As part of its commitment to donate a portion of income from its public stock offering to charity and social causes, Google said it has donated $90 million to a new charitable foundation that it founded and earmarked another $175 million (including free advertising) for nonprofits and socially useful businesses over the next 2-3 years, reports the New York Times.

Google said it would focus its charitable efforts in two areas: global poverty, energy and the environment - priorities selected by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Page and Brin made their commitment in a letter to prospective shareholders that was part of its initial stock offering in August 2004.

"We aspire to make Google an institution that makes the world a better place," they wrote in the prospectus. They promised to create a Google Foundation and give it about one percent of the company's equity and one percent of its profits.