Posts Tagged ‘google’

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Young Billionaire Gives Back

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, made headline news when he donated $1 million to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.

  • Brin, 36 years old, credits the organization with helping his family escape anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union and create a new life in the United States.
  • Citing Bill Gates as an inspiration, Mr. Brin plans to be very strategic with his grantmaking now that his foundation has built a significant endowment.
  • The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society plans to use the gift to  increase their use of technology and increase their work on immigration policy.

Facts & Figures

  • Sergey Brin’s personal wealth is estimated to be $16 billion.
  • Brin and his wife, Anne Wojcicki, have given over $30 million to charity so far.
  • The majority of Brin and Wojcicki’s philanthropic giving has been to the Michael J. Fox Foundation and other organizations working on Parkinson’s disease.

Best Quote

“I would never have had the kinds of opportunities I’ve had here in the Soviet Union, or even in Russia today. I would like to see anyone be able to achieve their dreams, and that’s what this organization does.” – Sergey Brin

Philanthropy’s Information Revolution

Friday, September 25th, 2009

Philanthropy: Optimized by Google

  • Google is dramatically changing the landscape of the philanthropic sector.
  • While Google’s overall impact has been negative for the newspaper and music industries, the “googlization” of philanthropy has benefited the nonprofit world by giving more people access to information that helps them donate.
  • Guidestar, Charity Navigator, PubHub and Social Actions are all sites that aggregate information for donors about non-profits.

Facts & Figures

  • PhilanthropySearch.org scans the websites of the 100 largest foundations, philanthropy consulting firms, university reserarch centers and other philanthropy-related sites.
  • SocialActions.com aggregates more than 50 sources of online social activity, including change.org, globalgiving.org, razoo.org and volunteermatch.org.

Best Quote

“Most important, the Googlization of philanthropy means that organizing the information will not be done by the information creators, but by third parties and – excitingly – the people who want to consume that information.” – Sean Stannard-Stockton, The Chronicle of Philanthropy

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Don’t Be Evil!

Friday, May 29th, 2009

How a major corporation is using its financial might to do good and sticking to its motto: Don’t Be Evil!

  • The founders of Google have started a philanthropic foundation, Google.org, with $1 billion start-up money and a mission to address poverty, disease, and global warming.
  • Unlike most philanthropies, this is a for-profit company, which can fund start-ups, partner with venture capitalists, and lobby Congress.
  • Its founders believe the for-profit choice will augment the abilities of the foundation.

Facts & Figures

  • Google allotted $1 billion to fund Google.org’s start-up. $175 million will be disbursed within the first 2 years.
  • Google began its big philanthropic venture only 6 years into the company’s lifetime. Microsoft was 25 years old when Bill Gates set up his foundation.

Best Quote

“I think how you count profit is the issue here. Google.org is measuring return on cleaner air and quality of life. Their bottom line isn’t just financial. It’s environmental and social.” – Peter Hero, President of the Community Foundation of Silicon Valley

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