts regular challenges around the world to stimulate innovative uses of technologies to address local challenges.
The mission and approach of Google.org has seen multiple iterations over the years, an approach that mirrors other divisions within Google in its effort to reallocate efforts and resources towards the most significant and impactful methodologies. The organization's general strategy involves funding the use of technology, data, and user-centered design to make a better world, faster.
Google.org is considered a part of Google, as opposed to an Alphabet organization, under the formation of the Alphabet parent company in 2016. To fund the organization, Google granted three million shares during their initial public offering (IPO). In 2014, the corporation stated on its website that it donates $100,000,000 in grants, 200,000 hours, and $1 billion in products each year.
As of 2016, Google has focused a majority of its efforts on a few key topics, based upon a premise of equality and opportunity.
Google.org and Google in general has also been supportive of a number of causes, including LGBTQ rights, veterans affairs, digital literacy, and refugee rights.
Previous incarnations of Google.org took different approaches, usually focused on technology applied to social impact, in keeping with the company's brand around technology and innovation.
Among its first projects was a mass-produced plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that can attain 100 mpg (miles per gallon) (see vehicle-to-grid).
In November 2007, Google.org announced RE<C (Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal), a project that will invest several hundred million dollars in order to produce renewable energy at a profit from wind and solar sources, particularly solar thermal energy. RE<C has the ultimate goal of creating more than a gigawatt of power (enough to power a city the size of San Francisco) from renewable sources that would be cheaper than energy produced from coal.
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