Category Archives: Google for Nonprofits

News and updates from Google for Nonprofits

Google.org supports Latino SMBs this holiday season

When I think about small businesses, I think about my family. My uncle runs a small freight forwarding business in South Florida. My cousin works at a family-owned Peruvian restaurant. And my father-in-law is a serial entrepreneur who has run a hair salon, a construction company, and an outdoor food court over the years. These small businesses have been a lifeline for my family, and provided opportunities for us to succeed in this country. 


Small businesses are the backbone of families like mine and the U.S. economy as a whole. It’s critical that we come together to support these pillars of local communities, especially for historically underserved groups, like the Latino community, which have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Latinos are 1.5 times more likely to start a business, but in the past few months alone about 32% of Latino-owned businesses have been forced to close due to COVID-19. 


In September, Google.org announced a $3 million grant to Hispanics in Philanthropy PowerUp Fund to directly support Latino-owned small businesses across California, Texas and New York. Through this effort, 500 small businesses were selected and will receive $5,000 in cash grants as well as a year's worth of business training from Ureeka, a community-based platform that connects underserved small business owners to peers, mentors and coaches, to help these businesses grow. We’re optimistic that through cash and training like this, small businesses will be able to build the resilience they need to withstand economic downturns, especially during the holidays. 


The PowerUp Fund grant recipients represent more than 55 industries including food and beverage, health and wellness, childcare, technology and more. Nearly 60 percent of these businesses are Latina-owned and more than 15 percent of business owners identify as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, a U.S. veteran or persons with disabilities. We asked recipients to share how this support will help keep the lights on, here’s what some of them had to say: 


  • Gisselle Hernandez, CEO of Glamlite Cosmetics

    Gisselle Hernandez, CEO of Glamlite Cosmetics

    Gisselle Hernandez founded Glamlite Cosmetics, a food inspired cosmetics brand. Giselle is a Caribbean immigrant that lives by the motto: "beauty isn't one-size-fits-all." Our brand is grateful to be one of recipients of this outstanding support from the PowerUp Fund,” says Gisselle. “Through the Ureeka coaching we will continue to learn how to use social media to expand our audience and create engaging content for our current customers.”


  • Alejandro Cuadra, owner of Urban Barber College

    Alejandro Cuadra, owner ofUrban Barber College 

    Urban Barber College prepares students to become licensed professionals within the beauty industry. “This funding and coaching will help bring some stability in this very unpredictable year,” said Alejandro.“I can look forward to growth and sustainability with the opportunity to learn from a Ureeka business coach.” 


  • Laura Bruce, Director of Mi Casa Es Tu Casa

    Laura Bruce, Director ofMi Casa Es Tu Casa 

    Mi Casa Es Tu Casa offers highly-rated online baby and toddler music classes to teach Spanish through music, sign language, and games. “The PowerUp funding and coaching from Ureeka will help us have a solid plan to move forward with our small business by setting our priorities straight, recover from the damages done by COVID-19, and have a more efficient business strategy to make 2021 our best year yet,” says Laura. 


  • Joe Melig, Co-owner of 2M Smokehouse

    Joe Melig, Co-owner of 2M Smokehouse

    2M Smokehouse is one of the most popular barbeque and catering restaurants in San Antonio. “With all the uncertainty that lies ahead for small business owners, this grant is helping us by allowing us to make the necessary improvements and adjustments during these ever-changing times,” says Joe. “However, it is the support brought to us through the coaching course and a sense of community with fellow business owners that will last a lifetime.” 


  • Carmen Rodriguez, CEO of Brooklyn Cupcake

    Carmen Rodriguez and Gina Madera, Founders of Brooklyn Cupcake

    Brooklyn Cupcake is a family owned and operated cupcake shop with a menu of Puerto Rican and Italian inspired cupcakes. “We’ve seen a spike in our internet shipping since the start of the pandemic,” says Carmen. “This grant will go towards building a much needed shipping department so that we can capture every single sale and continue to grow our shipping platform.”


