Google Ad Grants for Nonprofits: Up to $10k a Month in Free Ads

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Google Ad Grants for Nonprofits: Up to $10k a Month in Free Ads

Can you imagine what your nonprofit could do with an extra $10,000 in monthly advertising?

You could reach a huge amount of new potential users that can benefit from your knowledge and expertise. Gain thousands of new donors that can help you meet your financial goals. Have the ability to expose your nonprofit to an entirely new market of people that may have never found you via more traditional methods.

And you can do it all for free with Google Ad Grants for Nonprofits.

What Are Google Ad Grants?

Google Ad Grants is a program run by Google that gives qualifying nonprofits $10,000 in in-kind advertising via Google Adwords text-only ads every month.

What that means is that every month, your nonprofit’s ads can appear at the top of Google’s search results for keywords related to your company for free every month. You can create an unlimited number of campaigns and ads, with an unlimited number of keywords as long as your ads are relevant to your nonprofit and meet Google’s quality standards.

What Are the Google Grant Requirements?

Eligibility requirements are different for every country but in the United States you must:

  • be recognized by the IRS as tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organizations formed for charitable, educational, religious, literary, scientific, or other tax-exempt purposes.
  • be validated by TechSoup.
  • have a high-quality and secure website for your nonprofit.

Who is Not Eligible for Google Grant?

Fiscally sponsored organizations are not eligible for Google for Nonprofits. Additionally, organizations, such as churches, that are automatically considered tax-exempt under group exemption must still obtain recognition of 501(c)(3) tax exemption from the IRS to qualify for the Google for Nonprofits program.

How do I get a Google Ad Grant for Nonprofits?

The entire process is easy, but if you’d like some assistance, E11 is happy to help you navigate the twists and turns. Setting up anything with Google can be confusing and overwhelming, but we can help translate everything into easy to understand steps and support your organization through the entire process.

Once I Qualify for a Google Ad Grant, What Are the Next Steps?

Once your account has been approved by Google, the next step is to actually set up ads for your nonprofit. Generally, this involves the following:

  • Doing keyword research to determine how searchers are finding content relevant to your nonprofit
  • Expanding the keyword list out to encompass term and phrase variations, local keywords, and keyword synonyms
  • Sorting the resulting list and assigning them to ad groups
  • Setting up the campaigns inside of Google Adwords
  • Writing copy for all of the ad groups you defined and setting up the ads themselves
  • Managing and updating the ads on a weekly and monthly basis

If that sounds like a lot of work, E11 is happy to help you out! We have completed this process for hundreds of commercial and nonprofit companies and can help you get your campaign set up and manage it on a monthly basis.

Google Ad Grants Frequently Asked Questions

What types of ads can I run with a Google Ad Grant?

The Google Ad Grant only allows you to run search ads. These are the text ads that appear at the top of search results for most Google searches that are marked with the “Ad” designation.

Is my nonprofit eligible for a Google Ad Grant?

If you meet the basic requirements, there is a very good chance that you will be accepted into the program. Even if you don’t meet all of the requirements, as long as your nonprofit is a 501(c)(3), the other requirements can usually be applied for in addition to the Google Grant.

Is there a cost to apply for a Google Grant?

No, there is no cost to apply for a Google Grant, which is why we suggest all nonprofits apply. Although it’s possible you may not qualify, you have absolutely nothing to loose (and up to $10k a month to gain!)

What if my nonprofit doesn’t have a website?

E11 would be happy to discuss setting up a website for your nonprofit. This does not have to be an expensive process and we work with nonprofits of all sizes.

Is my church eligible for a Google Ad Grant?

The answer is maybe. Although churches are automatically given a nonprofit status, only churches that have received a 501(c)(3) tax exemption from the IRS are eligible for the Grant.