
How charities can benefit from donations via Google Ad Grants
Google Ad Grants offers a way for charities to receive donations from search giant Google. We’re sometimes surprised that not all charitable organisations are aware of this scheme, or receive the money they’re entitled to claim, so here’s our guide.
What is it?
The programme is called Google Ad Grants, and it’s a Google Ads version aimed specifically at charities and other organisations which don’t operate for profit.
The initiative provides charitable bodies with up to £8,000 a month, or $10,000, to go towards advertising on Google Ads for Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising. What is PPC?
It means a charity can promote its website, broadcast its message or add to its ranks of volunteers and supporters by targeting keywords via the Google search engine.
How can the money be used?
With that monthly £8,000, you could target all kinds of Google searches. For example, your campaign could be to get your charity to come up when someone searches for a term such as ‘give to charity’.
Alternatively, you may prefer terms more specific to your kind of organisation, for example ‘mental health charities’.
Or if you want people to fundraise for you by taking part in a big event on your behalf, you could decide to bid on keywords such as ‘London Marathon charity places.’
Which organisations are eligible?
In the UK, criteria are as follows:
- You must be registered with valid charitable status
- Schools, colleges and other academic institutions don’t qualify
- You must have an active, fully functional website giving significant information about your charity
- You must agree to the terms and conditions of the Google Grant scheme
Is there a catch?
Not as such, but most of the same rules applying to regular Google Ads account also apply to Google Grants.
Your account is billed in American dollars, for example, even in the UK, and the maximum bid is $2 a click, with a daily spend cap of $329.
Further rules were introduced in December 2017, including:
- A ban on bidding on single-word keywords, so only multi-word phrases can be bid on
- You must maintain a Click-Through Rate (CTR) of 5%
- Each of your account’s campaigns must have at least two ad groups containing a minimum of two ads
If this sounds like a lot to keep up with, we understand. But if you don’t meet these conditions, your account may be suspended until you do.
So you need to manage the campaigns actively and optimise them regularly.
At Front Page Advantage, we can help if you don’t have the time to do that. Talk to us about how we can help your charity make the most of Google Ad Grants, freeing you up to focus on running your not-for-profit organisation.