  • Javier Castaño, Director of QueensLatino

    Javier Castaño, Director of QueensLatino 

    Queens Latino is a monthly bilingual newspaper that provides  local news from Queens, New York—one of the most diverse regions in the U.S. "COVID-19 has transformed New York City’s Latino community,” says Javier.  “In response to the disruptive impacts the QueensLatino community-based platform has endeavored to report on the systemic socio-economic dislocations–thus contributing to reactivating the local economy. This grant money will be used to pay reporters, videographers, and acquire new technologies. The coaching will assist in making our newsroom more robust, strengthen our business strategy and help us navigate the digital ecosystem and develop new perspectives that will ensure growth and prosperity."


Google.org’s funding for the PowerUp Fund builds on Google’s $180M commitment to support minority and women-led small businesses across the country through the Grow with Google Small Business Fund and Google.org grants. Read on to learn more about the other PowerUp Fund recipients and consider supporting a small business this holiday season— whether it’s buying your favorite candle from the shop around the corner or giving a shout out to your go-to dinner spot on social media—every little bit counts. 


YouTube Giving makes it easier to support nonprofits

Whether it's a livestream video of goats or educational stories about the challenges of the criminal justice system, YouTube creators have long helped rally people behind causes they’re passionate about.

Last year, we set out to make it even easier for creators and viewers to support charitable causes they care about by testing YouTube Giving—a fundraising tool that helps creators raise money for eligible nonprofit organizations directly from their videos and live streams. 

YouTube Giving is now available to all YouTube Partner Program channels with more than 10,000 subscribers in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. We spoke with two nonprofits that have benefited from fundraising efforts on YouTube to learn more about their causes first hand. 

Top YouTube creator raises funds to help people who can’t afford bail 

The Bail Project is a national nonprofit that combats this injustice by providing free bail assistance to thousands of people every year while working to eliminate cash bail. Every year, millions of low-income Americans are forced to sit in jail for weeks or months as they wait for their day in court. They’re presumed innocent under the law, but their freedom is tied to whether they can afford cash bail. Many end up pleading guilty to crimes they didn’t commit just to go home, leading to an undeserved criminal record that will follow them for the rest of their lives. 

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah told the story of The Bail Project on its channel and used YouTube Giving to raise $127,000 from viewers for their National Revolving Bail Fund. With teams in 24 cities around the U.S., they pay bail using their National Revolving Bail Fund and connect people to social services and community resources as needed upon release. Every donation made possible through Youtube Giving helped make a difference in The Bail Project's efforts to fuel momentum for bail reform.

An animal sanctuary hosts a fundraiser to support its cause

Nonprofits with more than 10,000 subscribers, like Goats of Anarchy, can now host their own fundraisers with YouTube Giving. Goats of Anarchy is a New Jersey-based sanctuary for animals with a focus on goats that have disabilities ranging from blindness to mobility impairment to neurological disorders. In addition to rescuing and rehabilitating animals, Goats of Anarchy also advocates for animal rights and teaches the world about inclusion and acceptance of disabilities.  

Caring for 240 animals, of which about 30 wear custom prostheses, they’re constantly working to provide the best possible care and find new ways to fund these efforts. Just over a year ago, Goats of Anarchy stumbled upon a passionate community of supporters on YouTube. The team had rescued Maybel, a pregnant goat. To keep an eye on her as she approached her due date, they set up a camera and created a livestream on YouTube. This live stream won the hearts of viewers who not only spread the word about these adorable animals, but also donated to Goats of Anarchy. 

Now with a growing audience of more than 16,000 subscribers and access to YouTube Giving, the team at Goats of Anarchy continues to share content and fundraise with YouTube Giving. Ellen, an Animal Caregiver at Goats of Anarchy, told us that YouTube allows them to share in-depth stories with their enthusiastic audience, many of which have some personal connection to disabilities. 

