Many businesses of all sizes advertise on Google to reach more potential clients.
And here, the company commits to a giveaway of $340 million in Ad Credits. As explained by to CEO Sundar Pichai in a blog post, the money is meant to "support small- and medium-sized businesses, health organizations and governments, and health workers on the front line of this global pandemic."
The Ad Credits are being pushed to users' Google Ads account, but are only made available to advertisers who have been active during the past year.
What this means, small- and medium-sized businesses that just opened up a new Google Ads account aren't eligible for the credits.
Credit notifications will appear in eligible advertisers' Google Ads accounts, and can be used at any point until the end of 2020 across the company's advertising platforms, but not for use in 2021.
According to Google:
"We hope it will help to alleviate some of the cost of staying in touch with their customers," Pichai said.
The initiative is part of Alphabet's, which is Google's parent company, commitment in pledging $800 million to help fight the 'COVID-19' coronavirus.
While the tech company is taking a big hit from the pandemic, the company's total revenue is projected to be more $120 billion. What this means, Alphabet is still sitting on a huge pile of money, and is willing to part with some of it to help with coronavirus relief.
"Together, we’ll continue to help our communities—including our businesses, educators, researchers and nonprofits—to navigate the challenges ahead," said Pichai.
Besides the $340 million in Ad Credits, Pichai said that the company's commitment includes:
- $250 million in ad grants to help the World Health Organization (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. This is an increase from our initial $25 million announced last month. In addition, we’re providing $20 million in ad grants to community financial institutions and NGOs specifically to run public service announcements on relief funds and other resources for SMBs.
- A $200 million investment fund that will support NGOs and financial institutions around the world to help provide small businesses with access to capital. This is in addition to the $15 million in cash grants Google.org is already providing to nonprofits to help bridge these gaps for SMBs.
- 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. Learn how to apply for credits on the Google for Education site.
- Direct financial support and expertise to help increase the production capacity for personal protective equipment (PPE) and lifesaving medical devices. Google is working with its 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 are bringing their engineering, supply chain and healthcare expertise to make this happen.
In addition to the above commitments, Google has also increased the gift match Google offers every employee annually from $7,500 to $10,000. This allows its employees to give more money to organizations in their communities, in addition to the $50 million Google has already donated.
Further reading: Google Launches COVID-19 Information Website, Initially For People In The U.S.