Google Ad Grants
Up to $10,000 a month in free Google search ads for eligible 501(c)(3)s, set up and kept inside Google's rules.
Google gives eligible nonprofits advertising credit: when someone near you searches for "food pantry" or "after-school program," your organization can be the result they see, at no cost to you. The catch is that the program has rules about how the account must be run, and an account that drifts below them gets paused. I check whether you're eligible, in writing and for free. If you are, I set everything up in your own Google accounts and then keep it running every month.
What's included
- Free written eligibility check before anything else, so you know where you stand.
- Setup: Google for Nonprofits enrollment, the Ad Grants application, conversion tracking on your website, keyword research, and two or more campaigns, all in your accounts.
- Every month: keeping the account inside Google's rules (the click-through minimum, the activity checks), tending the keywords, writing fresh ads, and a one-page report of what people searched for and what they did on your site.
What you do
Hold the Google accounts in your organization's name and add me as a manager. Send the documents Google asks for to confirm your nonprofit status. Tell me what you want a visitor to do on your website, such as sign up to volunteer, give, or ask for help, and approve the ad wording before it runs. If your website needs a page for the ads to land on, website work can build it.
What it costs
| Eligibility check | Free, in writing |
|---|---|
| Setup | $600, only if Google approves. No setup fee if Google declines. |
| Ongoing | $250 a month |
| Bundles | Setup is $300 (half off) with website work. Counts as one ongoing service: two ongoing services from Ad Grants, Grant Watch, the newsletter and the volunteer portal get 10% off both ongoing fees, three or more get 15% off all of them. The online giving page is $175 (half off) with Ad Grants. |
How to start
Reply to any email from me and say which services you want. Google Ad Grants is a checkbox on the agreement. If we haven't talked yet, email me your organization's name and website and I'll send the eligibility check back in writing.
Limits, stated plainly
Google sets the rules, decides who is eligible, and changes both from time to time. It can pause or suspend an account that falls below its thresholds, and while I work to keep you well inside them and to get a paused account reinstated, I can't promise Google's decision. The credit is for Google search ads only, it is not cash, and the full $10,000 is a ceiling, not a typical spend: most small organizations use a fraction of it. Ads bring visitors; what they do next depends on your website, which is why the eligibility check also looks at that.