How to access a Google Ad grant for nonprofits
Published: October 27 2022
Does your nonprofit have a story to share with the world? Whether you’re trying to raise awareness about a cause, promoting an important event or campaign or need to increase your donations, running paid digital ads through Google can help you spread the word to a much larger audience.
To help make Google Ad campaigns more accessible to non-profits, Google has launched the Google Ad Grants program. Read on to learn more about how to apply for up to $10,000 per month to go towards search engine marketing through Google.
What are Google Ad Grants?
The Google Ad Grants program provides free Google Ads to select charitable organizations. It's designed to help organizations extend their public service messages to a global audience in an effort to make a greater impact on the world. Each qualifying nonprofit has access to up to $10,000 per month in search ads shown on Google.com.
Additional Google Ads may be purchased in a separate account.
How do I know if my organization is eligible?
To be eligible for the Google Ad Grants program, you must be registered as a charitable organization with one of the countries listed on Google’s nonprofit eligibility page.
You’ll also need to be verified as a nonprofit by TechSoup or a local TechSoup partner. In order for your verification to be a success, an organization must be:
- A charity
- Tax exempt non-profit organizations operating on a nonprofit basis for the public benefit
- A federal not-for-profit corporation
- A provincial non-profit
Some types of organizations are not eligible and will not be verified:
- governmental entity or organization
- hospital or healthcare organization
- school, academic institution, or university (Google for Education offers a separate program for schools)
See full eligibility guidelines
How do I apply?
Once you have verified your nonprofit status, you can request a Google for Nonprofits account.
After you’ve been approved for an account, you’re all set!
What do I need to do to retain my monthly grant?
To make sure your Google Ads Grants account stays active, your organization will have to monthly meet the compliance requirements. It demands an expert level of ads management to meet the following requirements:
- No single-word keywords (with a few exceptions)
- No generic keywords without user intent identified
- No keywords with a quality score of 1 or 2
- Reach 5% monthly click-through rate (CTR) minimum
- Accurate conversion tracking with at least 1 conversion per month
- At least 2 ads per ad group and per campaign
- At least 2 sitelink ad extensions
- Annual program survey response
It is recommended that organizations work with digital marketing professionals to ensure they remain compliant each month.
You may need to pay a management fee to have an agency or freelancer manage your account for you, but it will be well worth the $10,000 per month you’ll get in free advertising.
Next steps
Our team can help your organization secure your Google Ad funding, as well as manage your ads to ensure they are compliant each month.
You can get started in three easy steps:
- Book a free, zero-obligation consultation with our team.
- If you think we’re a good fit, we’ll quote you for the work involved in guiding you through the application and/or managing your ads.
- Once you’ve approved the quote, we get to work helping you access and maintain up to $10,000 per month in free Google Ads.