Jessica Guynn

USA TODAY

SAN FRANCISCO — Google's third annual Global Giving Week netted $24 million, double what it raised last year, as employees spread the wealth.

Donations by employees to civil liberties and women's health organizations surged, raising nearly $800,000 for Planned Parenthood.

Some 1,200 Google employees shared stories about their support for organizations and a third of Google employees pledged donations to 750 nonprofits around the world, the Internet giant said.

Donations from Google employees during giving week, which ran from Dec. 5 to Dec. 9, were matched by Google. Google matches employee donations up to $6,000 a year. Individual Google employees can also sponsor and match fellow employees' donations during giving week, potentially tripling the donation.

More than $800,000 was raised for Second Harvest FoodBank, more than $450,000 for Give Directly, which gives cash to the extremely poor, and nearly $326,000 for the International Rescue Committee.

Other causes embraced by Google employees ranged from supporting victims and survivors of the Ghost Ship fire in Oakland to fighting hunger and malnutrition in India.

Even after the giving week ended, the giving did not. With the situation deteriorating in Aleppo, three Google employees recently started a project called Help Aleppo that in four days raised about $341,000 that was split three ways between the International Rescue Committee, Mercy Corps and UNHCR, the United Nation's refugee agency.

Separately, Google.org is donating $30 million in technology, hardware and training to various organizations. Google's philanthropic arm is targeting a wide range of efforts from U.S. schools to refugee and migrant camps in Africa.

A $5 million grant to DonorsChoose.org will provide more than 150,000 K-12 students with technology and teacher training to aid in learning, Google.org said. In the Bay Area, Abode Services will help more than 1,200 formerly homeless people receive laptops and training so they can hunt for jobs and get access to transportation information and social services as they move into their new homes. In Mexico, Google.org is supporting UNETE to bring computers, tablets and charging stations to classrooms.

Some saw the Internet giant's largesse as coming at employees' expense. Google employees usually get a device at holiday time. And this year, hopes ran high that they would get the new Pixel phone or Google Home, a competitor to Amazon's Alexa. Instead, according to an internal memo leaked to Fortune magazine, employees were told that their holiday gift this year would be a donation to charity.