USAToday story on Google’s service of providing free ad space to non-profits.

Two years ago, non-profit director Ray Rickman decided to put up a website to attract donors for his cause: raising money to pay doctors to treat people in Africa and Asia.

His Providence-based AdoptADoctor.org attracted just two visitors a day, and one donation per week — before Google.

In February, Rickman signed up for the Internet search giant’s Google Grants — offering free advertising for non-profit groups — and everything changed.

Now, he’s getting 300 visitors per day, and 25 donations weekly "from all over the world," he says. "Substantial money, like $5,000 or $8,000 a pop, from people who just found us on the Internet, thanks to Google. It’s amazing."

Some non-profits, that is:

Google will give free ad space only to non-religious and non-political groups, Sandberg says, because, "We want to be fair and unbiased in everything we do."

We exclude to be unbiased. Got it.

So that means that besides the big guns like CRS and the Salvation Army, small religiously-based non-profits doing great work and in need of funds are out of the picture. Groups like St. Joseph’s Orphan School in Nigeria, run by Gospa Missions. And groups like…name your own deserving small non-profit, here or abroad, with contact info, if possible, since Google is too unbiased to care…

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