You may have recently seen a banner when you log-in to your Google or Facebook account asking you for a donation to help fight Ebola, but what is the all about?
The project is being run by Google.org, and for every dollar that is donated Google has pledged to math it with $2. The money donated will be split among there partners which include Doctors Without Borders, International Rescue Committee, Partners in Health and Save the Children.
On top of matching these donations, Google also donated $10 million to nonprofit organizations that are helping control the Ebola outbreak.
Google’s CEO, Larry Page, also shared that he was donating $15 million towards the cause.
Google has already reached its goal of $7.5 million in donations.
This was the first time that Google has asked for donations in support of a cause. NPR interviewed Jacquelline Fuller, director of Google.org, and asked why Google decided to launch this new campaign.
“The thing with Ebola is that we’re seeing that, globally speaking, it’s underfunded, and the public has not yet responded in ways that we saw in the past with things like the Haiti earthquake. So we thought, you know what, let’s make it easy for the general public to learn a little bit more about Ebola and to give, if they want to.”
Facebook’s Mike Zuckerberg also launched a donation campaign for Ebola relief and he donated $25 million of his money towards the cause.