Nonprofits with more than 10,000 subscribers, like Goats of Anarchy, can now host their own fundraisers with YouTube Giving.
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With these updates, viewers across more than 40 countries can use the Donate button or Live Chat donations to contribute to causes they care about—already fundraisers on YouTube have raised millions of dollars for organizations in the U.S. Thanks to the support of creators and the ability to fundraise with YouTube Giving, nonprofits can make an even bigger impact in their communities.  

Helping Australian teens hone media literacy skills

On April 28, 1996 at the historical Port Arthur site in Tasmania, 35 people were tragically killed. Alannah and Madeline Mikac, aged six and three, along with their mother, died that day. Because of this terrible act of violence, Alannah and Madeline's father, Walter Mikac AM, and a small group of volunteers, created the Alannah & Madeline Foundation with the belief that all children should have a safe and happy childhood. For more than 20 years, the Alannah & Madeline Foundation has worked to safeguard every child’s basic right to live free from violence and serves as a beacon of hope for a better, safer world. 

As the dangers children face today become increasingly complex, the Foundation is adapting and responding to modern challenges. To help young people become less susceptible to online harms like disinformation and hate speech, the organization is focusing on helping teens better understand their relationships with media.

In Australia, as in the rest of the world, it’s more crucial than ever to help young people distinguish fact from fiction online. Research by Queensland University of Technology and Western Sydney University shows that many teenagers regularly consume news media, but their trust in the stories provided by news organizations has fallen significantly since 2017. More than half of young Australians pay little or no attention to the source of news stories found online, and only one third agree that they can tell “fake news” from real news. Teachers believe it's important to teach media literacy, but many feel constrained by barriers like a strict curriculum and a lack of confidence about the topic. 

With support from Google.org, the Foundation set its sights on tackling this issue and worked with an advisory group of academics, industry experts and educators to develop Media Literacy Lab, a first-of-its-kind education resource for teachers and students aged 12-16. This e-learning platform helps Australia’s youth become media-savvy digital citizens, questioning what they see, practicing smart and safe online behaviors and seeking help when needed. 

A video from the foundation announcing their media literacy lab.

The Lab aims to both increase the media literacy of young Australians and support teachers to build their confidence in teaching the subject. Media Literacy Lab has two portals: one for teachers to administer the Lab and engage in professional learning, and one for students to experience narrative-based learning. In the Teacher Portal, educators can easily facilitate lessons, access resources and view real-time student reports. Media Literacy Lab’s gamified learning modules, including new and carefully curated content from our partners, sit in the Student Portal. Media Literacy Lab empowers students to strengthen their ethical understanding and critical thinking skills, crucial to navigate and thrive in today’s digital ecosystem.  

In its first month, we saw almost 200 Australian schools register, with nearly 270 educators facilitating the Lab and more than 100 users from other non-school settings like libraries and universities—a huge achievement amid a global pandemic. 

As we shifted to remote work in March as a result of COVID-19, we increasingly used Google for Nonprofits tools for organization and collaboration. Google Drive ensures our documents are protected, creating an easy way to invite the right people to contribute during product development. We simultaneously used Google Docs and Sheets for project management and content design documentation. The ability to collaboratively work with Google products was useful to keep project momentum. 

The Foundation recently extended the period to register and use Media Literacy Lab free-of-charge until the end of 2021. Next year, we will deliver a national series of professional learning events for teachers with expert guests and hold student workshops in critical media production. We will continue to support national media literacy research, partnerships, advocacy campaigns and policy development. With additional funding, we also plan to build new modules for upper primary students.

Media Literacy Lab forms part of the Foundation’s crucial work in transforming how society thinks about–and responds to–the barriers to every child’s basic right to safety. We believe explicitly teaching young people media literacy can lead to strengthened digital civic engagement and contribute to safer civil discourse, benefiting children across Australia. 

