COVID-19: Google to donate $800+ million to support small businesses and crisis response

On Friday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced that it would be donating over $800 million to support small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), health organizations and governments, and health workers on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here are the details of the company’s commitment below:

• $250 million in ad grants to help the World Health Organization (WHO) and more than 100 government agencies globally provide critical information on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other measures to help local communities. This is an increase from Google’s initial $25 million announced last month. In addition, Google is providing $20 million in ad grants to community financial institutions and NGOs specifically to run public service announcements on relief funds and other resources for SMBs.
• A $200 million investment fund that will support NGOs and financial institutions around the world to help provide small businesses with access to capital. This is in addition to the $15 million in cash grants Google.org is already providing to nonprofits to help bridge these gaps for SMBs.
• $340 million in Google Ads credits available to all SMBs with active accounts over the past year. Credit notifications will appear in their Google Ads accounts and can be used at any point until the end of 2020 across our advertising platforms.
• A pool of $20 million in Google Cloud credits for academic institutions and researchers to leverage our computing capabilities and infrastructure as they study potential therapies and vaccines, track critical data, and identify new ways to combat COVID-19. Learn how to apply for credits on the Google for Education site.
• Direct financial support and expertise to help increase the production capacity for personal protective equipment (PPE) and lifesaving medical devices. Google is working with its longtime supplier and partner Magid Glove & Safety, with the goal of ramping up production of 2-3 million face masks in the coming weeks that will be provided to the CDC Foundation. Additionally, employees from across Alphabet, including Google, Verily and X, are bringing engineering, supply chain and healthcare expertise to facilitate increased production of ventilators, working with equipment manufacturers, distributors and the government in this effort.

In addition to these commitments, Google also increased the gift match Google offers every employee annually to $10,000 from $7,500. That means its employees can now give $20,000 to organizations in their communities, in addition to the $50 million Google.org has already donated.