Guide for Google Grants: Google Ads for Nonprofits

What if I told you Google would allow you to spend $10,000 per month on their Google Ads platform (formerly known as Google Adwords)? What would that do for your nonprofit marketing?

Google understands its Ad platform can do tremendous good for nonprofits, from finding more donors, volunteers, raising awareness, promoting events and programs, and gaining corporate sponsors. Did you know Google has been helping nonprofits through the use of the Ad platforms for over 15 years? Let’s learn more.

Google awards $10,000 of in-kind advertising every month on their Google Ads platform for registered 501(c)3 nonprofits. This means you can advertise every month on the ad platform spending up to $10,000. This is the same platform used by paid advertisers to occupy the top 3 links on Google’s page. Imagine being on top of Google Search results for the relevant search terms for your nonprofit organization. The only time you are spending the grant money is if someone clicks on your displayed ad commonly known as Paid Per Click (PPC) at that time Google deducts the cost of that click.

• Hold a current and valid charity status 
  • Registered nonprofit 501(c)(3) charity in the United States
• Agree to the Google Grant requirements
• Your website needs to be well designed and no technical errors. Also, it has to  provide detailed information about your nonprofit organization and that supports your nonprofit’s mission
• Your website is required to have an SSL certificate (HTTPS)

Prerequisite before applying

• Already approved for Google Nonprofit program which includes other benefits like G-Suite discounts.
• Apply and approved for Techsoup account 

Non-eligible nonprofits

Unfortunately, there are some organizations that are not eligible for the Ad grant. 

• Governmental entities and organizations
• Hospitals and medical groups
• Educational institutions (K-12, colleges & universities, childcare centers)
  • One exception – Philanthropic part of college and universities are eligible

Google has an Educational program designed to help K-12 educational institutions.

Once you have been approved for the Google Ad Grant program you are strictly monitored to stay in compliance.

• All Ads need to be linked to the approved domain in the original ad grant application.
• Be proactive about monitoring and managing your ad account by logging in at least monthly. Google is checking that you adjust your ads to make sure you are optimizing them for efficiency and maintaining compliance. They want to see changes at least once every 90 days.
• Ads need to promote your mission for the nonprofit. You can run ads to sell products but the proceeds need to support your program.
• Your website may not host Google AdSense ads or affiliate advertising links.

If you violate these rules you are subject to be removed from the program. Google also reserves the right to change,  supplement, or amend these eligibility guidelines at any time. Always refer to the Google Ad Grants program for the latest policies. 

Now that we explained the high-level details about approval and maintaining the account let’s dive into other aspects of managing the account. Free google ads are one part of a  Nonprofit digital marketing strategy. 

Google Grant recipients receive text-based ads meaning ads on the google.com page. You are responsible for managing the ad account just like managers of paid accounts. Google will not manage it for you. 

Here is a list of restrictions:

• Daily budget limit of $329 USD, which is equivalent to about $10,000 USD per month
• Only allowed keyword-targeted campaigns 
  • No content, topic, Display Network campaigns
  • No remarketing (audience campaigns)
• Only text ads that will appear on Google Search result pages, in the position below the ads of paying advertisers.
  • Note – keyword research is important to ensure your ads are shown effectively. 
• Maximum cost-per-click (CPC) limit of $2.00 USD for manual bidding. You can use Smart Bidding strategies set to Maximize Conversions and can bid over $2.00 to help get more conversions if appropriate to your account goals.

Here are some of the must-haves for Ad grant accounts

• Proper locations settings – setting up geo-targeting relevant to your users that will find your information and services useful.
  • This can be where your donors are located not necessarily where aid is going. Meaning if you raise money in the US for efforts in Africa your geo-target should be set to US locations. 
  • If you are a local community religious organization your location should be set to the communities you serve. 
  • If you are targeting a wider geographic area like a museum then you can set up different ad campaigns for different locations.
• Google requires at least 2 active Ad groups per campaign 
• Also at least 2 unique sitelink ad extensions

In terms of Ad account performance, One of the most important parts of maintaining your Ad Grant account is the 5% click-through rate CTR this is for the whole account, not each keyword. Warning:  If your CTR is not maintained for 2 consecutive months your grant will be temporarily suspended.

Google wants you to ensure the grant is providing a meaningful impact to your organization. In order to do this, you are required to set up at least one conversion. A conversion is when a visitor clicks on your ad, lands on the landing page, and then performs a call to action (CTA).

Here are some examples:

• Leads (Click to call, Click to email, Click to social, Contact Us)
• Sign-up (Volunteer sign-up, email, New membership form completion)
• Purchase (Donations, Membership Sales, Ticket Sales)

If you are ever concerned about staying in compliance, check out your Google Studio Compliance dashboard setup for you by Google Ad Grants Account Review Dashboard. Reviewing the dashboard monthly is highly recommended.

You may be saying with these restrictions and complexity it must be hard to spend $10,000 per month, and it’s a use it or lose it program. If implemented correctly, you can achieve $10,000 per month, and even on rare occasions, Google will allow organizations to exceed this amount. Google is looking for well-managed accounts and when done correctly google has awarded additional funds in a given month.

Carefully review your account for keywords showing your ad that has nothing to do with your mission or goals. Do not overdo it as you still need to maintain a proper CTR of 5%. We want to maintain a good Return on Investment ROI without driving irrelevant traffic that we decrease our conversions. An example of this, a Jewish synagogue or group would not want the phrase “Jews for Jesus” so adding “Jesus” as a negative keyword makes sense. Remember, as you are not spending money, you can be a bit more liberal than with a paid account. You want a balance of impressions and good CTR that will lead to conversions.

In summary, the ad grant is different from a normal Google Ad paid account as you are not actually spending marketing dollars every month. Although you still want to follow the above guidelines to maintain a good account structure and stay in compliance with Google. Using best practices that normally go with any PPC keeping in mind proper ads and ad groups are important. We want nonprofits to fully take advantage of the grant. If you find these guidelines overwhelming, we are here to help and have cost-effective programs to get your nonprofit approved. Then manage and optimize the account monthly to get the results you want.

If you reviewed this guide and want help to get approved and maintain your Google Grant or your grant is not yielding the results you expect, let us know, we can help. Contact Us or Call us at 978-496-9176.