Coronavirus prompts Google to raise $5M in relief for 5,000 San Francisco families
CEO Sundar Pichai will give an additional contribution of $1M
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Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org, announced Monday it is raising $5 million to provide $1,000 cash payments of coronavirus relief for San Francisco families in need.
"We're working with @GiveDirectly to raise $5M to help support 5,000 families with direct cash transfers in the San Francisco Bay Area," the company said in a tweet.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai (AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal, File)
The company said it is giving a $1 million donation to kick things off, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai has pledged an additional $1 million contribution.
The partnership with Give Directly, which delivers cash to families enrolled in the federal nutrition assistance program SNAP, is the latest effort by Google to contribute to the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The fund has raised more than $2.6 million as of Monday evening.
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On March 27, Google pledged more than $800 million to the worldwide response to the pandemic, including $340 million in free advertising credits for small businesses and $250 million in ad grants on top of a previous $25 million to help the World Health Organization and more than 100 world government agencies to provide information about preventing the virus’s spread, and a $200 million investment fund for "NGOs & banks to help small businesses access capital."
For small- and medium-sized businesses with active Google Ads accounts over the past year, the company additionally pledged to provide a total of $340 million in credits usable at any point this year.
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The tech company also said in a release on March 15 that it would match up to $5 million in donations made to the World Health Organization's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund to help the WHO "track and understand the spread of the virus and help frontline workers with essential supplies and information," and made a $500,000 grant for a team of researchers, epidemiologists and software developers at Boston's children's hospital working on HealthMap, a website that provides up-to-date trends of emerging public health threats and outbreaks.
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Pichai added that Google is working in collaboration with California's state, local and federal health authorities to establish testing sites in the San Francisco Bay Area and an online tool to increase screening for people at high risk through Alphabet's Verily program.
"Californians will be able to take an online COVID-19 screener survey through Verily’s Project Baseline, and those who meet eligibility and requirements for testing will be directed to mobile testing sites based on capacity," Pichai said.
While Verily is in the early stages of its pilot program, Google plans to expand it to other locations over time.
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Google has also developed a website "dedicated to COVID-19 education, prevention, and local resources nationwide," including the best practices on prevention, links to information from the World Health Organization and CDC, and helpful tips and tools from Google for individuals, teachers and businesses.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GOOGL | ALPHABET INC. | 171.49 | +2.54 | +1.50% |
Google stock closed at $1,210.41 per share at the end of Monday's trading session.