COVID-19: Google announced 800+ million to support small businesses and in the crisis response

The COVID-19 outbreak started in the end of last year and has been ravaging China until February. From the last month, it started to become a problem for the whole world. With more than 600,000 confirmed cases across the world, the new Coronavirus has been putting governments on knees.

The only way to fight it now is to stay at home to prevent the virus from spreading and prevent health systems from collapsing. Many companies in the world are trying their best to help countries in this fight. Google, the search giant, and mother of Android announced a new 800+ million commitment to support small and medium businesses, health organizations and governments, and health workers that are on the frontline of this pandemic.

Google’s 800+ million worth commitment

• $250 million in ad grants to help the World Health Organization (WHO) and more than 100 government agencies globally provide critical information on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other measures to help local communities.
• $340 million worth of Google Ads credits for small and medium business accounts that have been active over the past year. The credits will be usable until the end of this year.
• $200 million investment fund to support NGOs and financial institutions around the world. The search giant is working along with the Opportunity Finance Network in the US to help fill gaps in financing for people and communities underserved by mainstream financial institutions.
• $20 million worth of Google Cloud credits for academic institutions and researchers who are finding ways to fight COVID-19.
• Direct financial support and expertise to help increase the production capacity for personal protective equipment. The company is working alongside Magic Glove & Safety to ramp up the production of 2 to 3 million face masks in the coming weeks. These masks will be provided to the CDC Foundation. Furthermore, the company Alphabet Employees from Google, Verily and X will contribute with engineering, supply chain, and healthcare expertise to help with the production of ventilators.

Google expects this effort to greatly help in the fight against the pandemic. In addition, the company is increasing the gift match for every employee. That means that the company’s employees can now give $20,000 to organizations in their communities.