14 DAY TRIAL // Every year for the past few, Google has rewarded its AdSense and AdWords customers with all sorts of gifts ranging from memory cards to coffee mugs. In the early days, the company would get pretty generous with its gifts but this year, it remained quiet for a while, leading many to ask whether the economy hadn't gotten the better of Google's generosity.
It turns out that the economy did have something to do with the missing gifts but the reason wasn't the obvious one. The search giant has decided to give the money it normally used for gifts, not an insignificant sum, to charities, which have had one of the worst years in history.
The publishers who would have received the swag got an email instead directing them to a special site set up for the campaign. It reads, "This gift is for someone very special: Everyone. Because charities are experiencing their toughest year in decades, we have committed $20 million to helping those who help us all. Our gift to you is a gift to them. Happy Holidays."
That's pretty much all the information on the site except for a list of the charities that have received donations from Google from these funds so far. The charities are broad in scope, from humanitarian aid organizations to free-speech and environmental advocates. Among the 25 charities that have been selected so far are Feeding America, Reporters Without Borders, The Mango Tree, Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience and others.
The $20 million Google has pledged for donations work out at $800,000 per charity, quite a nice sum. The company has always had a philanthropic side and is involved in several non-profit projects so the move isn't quite that surprising. And, as nice as it is to receive gifts, no one is really going to miss out on a Google-branded coffee cup and most people are probably happy with the decision.