To help out all the charitable non-profit organisations out there, Google has an AdWord Grant that allows you to spread your message further and reach a wider net of people. People that were previously unaware of your mission and cause.
What is this Grant?
Google will allocate you $10,000 USD a month to spend on AdWords. Can you imagine how quickly you could spread your message or increase donations and volunteers!
Google AdWords is their advertising system where companies bid on certain keywords so their clickable ads appear in Google’s search results. Fortunately, Google allocates the bids according to the relevance of search terms. These search ads appear next to, or above, organic google searches. Due to this highly targeted marketing method, AdWords can become an extremely useful tool for companies to utilise.
Do I Qualify?
Whether or not you qualify is quite straightforward. If you are eligible, get to it!
What are the requirements?
- You must be registered as a non-profit organisation
- Hold valid charity status
- Agree to Google’s certifications regarding non-discrimination and donation receipt and use
- Have a live website containing substantial content
Country-specific requirements must also be met.
For Australia
- Organisation must be registered with Connecting Up, TechSoup Global’s regional arm.
- Organisation must be a non-government income tax exempt (ITE) non-profit organisation, defined by the Australian Charities and Non-Profits Commission (ACNC) and/or the Australian Tax Office (ATO).
Keeping the Grant
While qualifying might be easy, maintaining the grant can be difficult! Google has general guidelines that organisations must follow in order to keep the grant.
These include
- All ads in your account must be linked to the non-profit URL approved during the application process
- Organisations must be proactive with managing AdWords and log into accounts monthly. By foregoing monthly action, accounts are subject to being paused without notification
- Any promoted ads must reflect the mission of your non-profit organisation Advertisement for products is allowed if 100% of the proceeds go towards the support program
- Ads cannot point to pages which are primarily used to send visitors to other websites
- Ads cannot offer financial products like mortgages or credit cards, nor can they ask for donations in the form of large goods (property, cars)
- Your account must achieve a 5% click-through rate at least. Failure to do so for two consecutive months can result in account cancellation
- Ads must make use of geo-targeting
- Campaigns in your AdWords account must feature at least 2 active ad groups. These groups must contain related keywords and two active text ads.
- Accounts are required to feature at least 2 site link extensions
- The organisation must exist exclusively for charitable purposes
The Google Grant is wonderful for many charitable organisations as it provides an opportunity to spread their messages further. The maintenance restrictions can be difficult to manage at times, but with a $10,000 advantage, why wouldn’t you use it!
