Grants and Investments

As of September 2008, Google.org has committed over $100 million in grants and investments to further our five initiatives. These include:

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  • Makani Power Inc.: $15 million investment to support R&D on high-altitude wind energy extraction technologies aimed at producing utility-scale power cheaper than coal 
  • eSolar Inc. and BrightSource Energy, Inc.: $10 million investments in each to support R&D on solar thermal power to produce utility-scale power cheaper than coal
  • AltaRock Energy, Inc: $6.25 million investment in EGS technologies and project development to support the advancement of enhanced geothermal systems. 
  • Potter Drilling: $4 million investment in two tranches focused on developing hard rock drilling breakthrough technologies for EGS.
  • Southern Methodist University Geothermal Lab: $489,521 grant to improve geothermal resource assessment techniques and update the Geothermal Map of North America.
  • U.S. National Academy of Sciences: $250,000 grant for a study that will develop recommendations for U.S.-Chinese cooperation on renewable electricity.
  • Stanford University: $135,000 award to increase the power output per advanced geothermal well

RechargeIT

  • Aptera Motors and ActaCell: $2.75 million investment to support the development of technologies that will enable widespread commercialization of plug-in electric vehicles
  • Brookings Institution: $200,000 to support a conference in spring 2008 on federal policy to promote plug-in hybrids 
  • CalCars: $200,000 multi-year grant to the California Cars Initiative to support their work educating the public about plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs)
  • Electric Power Research Institute: $200,000 to support EPRI's plug-in vehicle research and development program including participating in advanced infrastructure development, vehicle-to-grid technology demonstrations, and studies of the environmental and economic benefits of plug-ins
  • Rocky Mountain Institute: $200,000 to partially fund an 'Innovation Workshop' to promote new strategies for greater production and market adoption of plug-in next-generation hybrid vehicles 
  • Dr. Willett Kempton at University of Delaware: $150,000 for megawatt plug-in to grid research and implementation planning
  • Plug-In America:  $100,000 to raise public awareness of and to advocate for plug-in transportation options 

Predict and Prevent

  • Global Viral Forecasting Initiative (GVFI): $5.5 million multi-year grant to support the collection and analysis of blood samples of humans and animals in hot spots within Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, China, Malaysia, Lao PDR and Madagascar.
  • InSTEDD: $5,000,000 multi-year grant to establish this nonprofit organization focused on improving early detection, preparedness, and response capabilities for global health threats and humanitarian crises
  • Children's Hospital Boston supporting HealthMap and ProMED-mail: $3 million multi-year grant to combine HealthMap's digital detection efforts with ProMED-mail's global network of human, animal, and ecosystem health specialists.
  • Global Health and Security Initiative: $2.5 million multi-year grant to strengthen national and sub-regional disease surveillance systems in the Mekong Basin area (Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and China-Yunnan province)
  • Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health: $2.5 million multi-year grant to accelerate the discovery of new pathogens, and to enable rapid, regional response to outbreaks by establishing molecular diagnostics in hot spot countries including Sierra Leone and Bangladesh.
  • Woods Hole Research Center: $2 million multi-year grant to support high-resolution satellite mapping of forests to enhance monitoring of forest loss and settlement expansion in tropical countries.
  • Columbia University, International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI): $900,000 multi-year grant to improve the use of forecasts, rainfall data and other climate information in East Africa, and link weather and climate experts to health specialists so they can better predict outbreaks of infectious diseases.
  • University Corporation for Atmospheric Research: $900,000 multi-year grant to support the building, implementation and evaluation of a weather-based disease decision-support system in West Africa.
  • Clark University for Clark Labs: $617,457 to Clark University, with equal funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, to support the development of a system to improve monitoring, analysis and prediction of the impacts of climate variability and change on ecosystems, food, and health in Africa and the Amazon 
  • HealthMap: $450,000 multi-year grant to conduct in-depth research into the use of online data sources for disease surveillance
  • Training Programs in Epidemiology and Public Health Interventions Network: $250,000 for developing country participation at the TEPHINET conference to enhance capacity for outbreak detection and response 

