Part of the Google for Nonprofits program, Google Ad Grants is one of the many online advertising tools that cater to the unique needs of nonprofit organizations. Designed by the IT mogul, this initiative empowers nonprofit companies through a $10,000 monthly grant which they should use to fund their Google AdWords campaigns. Whether your current marketing goal is to build awareness, raise donations or recruit volunteers for your organization, Google Grants for nonprofits is an immensely useful tool that can help you achieve your goals for free and avoid exhausting your limited funds to cover the cost of search engine advertisements.
If you have just discovered the potential of Google Grants, you may be a little skeptic about the program. However, rest assured that this is indeed a great online advertising campaign that will allow you to reach and engage your supporters. Moreover, it provides the following opportunities to nonprofits:
- Obtain a tremendous marketing budget for absolutely zero cost
- Reach out to potential donors, volunteers and constituents
- Raise awareness for your organization’s mission, purpose and aim
- Reach out and track online donations, newsletter sign-ups and volunteer registrations.
- Increase online fundraising
- Network with like-minded people seeking volunteering opportunities
If you are interested in joining the ranks of Elder Wisdom Circle, Travel to Impact, SOS Children’s Village in India and other nonprofits relying on Google Ad Grants globally, the following lines will help. Gear up to take some notes on how to create and set up your own Google Ad Grants account to ensure that your cause receives the attention it deserves from people across the world.
Are You Eligible for a Google Grant?
Before you can reap the benefits of a Google Grant, you need to have the proper paperwork to prove that your organization is a not for profit organization. Government entities and organizations, healthcare organizations, medical groups, and academic institutions are not eligible for Google for nonprofits. However, the philanthropic arms of universities may be eligible for this type of grant.
You should be able to show that you operate solely for the welfare of the community, specializing in services related to education, healthcare, art and much more. In addition to acquiring documents proving your non-profit status, you need to meet the following criteria
- You must hold a valid charity status as determined by your country. To determine your charity status, you can refer to this the Google for Nonprofits page which includes the definition of charity status with respect to different countries.
- Acknowledge and agree to the application’s required certifications regarding nondiscrimination and donation receipt.
- Have a website to represent your organization online. Make sure that it is both functional as well as capable of relaying up-to-date information on your organization. This is important for Google itself as well as visitors being redirected from Google AdWords campaigns.
How to Sign Up for Google Grants
If your nonprofit organization meets Google’s guidelines and is eligible to score its generous offer for free search engine ads, it is time for you to discover how you can take part in the program. Before signing up for Google’s Nonprofit Program, though, you need to take care of a few details. To simplify the whole process, here is a checklist you can refer to.
- Do you have a Gmail or Google Account? If not, you need to make one pronto. Click here to make a free account.
- Read the eligibility requirements thoroughly (discussed above) and make sure that you have all the necessary documents.
- Apply for a Google AdWords account and set it up once your application is approved. Through it, you can create your first ever campaign. You will need to submit your account for review before your campaigns are live.
- Once you are done with all of the above, join Google for Nonprofits Program and then log back to your Nonprofits account in order to apply for Google Ad Grants.
To help you with the main tasks you have on your checklist, here is a quick overview of signing up for Google for Nonprofits and the Google AdWords for Nonprofits program.
How to Sign Up for Google for Nonprofits
- Visit the Google for Nonprofits site and click on “Apply to Google for Nonprofits”.
- You will be directed to the ‘Membership Application’ web page, where you need to tick all of the boxes to certify that your nonprofit organization complies with Google’s requirements.
- Next, you will be asked to fill out basic information about your organization, including name, address, location, contact info, and mission statement.
- Next, you have to fill in your personal information and agree to be listed by Google. A word of advice though: make sure that the email address sign in with is the one you check often and not the shared company email address.
- Finally, submit your application. It may take up to 60 days for Google to review your application, but you will definitely get a response. An email will be sent to you once your application is approved by Google.
How to Apply for the Google AdWords for Nonprofits Program
After being accepted into the Google for Nonprofits program, your next step is to apply for the Google AdWords for Nonprofits Program. For that, you need to have an AdWords account in order to advertise. As soon as you are approved for a Google for Nonprofits account, you should login and create your AdWords account.
While setting up your AdWords account, you will be asked for basic information like country, currency, billing and time zone. If you want to get the most from this service and ensure that it provides your nonprofit with the exposure it needs, here are four tips you should follow:
- Do not submit billing or payment information while setting up your account. If you do so, you will be setting up a regular paid account instead of a grant account. You will not be able to go back to having a free account unless you start the whole (yes, whole!) process all over again.
