Great opportunity or too good to be true?

Sometimes, when I tell folks about Google Ad Grants, it sounds too good to be true. Google for Non-Profits offers $10,000 a month(!) in free advertising credits for registered non-profits. That’s $120,000 a year! Plus, there isn’t any significant reporting, so the only staff investment is the time to set up and manage the account.

What’s the catch? There isn’t one – but if you dig a little deeper, there are some things you’ll need to know if you’re considering using the Google Ad Grant.

1. The Google Ad Grant is limited to Google Search. So when someone searches for something related to your non-profit, you can show up for those searches. For example, ‘donate to a charity in Halifax’ would show ads related to that search.
   However, not all searches show an ad. So be sure to test by searching for things related to your organization and look for the ad box at the top of Google results pages.
2. Setup takes time, and in a non-profit where time is short, it may make more sense to hire a professional to take on this task – rather than learning a completely new system.
3. You must make monthly changes to your account to maintain the grant. Whether that’s adding a new keyword or a new campaign, you have to check in and make sure it’s current regularly.
4. It’s a free product – and you get what you pay for. Review requests take longer when there’s a problem, help questions are answered slower, and there is no dedicated account manager for your account – which there often is for paid Google products.
5. You likely will only spend the entire $10,000 a month if you’re a larger organization or you sell products through your organization. Most non-profits using the grant spend between $2000 and $4000 a month, which is still a significant amount of ad dollars!

With a Google Ads certified professional, you can make the most of your Ad Grant with a solid setup, regular adjustments and monitoring.

Have questions? Book a free consultation to discuss your options for Google Ad Grant Management.