The search and software giant Google has long offered its office software and Gmail for free or discounted use to qualifying nonprofits. While eligibility requirements varied by products, the discount was open to all nonprofit groups.
Now Google has launched “Google for Nonprofits,” which unites an exciting set of tools in one programme, but also excludes some nonprofits including churches, schools, political thinktanks, proselytizing groups, and any group that use religion or sexual orientation as a consideration in hiring decisions.
Lloyd Mayer, a professor at Notre Dame Law School says that Google is "trying to avoid anything that would reflect negatively on them" by avoiding potentially polarizing causes that might alienate customers.
This is similar to the decision taken earlier this year by Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, who withdrew as the keynote speaker from the Willow Creek Leadership Summit because of a threatened protest by gay-rights groups who claim the church behind the summit is anti-gay. This charge that was strenuously denied by the church in question.