Posted on December 5, 2012

Google Awards $23 Million to Nonprofits for Technology Innovations

Internet technology company Google has announced $23 million in grants to seven nonprofit organizations through its new Global Impact Awards program.

The grants will be used to spur innovation and the use of technology among nonprofit organizations working to address some of the world's most pressing problems. Grant recipients include charity: water, which was awarded $5 million to develop remote sensor technology that will allow the organization to track, in real time and on a site-by-site basis, whether water is flowing at its water projects around the world; the World Wildlife Fund, which received $5 million to develop specialized sensors and tagging technology that helps prevent the poaching of endangered species; and Donorschoose.org, which was awarded $5 million to launch, in partnership with the College Board, the AP STEM Access program.

Other grant recipients include the Smithsonian Institution's Consortium for the Barcode of Life ($3 million), GiveDirectly ($2.4 million), Equal Opportunity Schools ($1.8 million), and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media ($1.2 million).

"Google looks for opportunities with explosive, innovative impact," Jacquelline Fuller, director of Charitable Giving and Advocacy at the company, told the Huffington Post. "The organizations here have an entrepreneurial spirit, embrace technology, and are in the sweet spot between technology and impact that can create massive, positive change."