2. Registering For The Ad Grants
This guide is part 2 in a 4-part series. Read the rest of the series here:
- How To Master Google Ad Grants (The Definitive Guide) Part 1: Introduction to Google Ad Grants
- How To Master Google Ad Grants (The Definitive Guide) Part 3: Basic Google Ads Set Up
- How To Master Google Ad Grants (The Definitive Guide) Part 4: Advanced Google Ad Grants Techniques
Welcome to part two of our comprehensive guide to Google Ad Grants for charities and nonprofits.
In this section of the guide, were going to go through the actual Google Ad Grants setup process.
Your charity or nonprofit has decided to try the Google Ad Grants, so now you need to get things up and running. This guide will lead you through that process, covering common questions, issues and problems that people encounter.
The Ad Grant is one of the most highly leveraged marketing channels available, but like any great opportunity, its not always easy. The signup process can be notoriously tricky, and you can find many examples of organisations getting stuck in the process on the Google Ad Grant Community Forum.
Our objective in this section of the guide is to help you get things up and running. Lets get started!
Dont have time to read the whole guide right now?
Managing a non-profit its not easy, if youre too busy to read the guide now, just add your email and well send it to you right away.
Your Email
Your Name
If you'd like to get occasional, relevant and useful emails from the team at Anuncia, please tick this box.
2. Registering For The Ad Grants
Lets start with a top-level view of the process. The Google Ad Grants is one of a range of offerings Google has for non-profits via their Google for Nonprofits programme.
The application process consists of three main steps:
- Registering for free with an organisation called TechSoup. In the UK, this is handled by Charity Digital (formerly known as Tech Trust)
- Registering with Google for Nonprofits
- Setting up your Google Ad Grants account
To use the Ad Grant, you have to first setup an account with Google for Nonprofits. To use Google for Nonprofits, you need an account with TechSoup, an organisation who help non-profits utilise technology. Confusingly, in the UK this is done through Charity Digital, who work in partnership with TechSoup.
Once set up with Charity Digital, youll get an authentication token. Youll need this token during your Google for Nonprofits account registration process. After that, youll have a Google for Nonprofits account.
The next and final step, is to closely follow Googles setup instructions to create a Google Ads account that you can link to your organisations Google for Nonprofits account.
Are you with us so far? OK, lets dive into the specifics.
How To Apply For Google Ad Grants
2.1. Registering with TechSoup
Your non-profit must be registered with TechSoup to be considered for the Ad Grant
2.2. Registering with Google for Nonprofits
Learn how to register for Google for Nonprofits
2.3. Setting up your Google Ads account
Set up your Google Ads account and submit it for review
2.1. Registering with TechSoup
Google has several eligibility requirements for non-profits in each country where the programme is available. You can read the specific eligibility requirements here: //support.google.com/nonprofits/answer/3215869
One of the requirements is that an organisation is registered with TechSoup. This charity is US-based but has partner organisations in different countries. The UK partner is called Charity Digital.
Please follow the steps below to register with TechSoup:
- Go totechsoup.org
- Select the country where your organisation is based from the dropdown menu
- You will be redirected to the relevant partner website in your country
- Create a free account on your relevant partner website (e.g. Charity Digital in the UK)
- Follow the steps. In the UK, you will need your charity number or equivalent identifier
- Now that youre a registered user, go to my account and register your organisation
- Once registered, the partner website (via TechSoup) will send you a validation token. It will look something like this: [emailprotected]
Now that you have successfully registered with Techsoup and got your token, its time to set up your Google For Nonprofits account.
2.2. Registering with Google For Nonprofits
To set up your non-profit organisation on Google for Nonprofits, youll need a Google account that you can use for this purpose.
Wed recommend using a gmail account that is specific to the organisation (instead of a personal Gmail account), and that can be easily accessed, even if there are staff changes in the future (for example, a general admin or marketing email address).
Bear in mind that youll need to either use an email address which will have a regularly monitored mailbox to keep up to date with emails from Google, or alternatively you can set up mail forwarding to another email address to ensure you receive communications.
Why is this important? Well, we often encounter nonprofits where a staff member set up all the accounts and since left, and logins have been lost. This adds time to get the account access back. (For reference, if youre in this situation, please see this helpful link to recover it: //support.google.com/nonprofits/answer/1722005?hl=en-GB)
Go to accounts.google.com and either log in to your account or create a new one to use. Once youve done this, continue to the steps below to register with Google For Nonprofits:
- Go to //www.google.com/nonprofits/
- Click "Get Started"
- Sign in with your Google account that you want to use for the organisation's account (if not already signed in to Google)
- Follow the steps to register your organisation
- Enter the token that you received from your TechSoup application completed above
- Complete the application
- Click on Activate products and select Google Ad Grants
- Fill in the Ad Grants Eligibility Form
- Submit your activation request
Once registered with Google For Nonprofits, youll now be able to access a variety of free services they provide to organisations, which youll see in your dashboard.
Once your application for Google Ad Grants is approved in Google for Nonprofits, you will get an email to accept a payment profile and to accept a Google Ads account setup.
After you accept, your Ad Grants account will be ready and you can start creating the campaigns.
2.3. Setting up your Google Ads account
Google Ads is a software Google provides to advertisers who want to advertise on its search engine. Youll need an account for your organisation.
You can either set up a Smart Campaign or a Google Ads account (on expert mode). We recommend the latter, but both instructions from Google can be found below:
Smart Campaigns: This is the simpler version of Google Ads. The set up is faster and easier, and most of the management is automated but you lose the control and personalisation youd have with an expert Google Ads account.
//support.google.com/grants/answer/6077350?hl=en&ref_topic=9842577
Google Ads (expert mode): We recommend creating an expert account, it will give you more control over your keywords, targeting and budget.
//support.google.com/grants/answer/1689506?hl=en&ref_topic=3500132
Using the proper Google Ads setup, what we call Google Ads Expert Mode, gives you maximum control over your account. Within a Google Ads account, you can create Campaigns which in turn contain Ad Groups and Keywords.
If you choose to create an Expert Mode account, youll need to follow Googles policies. Which means your account needs to have:
- At least one active campaign
- Each campaign must have at least 2 ad groups
- Each ad group must have at least 2 ads
- Ad groups need at least 1 keyword
- Single-word or overly generic keywords are not allowed
- Campaigns must have at least 2 sitelinks ad extensions
There are other policies that your account must follow, but these are the ones to keep in mind when setting up your account. Learn more about Googles rules here //support.google.com/grants/answer/9042207?hl=en-GB
Phew! Well done once youve got your Ads account set up and approved, you can now start driving visitors to your website!
Or if you prefer, contact us for more information about the Grant and how we can help create or optimise your Google Ad Grants account