What is the GoogleAd Grant?
Google gives qualifying nonprofits up to $10,000 a month in free search advertising, every month, indefinitely. Here is what the program is, who qualifies, how to get it, and why so much of it goes unspent.
Ad Grants is a version of Google Ads that Google funds for nonprofits. Your text ads appear on Google Search alongside the paid results, shown to people already searching for what your organization does. Google describes it as a way to “raise awareness, attract donors, and recruit new volunteers using Google search ads.”
What nonprofits use it for
- Searching for a cause like yours
- Qualified leads for a fundraising team
- Recruiting volunteers and staff
- Critical health or safety information
- Petition signatures and advocacy
- Year-round donor acquisition
- Amplifying campaigns you already run
Adapted from calltoaction.group.
Ad Grants is not the same as paid Google Ads
Ad Grants
Cost
Free, funded by Google, capped at $10,000 a month
Daily budget
Roughly $329 a day equivalent
Campaign types
Search, plus Performance Max for Grants
Ad formats
Text ads only, mission-based
Bidding
Smart Bidding required; the old $2 manual CPC ceiling lifts when you use conversion-based bidding
Click-through rate
Must hold 5% or better account-wide
Placement priority
Below paid advertisers in the same auction
Keywords
No single-word keywords, no overly generic terms, quality thresholds enforced
Consequence of neglect
Account can be deactivated
Paid Google Ads
Cost
You pay per click, uncapped
Daily budget
Whatever you set
Campaign types
Search, Display, Video, YouTube, Shopping, and more
Ad formats
Text, image, video, the full set
Bidding
Any bidding strategy
Click-through rate
No requirement
Placement priority
Full auction standing
Keywords
Few restrictions
Consequence of neglect
Campaigns simply stop when you stop paying
The last row is the one that matters. Paid advertising punishes neglect by spending your money badly. Ad Grants punishes neglect by taking the grant away.
Comparison adapted from newbird.com.
Who qualifies, and who does not
You likely qualify if you:
- Hold valid charity status in your country (in the US, IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status)
- Have a functioning, good-quality website that describes your mission
- Own your domain, and your site carries no AdSense or affiliate advertising
- Accept the Google Ad Grants terms and conditions
You are excluded if you are:
- A government entity or agency
- A school, academic institution, childcare center, or university (Google runs a separate program for schools)
- A hospital or healthcare organization
- Fiscally sponsored rather than independently registered
Eligibility varies by country, and Google's own requirements page is the authority. Check google.com/nonprofits/eligibility before you assume either way.
Adapted from google.com/grants and newbird.com.
How to get it
You do not apply to Ad Grants directly. It is one product inside Google for Nonprofits, so you get your organization verified there first, then activate Ad Grants from inside that account, using the same login email for both. That last detail trips people up more than anything else in the process.
Apply for Google for Nonprofits
Confirm your charity status, get a validation token from TechSoup if your country requires one, and submit your application.
Activate Ad Grants
Sign in to Google for Nonprofits with the same email, choose Activate Products, then Get Started under Google Ad Grants. Fill in the required information and submit for review.
Build and launch your first campaign
Google approves the account and emails you an invitation. Your first campaign has to be built to program guidelines before the account goes live.
Expect roughly three to four weeks end to end, with charity verification taking anywhere from two to fourteen days. The application itself takes about fifteen minutes.
Source: calltoaction.group.
Or skip it. We do all three steps for you, then run the ads.
Start nowThe rules that keep the grant alive
The grant is not permanent by default. It renews as long as the account stays compliant, and Google enforces compliance automatically. These are the requirements that most often catch nonprofits out.
Hold a 5% click-through rate account-wide.
Two consecutive months below 5% and Google deactivates the account. This is the single most common failure.
Log in at least once every 30 days.
Dormant accounts get flagged.
Run valid conversion tracking.
You need at least one meaningful conversion recorded per month, tracked properly in GA4 or Google Ads.
No single-word keywords, and no overly generic ones.
Keywords have to describe what you actually do.
Use Smart Bidding, and keep keyword quality up.
Very low quality score keywords have to go.
Text ads only, on-mission, pointing at your own domain.
No ads for financial products, no reselling, no soliciting vehicle or property donations.
Keep your site clean.
No AdSense, no affiliate advertising on the destination site.
None of this is unreasonable. All of it is work, every month, forever.
Requirements as summarized by newbird.com and calltoaction.group; Google's Ad Grants policy page is the authority.
What nonprofits have done with it
These are results published by Google and by independent Ad Grants agencies, from organizations with no connection to AdamUp.
Action Against Hunger: 158,000 website visitors and $66,000 in donations in a year, enough to treat 1,500 malnourished children.
Source: newbird.com.
We've seen double-digit percent increases in our online fundraising for each of the past two years.
CTA supported us holistically; from research to implementation in a short timeframe, acting as a seamless extension of our small marketing team.
Most of this money never gets spent
The grant is generous and the application is quick, which is exactly why so many nonprofits end up with a live Ad Grants account and nothing running in it. Keeping the account compliant and productive takes keyword research, conversion tracking, weekly attention, and someone who knows what a 5% click-through rate requirement does to your keyword strategy. Most small teams do not have that person, so the budget sits unused or the account quietly gets deactivated.
That is the whole reason AdamUp exists: we run Ad Grants accounts for nonprofits for $50 a month.
Frequently asked questions
This page is adapted from:
- Google Ad Grants, google.com/grants
- Getting started with Ad Grants, google.com/grants/get-started
- Google Ad Grants: An In-Depth Overview, New Bird, newbird.com
- The Google Ad Grant, Call To Action Group, calltoaction.group
Program details change. Google's own documentation is the authority. AdamUp is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google.