Google to 'help refugees and migrants in urgent need' by prompting people to donate from search page and matching donations

Site is pushing the initiative by putting a long black bar at the top of search pages, encouraging people to donate

Emergency medical aid provided by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is unloaded at the international airport in Sanaa (AFP) (AFP)

Google has launched a special project to prompt people into donating to help refugees, by installing a special reminder at the top of search pages and matching donations.

Launched alongside a major project that tracks donations and shows information about the crisis and charities helping with it, the site has pledged to match the first €5 million that is donated, in an attempt to help with relief.

The site had reached over $5,700,000 at the time of publishing, as Google aimed to raise a total of $11 million.

All donations will be sent to Network for Good, a donor advised fund, which will then distribute the money among four different charities.

The project was launched alongside a blogpost by Rita Masoud, a product marketing manager at Google.org. Ms Masoud was born in Afghanistan but left for The Netherlands, where she received asylum and grew up — before moving to work for Google in California.

“I was lucky,” she wrote. “But as the refugee and migrant crisis has grown, many people like my family are desperate for help.”

Masoud said that donations would be sent to Doctors Without Borders, International Rescue Committee, Save the Children and UN High Commissioner for Refugees. “These nonprofits are helping deliver essential assistance—including shelter, food and water, and medical care—and looking after the security and rights of people in need,” she wrote.