Google Grants for charities help you further your reach without squeezing your budget of its last dime.
Church budgets are already stretched thin and this is why marketing isn’t always a top priority. Spending money on online ads is typically not one of the top choices.
Google fully understands the struggles of churches and other charities. This is why the grant exists – to help you market your church for free.
Looking to get started on your Google Grant? REACHRIGHT can help!
Ensuring Your Charity Status
Google doesn’t just hand out grants to everyone. One of the most important requirements for applying and getting Google Grants for charities is to ensure you’re a valid charity in your country. All applicants must be validated by TechSoup or the local TechSoup partner. You’re also not allowed to be a government, hospital or education organization.
In the United States, churches are required to be registered by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) organization. Even if you already hold tax exempt status, you have to have the above designation by the IRS too. As long as you meet these requirements, you’re considered a charity and eligible to apply for the grant.
Applying For Google Grants
Applying for Google Grants for charities is a five step process. The first step is ensuring eligibility, which we covered above. The next is to apply for a Google for Nonprofits account. This provides you access to multiple Google tools to help you further grow your church.
Next, you have to choose the type of AdWords program you want to use. Google Ads allows you to manage your account yourself or you can let Google handle things with the AdWords Express account.
You’ll then be taken through the steps to create the account you’ve chosen above. After you’ve set up your account and ad campaign, submit your application for review. Review times may vary. If you ever have to pause your account for any reason, you won’t have to completely reapply. However, Google will need to review your account to ensure you’re still eligible.
Using Your Grant Funds
Assuming your church is eligible, you now have to figure out how to use your grant funds. Recipients have $10,000 every month to spend on AdWords ads. And yes, you have to use the full amount every month.
There are some restrictions and requirements. Each day, your budget is set to $329, which utilizes your monthly grant. Most ads are capped at $2 maximum cost-per-click, though there are certain account types that have higher limits.
You’re also required to use keyword-based ads only. This is actually a good thing as it’ll help you reach your target audience easier.
If you’re using the AdWords Express program, most of the work is done for you. If you’re using the Google Ads program, you’ll need to manually set up your ad campaigns. Create as many campaigns as you need to reach your church goals, such as boosting tithing online.
For best results and to ensure you use all your funds, create multiple ads per campaign to rotate. Make each different to appeal to a wider audience. See which types of ads perform best to help you create better ads in the future.
Managing Your AdWords Account
Google Grants for charities are designed to help your church grow, but if you’re completely new to managing AdWords, you might feel like you’ll never learn how to use it. To help ease you into things, major requirements, like a 5% click-through rate, don’t kick in until 90 days after you’ve created your account.
It’s well worth checking the Google AdWords community when you have questions. Odds are, if you’re having trouble, someone else has to. The Google Nonprofit Resource Center has step-by-step guides to managing your AdWords account and getting the most from your grant. It also includes community resources to help you learn from other charities.
One main requirement for Google Grants for charities is an active website. Let us help you with your eligibility by creating an engaging church website.Â
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