Learn How You Can Grow Your Nonprofit for Free!
What Are Google Ad Grants
Nonprofits can receive $10,000 a month in Google Ad Grants to be used to promote their missions, programs, and initiatives on Google.com.
Google Ad Grants can drive thousands of visitors to your website as donors, email subscribers and volunteers.
So How Do Google Ad Grants Work?
There are two types of search results on Google: organic and paid.
Organic search results are selected by Google’s algorithm to correspond as closely as possible to the searchers question.
Paid search results are ads shown around the organic search results on the top, the right and sometimes on the bottom.
Google Ad Grants are for paid search.
You pick search terms where you would like your ads to appear, such as “Kids Choir Los Angeles” and, depending on your ad relevancy and page quality score, Google will display your ad in the paid search results.
Visitors search for your service.
They click on your ad and go to your website.
Each keyword has a different cost per click (CPC). This cost can be as little as $1 to as high as $50 per click. Keep in mind that you are not paying for these clicks. Google just deducts the cost of each click from your budget of $330 per day.
Google Ad Grants restricts the maximum cost per click for your keywords to $2. This restriction can limit the total number of clicks you might get if your search terms have a value over $2.
Once your ads go live users can click on your ads and be taken back to any page you specify to learn more about your nonprofit.
How You Can Apply for a Google Ad Grant
Google Ad Grant in 5 Easy Steps
Step 1: Login to the Gmail account you use for your charity’s Google applications (email, YouTube, analytics, drive etc).
Step 2: Go to Google.com/Grants
Step 3: Click “Start Now” and go through the application process.
Step 4: Submit your account ID number to Google at Google for Nonprofits (for US based charities). If your nonprofit is not in the U.S., check your approval email for your next steps.
Step 5: Google can take up to six weeks to approve your application.
Here are 3 very important things to remember when creating your account:
- Ignore the prompts to enter payment information! Entering any payment information will turn your free account into a paid account. If you enter any payment information, you will need to cancel this account and start again.
- Select USD as your currency — even if your nonprofit is outside of the U.S.
- Create a campaign after you receive application approval from Google.
Once you have received your approval via email you can start building your campaigns.
Problems?
If you have any problems or can’t get your account activated you can call a Google AdWords expert at 1-866-2GOOGLE (246-6453). I’ve called them, they have very good customer service.
Google provides the same level of support to Ad Grant recipients as they do to their paid AdWords account clients. If you have any problems, give them a call.
Eligibility Requirements for a Google Ad Grant
Top 4 Eligibility Requirements for a Google Ad Grant
1. Your charity must be a registered 501(c)(3).
2. Your charity can not be a school/university/child care organization, hospital or healthcare organization, or governmental entity.
3. You must have a quality website with relevant content.
4. Your charity must be in one of these countries: Google Eligible Ad Grant countries.
Top 5 Things You Need to Know About Google Ad Grants
Specific Google Ad Grants Nonprofit Restrictions
1. Your daily budget is capped at $330/day
2. Any unspent balance does NOT rollover to the following day.
For example, if you have 250 clicks at $1 per day yesterday (total spend of $250) and 250 clicks at $2 today, Google will stop your ad delivery for today at 160 clicks (total spend $328). The ad spend resets every day.
3. The maximum Cost Per Click (CPC) is $2
This means that you can only bid up to $2 for each keyword, while your paying competitors can bid up their clicks to any amount they want. This means that If your keywords are very competitive, it might be difficult to get get clicks with a $2.00 maximum CPC.
Your competitors will bid over $2, pushing your ad down and possibly to the next page. This is the biggest challenge for nonprofits with the Google Ad Grants program. It can be done and it’s worth the time and effort over the long run.
4. You are restricted to advertising on Google.com search results pages
That means your campaigns cannot appear on Google’s Display Network or Google’s search partners.
5. You can run Text Ads only
Google Ad Grant advertisers can use ad extensions just like paid advertisers, however other ad formats like Product Listing Ads aren’t available with Google Ad Grants.
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