Google Ad Grants 2025: 7 Things to Know Before You Start

Benefits of Google Ad Grants

Google Ad Grants 2025 is a free program from Google that allows non-profit organizations to benefit from a monthly allocation of 10,000 $ in advertising credits to improve their online visibility on the Google search network. Launched in 2003, this program is an excellent opportunity for nonprofits looking to promote their cause for free online or to launch digital advertising without a marketing budget.

The benefits of Google Ad Grants for associations

One of the most significant benefits of Google Ad Grants 2025 for nonprofits is the increased visibility it offers. The program allows nonprofits to place ads on Google's search results pages, giving them instant visibility to a much wider audience. For example, some of the nonprofits we support receive more than 8,000 visitors each month from Google Ad Grants.
Google Ad Grants can also help nonprofits raise funds by increasing their visibility to a wider audience.Nonprofits can create ads to promote donation drives or to encourage people to make regular donations.
Google Ad Grants can help nonprofits recruit volunteers by helping them reach a wider audience. Ads can be used to promote volunteer opportunities or encourage people to get involved in specific initiatives. Ads can also be targeted based on potential volunteers' skills, interests, age groups, and a specific geographic area, which can help find people suited to specific roles.

Only 5% of the associations on Google Ad Grants manage to spend the 10,000$/month

How do I get a Google Ad Grants account?

Google Ad Grants is reserved for nonprofits and endowments. It's a limited version of Google Ads that these institutions can use for free. The Google Ad Grants program is only available to charities that meet eligibility requirements and comply with Google's policies and terms of service.Google Ad Grants 2025 does not support businesses, but if a social and solidarity enterprise has a 1901 law association, then there is the possibility of using Google Ad Grants for its two activities.
Applications will be reviewed by Google and accepted or rejected based on these selection criteria. Governments, hospitals, other medical institutions, schools, educational institutions, and universities are not eligible. However, philanthropic departments of educational institutions, such as the APHP Foundation, may participate.

Steps to get a Google Ad Grants account

Read the article “Association: Take advantage of 10,000 $/month from Google Ad Grants”

Step 1: Solidatech

To be eligible, French associations must register with Solidatech, TechSoup's regional representative. The process of verifying your status by Solidatech can take up to 5 business days. Once your account is validated, you will receive an alphanumeric validation token by email. Solidatech may not send you this email; it is therefore advisable to regularly check your Solidatech account.

Step 2: Google for Nonprofits

Sign up for Google for Nonprofits, which is now automatically approved as soon as you enter your Solidatech validation token.

Step 3: Activate your Ad Grants account

Click on enable Google Ads grantsA link to an eligibility form will appear, click on it and fill out the form. This takes about 5 minutes. This information is used not only to determine eligibility, but also to optimize your account settings. Once Google has reviewed and approved your application, you will be invited to access the Google Ad Grants 2025 account that was created for you. An email will be sent to the specified inbox. You must accept the billing terms to start running ads. Once logged in to your account, follow the instructions again to accept the terms of service. The entire process can be completed in a week, but only less than 30% of activation requests are accepted. Denial is often due to problems on the nonprofit's website. At Ads for Change, we have helped more than 50 nonprofits open an Ad Grants account for free and can guide you through the changes you need to make to your site to increase your chances of success.

Get a free Google Ad Grants account

Rules to follow on Google Ad Grants

Google has implemented several content and structure guidelines to help charities target the right audience. Ad targeting helps nonprofits attract users who are searching for content relevant to their mission.

All campaigns require a geographic reference, no global targeting is possible. Each campaign must have at least 2 active ad groups, each containing at least 2 active ads. At least two sitelinks must be added to your account as extensions. In practice, Google no longer suspends Ad Grants accounts that do not comply with these rules. Keywords cannot be composed of one word like “weather, news”. This means that all keywords must be composed of at least 2 words. Exceptions are names of associations, medical terms, donations and volunteering. Adjustments must be made every 30 days to improve performance. It is also forbidden to place Google AdSense ads on your organization's website or to use affiliate links. The website must be secured with https. Only text ads are allowed. You cannot run image, video or shopping ads through your Google Ad Grants account.

The CPC cannot exceed 2.00 $ when using the Maximize Clicks bidding strategy. However, it is possible and highly recommended to exceed this limit by using smart bidding strategies like Maximize Conversions

The domain you use must be the one you specified when you activated your account. However, it is possible to whitelist a new domain via this link. These new domains must belong to your organization and must not contain broken links. Google will suspend your account if you do not follow these guidelines.

Ads and keywords must have a certain performance quality. A keyword's Quality Score, which is a combination of click-through rate, ad relevance, and landing page user experience, should be at least 3 out of 10. Your account's overall CTR should be at least 5 %.

Tips for Success with Google Ad Grants 2025

A healthy account structure

A clear account structure is linked to the account overview. A good overview makes it easier to track results and identify causes of performance variations more quickly. Minimize the number of campaigns and maximize ad groups. Ad copy and keywords can be tailored to groups with detailed ad structures. It makes sense to include the keyword in the ad and landing page.

Choose the right keywords

Finding the right keywords is essential to reaching your target audience and boosting your traffic on Google Ad Grants. The challenge is finding keywords with a monthly search volume >1000 to advertise but with low competitive pressure so that your Ad Grants account can advertise. For this, the Google keyword planner is your best friend. You will often need hundreds of keywords to use a large portion of the 10,000$/month.

Increase the quality level

Quality Score is a key success factor on Google Ad Grants. It's the score Google gives you for a keyword when it judges the relevance of your ad and landing page to that keyword. Any keywords with a Quality Score below 3/10 will be automatically paused on Google Ad Grants. Avoid clumsy ad groups with a granular campaign structure and write ads and landing pages on your site that include your keywords. The golden rule: 1 theme = 1 ad group with 1 dedicated ad + 1 dedicated landing page + about twenty keywords specific to the theme.

Using Conversion Tracking and Google Analytics

Conversion tracking lets you know exactly what your users did after seeing or clicking on your ad, such as filling out a registration form, making an online donation, or subscribing to your newsletter. By analyzing your data in detail, you can determine which actions are most likely to generate conversions. Without conversion tracking, both you and Google's bidding algorithms are blind.

Bypass the 2$ bid limit with “maximize conversions”

In 2018, Google added a new, little-known rule to encourage nonprofits to use Smart Bidding. Previously, most nonprofits manually set their bids at 2$, which is the manual bid limit, and everyone was fighting for the same goal. Now, nonprofits using Smart Bidding strategies like “maximize conversions” can bid without limits, which has created CPC (cost-per-click) inflation on Ad Grants accounts (6$ for volunteering, 10$ for donating, etc.). Smart Bidding is an algorithm that automatically adjusts your bids by the microsecond to maximize your goals. Like any algorithm, it requires data and therefore conversion tracking. For a faster start, the trick is to create intermediate micro-conversions by following the AIDA model, as explained below.

Conclusion

With the new terms of service, Google is looking to improve the quality of Ad Grants accounts. To meet the new requirements, nonprofits must place greater emphasis on showcasing relevant content. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions about Google Ad Grants, please contact us!