Inform and Empower

  • Pratham: $2,000,000 to create an independent institute that will conduct the Nationwide Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) and large scale assessments in the education sector 
  • HakiElimu: $1,800,000 multi-year grant to improve the quality of education in Tanzania by conducting critical research, conducting policy analysis, and stimulating public debate in the media.
  • Educational Initiatives India: INR 61.9 million (approximately $1.6 million) contract to conduct a benchmark study to gauge levels of student learning in classes 4, 6 and 8 and to identify learning gaps in India.
  • Institute for Finance Management & Research (IFMR): $1,015,000 multi-year grant to create district level development indices in India and to support mapping of information including research, government, non-government, and NGO database information 
  • PRS Legislative Research: $880,000 multi-year grant to increase citizen engagement, track the performance of members of parliament, and procure photocopies of state laws throughout India 
  • Aspen Institute Africa Leadership Initiative: $851,053 grant for the ALI - East Africa program, in support of the program's efforts to develop and cultivate the next generation of leaders in the region from the business, non-profit and public sectors.
  • Center for Budget and Policy Studies (CBPS): $765,000 multi-year grant to create a Budget Information Service for local governments in India, with the goal of facilitating better district and municipal-level planning 
  • Centre for Policy Research (CPR):
    • $600,000 multi-year grant to increase the debate and discourse on issues of urban local governance and urban service delivery in light of the rapid expansion of cities in India
    • $250,000 multi-year grant to create a centre for accountability that will collect accountability tools, analyze them, identify gaps, assess the effectiveness and disseminate this information to policymakers and civil society in India.
  • Policy Forum: $510,000 multi-year grant to support a coalition of civil society organizations seeking to make the policy process in Tanzania more transparent, participatory and accountable, to benefit society, especially the poor and marginalized communities
  • Shekhar Singh: $250,000 contract to conduct a study of the use and implementation of the Right To Information (RTI) Act across various stakeholders in India (including public authorities, information commissions, media, judiciary, NGOs, and corporate sector).
  • Center for Global Development (CGD): 
    • $220,000 grant to support the launch of the International Initiative on Impact Evaluation (3IE), which will bring new financial and technical resources to conduct and disseminate impact evaluations around the world
    • $150,000 grant to help CGD grow and continue to expand their work on education and outcome based assessments
  • International Budget Project of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (IBP): $197,000 multi-year grant to support the building of a larger constituency for budget tracking work in India.
  • Social Development Network (SODNET): $149,967 multi-year grant to support a budget tracking tool to monitor Kenya's Constituency Development Fund and other development funds providing communities the opportunity to make better expenditure decisions to maximize their well-being.

Fuel Growth of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

  • TechnoServe: $1.7 million for managing the business plan competitions and entrepreneurship programs in Ghana and Tanzania since 2006 
  • Acumen Fund: $5.2 million to build and support innovative enterprises serving the poor through market-oriented approaches 
  • TechnoServe: $3 million as a general support grant to expand TechnoServe's efforts to support enterprises, spur job creation, and strengthen poverty alleviation programs in the Africa region 
  • Grameen Foundation: $200,000 to assess the potential for mobile applications to provide information for rural enterprises and households in East Africa 

Special Projects & Learning Grants

  • ONE Action Campaign: up to $3,000,000 to ensure global health and development issues, specifically the need to conquer malaria, are prominently represented in 2008 U.S. presidential election campaigns
  • Seva Foundation: $2,000,000 to support programs to prevent blindness and restore eyesight in India, Nepal, Tibet, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Tanzania and Guatemala 
  • NRDC:
    • $100,000 to support the Environmental Entrepreneurs Climate Campaign to assist with the implementation of the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (California's AB 32) 
    • $2,000,000 to create a Center on Energy Efficiency Standards to help the US and China achieve major reductions in the use of electricity and natural gas – and significantly cut associated global warming pollution and energy bills – through voluntary and mandatory efficiency standards for buildings, equipment and appliances 
  • World Bank - Development Marketplace: $500,000 to support their international business plan competition that funds innovative, early-stage projects with high potential for development impact 
  • UC Berkeley Regents: $451,000 to support research on water intervention in Kenya  
  • PlanetRead: $345,000 to support Same Language Subtitling (SLS) programs in India  
  • UC San Francisco: a multi-year grant of $200,000 to support Dr. John Kane's malaria research 
  • TEDGlobal / Sapling Foundation: $100,000 grant to support the TEDGlobal-sponsored Fellows' Program which seeks to provide African entrepreneurs with financial and other philanthropic support, as well as communication technologies to make markets and governments more efficient  
  • Energy Foundation: $50,000 for climate change research 

Support for global disease eradication efforts:

  • Rotary Foundation: $3,500,000 in matching funds to support polio eradication globally 
  • The Carter Center: $1,450,000 in matching funds to support guinea worm eradication in Ghana

Support for disaster response and recovery: