Original post by Zoe Fox via Mashable
Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, announced it’s funding two new tech projects on Wednesday, one to encourage civic innovation and the other to open government data.
The larger of the two grants, a $2.1 million gift, was given to the Sunlight Foundation. The Foundation will use the money to grow its local programming, particularly to create consistant standards for open data in all U.S. cities.
Another $1.6 million was given to mySociety, a UK charity that builds open source codes for local authorities, governments and corporations. The grant money will be used to accelerate building new civic apps.
Matthew Stepka, VP of Google.org, told Mashable that these two grants are an extension of Google.org’s mission to create and spread technology solutions that can make a positive impact and combat major challenges.
