Google Grants for UK Charities. Find out how to apply, set up and optimise

The Google Ad Grants Program gives charities & non-profits the chance to advertise on Google Ads for free.

The program gives qualified organisations up to $10,000 (around £8000) free advertising spend per month.

With successful management, your charity and its causes can reach new users, donors, volunteers and campaigners.

We outline the steps needed to taking advantage of Google Grants and run a successful campaign.

1. Can you qualify

2. Setting up and applying for Google Grants

3. Google Grants Management & Optimisation

Do you qualify?

To be eligible for Google Grants charity ppc an organization must:

• Hold current and valid charity status (i.e. Registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales; and/or Registered with HM Revenue & Customs as a charity for tax relief.)
• Acknowledge and agree to Google’s required certifications regarding non-discrimination and donation receipt and use.
• Have a live website with substantial content.

Governmental entities and organizations, hospitals and medical groups, schools, academic institutions and universities are not eligible for Google for Nonprofits, but philanthropic arms of educational institutions are eligible.

How to stay qualified

To maintain your eligibility for Google Ad Grants, your organisation must abide by program policies.

• All the ads in your account must link to the non-profit URL that was approved in your application process.
• You must be engaged and proactive in your Google Ads account by logging in to the account, at least, monthly.
• The ads you are promoting must reflect the mission of your non-profit. You can advertise to sell products as long as 100% of the proceeds are going to support your program.
• The ads you create cannot point to pages that are used to primarily send visitors to other websites.
• Your ads cannot offer financial products, such as mortgages or credit cards.
• Your ads also cannot be asking for donations in the form of large goods such as cars, boats or property donations. Keywords related to this activity are also not allowed.
• Your website cannot display ads from Google AdSense or other affiliate advertising links while participating in Google Grants
• A daily budget set to $329 USD, which is equivalent to about $10,000 per month
• A maximum cost-per-click (CPC) limit of $2.00 USD. (without bid strategies)
• Paid adverts will always appear above grants adverts.
• It is limited to the search market. You cannot run ads in the display market.
• Ad Grantees may only promote mission-based ads and keywords in their Google Ads account:
  

  These new conditions were brought in Jan 18

Maintain a 5% Click through rate (CTR). CTR is the ratio showing how often people who see your ad end up clicking it. If your account doesn’t achieve at least a 5% CTR for two consecutive months, your account will be cancelled.

Final Thoughts: 

This should go without saying, but Google isn’t in the business of giving money to organisations that preach hate or practice discrimination.

Targeting keywords or using destination URLs that promote hatred, intolerance, discrimination, or violence is strictly prohibited. It’s also worth noting that, to continue receiving a Google Ad Grant after January 1st, 2018, your organisation must exist exclusively for charitable purposes. Failure to comply with any of these terms will result in the automatic suspension of your account.

This post outlines the common reasons Google might suspend your account. Then explains the important steps required to overcome the problems, before requesting Google reactivate your charity PPC account.

Setting up and applying for Google Grants

There are a few Google hoops to jump through to qualify and maintain the charity PPC grant funding. Google breaks this down into a simple 5 step process:

Step 1 – Are You Eligible

Review the first section to see if you are eligible. If your organisation meets those requirements then please move onto step two.

Step 2 – Setting up a Google for Non-profits account

To set this up you’ll need:

To register with tt-exchange, the UK arm of TechSoup. If you’re not registered with them yet then it’s easy to set up an account.

A Google account of some form. This could be the account that you already use for Google Analytics or YouTube.

Once you’ve got these set up the next step is to begin filling out a straightforward application form.

During the process, Google will need information about your charity. Including the ‘validation token’ from to TechSoup (which you signed up to a minute ago) and your charity ID.

Step 3 – Wait for a decision

The waiting game after that you will have to wait to see if you have been successful. This can take anywhere from a few seconds to up to two business days.

Step 4 – Google Ads Account Configuration

The Google Ads account configuration (the tricky part). To succeed in the application, you need to follow Google guidelines. Including setting up bidding information and setting a final URL.

If you are new to Google Ads this can seem quite confusing, but the advice is in on hand. Do contact if you have a problem with any of these steps.

Tip: Set up one rough campaign at first to see if you qualify before spending time structuring the entire account. If you think you’ve met the Google Guidelines go back to the application process so Google can review the account.

Step 5 – Wait for confirmation

Have You Been Successful?

After you’ve submitted your Google Ads Customer ID, you’ll receive a decision within 5 business days. If you have set up the Google Grants Ads correctly, you’ll receive an email telling you that your account is now active. If there are errors, you’ll get an email with instructions on how to correct the errors.