The organization is noted for several significant grants to nonprofits using technology and data in innovative ways to support racial justice, educational opportunity, crisis response after health epidemics and natural disasters, and issues affecting the San Francisco Bay Area community where it is headquartered.

The organization's general strategy involves funding the use of technology, data, and user-centered design to make a better world, faster.

[4] In addition, Google.org funds education, economic development, and digital literacy related projects in a number of regions.

In 2015 they announced a $20M effort[5] to use technology to improve opportunity and equality for people with disabilities, one of the few portfolios focused on this segment of the population.

[6] The grantmaking initiative resulted in a diverse array of grants, including 3D printed prosthetics for landmine victims and children with limb differences, beacon-powered navigation tools for the visually impaired, data analytics projects to surface better tools and aids for people with cognitive disabilities, and better bracing and compliance systems for children with clubfoot.

Among its first projects was a mass-produced plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that can attain 100 mpg (miles per gallon) (see vehicle-to-grid).

[12] Megan Smith later left to join the office of the CTO under the Obama administration, at which point Google.org began focusing exclusively on its charitable giving initiatives under the stewardship of Jacquelline Fuller, who currently runs the organization.