Many big companies or organizations share their corporate social responsibility. These companies want to show how they can do good for the people and the world.
Google states their main mission:
“to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Our company has packed a lot into a relatively young life. Since Google was founded in 1998, we’ve grown to serve millions of people around the world”
They focus on the youth and how they may better serve the world with the three main focuses of their corporate social responsibility. These three main focuses are:
- Google China Social Innovation Cup for College Students
- Supporting Earthquake Relief
- Google Grants
An added part would be Google Green with the ways that Google tries to keep the environment a safe and clean place for everyone.
Google China Social Innovation Cup for College Students
The Google China Social Innovation is a nationwide competition with the goal to empower the youth of China to become agents of social change. College
students bring ideas and proposals in hopes to instill in China’s future the values of social responsibility, importance of community welfare, and the spirit of self-empowerment. Many colleges are a part of this program and the 100 that rank the top for proposal submission share 500 Google “Campus Volunteer Stars” Scholarships every year.
Dr. Eric Schmidt, Google’s Executive Chairman, spoke out about his thoughts on this program.
“It’s amazing to see the creative, meaningful solutions coming out of Google China Social Innovation Cup. Today’s students are tomorrow’s innovators, and the fresh perspective you bring is crucial to solving the world’s big social issues.”
In 2008 when the program started, it was more than 6000 applications from 755 schools. In 2011 after a years of having this program it grew even bigger. There were over 20 thousand proposals from over 1000 colleges and universities. 3,326 proposals from 677 schools went to semi-finals and 310 proposals from 172 schools were in the finals. The winner runs his or her project with Google awards.
Supporting Earthquake Relief
In the Sichuan province of Western China a rated earthquake of 8.0 hit in 2008. Google sent support rescue and relief efforts. Google and its employees raised over 2 million dollars and donated over 1 million dollars worth of advertising to earthquake relief organizations.
Google developed a communication platform for resource support, a search platform for families looking for lost relatives, and a global platform for charitable donations.
A new, but cool concept of Google, Google maps, provided China’s State Bureau with access to see the areas that were hit and know what damages and better aid needed to be for rescue efforts.
In September 2008, Google funded construction of 15 Google Quake Relief Hope schools in the city of Mianyang Sichuan province helping over 18 thousand elementary and high school students go back to school. You can find a list of these schools here.
Google Grants
Google Grants is an in-kind donation program awarding free AdWords advertising to select charitable organizations. It has supported hundreds of organizations in advocating and promoting their causes, such as, animal rights and literacy, abandoned children, and HIV education.
Room to Read, is an organization which educates children in Vietnam, Nepal, India and Cambodia. This organization got the attention of a sponsor who has donated funds to support the education of 25 girls for the next 10 years.
The US Fund for UNICEF’s e-commerce site, Shop UNICEF, has experienced a 43 percent increase in sales over the previous year thanks to Google.
CoachArt, an organization which supports children with life-threatening illnesses through art and athletics programs, has seen a 60 to 70 percent increase in volunteers.
Google Green
The goal of Google Green is to use 100% renewable power to help power the world with clean energy.
Google Green is committed to purchase over 2.2 gigawatts of renewable energy which is equivalent to over 1 million cars on the road. This makes google the largest non-utility purchaser of renewable energy in the world. Google buys clean electricity directly from wind and solar farms around the world.
They are also committed to invest over 2.5 billion in renewable energy projects which makes them one of the largest corporate investors in renewable energy in the world. With this they believe they are creating a better future for everyone.
Watch the Google Green video
Google has won two awards more than once for their efforts.
- Green Power Leadership 2011 and 2014
- Top Rank Cool IT Leaderboard 2012 and 2013
Google commits a lot towards helping China. They give opportunities to college and university students to have their ideas impact people for the better. Their Google Green ultimately helps the environment and the people they are buying the energy from.
We can see from the numbers given that the programs are rising in numbers and getting more attention. They are helping China with new schools for youth. We see a lot of help for China. Google could get some backlash for putting their main focus in one area while others may need the help to. I think a good change or add on could be to add more countries or other areas besides China that could use similar help.
Do you agree or disagree? Have something to add? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Ckoh Blog 