Investing in the next generation of NY tech talent

New York City is my home. I’m a proud graduate and parent of three children in the New York City public school system, and I chose to stay and build my career here. Twelve years ago, after a career on Wall Street, I joined Google and currently serve as Chief Information Officer (CIO) and co-site lead for Google’s growing New York campus. Like me, Google has been fortunate to call New York home and is committed to connecting students, teachers and job seekers to the local tech economy. 


Today, as part of Google’s commitment to the continued growth of our city’s current and future tech workforce, Google.org is announcing $3.5 million in grants to three local organizations: Pursuit, ExpandEd Schools and CS4All. 


Supporting organizations like these is especially important as the COVID-19 pandemic has unearthed unsettling truths about equity and access to resources, especially in underserved communities of color. As we navigate the short and long term effects of the pandemic, we must come together to create equitable solutions that meet the needs of the moment and provide a strong foundation for the future. This starts by making sure every New Yorker has access to a quality education and the training and resources needed for in-demand jobs—these grantees are working to make this possible. 


Pursuit: Connecting New Yorkers to careers in tech 

Pursuit creates economic opportunity for adults from low-income communities by training them to code and build careers in technology. Their fellows come from groups that are historically underrepresented in tech and are made up of majority Black or Latino people, women, immigrants and those without Bachelor’s degrees. Upon completing the fellowship, they go on to work at top tech companies, increasing their salaries from $18,000 to $85,000 on average. With $2 million in funding from Google.org, Pursuit will build on its work to remove systemic barriers preventing low-income communities from accessing careers in technology and connect 10,000 New Yorkers with jobs in the tech industry. 

 

ExpandEd Schools: Supporting after-school educators  

ExpandEdsupports a strong after-school system that enables students to thrive and educators to grow. Google.org's $1 million investment in ExpandED Pathways Fellowship Computer Science (CS) track will empower aspiring teachers of color from underserved communities to fulfill their professional goals through a 10-month after-school teaching practicum. Ultimately, this will help increase the number of diverse CS educators in New York City and nationwide.


CS4All: Sustaining Computer Science education in public schools

Computer Science for All (CS4All) began in 2015 as an innovative public-private partnership with the NYC Department of Education to train 5,000 teachers and bring equitable CS education to all 1.1 million public school students in NYC by 2025. As the program hits its halfway point, Google.org is providing $500,000 to fund their CS Leads program facilitated by the Fund for Public Schools. This will help provide more than 200 teachers with a comprehensive leadership training program focused on equity in CS education, peer coaching and in-school leadership.


The creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of New Yorkers is one of the reasons Google calls this city home. And I’m proud that the work we do helps nurture that spirit. Whether it’s standing alongside 26 CEOs from the largest employers in New York to launch the New York Jobs CEO Council with the goal of hiring 100,000 traditionally underserved New Yorkers by 2030, committing to additional hiring efforts focused on Black+ talent in NY or developing alternative pathways into the workforce, we believe tech should be for everyone and we’re committed to making that a reality. 


The Last Mile grows with G Suite Enterprise for Nonprofits

In the United States, as much as 83 percent of formerly incarcerated people return to prison. The Last Mile (TLM) is a nonprofit on a mission to reduce the re-incarceration cycle by creating new pathways to jobs for prison populations. Since 2010, it has provided classrooms to 600 incarcerated men, women and youth across the country, offering a highly competitive coding skills curriculum and becoming one of the most requested prison education programs in the country. Technology has played a huge role in TLM’s growth and is helping to keep the program going despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which is hitting prison populations especially hard. We interviewed Mike Bowie, director of Engineering, to learn more about TLM and how G Suite helped them boost efficiency and streamline operations.

What is the story of The Last Mile, and what’s the problem you are trying to solve?

We believe that high-quality education for incarcerated populations is key to providing new opportunities and breaking the re-incarceration cycle. When Chris Redlitz, our cofounder, entered the San Quentin State Prison for the first time in 2010 to speak to a group of men about business and entrepreneurship, he was impressed by the men’s eagerness to learn, and started to nurture the idea of creating a technology accelerator inside the prison. 

