In its continuing effort to use the power of information and technology to help people better their lives, Google.org today rolled out five core initiatives that will be the focus of its philanthropic efforts over the next five to ten years.  Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), will collaborate with experienced partners working in each of these fields, investing its resources and tapping the strengths of Google's employees and global operations to advance its core initiatives.   

Today's announcement includes more than $25 million in new grants and investments to initial partners globally across many geographies. The resources come from a commitment by Google's founders to devote approximately 1 percent of the company's equity plus 1 percent of annual profits to philanthropy, as well as employee time.  

Google.org's focus areas include-

o        Predict and Prevent

o       Inform and Empower to Improve Public Services

o        Fuel the Growth of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)    

o        Develop Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal (RE<C)  

o        Accelerate the Commercialization of Plug-In Vehicles (RechargeIT)  

In India, as a part of its “Inform and Empower to Improve Public Services” initiative, Google .org will provide grants and work closely with organizations in India to improve essential public services for the poor.

"In their first Letter from the Founders (2004), Larry Page and Sergey Brin said that we wanted to 'make Google an institution that makes the world a better place.'  The work of Google.org will help us do that by applying Google's strengths in organizing information and scaling technology to these complex issues ," said Sheryl Sandberg, VP Global Online Sales & Operations, and Google.org Board member.  

Added Dr. Larry Brilliant, executive director of Google.org, "These five initiatives are our attempt to address some of the hard problems we as a world need to face in the coming decade.   We have chosen them both because we think solving them will make a better, fairer, safer world for our children and grandchildren---and the children and grandchildren of people all over the world---but also because we feel that these core initiatives fit well with Google's core strengths, especially its innovative technologies and its talented engineers and other Googlers, who are really our most valuable assets."

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