Google.org commits $50 million to help prepare people for the ‘future of work’

Google.org is on a mission to help people find jobs, so it has pledged $50 million to fund nonprofit organizations that are focused on using technology to improve job searching, job matching, skill-building and all things job-related.

“We also recognize that the way we work is changing, and we want to make sure that as many people as possible can make the most of the new jobs, industries and opportunities that are emerging — some of which we couldn’t have imagined just a few years ago,” Google.org President Jacquelline Fuller wrote in a blog post.

Google.org notes that many research organizations, nonprofits and businesses have already begun doing some of this work, “whether through the rise of the gig economy, new technological advances, or demographic changes.” Still, Google.org is going to direct $2 million to fund more research on the future of work and then share those learnings over the next couple of years.

To kick things off, Google.org funded four nonprofits: Bayes Impact, Social Finance, National Domestic Workers Alliance and Code for America. The plan is to soon expand the funding into other regions.

“As technology rapidly changes the way we work, we have a rare opportunity to fundamentally redesign our economy to work for all of us,” NDWA Social Innovations Director Palak Shah said in a statement. “It matters not only what we do — but how we do it. Google.org joining forces with the nation’s domestic workers is precisely the type of innovative collaboration to break through the greatest social dilemmas we face today.”