- You should never enter credit card information even if the service asks you to list one. If you do so, you may as well be prepared to wait longer until your account is processed.
- In order to entirely avoid the above mistakes, you should use this link as it skips the billing process.
- Always choose USD as your currency regardless of your country.
After filling and submitting your application, you should create your first ever AdWords campaign for your nonprofit. This should be done carefully since your campaign settings control where your ads will be displayed, the language they will appear in, and how much you will be spending. The following three points detail a few things you should consider when choosing your campaign setting as a grantee.
- Select “Search Network Only” for your campaign type.
- When asked to choose the campaign network, make sure to uncheck “Include search partners”. As a grantee, you can only display your ads on Google search results.
- Set your maximum daily budget to $329 and your default bid to $2.00.
Once you have set up your campaign, you need to build the structure of your ads. This is a three-step process that revolves around the following three aspects:
- Ad Group: Click the ‘Ad Groups’ tab and then (+ Ad Group) button. Ad Groups contains separate keywords from other Ad Groups. You can base your ad groups on the sections and categories that appear on your website. This lets you target a specific audience and keep things organized.
- Keywords: Click the keywords tab and then (+ keywords) button. Now, choose keywords that you think people will use to find your type of services or products. Put yourself in your donors’ or volunteers’ shoes and think about the key terms and keywords they may use to search for your nonprofit. Make sure to create different (keyword) versions to cover all your bases.
- Ad: Click the Ads tab and then the (+ Ads) button. Select the “Text Ad” option. Keep in mind that you can only have 25 characters in your headline, which means that you should keep your message short and to the point. Apart from the headline, there are two description lines in your ad copy, each of which allows a maximum of 35 characters. After writing the headline and description lines for your ad copy, you will be left with just enough space to enter the display URL and the actual URL the ad will link to.
This marks the end of your application submission process. Google will then review your application and ensure that your nonprofit meets its guidelines and requirements. Once your application is approved, Google will activate your Ad Grants account and notify you via email. If you want, you can always have a professional provide their expertise in setting up your account. That way, Google will not be able to reject your application and your ads will reach a larger audience.
Aside from how to sign up for this service, here are a few guidelines to keep in mind once you start making use of Ad Grants programs:
- Your maximum cost per click is of $2.00.
- Your daily budget is of $330. If, however, you exceed this, you will not be charged. Google will not publish them.
- Your ads will only appear on Google search result pages.
- Only text ads are permitted. This means that you cannot post videos or images to advertise your organization.
- Ads will run for only as long as your nonprofit organization is actively engaged with Grants AdWords account.
- Your website cannot display revenue generated ads like Google AdSense as well as affiliate advertising links.
How Can You Maintain Eligibility?
Scoring a Google Ad Grant is not as hard a job as it is to maintain it. Google is quite strict in this regard, but no one can blame it considering that it is investing $10,000 in each non-profit enrolled in its program. Therefore, make sure that you remain eligible for the grant by abiding by the following rules.
- You must have a website to which your ads must be linked to. This is because Google Ads cannot be linked to pages that are primarily links to other websites. They must only link to the one nonprofit website URL (yours) that was approved in the application initially.
- Your ads must reflect the purpose as well as the goal of your organization.
- Financial products such as credit cards and mortgages should never be advertised via your Ad Grants account.
- The keywords you target in your ad copy must be relevant to your program and the services you offer. Thus, only keyword targeted campaigns are permitted.
- Exclusively commercial advertising is not allowed. If you do intend to promote products or services, make sure that the proceeds are related to your organization’s services 100% or support it in some way or another.
- Grantees are expected to be actively engaged and involved in the program. This means that they shall actively manage their AdWords account and be responsive to email requests from Google. Being active also means that you must log in (to your Ad Grant account) at least once a month. If you fail to log in for 3 consecutive months (i.e. 90 days) or prove to be unresponsive to email requests, your account will be subjected to cancellation without any prior notification.
Contrary to popular belief, starting on Google’s Ad Grants program is quite an easy task. Irrespective of whether you are new to digital search advertising or a seasoned professional, you can handle it effectively. Similar to paying advertisers (apart from certain restrictions), grantees can build and manage their own AdWords accounts and receive free advertising on Google search result pages. Thus, it is worth the hassle. So, consider having your own to give your nonprofit the exposure it deserves.
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