Google: A Ubiquitous, Omnipotent Corporation a Nonprofit Could Grow to Love

"You are changing the world," notes Google on the home page of its new nonprofit portal. "We want to help."

I have to confess that initially I felt a touch of cynicism about the move. Most Google applications are already free, after all, so offering them for free to nonprofits hardly seems like the company is really extending itself in any meaningful way. Tutorials, you say? Come on, I reply.

Then I read this:

Google supports a number of philanthropic programs through its Google.org site, but the new portal is not part of that venture. Instead, it extends services for Google.com, the for-profit company, to the nonprofit world.

The project had been in the works for months, says Bob Boorstin, Google’s director of policy communications in Washington, and it was put together by Google employees who came together on their own to work on it.

“Many of us have heard from our friends in the [charity] community that, while they knew our tools could be helpful to them, sometimes they weren’t sure exactly where to start,” he says. He believes the portal will help answer such questions.

Cynicism gone. Sometimes I wonder whether Google is really a nonprofit trapped in a for-profit’s body. | 501(c)

Tags: Google