He started The Last Mile alongside his wife and business partner, Beverly Parenti. Graduates of TLM coding programs in San Quentin now take part in the first-ever web development shop in a US prison. After leaving prison, many TLM graduates enter paid apprenticeships with leading companies, turning their skills into careers and smoothing the way for reentry. 

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The Last Mile upgraded from G Suite for Nonprofits to G Suite Enterprise. Why?

As the information services at TLM have evolved, technology needs have also changed. It became clear that we could vastly simplify our service catalog, improve our security posture and streamline our IT operations with this one low-friction transition, so we decided to upgrade to G Suite Enterprise. Given the valuable range of functionality G Suite Enterprise already affords us, having Google now offer such reasonable discounts for nonprofits makes it hard to pass up. 

Did one or more of the G Suite Enterprise features help you solve a challenge that you think most nonprofits might face?

For any organization, people are the most critical component, and in the nonprofit environment, that’s especially true. As part of G Suite Enterprise, we now use Secure LDAP Service as a single identity and access management platform. Staff use the same G Suite credentials to log into multiple apps and, in many cases, without re-logging in. 

Having standardized on Chromebooks as our platform of choice, we can ensure the key G Suite apps for our organization are readily available as soon as the user logs in, and everything is kept up-to-date without the need for significant technical support. A centralized access management system has reduced financial costs, simplified IT management, streamlined staff onboarding and simplified the experiences for everyone who interacted with the complicated and burdensome systems we'd used in the past. Less time spent by IT engineers creating or updating accounts means more time working on things that have a valuable impact on our cause. 

How is TLM using G Suite to increase collaboration and security?

G Suite is the foundation platform for all of our team. Having that familiar, feature-rich set of tools as a starting point for communication and collaboration is key to our productivity. To ensure documentation processes are well detailed, TLM is using enterprise features in Google Meet, including the ability to record meetings and securely store them in Drive. 

The IT staff also gets access to security dashboards, reporting and eDiscovery tools. For example, email log helps determine the coverage of phishing campaigns, and eDiscovery gives visibility to phishing engagement. The system alerts IT of any suspicious logins, and gives them the ability to prioritize, investigate and escalate them in the console. 


What’s next with The Last Mile?

COVID-19 has posed new challenges. In-person activities have been paused to protect our students and slow the spread of the virus in prison facilities, which are particularly affected by the outbreak. But TLM's momentum isn't stopping. We have 23 classrooms across six states (California, Indiana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Michigan and North Dakota), with plans for rapid expansion. Our goal is to be in 50 classrooms across the country within the next four years. The tech-centric nature of our program has enabled us to continue providing value during the pandemic with remote instructions and recorded content. The efficiency of having a single unified means of managing all of the systems we have further supports our growth.

Connecting people to causes through $1 billion in Ad Grants

As of this week, eight million people have been infected with COVID-19, and additional crises are worsening in mental health, domestic violence and social stigma. Society is also reckoning with longstanding racial injustices, both in the U.S. and abroad.

Nonprofits are taking swift action to confront these challenges, but many are struggling to stay afloat with typical fundraising activities canceled due to social distancing. In fact, more than half have experienced a decline in donations since the COVID-19 outbreak. Further compounding these challenges, they’re seeing sharp increases in the demand for services, which makes fundraising and volunteering online especially critical.

To further support nonprofits this year, we’re pledging an additional $200 million in Ad Grants, for a total of $1 billion in 2020. Since 2003, Ad Grants has provided nonprofits with up to $10,000 per month in free Search ads to help them attract donors, recruit volunteers, and promote their missions. The increased funding will go toward nonprofits tackling pressing issues like COVID-19 response and recovery—especially in hard-hit developing economies—and fighting racial injustice around the world.

