What is the Google Ad Grant?

Eligible nonprofits in over 60 countries can apply for a Google Ad Grant, which gives them up to $329 per day of free in-kind advertising budget, to spend on ads.

You are given a Google Ads account in which you can create ad campaigns to get the attention of people searching Google for specific words and phrases that indicate they might be interested in what your nonprofit does, and encourage them to visit your website.

To make the most of the grant you'll need a strategy. You'll need to identify your goals. You'll need to know how to write a compelling ad, and how to choose keywords, and there's some technical knowledge needed too. That's what this course will help you to learn.

Where are your ads placed?

Your free ads will appear in Google search results below all paid ads. This can put your ads below or above the organic search results.

Search ads are easy to tell apart from regular organic search results because they're labelled with the word Sponsored.

Your ads enter into a bidding auction to compete against other advertisers' ads. There are actually two separate auctions: one for paid, then one for grant. Within that auction, several factors decide whose ads appear first or last or even if they're shown at all, for example: what amount in dollars you're willing to bid to get a click; the relevance of your keywords to what's being searched for; and your keyword quality score (more about that later).

What is Google Ads?

Google Ads is the platform that many businesses and nonprofits use to manage their ad campaigns. It's a complex tool, which can be used to create many types of ad that appear across many Google-owned properties, plus many other non-Google websites.

The Ad Grant gives non-profits a Google Ads account with limitations and extra rules to follow.

What is a Legacy Grants Pro account?

It used to be possible for nonprofits to apply for additional budget: four times the usual amount. That program closed to new applicants a few years ago, but some lucky nonprofits still have their Grants Pro accounts. If you're one of the lucky ones, set your campaign budgets to $1,316 instead of $329.

Last updated: March 2024