Google's Global Impact Awards Give $23 Million to Nonprofits

The innovation and excitement of the Google team never ceases to amaze.

Google has launched a new program,The Global Impact Awards, that will donate $23 million in grants for seven nonprofit organizations. These seven organizations seek to use technology to protect and expand knowledge and awareness of nature. The following programs have been awarded the grants from Google:

• Charity:Water: There are nearly 800 million people worldwide who do not have access to clean water. This nonprofit will use their $5 million grant award to pilot installation of real-time water monitoring technologies at 4,000 water points across Africa by 2015.

• Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media will use its $1.2 million Global Impact Awards grant to promote gender equality in children’s media.

• Consortium for the Barcode of Life: This organization will use its $3 million grant to protect the lives of 2,000 endangered species through the use of modern technology. The organization will create and implement “DNA barcoding” in six developing countries that will allow enforcement officials to detect and slow the illegal trade of endangered species.

• Give Directly: Give Directly will use its $2.4 million to grow its model of “direct mobile technology cash” to help Kenyan families via technology. It also plans to expand operations to a second country.

• DonorsChoose.org: Donorschoose.org will use their $5 million Global Impact Awards grant to strengthen the educational opportunities in the U.S. by providing startup materials for American public schools to create 500 new AP science and math courses. The goal is to give kids the skills to compete with countries worldwide.

• Equal Opportunity Schools: They will use their $1.8 million Global Impact Awards grant to give 6,000 underrepresented American students the chance to attend advanced college training.

• World Wildlife Fund: The organization will use its $5 million Global Impact Awards grant to implement new technologies such as specialized sensors and wildlife tagging technology to prevent illegal wildlife trade and poaching of endangered species.