Google Grants for Your Nonprofit
As we all know, running a non-profit can be challenging in so many ways. We need to be as creative and resourceful as possible to find every competitive advantage. One program that we should all be aware of is the Google Grant program.
The Google Grant program has been in place for more than 15 years but remains relatively unknown and underutilized. It was created solely for qualifying 501c3 organizations. The program gives each NPO up to $10,000 per month in Google AdWords spending credit. This means that you can buy keywords associated with your mission that will direct interested parties to your organization online. The program itself is free and there are companies available to help you start and manage the program for nominal fees.
When implemented and managed correctly this program can have a significant impact in many ways, including increased traffic to your sites and increased conversions (volunteers, donors, subscribers, fans and followers). The program includes real-time data and dashboards that help you to analyze the performance and results of the program, including information on number of visitors, number of new visitors, types of devices used to access the site (mobile, tablet, laptop, etc), demographic information (age, gender, etc), geographic breakdown, and more.
How Google AdWords Work:
AdWords are keywords and phrases used to target text ads through Google searches. When a Google search contains one or more of your selected AdWords, your text ads can appear alongside or above the search results, hence driving traffic to your nonprofit organization’s webpage.
How to get started:
- Find out if your nonprofit organization is eligible by checking the following criteria:
- Organizations 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.
- Fiscally sponsored organizations that do not have their own exempt status and are not covered by group exemptions are not esligible.
- Organizations, such as churches, that are automatically considered tax-exempt must still obtain recognition of 501(c)(3) tax exemption from the IRS to qualify for the Google for Nonprofits program.
- Organizations must be currently registered with TechSoup.
- To register with TechSoup go to: (TechSoup Registration)
- Your organization must be enrolled in Google for Nonprofits. (Google for nonprofits enrollment)
- Create a Google AdWords account and review the guide (Ad Grants help and account creation)
Click on this link to see some program success stories
It is a great program and something worth strongly considering as we head into 2020. Through the Google Ad Grant Program, your nonprofit organization is eligible to receive up to $120,000 in free Google advertising annually. Please know that the Google Ad Grant program is not affiliated with Numbers 4 Nonprofits.
Follow Numbers 4 Nonprofits on Facebook and LinkedIn for more resources to help you succeed in you mission. Our blog posts are archived and always available on our website as well.
We look forward to continuing to support you and advance your mission in a prosperous new year.