The Google Ad Grants program provides an incredible opportunity to all nonprofits wishing to boost their online presence. Google provides nonprofit organizations with $10,000 USD a month in free advertising credits for Google Ads. The program has helped tens of thousands of nonprofit organizations around the world have been able to increase their awareness, outreach, and impact.
About SixFive
SixFive is an official Google Partner and a well-established company in the nonprofit and social enterprise sector in London, Ontario Canada. SixFive appreciates all the work that nonprofit organizations do for our communities on a local, regional, and global scale. The meaningful work that is accomplished by these organizations produces meaningful results.
Each organization has unique goals. But, for many of these goals, the Google Grants program is a powerful way to get closer to achieving them. SixFive, as a community-driven company, strives to partner with impressive non-profit organizations to take advantage of the Google Grants program. This is our guide for you to understand the Google Ad Grants Program and how to successfully get enrolled.
What is Google For Nonprofits?
When you aim to solve big problems, you need the right tools to be successful.
The Google for Nonprofits Program offers registered non-profits access to free versions of paid Google products and special features designed for nonprofits. One of these features includes $120,000 a year in credited Google Advertising (that’s where we come in, we will share more later!).
With Google for Nonprofits, you will be able to fundraise more easily, collaborate more efficiently, and share your story with a wider audience.
What Is This Free Advertising You Speak Of?
The Google Ad Grants program offers registered nonprofit organizations $120,000 in annual ad spend on Google Adwords FREE of charge. It is a unique chance to take advantage of free advertising and help your nonprofit increase website visits, donations, event attendance or to fill employment and volunteer opportunities. The Ad Grants program offers you $10,000 USD a month in ad spend through Google AdWords, which equals $329 a day!
So, what is the catch?
Google has created an amazing program, but it does have some restrictions to make sure nonprofits don’t compete with their mainstream of customers and revenue.
• First of all, you must be eligible for the program (we can help you with navigating your eligibility)
• Google Grants lets you use search/text ads, meaning that someone has to search for something before you can display an ad
• You must login to your account once a month and make changes at least once every 90 days
So, there are some limits. We will highlight some later on.
It takes a lot of knowledge and experience to navigate around these restrictions and successfully advertise as a nonprofit. In fact, the average nonprofit who takes advantage of Ad Grants only spends about $330 a month out of the $10,000. They struggle to create impressions and end up missing out on over $9,500 in free advertising each month.
What Is Google Ads & Why Should We Use The Grant?
Google Ads is an advertising service that drives the majority of revenue for Alphabet. Google Ads allows users to advertise online by selecting keywords, pages, creating display ads, or creating video advertisements. Google has created a system to distribute your selected advertising across the internet. In fact, Google Display campaigns can reach about 80% of the internet operating right now. Google charges you for this service and software, charging your credit card every time someone clicks on your ad or watches your video. Because of the amount of data Google has, they have created a complex but powerful system to help users optimize the performance of their advertising. This is often attributed to their work in machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Google is widely used. In fact, each day, there are 3.5 billion daily searches. That is 1.2 trillion searches a year!
• Top 3 ad spots take 40% of all clicks
• 45% of people can’t tell difference between organic listing and ad
• Google Search Ads display above the organic results on the Search Engine Results Page (SERPs).
• You only pay for the clicks, not for when the ad is shown.
• AdWords is quick to get results
• AdWords is scalable
• AdWords is measurable
• AdWords is flexible
What Are The Restrictions?
Here are the most updated restrictions Google has made for accessing and continuing to benefit from the program:
Account structure:
• Ad Grants accounts must have specific geo-targeting to show ads in locations relevant to your nonprofit.
• At least 2 active ad groups per campaign each containing a set of closely
related keywords and 2 active text ads
• At least 2 sitelink ad extensions
Performance
• All Ad Grants AdWords accounts must maintain a 5% click-through rate (CTR) each month.
• If the CTR requirement isn’t met for 2 consecutive months, your account will be cancelled.
Mission-based campaigns
The following keywords and queries for serving Ad Grants ads are not permitted:
• Branded words that you don’t own like “YouTube” or “Google” or names of newspapers or other organizations
• Single-word keywords Note terms with dashes, periods, or special characters are not treated as single-word keywords
• Overly generic keywords including names of places, events, and people
• Keywords with a Quality Score of 2 or less
How Does Google Ads Work?
What is SixFive?
SixFive is a growing company in London, Ontario that was established with the community in mind. In 2016, we had an opportunity to join Western University’s Propel Summer Incubator Program, where we received a grant for funding and office space. We were able to witness the power of grants firsthand and understand just how big of an impact they can have for an organization.
As summer 2016 concluded, we began our search for an office location where we could grow our business organically. Our team discovered Innovation Works, run by Pillar Nonprofit Network, London’s first co-working space dedicated to social innovation. We had the opportunity to become a founding tenant at Innovation Works London, and to build and customize our office space to our specific needs, adding such features as an infinity green screen for multimedia production to help us expand our services. Since the end of 2016, we have continued to grow and expand our business, adding several members to their team with expertise in design, videography, marketing, and development. The work has shifted from primarily website development and branding to results-driven marketing. We use powerful, targeted advertising and user experience design to drive traffic to sites and convert them to valuable action.