Supporting racial justice

Yesterday, Google announced more commitments to racial equity, building on $12 million in cash grants commitments from Google.org and $25 million in Ad Grants to advance racial justice. The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc, a premier legal organization fighting for racial justice, was one of the first to receive these additional Ad Grants. Over the past several weeks, they’ve experienced a significant uptick in donations through their Ad Grants account. Another grantee is the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), the largest scholarship provider for students of color in the U.S. Through Ad Grants, UNCF drove 5,000+ interactions with students in 2019, ranging from new student sign ups to newsletter subscriptions.

With additional Ad Grants and account management support, we hope to increase engagement for both organizations so they can fulfill their missions of building toward a more equitable society. In the coming weeks, we’ll also offer additional Ad Grants to 100+ other racial justice institutions across the globe.

Driving COVID-19 response and recovery

COVID-19 is expected to drive 50 million people around the globe into extreme poverty, and developing countries will be particularly impacted. For this reason, we’ll award additional Ad Grants to nonprofits serving vulnerable populations in developing economies such as South Africa, Kenya, Brazil, Mexico, India and Thailand. One example is Feed My City, an Indian nonprofit that has provided meal boxes for underprivileged families during the COVID-19 lockdown. Since mid April, they’ve raised enough funds through Ad Grants to feed nearly 1,000 families. We’ll also work with national and local organizations in the U.S. like the Houston Food Bank, which has seen a 50 percent uptick in individuals and families in need of food in the past three months. Using Ad Grants helped increase donations by 330 percent from pre-crisis levels, which led to the delivery of almost 400,000 pounds of food.

Improving access for all qualified nonprofits

To make it easier for qualified nonprofits to receive Ad Grants, we’ve reduced our application process from 14 steps to two steps and also expanded Ad Grants to sixteen new countries.

Organizations can register for a livestream training on July 27th from 9:00 - 10:00 AM PT or view the recording on theGoogle for Nonprofits YouTube channel two days after the event. Additional information on how to maximize your Ad Grants is also available here. We sincerely hope these incremental Ad Grants can help nonprofits connect with people who are searching for their causes, and we will continue to share their stories throughout the year.


FoodFinder maps food resources with help from Google

In March 2020, Google searches for food pantries were the highest they have been in five years. With many Americans at risk of food insecurity for the first time, alongside millions who were already vulnerable, finding assistance is critical. The majority of pantries are volunteer-run with a limited digital presence, making resources difficult to find online. 


In 2013, Jack Griffin recognized this major gap in information while he was still in high school. To help connect people in the United States to food resources, he built FoodFinder, a nonprofit app and website. And since 2018, through Google for Nonprofits, he’s been using products like Google Maps Platform credits and Ad Grants to bring awareness to the platform and surface key information to those in need.
Jack Griffin of FoodFinder

Jack Griffin, founder of FoodFinder

Prior to FoodFinder, most information on emergency food relief was found in huge lists of food pantry addresses, and transportation remained a huge barrier to receiving these services. Jack used Google Maps to create a way to help users understand what’s nearby, by displaying users’ current location and food assistance providers in their area. 


FoodFinder prioritizes showing the closest, most relevant programs, including temporary resources set up for COVID-19 relief. The team uses Google Maps Platform to provide a familiar, easy-to-use interface that quickly provides information like eligibility and hours of operation. By using a map instead of a list, users are able to see the locations of food assistance providers, the density of resources and the supply of emergency food. Starting this year, FoodFinder plans to use their dataset to inform policymakers about where to concentrate food insecurity efforts based on supply and demand. 


In addition to Google Maps, FoodFinder uses Ad Grants to raise awareness, helping their organization rise to the top of the search results. By focusing on keyword phrases such as “food pantries near me,” FoodFinder can reach people seeking food for themselves or family before they get overwhelmed by too many sources of information. With COVID-19 creating more issues in food security, FoodFinder went from helping 700 people per day to 3,000 people per day, and site traffic increased by eight times. From the start of March, Ad Grants helped FoodFinder reach over 25,000 people, a quarter of their total users nationwide.


