Google announced this week that it gave away $40 million dollars in grants for charitable cause like girl’s education, STEM- science, technology, engineering and math, fight against modern slavery, and technology.
Organizations like African Leadership Academy which offers scholarships based on merits to various young women all over the country as well as the Switchboard group which provides free communication and access to creating networks for African healthcare workers benefited from Google. Another beneficiary that is based in Afghanistan, the Afghan Institute of Learning, teaches literacy classes for girls and women in the rural areas of the country.
A grant was also presented to Code for America which provides web developers an avenue for beneficial projects intended for the community. Organizations focusing on giving educational materials to disadvantaged youth like the Citizen Schools from Boston and Generating Genius from the United Kingdom were also provided with funding. Vittana was also aided for its efforts in connecting students and would-be lenders in the developing world.
The search giant contributed $11.5 million out of the $40 million, particularly for the intervention, advocacy and rescue of people who are forced to work for sex. The Associated Press says that this is the largest-ever corporate grant reported for this cause.
Google through its blog mentioned that the grant will be distributed to various organizations worldwide who are working against slavery. Organizations like International Justice Mission, and tools like the National Trafficking Hotline of the Polaris Project are among the entities benefiting from this grant.
An intervention project based in India for the fight against modern slavery is given $3.5 million funding. Google gave $4.5 million for the awareness and advocacy campaign in the country. Smaller projects will divide $1.7 million while the remaining $1.8 million is directed for mobilizing Americans to action.
Google’s Jacquelline Fuller, head of the charitable giving and advocacy mentioned that the company has chosen slavery this year to be in the spotlight because nothing is more fundamental than freedom.
For 2011, Google has funded over $100 million worth of grants for academic institutions and non-profit organizations. It has also provided $1 billion in investments for programs like Google Apps for Education and Google Grants.
