I've modified this article as Google has removed a few of it's pages and so I've pointed the links to the Way Back Machine. Not sure where Google's Climate Change, Public Health and Economic Development programs are now.

Hopefully Google is trying to be good rather than just trying to get good press, however there are some interesting initiatives that Google is starting to take. They have fairly recently:

• Google Grants - Free advertising for charitable organizations in several countries including Canada
• Google Earth Outreach - Put your organizations efforts on Google Earth
• Hosting events with non-profit hubs like the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN)
• Extending the Google Apps Education Edition to include American 501(c)(3) non-profits, and committing to expand this service to other countries.
• Making their fleet more energy efficient - RechargeIT
• Setting up a philanthropic arm of Google with support & grants for:
  • Climate change [archived version]
  • Public health [archived version]
  • Economic development [archived version]
• Supporting forums and broadcasting them on YouTube focusing on its grantees and partners
• Participating in the nonprofit blogosphere
• Sticking solar panels on the Googleplex
• Trying to become a carbon neutral company
• Provides its employees free bicycles to encourage them to bike to work
• Supporting the Climate Savers Computing Initiative to have more efficient computers
• Joining the World Resources Institute's Green Power Market Development Group
• Setting up transit maps for a few cities in the USA
• Providing an API that allows for geographic information from UNEP on Climate Change, Climate Charts & Flood Maps
• Just recently stumble across he UK Carbon Footprint Project and can only wait till i reaches Canada.

It is nice to see Google is making an investment in the NGO community and taking visible leadership on some critical issues of our time. Hopefully other corporations will follow in their footsteps in this regard. I'd especially like to see comments on this post for groups that are taking advantage of the Google Adwords offer to help promote their campaigns.