Grants and Investments

As of January 2008, Google.org has committed over $75 million in grants and investments to further our five initiatives. These include:

RE<C

  • eSolar Inc.: $10 million investment to support R&D on solar thermal power to produce utility-scale power cheaper than coal
  • Makani Power Inc.: $10 million investment to support R&D on high-altitude wind energy extraction technologies aimed at producing utility-scale power cheaper than coal 

RechargeIT

  • 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
  • Plug-In America:  $100,000 to raise public awareness of and to advocate for plug-in transportation options 
  • 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

Predict and Prevent

  • 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 
  • Global Health and Security Initiative: $2,500,000 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) 
  • 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 

Inform and Empower

  • 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
  • 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 
  • 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 
  • 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 
  • Center for Global Development (CGD): 
    • $150,000 grant to help CGD grow and continue to expand their work on education and outcome based assessments
    • $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
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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).
  • 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 
  • 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 
  • Acumen Fund: $5.2 million to build and support innovative enterprises serving the poor through market-oriented approaches 
  • 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

  • Energy Foundation: $50,000 for climate change research 
  • 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 
  • 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
  • PlanetRead: $345,000 to support Same Language Subtitling (SLS) programs in India  
  • Seva Foundation: $2,000,000 to support programs to prevent blindness and restore eyesight in India, Nepal, Tibet, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Tanzania and Guatemala 
  • 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  
  • UC Berkeley Regents: $451,000 to support research on water intervention in Kenya  
  • UC San Francisco: a multi-year grant of $200,000 to support Dr. John Kane's malaria research 
  • 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 

Support for global disease eradication efforts:

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

Hurricane Katrina Gulf Coast Disaster Response and Recovery: