Learn how eligible nonprofits can prepare their websites, apply for Google Ad Grants, build focused campaigns, measure meaningful outcomes, and maintain the account over time.
Reviewed by the PBJ Foundation nonprofit marketing team. Last reviewed August 2026. Program rules can change, so confirm current requirements with the program provider before applying or changing an account.
Google Ad Grants can provide eligible nonprofits with up to $10,000 per month in in-kind Google advertising. The grant can help an organization promote services, educational resources, events, volunteer opportunities, and other mission-related content, but receiving the grant does not guarantee that the full budget will be spent or that campaigns will produce results.
Google Ad Grants is part of Google for Nonprofits. Approved organizations receive an advertising budget that can be used to reach people searching for information related to their missions. Effective accounts connect relevant searches with useful landing pages and measure meaningful actions such as donations, volunteer registrations, program inquiries, resource downloads, or event registrations.
Eligibility varies by country. In the United States, an organization generally must hold eligible charitable status, enroll in Google for Nonprofits, agree to required certifications, and maintain a qualifying website. Government entities, hospitals and healthcare organizations, and schools or universities are generally not eligible, although affiliated charitable organizations may qualify independently.
Review the current Google for Nonprofits eligibility guidelines before applying.
A strong website is one of the most important parts of the application. Before applying, confirm that your website:
If the website is thin, outdated, confusing, or difficult to use, improve it before submitting the grant application. Supporting Nonprofits offers free website consultation for accepted nonprofits that need help preparing their sites.
Create or verify the organization’s Google for Nonprofits account using an email address that can remain with the nonprofit. Avoid relying solely on a volunteer’s personal login.
Submit the organization and registration information requested during verification. Names, addresses, and legal details should be consistent across the application, website, and official records.
After Google for Nonprofits approval, follow the current activation workflow for Ad Grants. Google may review the website, account details, and intended use of the program.
Define meaningful website actions and configure Google Ads and analytics measurement. Avoid treating superficial actions, such as every page view, as primary conversions. The account should optimize toward actions that indicate real engagement with the mission.
Organize campaigns around distinct audience needs or programs. A nonprofit may have separate campaigns for services, volunteering, educational resources, events, and donations. Each campaign should lead to a page that directly satisfies the searcher’s intent.
The grant is a maximum available advertising budget, not guaranteed spending. Search demand, competition, targeting, landing-page quality, campaign structure, and conversion data all influence delivery.
Manual bidding is subject to limitations, while eligible conversion-focused automated bidding strategies can bid differently based on the likelihood of a meaningful action. Because Google changes available campaign and bidding options, use the current settings shown in the account and verify them against the official Ad Grants Help Center.
Target searches that closely match the organization’s programs and resources. Avoid keywords that are so broad that the nonprofit cannot provide a clearly relevant answer.
Explain what the visitor will find after clicking. Avoid unsupported promises or language that creates urgency without a legitimate reason.
Send each ad to the most relevant page rather than automatically sending every visitor to the homepage. The page should repeat the core topic, explain the next step, and make the desired action easy to complete.
Track forms, donations, registrations, calls, downloads, and other actions tied to organizational goals. Review both the volume and quality of those actions.
Regularly review search terms, policy alerts, disapproved ads, broken destination URLs, conversion tracking, geographic targeting, and campaign performance. Program requirements and enforcement can change, so do not rely indefinitely on an old checklist.
Supporting Nonprofits, a program of PBJ Foundation, helps selected small and underfunded nonprofits assess readiness, strengthen their websites, apply for Google Ad Grants, build campaigns, and develop sustainable internal capacity. Learn about our Google Ad Grant support or join the Supporting Nonprofits waitlist.