Google.org, the new billion dollar charity

No, it’s nowhere near the $28bn of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but it’s a start. Google.org is the new umbrella portal for Google’s philanthropic efforts – many of which include social investment projects in the developing world. To highlight a few:

• The Acumen Fund, which will receive $5mn to fund anti-poverty and healthcare schemes in the developing world
• Technoserve, which will get $500,000 for a competition to find and fund business start-ups in Ghana.
• A rural water research project in Kenya run by economists from Harvard University and the University of California
• Grameen Foundation USA
• The MIT One Laptop Per Child program

Via Google Blog. (Thanks Pierre)

PS: Many are raving about the new Google book: The Search. However, another interesting –yet more tech intense- read is The Google Legacy; Chap. 3 is available online for free. (Thanks Ramin)