To date, Sixfive has worked with over 60 businesses and registered nonprofits to create effective advertising campaigns, stunning websites, and powerful content. In our first year of full-time operation, we received a nomination for Community
Engagement from TechAlliance and Corporate Social Responsibility from the London Chamber of Commerce. Working with Google, Sixfive helps charitable organizations gain access to $10,000 USD a month in free advertising, helping them increase volunteers, event attendance, awareness, and impact in the community.
The Benefits of Working With SIXFIVE
At SixFive we know we are able to bring our clients and partners a lot of value. Here are some of the many benefits we offer:
Full Google AdGrants Application
We apply for the Google Ad Grants program on your behalf. No need to stress! If you are eligible, there is a 100% success rate.
Great Support
You’ll Work With Talented Marketers You’ll be appointed a personal Google certified account representative to specifically work on your account. We never outsource any of our work! From deep Adwords knowledge to website design expertise, our team makes sure every dollar you spend is effective as it can be.
You’ll Spend More
The average organization only spends $360 of the $10,000 a month. That is over $9,500 wasted! We help you make the most of your Google Grant.
Monthly Performance Reporting
We keep you up-to-date with what we’re doing and send a report every month so you can see how effective your ads are.
Free Access To G-Suite
We, Will, Help You Take Advantage Of The Free access To The Google Suite (Gmail, Drive, Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Surveys, Calendar and Sites).
Eligibility guidelines
Organizations that meet the following criteria are eligible to participate in the Google for Nonprofits program:
- Registered as a nonprofit organization in one of the approved countries.
- While philanthropic arms of educational organizations are eligible for
- Google for Nonprofits, schools, academic institutions, and universities
- are not eligible for the program.
- In addition, the following organizations are not eligible for Google
- for Nonprofits:
- • Governmental entities and organizations.
- • Hospitals and healthcare organizations.
I Am Eligible! What’s the Process?
For Those New to Google Grants
- We will apply for Google Grants on your behalf
- During the waiting period, we’ll schedule a call or meeting to learn more about objectives as charity
- When you are approved, our team will perform keyword research create a strategy tailored to your organization
- We’ll schedule a final call to discuss our proposal, review the ads prior to going live and set future meetings.
- The ads will go live! You’ll start to receive reporting which we will review in meetings to improve your adgrants further.
Previous Google Grants Users
- If your account is active, we’ll sync it with out AdWords Manager Account. If it’s inactive, we’ll connect with Google to reactivate it.
- We’ll schedule a strategy call to learn more about your goals as a nonprofit organization.
- We’ll usually fo a major overhaul. Most existing accounts have not been properly created or optimized.
- Based on your current account our team will perform keyword research and create a strategy tailored to you.
- After our proposal is approved, the ads go live! You’ll start to receive reporting which we will review in reset meetings to improve your Ad Grants further.
I’m New To Google Grants. Is There Anything Else I Need To Do?
If you are not a member non-profit, you’ll need to be validated before you can apply for Google for Non-Profits. Canada and get validated before you can apply for Google for Nonprofits.
Click here to learn more about the validation process.
All Canadian charities and nonprofits must first register with TechSoup Canada. Based on the information and documentation you provide at registration, we will validate your organization’s legal status and activities. Once we have validated your organization, you can apply for Google for Nonprofits using a validation token.
How long does validation take?
The application process takes about 7-10 business days of receipt of any necessary documents. Expect to receive an email with the subject line “Your organization has been qualified.” Once your account is approved, you can generate validation tokens in your account.
About TechSoup Canada
TechSoup Canada was formed in 2009 as a collaborative effort of the Centre for Social
Innovation, TechSoup and the Information Technology Association of Canada. This initiative was made possible through a seed funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
To date, TechSoup Canada has over 31,400 members and has helped the Canadian nonprofit sector save over $362 million on technology investments.
Mission
Pillar Nonprofit Network strengthens individuals, organizations and enterprises invested in positive community impact and support more than 610 nonprofits, social enterprises and social innovators by sharing resources, exchanging knowledge and creating meaningful connections across the three pillars of nonprofit, business and government. They also own Innovation Works, a co-working space dedicated to social enterprise.
Marketing Goals
Pillar Nonprofit Network is always looking to improve engagement from the public through community events, the co-working space, and stories of their success. They have a job and volunteer portal that they want to highlight. They also want to promote Innovation Works and help sell more co-working memberships and increase event attendance.
Impact of Google Ad Grants
SixFive’s work to set up Google Grants for Pillar Nonprofit has resulted in over 300,000 impressions, over 15,000 clicks and over 2,300 valuable conversions in just six months. These include direct phone calls, volunteer and job listing responses, and people signing up and booking tours to see the space. We continue to optimize the ads and make sure Pillar Nonprofit Network and Innovation Works thrive through the power of digital search.
Our Services
SixFive uses Google Grants to create an effective strategy for our non- profit partners, helping them increase donations, attendance, and awareness.
In order to do this, we have created extremely fair priced packages so that we can have a sustainable business and offer the expertise and support needed to take full advantage of Google Grants.
We truly appreciate the opportunity to discuss our Google Grants Program service with you.
Please feel encouraged to contact our team by email at success@sixfive.co or by phone at (519) 854-6565 for any inquiries.
We know how important the work you do is to our community and the world as a whole.
