To help those affected by crises, we look to rapidly support and scale effective solutions.
Google.org helps nonprofits on the frontlines of global crises through funding and volunteers.
A closer look
The challenge
A crisis can emerge anytime, anywhere– and each is a unique challenge. Consider the data: In the last decade, more than 2.6 billion people have been affected by natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. In 2016, there were 130 million people who needed humanitarian assistance. And the refugee crisis continues to displace millions. Nonprofits on the frontlines need immediate and long-term funding to help those who need it most, and in many cases, volunteer efforts can amplify impact.
Our focus
When crises happen, reacting quickly, effectively, and collaboratively is the only way to help as many people as possible. That’s why we look to give strategic packages of support, including providing nonprofits with short-term and long-term funding or connections to the right volunteers – whether that's a data scientist or an engineer.
Our work
Ongoing support for refugees around the world
The world is facing the largest refugee crisis since World War II– in fact, 1 in every 113 people on Earth has been forcibly displaced by violence or persecution.. Since 2015, we’ve invested more than $20 million in grants supporting innovative solutions to provide emergency support and also access to vital information and education to more than 800,000 refugees. Early on, we launched a matching campaign on Google homepages in 37 countries to help provide fast, flexible funding for emergency response. In addition to funding, volunteer Google engineers and UX designers have helped nonprofits deploy connectivity solutions and designed mobile applications enabling access to local information and translation services.
Building a mobile platform to provide refugees with reliable information
View International Rescue Committee
Helping nonprofits translate critical information for refugees through an open-sourced app
View Mercy Corps
Giving refugees access to connectivity and devices
View NetHope
Deploying portable media kits featuring educational content for students
View Libraries Without BordersUsing data to track Zika
When the World Health Organization declared Zika a public health emergency, Google.org gave $1 million to help fight the pandemic. We also saw two other ways to help: increase awareness and support a data platform to track the disease. We sent a volunteer team of Google engineers, designers, and data scientists to support UNICEF to develop a platform to map the spread of disease, and implemented updates to Google products that made Zika information more readily accessible.
Developing a platform to identify and track an outbreak
View UNICEF: ZikaFighting the Ebola outbreak
The recent Ebola outbreak devastated communities and put thousands of people at risk, as the virus is highly contagious and has a high mortality rate. We donated $15 million dollars to support Ebola response efforts to nonprofits such as InSTEDD and Partners in Health, and through our matching campaign generated an additional $2.5 million from the public. Googlers also volunteered with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to create a tablet that could be sanitized in chlorine solution and used by MSF and other organizations in the field.
