Charitable organizations are typically considered experts in raising money. So, if you found $10,000 available to you—at no cost—wouldn’t you jump on it? That’s exactly what you can receive with the Google Ad Grant program: $10,000 each month in free Google advertising. So, what’s the catch?
WHAT IS A GOOGLE AD GRANT?
Google, in an effort to help nonprofit organizations spread the word about their cause to a global audience, designed a grant program for free advertising. It amounts to this: qualifying nonprofit organizations can earn $10,000 in advertising credit per month (which equates to about $329/day), credited to their Google AdWords account. It represents a $10,000 gift card from Google!
WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR A GOOGLE AD GRANT?
Instead of stating who is eligible, let’s begin with who is not:
- Government organizations
- Hospital or medical groups
- Childcare centers
- Schools (private, public, or secondary), although they have options through Google for Education (philanthropic arms of education organizations may be eligible)
Eligible 501(c)(3) organizations need to be in one of over 50 eligible countries and have a website. That’s pretty much it!
HOW DO I APPLY FOR A GOOGLE AD GRANT?
When you think about applying for a traditional grant, weeks of number-crunching and headaches may come to mind. However, this 15-minute application is easy and approval is fast. One more bonus to this program is permanence; once you have been approved, your grant is continuous if you follow Google’s rules.
Follow these simple steps to apply:
- Visit Google Ad Grants and sign up for an account;
- Check the 3 certification terms;
- Create a free TechSoup account (which Google uses to verify nonprofit status), and enter your validation token;
- Ignore Google’s warning to add billing information. This will disappear once the grant has been approved;
- Provide remaining details like contact information and submit!
You should receive approval information within 48 hours, and some organizations are notified in as little as 5 MINUTES.
WHY SHOULD YOU APPLY FOR A GOOGLE AD GRANT?
With a Google Ad grant, you can reach new supporters and save advertising dollars. You can track online donations, newsletter signups, and volunteer registrations. There are two types of accounts:
- AdWords: allows you to manage all the details of your account;
- AdWords Express: recommended for beginners, this option provides a completely automated advertising solution.
One of the only things you can’t do with a Google AdWords grant is ask for donations of property or advertise financial services. Additionally, your ads must be linked to the domain you had at sign up.
CREATING YOUR FIRST AD
- Determine your specific goal. Do you want to recruit volunteers, increase donations, or expand your network of interested supporters?
- Make sure all your ads and keywords match the services you offer.
- Start with eye-catching ad copy to grab the searchers’ attention and build interest in your cause. Include a strong selling point and a relevant Call-to-Action which draws people to click the ad.
LET US HELP YOU APPLY FOR A GOOGLE AD GRANT TODAY!
There you have it! It is pretty painless to complete. Why not take advantage of free money and global advertising? The benefits to your Google AdWords account include being measurable, cost-effective (well, it IS free!), targeted, and fast (it’s quicker than SEO). With the expanded advertising, you also get increased brand awareness. For once, you get MORE than what you paid for!
Our team can help your nonprofit apply for and set up a Google AdWords grant and provide ongoing Pay-per-click (PPC) and AdWords management to maximize your AdWords grant. Contact us to discover how we can support your digital fundraising and marketing efforts!
