About the Program

Google Grantees receive a grant for free AdWords advertising on Google.com. Grantees build and manage their own AdWords accounts just like paying advertisers, but participate with the following restrictions:

  • A daily budget set to $330 USD, which is equivalent to about $10,000 per month
  • A maximum cost-per-click (CPC) limit of $2.00 USD
  • Only run keyword-targeted campaigns
  • Only appear on Google.com
  • Only run text ads
  • Run for as long as the organization remains actively engaged with their Grants AdWords account

Please be aware of some important criteria regarding the program.

  • You must have a website and your ads must link to a page on your website.
  • The keywords that you target must be relevant to your program and services.
  • Your website cannot display revenue-generating ads, such as Google AdSense or affiliate advertising links, while participating in Google Grants.
  • The ongoing, active management of your advertising campaign is your organization's responsibility once your account is active.

Grantees are required to be actively engaged in the program and to actively manage their AdWords accounts, meaning that your account contact must:

  • be responsive to email requests from our team
  • log in monthly to review campaign performance and make updates as appropriate

Should you not login to your account for three consecutive months or prove unresponsive to email requests from our team, your account will be subject to automatic pausing or cancellation without notification.

Your ads must only link to the URL that is included in your application, as this is the URL that is approved for your Google Grant.

However, if your organization's website URL changes or you develop additional URLs for your organization that direct to the main organization's site and follow Google for Nonprofits' guidelines, you may add these to your account at any time without written approval from Google or Google Grants. Please note that any URLs added to your Google Grants account that violate the guidelines could result in cancellation of your Google Grant and Google Grants AdWords account.

  • Your ads must reflect the mission of your organization and your keywords must be relevant to your programs and services.
  • Strictly commercial advertising is not allowed through this program. If you intend to promote products or services, 100% of the sales and/or proceeds must support your program.
  • Your Google ads cannot link to pages that are primarily links to other websites.
  • Ads offering financial products (such as mortgages or credit cards) or those requesting car, boat or property donations and related keywords are not allowed.
  • Please review the difference between mission-based ads and ads that are not based on your mission below. When creating new ads or editing existing ads, please make sure that your ads reflect your organization's mission.

    Example of Mission-Based Ad:
    Shop and Fight AIDS
    Our Red Ribbon Collection has
    Unique Gifts for a Great Cause.
    www.yourcharity.org

    Example of Ad Not Based on Mission:
    Unique Gifts for All
    Children's books, T-shirts & more
    Shop online. Save time and money.
    www.yourcharity.org

Eligibility Guidelines

To be eligible for the Google Grants program in the US, organizations must meet the Google for Nonprofits guidelines and have current charitable status.

Please note that Google for Nonprofits is open only to organizations based in the United States.

Google Grants is open to organizations based in these countries. Organizations based in countries outside the United States can view Google's country-specific programs for nonprofits.

Definition for charity status in the US

US Organizations must have current 501(c)(3) status, as assigned by the Internal Revenue Service, to be considered for the Google for Nonprofits program.

Note that it can take some time from when your organization receives your IRS notification of this status until your EIN appears and is updated in the online database. To be considered for the Google for Nonprofits program, your tax status must first be updated in the online database; copies of IRS letters are not sufficient for this requirement.

To apply, simply visit the Google for Nonprofits site and click Apply Now.

After being approved for Google for Nonprofits, you'll be able to return to the site and enroll in products, including Google Grants.

Grantspro

Thank you for your interest in the Grantspro program. We are currently not accepting new applications.