With the increasing number of outbreaks of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in many countries, there have been many deaths, suffering and destabilized families. As if that were not enough, due to the quarantine, several shops are paralyzing their activities, to avoid the agglomeration of people, and consequently several of them are closing their doors for not being able to stand for so long. With this huge impact taking place worldwide, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai announced that Google will make a donation of more than US$800 million to support small and medium-sized businesses, organizations, health authorities and healthcare professionals. who are on the front lines to fight the pandemic.
Check out the tweet below from Sundar Pichai delivering the statement:
We’re committing $800M+ in new #COVID19 response efforts, incl $340M in @GoogleAds credits for SMBs worldwide, $250M in ad grants for @WHO & 100+ govt orgs globally, a $200M investment fund for NGOs & banks to help small businesses access capital, and more https://t.co/oVj6MMs9Bl
- Sundar Pichai (undsundarpichai) March 27, 2020According to Sundar, Google is donating and taking the following actions to contain the Coronavirus (COVID-19):
- $250 million in advertising grants to help the World Health Organization (WHO) and more than 100 government agencies around the world provide critical information on how to stop the spread of COVID-19 and other measures to help local communities. This is an increase from the initial $25 million announced last month. In addition, we are providing $20 million in ad grants to financial institutions and community NGOs specifically to serve public service announcements about aid funds and other resources for small and medium-sized businesses.
- A $200 million investment fund that will support NGOs and financial institutions around the world to help provide small businesses access to capital. As an example, we are working with the US Funding Opportunity Network to help fill funding gaps for people and communities in need of traditional financial institutions. In addition to the $15 million cash grants Google.org is already providing to nonprofits to help fill these gaps for small and medium businesses.
$340 million in Google Ads credits available to all SMBs with active accounts last year. Credit notifications will appear in Google Ads accounts and can be used anytime through the end of 2020 on our advertising platforms. We hope it helps alleviate some of the cost of keeping in touch with your customers.
- A $20 million pool of Google Cloud credits for academic institutions and researchers to leverage our computing resources and infrastructure when studying potential therapies and vaccines, tracking critical data, and identifying new ways to fight COVID-19. Learn how to apply for credits on the Google for Education website.
- Direct financial support and expertise to help increase production capacity for personal protective equipment (PPE) and life-saving medical devices. We are working with our long-time supplier and partner Magid Glove & Safety, aiming to increase production to 2-3 million masks in the coming weeks that will be supplied to the CDC Foundation. Additionally, employees across Alphabet, including Google, Verily and X, are bringing engineering, supply chain and healthcare expertise to facilitate increased ventilator production, working with equipment manufacturers, distributors and the government in this effort.
According to the CEO of Google, in addition to the aforementioned efforts to address the Coronavirus, the company has increased the goal gifts that are offered to all employees annually from US$7500 to US$10000.
What did you think of Google's initiative? Comment below and share your opinion with us.
