Unfortunately COVID-19 is everywhere. We are seeing a lot of countries dedicating massive economic funds to help their citizens with both welfare and their businesses. Google now, as big as many countries by itself, have decided to help fight the disease pledging US$800 million (AU$1,018,800,000) to help where they can.

Google are donating help where they are best — including cash — ads. The package is designed to support small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), health organisations, governments and health workers “on the frontline of this global pandemic”.

Google’s commitment includes:

  • US$250 million in ad grants to help the World Health Organisation (WHO) and more than 100 government agencies globally provide critical information on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other measures to help local communities. There is also an additional US$20 million in ad grants to community financial institutions for PSAs on relief funds.
  • A US$200 million investment fund that will support NGOs and financial institutions around the world to help provide small businesses with access to capital.
  • US$340 million in Google Ads credits available to all SMBs with active accounts over the past year.
  • A pool of $20 million in Google Cloud credits for academic institutions and researchers to leverage our computing capabilities and infrastructure as they study potential therapies and vaccines, track critical data, and identify new ways to combat COVID-19.
  • Direct financial support and expertise to help increase the production capacity for personal protective equipment (PPE) and lifesaving medical devices. We’re working with our longtime supplier and partner Magid Glove & Safety, with the goal of ramping up production of 2-3 million face masks in the coming weeks that will be provided to the CDC Foundation. Additionally, employees from across Alphabet, including Google, Verily and X, are bringing engineering, supply chain and healthcare expertise to facilitate increased production of ventilators, working with equipment manufacturers, distributors and the government in this effort.

It is great to see Google leveraging not just their core business (ads) and some of their rainy day cash along with a heap of expertise and skill sets in various vocations and requirements. Hopefully more companies can get behind Google’s example and start offering up some of their funds and expertise to help fight this disease.

In saying that there are a lot of companies (Ford, Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and more) already making large efforts to fight the disease and every day you read of companies giving up factories to make medical equipment.

Hopefully more big names will join the fray because if this pandemic is not stopped in a reasonable time frame there will be no economy left to buy products from these big corporations.

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