To help those affected by crises, we look to rapidly support and scale effective solutions.
Google.org supports nonprofits working alongside affected communities throughout the entire disaster cycle -- from immediate relief to long term recovery and future preparedness.
A closer look
The challenge
A crisis can emerge anytime, anywhere—and each is a unique challenge. Consider the data: In the last decade, more than 2.6 billion people have been affected by natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. Nearly 132 million people, or one in every 70 people, will need humanitarian assistance in 2019. And conflict continues to displace millions. Nonprofits on the frontlines need immediate and long-term funding to help those who need it most, and in many cases, volunteer efforts can amplify impact.
132 million
people will need humanitarian assistance in 20191
Our focus
When crises happen, reacting quickly, effectively, and collaboratively is the only way to help as many people as possible. That’s why we look to give strategic packages of support, including providing nonprofits with short-term and long-term funding or connections to the right volunteers—whether that's a data scientist or an engineer.
Our work
Ongoing support for refugees around the world
The world is facing the largest refugee crisis since World War II—in fact, the number of people forcibly displaced by violence or persecution exceeded 70 million in 2018, the highest in nearly 70 years. Since 2015, we’ve invested more than $25 million in grants supporting innovative solutions to provide emergency support and also access to vital information and education to more than 1,000,000+ refugees. Early on, a matching campaign on Google homepages in 37 countries raised $5.5 million to help provide fast, flexible funding for emergency response. In addition to funding, volunteer Google engineers and UX designers have helped nonprofits deploy connectivity solutions and designed mobile applications enabling access to local information and translation services.
37,000 people
a day forced to flee their homes because of conflict and persecution2
Building a mobile platform to provide refugees with credible information
View International Rescue Committee: Refugee Crisis
Helping NGOs and aid workers translate critical information for refugees through an open-sourced app
View Mercy Corps
Giving refugees access to connectivity and devices
View NetHope
Deploying portable media kits featuring educational content for students
View Libraries Without BordersHelping with Hurricane Harvey recovery
When natural disasters strike they can devastate communities. Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 storm, made landfall over Texas, devastating the Gulf Coast and the fourth largest city in the U.S., Houston. It was the most powerful hurricane to hit the United States in a decade. Google.org donated $2 million directly to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts, and through our matching campaigns, raised an additional $2.5 million from the public and Google employees.
13 million
people impacted3
Immediate relief support to people in Texas and Gulf Coast affected by Hurricane Harvey
View American Red Cross: Hurricane HarveyUsing data to track Zika
When the World Health Organization declared Zika a public health emergency, Google.org gave $1 million to help fight the pandemic. We also saw two other ways to help: increase awareness and support a data platform to track the disease. We sent a volunteer team of Google engineers, designers, and data scientists to support UNICEF to develop a platform to map the spread of disease, and implemented updates to Google products that made Zika information more readily accessible.
75
affected countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia4
Developing a platform to identify and track an outbreak
View UNICEF: ZikaFighting the Ebola outbreak
The Ebola outbreak devastated communities and put thousands of people at risk, as the virus is highly contagious and has a high mortality rate. We donated $15 million dollars to support Ebola response efforts to nonprofits such as InSTEDD and Partners in Health, and through our matching campaign generated an additional $2.5 million from the public. Googlers also volunteered with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to create a tablet that could be sanitized in chlorine solution and used by MSF and other organizations in the field.
29,000+
cases of Ebola reported since 20145