With help from Google for Nonprofits, FoodFinder has collected and verified the information of 50,000 free food programs across America. As a result, they’ve connected more than 300,000 people to food relief, and Jack credits Google as key to his app’s success. “FoodFinder is truly a Google-enabled nonprofit,” he says.

Google for Nonprofits expands to ten more countries

Nonprofits around the world have told us that they need access to digital tools to continue operations, maintain productivity, and raise awareness. Last month we expanded Google for Nonprofits to an additional six countries, and today we’re adding ten more across the globe: Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana, Pakistan, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Malta, Cyprus, Iceland and Ecuador. 


Google for Nonprofits is now available in 67 countries, receiving over 1,000 new applications each week from organizations around the world. After last month’s expansion, we chatted with a few nonprofits to see how they’re using Google for Nonprofits. 

Turing School 

Based in Lithuania, Turing School focuses on building digital skills for students in grades 5-12. They teach computer science and entrepreneurship-related courses, and they had been relying on the paid version of G Suite Basic for the past three years. Now that Google for Nonprofits is available in Lithuania, they migrated to G Suite for Nonprofits, saving money that they can now put toward their educational programs. 

For the Turing School, G Suite for Nonprofits has increased flexibility and efficiency for their organization. Google Calendar and Google Meet have made working remotely much easier. They collaborate on Google Docs, which reduces the number of emails between their staff and volunteers. Additionally, they’ve organized their Google Drive for everyone on the team,  including a separate shared drive for teachers to update information on student attendance, teaching curriculums and useful resources.

VOST

In Portugal, VOST is an association for digital volunteers in emergency situations.. As an organization with no revenue stream, VOST couldn’t invest funds in premium collaboration and productivity tools. For Jorge Gomes, the National Coordinator,  gaining access to Google tools through Google for Nonprofits “is a large upgrade in the way we manage our internal and external communication, as well as how we develop our projects.” With these advanced technological capabilities, they can now work more efficiently to provide resources and information during emergencies, including support for health professionals during COVID-19. 

Chatzigakis Foundation

Athens-based Chatzigakis Foundation creates social and philanthropic programs with an emphasis on Greek culture, history and education. Prior to gaining access to Google for Nonprofits, Chatzigakis Foundation didn’t have a dedicated budget for marketing. Their team is now excited using Ad Grants ($10,000 worth of text-based advertising at no cost) to reinforce visibility, increase website traffic, and attract volunteers and donors. They also plan to introduce more tools, like shared drives and Google Meet, into their organization now that they have access to G Suite for Nonprofits.  


Elisavet Chatzigaki, General Secretary, told us that “Google for Nonprofits constitutes a new window of opportunity to communicate our mission and programs to a wider segment of the population. We plan on expanding our member community and fundraising efforts in this constantly evolving world that still faces everlasting hardships.”

Chatzigakis Foundation.jpg

Chatzigakis Foundation team photo prior to COVID-19

Nonprofits continue to face unique challenges. Our goal is to provide access to Google tools and technology quickly and effectively, so that these organizations can focus their efforts and resources directly towards achieving their goals. 


Canada Learning Code moves programs online with digital tools

Founded in 2011, Canada Learning Code hosts in-person technology education classes for people across Canada, focusing on women, girls, people with disabilities, Indigenous youth and newcomers to Canada. So far, they’ve reached 35 communities and over 650,000 people. Due to the spread of the coronavirus, they had to quickly transition their education programs to an online method while simultaneously adapting to virtual ways of working. I recently spoke to the team at Canada Learning Code about how they used technology to serve the needs of their communities during COVID-19. Here’s what they told us.

How did your organization react when in-person programming was no longer feasible due to COVID-19? 

