July 28, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
Is Google doing enough to provide free online ad space to nonprofit groups led by blacks and Latinos? Andrew Sears, a nonprofit leader, says no.
Mr. Sears is director of TechMission, a charity in Boston that seeks to help minorities gain access to the Internet and other digital technology. On UrbanMinistry.org, a Web site his group manages, Mr. Sears details his concerns with Google Grants, a program that offers valuable Internet advertisements to charities.
He writes that Google often awards free ads to organizations that are run by people who reflect the technology company’s own racial make-up and background. Google employees “give grants to organizations with interest like theirs and people they know, which most often are also white or Asian and from elite schools.”
A Google spokeswoman, who declined to be identified, told The Chronicle that the company does not collect ethnic or racial data about the groups it aids. “Factors such as the ethnicity, education, or any other demographic information about an organization’s ownership and staff are neither collected nor considered when reviewing applications,” she wrote in an e-mail message.
The company does use “a strict set of guidelines when reviewing applications to ensure that the process is consistent and objective,” she said.
Another factor in this discussion is faith. Google says it does not provide Google Grants to organizations that have religious material on their Web sites. Mr. Sears primarily represents Christian organizations.
In a letter he sent to Google in March, he charged the company with unfairly prohibiting religious charities from being eligible for Google Grants and being inconsistent with its eligibility policy.
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