Google offers a few types of grants for non-profit organizations. The most important is the Google Ad Grant, which provides up to $10,000 per month of AdWords advertising to qualified NPOs.
To understand the value of Google Ad Grants, you first need to understand AdWords. The purpose of AdWords, a pay-per-click advertising program on Google, is to drive traffic to your website. Google describes the process like this.
People search on Google.They see your ad.You get more customers.In the case of an NPO, “customers” translate to “constituents.”
Consider the process in more detail. When visitors search on Google, they use keywords, key phrases, or search terms. All these terms mean essentially the same thing: the string of text you type in the box to search. Selecting the right keywords is one of the secrets to success in pay-per-click advertising. There are online tools available to help you select the right keywords. Google offers a good tool — Keyword Planner — but you have to create a (free) account before you can use it.
To access Google Keyword Planner, sign in to your AdWords account. Click the “Tools and Analysis” drop-down menu and select “Keyword Planner.” It’s important to select keywords that your visitors are likely to use. For example, if you offer a hot meal program, you’ll still need to target the phrase “soup kitchen” because that’s the search term people will likely use. If you operate a nursing home, use that search term, not “long-term care facility,” even though, within the industry, that’s the correct term. Tools like Keyword Planner will help you find the most popular search terms and avoid industry jargon.
If you have chosen the right keywords, your ad appears on the right side of the first search results page (see below) when someone searches on that term. If you’re ad doesn’t appear on the first page, it’s probably not going to be successful. Many factors influence where your ad appears in the list. The two most important factors are the maximum cost per click you are willing to pay and your ad’s quality score. Many of the influencing factors, like the quality score, are not entirely under your control.
Google search results for “volunteer in a soup kitchen.” Google Ad Grant recipients can use the AdWords space on the right.The cost-per-click means that each time someone clicks on your ad you pay the cost you have bid in Google AdWords for that click. The bidding is competitive. Someone else can out bid you and theoretically rise above you in the ad list. You can set daily and campaign spending limits so that you don’t unintentionally over spend. The maximum cost per click — “Max CPC” — is the highest bid made for a given search term.
Google defines the quality score as “an estimate of how relevant your ads, keywords, and landing page are to a person seeing your ad. Having a high Quality Score means that our systems think your ad, keyword, and landing page are all relevant and useful to someone looking at your ad. Your Max CPC, along with your Quality Score and the Max CPCs of your competitors, is an important factor in determining where your ad appears on the page.”
The Max CPC you will accept is one factor you can control, but only to a certain extent if you are using a grant to pay for your ad. Grant-funded ads are limited to $2 per click or less. If the keywords you want are very popular, the cost per click may be considerably higher than the $2 limit. For example, if you want your ad to display when visitors search for “volunteer at a soup kitchen,” Google AdWords will help you figure out that the minimum bid to appear on the first page of search results for that phrase is $3.25. That means that your grant-funded ad will appear far down the list, probably on page 3 or 4. You’ll have to use the actual pay-per-click AdWords (with a separate account) rather than your grant account, and be prepared to pay more than $2 per click.
Google will also tell you that “volunteer at a local soup kitchen” has a low search volume, meaning that you might as well not bid on that term at all. In fact, “soup kitchen” is such a competitive term, you’ll probably have to hire search-marketing professionals to help you plan a successful AdWords campaign for your soup kitchen.
Many NPOs that are seeking Google Ad grants can’t afford to hire professionals and are in do-it-yourself (DIY) mode. The most reliable information on how to use AdWords is available on the AdWords site. Keep clicking the “learn more” buttons. If you have a limited budget, it’s certainly worth spending a day reading the information provided and then trying a DIY campaign before outsourcing. If you do decide to outsource, carefully check the references of any firm you consider hiring.
Now that you understand the value of AdWords, here’s how to apply for a grant. Detailed instructions are available on Google at Google.com/Grants. Here’s a video from Google, for more.
Here are some of the important details of Google Ad Grants, as described by Google.
To be eligiblefor the Google Ad Grants program, organizations must: Hold current and valid charity status, as determined by your country.Acknowledge and agree to the application’s required certifications regarding nondiscrimination and donation receipt and use.Have a functioning website with substantial content.Please note that the following organizations are not eligiblefor Google Ad Grants: Governmental entities and organizations.Hospitals and medical groups.Schools, childcare centers, academic institutions and universities (philanthropic arms of educational organizations are eligible).To learn more about Google’s programs for educational institutions, visit Google for Education.
Here are details that Google emphasizes about the grant program:
Daily budget set to $329, which is equivalent to about $10,000 per month.Maximum cost-per-click limit of $2.00.Only run keyword-targeted campaigns.Only appear on Google.com.Only run text ads.Note that ad grantees “may only promote mission-based ads and keywords in their AdWords account.” In other words, you can’t advertise any products or services for sale. You can only direct your ads to land on the one domain for which the grant is awarded (without using redirects).
Google offers a number of good programs for NPOs. You’ll also find the grant application on the Google for Nonprofits site. Click the “Join the Program” button on the upper right to get started applying for a grant. As with all grant applications, the process takes some time, as does getting a reply. So leave yourself a few months to get through it all.
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