Google.org, the billion-dollar grant-making arm of the tech giant, has announced that Maggie Johnson, a longtime Google vice president, will take over as its global head next month.
Johnson currently serves as vice president of education and university programs at Google, where she oversees research collaborations, internal education, and the creation of free online coding and digital skills curricula for students of all ages. Before joining the company 18 years ago, she served as director of educational affairs in the Department of Computer Science at Stanford University, where Google was founded in 1998.
Jacquelline Fuller, the previous head of Google.org, departed last August after a decade leading the charitable arm through significant expansion and a growing emphasis on helping nonprofits adopt and adapt to the rise of artificial intelligence and the digital economy. Since 2017, Google.org has given more than $2 billion in grants and employee contributions to nonprofits, including over $200 million to more than 150 organizations for A.I.-related projects.
Those projects range widely from Quill.org’s A.I. literacy tool for young writers to the International Rice Research Institute’s use of A.I. to identify new climate-resilient rice varieties.
“The barriers to access are coming down and will continue to come down” for artificial-intelligence tools, Brigitte Gosselink, director of product impact at Google.org, told the Chronicle in an interview last year. “The question is how to see more of it in a way that really drives value for people and the planet.”
Google is among several major tech firms who have poured millions of philanthropic dollars into artificial intelligence in recent years. It’s an effort that benefits nonprofits, but may also serve to “put a better face on A.I.” at a time of increased scrutiny of the technology, says Leslie Lenkowsky, professor emeritus of public affairs and philanthropic studies at Indiana University.
“They might say, ‘Look, these fears are misplaced: A.I. can do a lot of good things — and we’re going to show you how through Google.org,’” said Lenkowsky, who emphasized that the close relationship between Google and its philanthropic arm meant it was “no surprise” that it would appoint a longtime leader like Johnson to lead.
As part of the transition, two teams that Johnson led at Google — the Education for Social Impact program and Research Solutions and University Relations — will become part of Google.org, which was formed in 2005 after founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin pledged to give roughly 1 percent of the company’s equity and profits to philanthropy.
Most grantees receive a mixture of cash grants and pro bono technical expertise from Google’s 182,000 full-time employees, some of whom spend up 20 percent of their workweek assisting with Google.org projects.
“We’re talking real resources” for grantees, Fuller told the Chronicle in 2017. “If companies not only did that giving but aligned it with their core strengths, their values, what they know, who they are, what their employees do — and volunteer on site — that could have a huge multiplier effect.”
A representative for Google.org said that Johnson, who will assume her new position on February 5, will not be making comments to the press about any new possible directions for Google.org until next month.
