Google Points a Neon Sign Toward the End of Philanthropy As Usual

Google.org's for-profit status reminds of the days when answers my mother couldn't provide required a trip to the library and the willpower to ask questions of the scary, old woman behind the information desk. Nowadays, we all have a million answers to every question our brains can compose in lightening speed.

I predict a not-to-distant future, also courtesy of the innovators at Google, in which we look back with incredulity at a world in which the only option donors had for advancing social change was the Nonprofit Sector. I believe that Google's announcement is a solid repudiation of the (in)efficiency of the nonprofit sector. I am not saying there aren't great organizations and amazing people driving change in the sector, but I am saying that a system which awards resources based on who you know rather than what you do is deeeeeeeeply flawed. In such a system, (same concept for bureaucracies) quality is an exception to the rule.

Today's New York Times states:

Dr. Brilliant likens the traditional structure of corporate foundations to a musician confined to playing only the high register on a piano. ���Google.org can play on the entire keyboard," Dr. Brilliant said in an interview. ���It can start companies, build industries, pay consultants, lobby, give money to individuals and make a profit."

No matter how Page, Brin and Brilliant ultimately fare, today's announcement is a neon sign pointing toward the end of philanthropy as usual.

Susan Herr