Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google Inc., said it is expanding beyond funding for alternative energy to focus on projects in health and combating poverty and climate change.
Google.org is working with partners in five fields who will get $25 million in new grants and investments and help from Google employees.
Three of the projects are new, including one that will use of information technology to "predict and prevent" ecological, health or social crises in vulnerable regions. Its initial focus will be on Southeast Asia and tropical Africa. "We want to take the advantages of Silicon Valley to the Rift Valley," said Larry Brilliant, executive director of Google.org, referring to support for projects in East Africa, in a conference call to discuss his group's plans.
Google.org mixes the star-power of the world's biggest internet company with a change-the-world idealism that aims to inject new energy and activism into the world of philanthropy.
But critics question whether the tiny percentage of its $200 billion market capitalization Google has committed to good works is more than just a publicity stunt.
At time of its initial public offering in 2004, founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin pledged employee time and about 1 percent of Google Inc's equity - or three million shares - plus one per cent of profits to philanthropy. In 2006, Google converted 300,000 shares into about $90 million to set up Google.org. Sheryl Sandberg, who heads global online sales as well as philanthropic efforts for Google, said it has committed "real time and real money" to Google.org and the goal is to have "as much or more impact as Google itself has had on the world."
"You should hold us accountable for real spending and real results," said Mr Sandberg, a former World Bank economist.
It also funds projects that back small and medium-sized business in developing countries as a way to alleviate poverty and overcome the limits of both microlending - grants usually under $500 to groups of villagers - and conventional aid, involving grants of several-million dollars, Mr Brilliant said.
Google.org began working in 2006 with TechnoServe to support local entrepreneurs in Ghana and Tanzania.
As part of its "predict and prevent" push, Google.org is donating $2.5 million to respond to biological threats to the Global Health and Security Initiative (GHSI), a group set up by the Nuclear Threat Initiative run by US Senator Sam Nunn.
The grant seeks to strengthen national and sub-regional disease surveillance systems in the Mekong Basin area stretching from Vietnam and Myanmar to southwestern China.
Google.org is working with partners in five fields who will get $25 million in new grants and investments and help from Google employees.
Three of the projects are new, including one that will use of information technology to "predict and prevent" ecological, health or social crises in vulnerable regions. Its initial focus will be on Southeast Asia and tropical Africa. "We want to take the advantages of Silicon Valley to the Rift Valley," said Larry Brilliant, executive director of Google.org, referring to support for projects in East Africa, in a conference call to discuss his group's plans.
Google.org mixes the star-power of the world's biggest internet company with a change-the-world idealism that aims to inject new energy and activism into the world of philanthropy.
But critics question whether the tiny percentage of its $200 billion market capitalization Google has committed to good works is more than just a publicity stunt.
At time of its initial public offering in 2004, founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin pledged employee time and about 1 percent of Google Inc's equity - or three million shares - plus one per cent of profits to philanthropy. In 2006, Google converted 300,000 shares into about $90 million to set up Google.org. Sheryl Sandberg, who heads global online sales as well as philanthropic efforts for Google, said it has committed "real time and real money" to Google.org and the goal is to have "as much or more impact as Google itself has had on the world."
"You should hold us accountable for real spending and real results," said Mr Sandberg, a former World Bank economist.
It also funds projects that back small and medium-sized business in developing countries as a way to alleviate poverty and overcome the limits of both microlending - grants usually under $500 to groups of villagers - and conventional aid, involving grants of several-million dollars, Mr Brilliant said.
Google.org began working in 2006 with TechnoServe to support local entrepreneurs in Ghana and Tanzania.
As part of its "predict and prevent" push, Google.org is donating $2.5 million to respond to biological threats to the Global Health and Security Initiative (GHSI), a group set up by the Nuclear Threat Initiative run by US Senator Sam Nunn.
The grant seeks to strengthen national and sub-regional disease surveillance systems in the Mekong Basin area stretching from Vietnam and Myanmar to southwestern China.