Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

The Philanthropic Arm of Google

Posted by Zonk on from the reach-out-and-touch-in-a-good-way dept.

GoatJuggler writes "I accidentally visited google.org recently and ended up at a different Google site that appears to be a placeholder for Google's future foray into the world of philanthropy. A quote from Sergey Brin & Larry Page is there now, 'We hope that someday this institution will eclipse Google itself in overall world impact by ambitiously applying innovation and significant resources to the largest of the world's problems.' Not much to see there now, but it's certainly refreshing to see a successful company leveraging their success to do good. Googling part of that quote led me to a blog that references the uniqueness of Google's SEC filing. The Google Foundation is referenced, and Google's job page now mentions that they are looking to fill the position of Executive Director for the Google Foundation. So, expect Good Things(TM) (like saving 3-legged kittens) from Google soon."

8 of 299 comments (clear)

  1. Already doing good by skartel · · Score: 1, Informative

    Google are already doing good, I searched for philanthropy, I now know what it means.

    Google also makes me look smart to the people that ask me stupid questions that take 3 seconds to find.

    Ahhh... it must give them a warm fuzzy feeling inside :D

    --
    Skartel GamingOverload.com
  2. Re:Their first task by ggvaidya · · Score: 5, Informative

    Done!

    So what's the next task?

  3. Re:Other Philanthropists by Tim · · Score: 4, Informative

    Well, here in Seattle, a number of researchers are being paid by the Gates' Foundation to conduct applied research into malaria infection.

    Given that malaria is one of the biggest third-world killers, and that very few drug companies are willing to invest research money into drugs for poor people, I think the Gates' are actually doing some good work in this area.

    I suppose you could tie that to an "agenda," but you'd have to be awfully cynical.

    --
    Let's try not to let fact interfere with our speculation here, OK?
  4. Worth mentioning that Google isn't the only one by FunctionalMethod · · Score: 2, Informative

    Gates Foundation /waits for the "OMG IT'S FOR TEH TAXES" response.

    --
    -- TRUST ME! I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!
  5. Re:Purpose of charitable tax "write offs" by jonbryce · · Score: 4, Informative

    I am an accountant, and I can confirm that what you say is correct.

    There are some companies that donate their entire profits to charity. They are mostly trading subsidiaries of the charity in question, and they pay their profits to the charity as a donation rather than as dividends so that they don't have to pay any tax on their profits.

  6. Re:Philanthropy by sjb2016 · · Score: 2, Informative

    If this is an attempt to mock American's for being ignorant of a particular word used in the English language, fine. However, in terms of giving to charity Americans are a very generous people. Read a report on (global) philanthropy http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id =S')8H*P!3'%200%204%0A Or, if you're in America but don't have online access to the Economist, why not go to your local public library which may well have been funded by Andrew Carnegie and read it there?

  7. Re:You dont seem to realize... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Yes they were. You can find a fairly detailed analysis of poverty pre-colonial Africa here.

  8. Re:Saving three legged kittens from Google? by Tekgno · · Score: 2, Informative

    There would be no cats resulting from this, only 1 or -1 legs respectively. You then add these to deformed cats until you have a normal cat again.