Our programs were not designed to exist online pre COVID-19, so we had to learn by doing. Our main focus was to uphold a safe and inclusive learning environment and to stay true to our values. We built a task force with people from several teams to brainstorm, create, and test these new digital experiences. To make sure classes are interactive, we reduced the size to 15-20 and developed shorter workshops around topics like HTML coding. We also applied different teaching styles based on the age of the learner to keep our virtual experiences engaging for everyone. 


What role did technology play in this transition? 

As a charity with a presence across the country, it’s essential that our teams have tools to stay in constant communication with each other. Prior to COVID-19, we were already using digital tools like Gmail, Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, to maximize our productivity. Since G Suite was already part of our day-to-day operations, we’ve been able to quickly transition to remote work and adapt to the circumstances. 


This accessibility is critical for Canada Learning Code, as it helps us to continue reaching communities in rural and remote areas. Since Google for Nonprofits provides these tools for free, we are able to bring down our costs significantly. For organizations like us, lowering operational costs helps us to invest and make more of an impact every year. 


What tools do you use to reach audiences online?

We’ve used a lot of digital tools to build our programs over the years. Since June 2014, Google Ad Grants has provided free online advertising, resulting in an additional 5.92 million impressions and over 200,000 more clicks to our website. This would have cost us over $315,000 in five years. By using Google Ad Grants, we’ve allocated this money to developing and updating our content for our learning experiences. Working with a Google Account Strategist has helped us better target potential learners and volunteers throughout the years, and our click-through rate has increased. 


How will this change Canada Learning Code in the future?

In the long term, we’re thinking about continuing online learning, in addition to our in-person programs. Our ambitious goal is to deliver 10 million learning experiences by 2027 with a focus on digital literacy. With support from Google, we can focus on our mission and empower individuals to be creators—and not just consumers—of technology.

Google for Nonprofits adds new countries and G Suite discounts

With the spread of coronavirus, nonprofits need access to tools to help them work remotely and raise awareness online. To serve the unique needs of the nonprofit community, the Google for Nonprofits team is expanding the program to new countries and offering discounts for nonprofits who use G Suite Business and Enterprise editions.

Reaching nonprofits in more countries 

In the program’s first expansion in years, we’re bringing Google for Nonprofits to 6 new countries—Portugal, Greece, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Peru. Google for Nonprofits is now available in 57 countries, helping thousands ofeligible organizations get access to Google’s nonprofit tools and continue business operations amid COVID-19. 

Nonprofits can activate G Suite for Nonprofits at no cost and collaborate online with apps like Gmail, Docs, and Calendar. In addition, advanced features of Google Meetare available to all editions of G Suite through September 30, 2020. To help organizations raise awareness online, the Ad Grants Crisis Response Program is extending Ad Grants, up to $10,000 worth of text-based Search ads at no cost, in these countries through October 2020. The YouTube Nonprofit Program and Google Earth and Maps also offer nonprofits storytelling tools to amplify their cause. 

Discounting G Suite Business and Enterprise editions for nonprofits

Many nonprofits are learning how to transition their staff and programs to online-only formats, and with that comes challenges around cloud storage, security and virtual collaboration. To give nonprofits access to G Suite’s advanced features, we’re launching nonprofit discounts globally for G Suite Business ($4 per user per month, normally offered at $12) and G Suite Enterprise ($8 per user per month, normally offered at $25). As always, G Suite for Nonprofits will continue to be offered at no charge.

G Suite Business for Nonprofits offers 1 TB storage per user, access to Google Vault for data management, video conferencing for up to 150 people, along with more security and administrative options. With G Suite Enterprise for Nonprofits, organizations have all the features of G Suite Business and G Suite for Nonprofits, with the addition of email encryption, live streaming and video conferencing for up to 250 people, as well as Cloud Identity to manage users and apps. 

G Suite Nonprofits pricing

Google for Nonprofits is on a mission to empower nonprofits with technology. See our full list of COVID-19 resources on the Google for Nonprofits website, Coronavirus Resources page. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to get notifications for upcoming live streams and to learn more about our products.