How to Access & Maximise Google Ad Grants for Charities (Get £95k in free ads – yes for real)

What are Google Ad grants and how do they work?

How the grant works

Google Ad Grants is a program by Google offering eligible nonprofits up to $10,000 USD (that’s about £8k to us over here) per month in free Google Ads credits.

That’s search-only, text-based ads shown on Google’s search engine results pages. Unlike regular ad accounts, this grant doesn’t include display or shopping ads, and every click comes from a dedicated budget that won’t cost you a penny.

It’s a long-term program with no expiry, as long as your charity remains eligible.

Key differences from standard Google Ads

While it sounds generous, the grant operates under strict conditions. Your account must hit a 5% CTR (Click Through Rate), use only keyword-targeted text ads, and avoid bidding on restricted terms like “donate.”

Unless you enable conversion tracking and use Maximise Conversions bidding, your max CPC (Cost Per Click) is capped at £1.00, which limits your visibility on competitive searches.

Ad Grants also require a tightly structured account with at least two ad groups per campaign and active site-wide tracking.

Benefits charities can expect

However, if you play by the rules and think strategically, Ad Grants can become a game-changer.

Instead of wasting time (and money) chasing donation-related terms, you can promote blogs, services, volunteer opportunities, events, or educational resources.

The key is to think informational, not just transactional.

This means charities that are taking their marketing seriously are in a great position to start advertising.

Smart targeting and structured landing pages can help charities attract a steady flow of engaged, relevant traffic.

We’ve seen charities use Ad Grants to grow awareness, boost newsletter signups, recruit volunteers and even build partnerships.

Is your charity eligible for a Google Ad grant?

If your charity has a functioning website, a clear mission, and a bit of patience, there’s a good chance you’re eligible for the Google Ad Grant.

Google Ad Grant eligibility criteria

To meet Google Ad Grant eligibility, you’ll need to be a registered charity (in the UK, that means having a charity number) and apply through the Google for Nonprofits platform.

Your charity website design should follow Google’s policies, think: user-friendly layout, mobile responsiveness, and clear calls to action. You’ll also need to agree to some basic policies around donations and inclusivity.

The process might seem straightforward, but without some prep, it’s easy to get tripped up, especially with no one to ask.

Why applications are rejected (and how to avoid it)

We’ve seen charities turned away for reasons as simple as a missing privacy policy, or a homepage that loads too slowly on mobile.

Google’s reviewers are looking for websites that are well-structured and demonstrate a genuine mission. If your donation process is confusing, your content is thin, or your CTAs are unclear, it could slow things down.

A bit of polish on your site (updating your messaging, improving page speed, tightening up your structure) can make all the difference.

Applying and getting approved quickly

The key to approval? Don’t rush.

Make sure your website reflects your brand mission and is ready for scrutiny. Then go through the Google for Nonprofits portal to apply. Once that’s done, you’ll submit a separate application for the Ad Grant itself.

Most charities hear back within a week. If everything checks out, approval is usually quick, no drama, just done.

As part of our Pay Per Click (pay-per-click) service, we will take you through the entire process, however if you want to know more or have a go yourself then heres how.

How to apply for Google Ad Grants

To get started, register with Google for Nonprofits portal above and fill out all the info.

TechSoup is a nonprofit that partners with Google to verify your charity status. You’ll need to register with them during the application process and receive a validation token, this confirms that your organisation is legitimate and eligible for Google’s nonprofit tools, including Ad Grants.

Once approved, you’ll gain access to Google tools, including Ad Grants, Workspace, and YouTube for Nonprofits.

Verification and approval process

Once your TechSoup validation is complete, you can activate Google Ad Grants within your nonprofit dashboard.

To do this:

• Log into your Google for Nonprofits account
• Click “Activate” under Ad Grants
• Submit the pre-qualification survey and configure your first campaign structure

Google will review your setup for compliance. If everything checks out, you’ll be granted access to your $329/day in free Google Ads spend.

Troubleshooting common application issues

A few things that can trip up your application:

• Using a personal Gmail account instead of a registered domain
• Ineligible organisation types (like schools or hospitals)
• Not linking with TechSoup correctly
• Forgetting to create an actual campaign before submitting for review

If you get stuck, check the Ad Grants Help Center, or give us a shout.

Structuring your grants account for success

Getting impressions with Ad Grants isn’t about doing what everyone else is doing, it’s about building a smart, focused account structure that works within the grant’s limitations.

Campaign & ad group architecture best practices

Start simple. One campaign per service or initiative, and a tightly themed set of ad groups under each. This helps Google understand your structure, keeps your quality scores higher, and ensures your account stays compliant.

Don’t try to cram everything into one bucket. Instead keep ad groups tight and focused, it’s better for results and compliance.

Keyword strategy and ad copy for grant accounts

Skip the big-ticket donation terms, they’re crowded, costly, and not what the grant was built for anyway.

With Ad Grants, the goal is visibility on low-competition, high-relevance phrases that paid advertisers aren’t fighting over.

Think education, awareness, and early-funnel search queries. Create content (like blog posts or resource pages) around these themes and build your ad groups around that.

Make your ad copy as specific and helpful as possible. Include strong CTAs, make use of sitelinks and callouts, and focus on clarity over cleverness.

Bidding limits, budgeting & utilising full monthly credit

You’re capped at a £2 (or $2 USD) max CPC unless you switch to Maximise Conversions bidding (and even then) you must track at least one conversion event on your site.

To spend your full budget, you’ll need a broad enough structure to capture long-tail traffic. This means lots of relevant ad groups, continuous testing, and building out new landing pages based on what’s working.

This is why we suggest that you consider this as part of digital marketing retainer, as it will help you maximise your free budget.

Maintaining compliance and performance

Many charities lose their grant access due to avoidable compliance issues. This section helps you stay in the green and get the most from your monthly ad credit.

Google Ad Grants policies and rules to follow

Your Ad Grants account must meet strict performance and policy standards. This includes:

• Maintaining a minimum 5% CTR across your campaigns
• Having at least 2 active ad groups per campaign with at least 2 ads in each
• Using relevant, non-single-word keywords (unless brand-specific or approved exceptions)
• Sending traffic to a high-quality website that loads fast, is mobile-optimised, and features original content

We had someone come to us because their grant was suspended as their site didn’t meet Google’s website policy standards.

Google flagged issues with slow loading, unclear navigation, and weak calls to action, all common site compliance problems.

Tools like PageSpeed Insights can help, but often you’ll need a dev team to support Core Web Vitals.

Stay proactive with these policies: they’re not guidelines, they’re requirements.

Monitoring CTR, Quality Score, conversion tracking

Performance isn’t just nice to have, it’s what keeps your grant alive. Failing to maintain a minimum CTR or using poor-performing keywords can get your account paused.

Ensure your:

• Campaigns consistently meet CTR benchmarks
• Keywords have strong Quality Scores (ideally 7+)
• Conversion tracking is set up properly in GA4 or Tag Manager (for micro and macro conversions alike)

Most charities track donations or sign-ups, but smaller actions like email clicks or time on site also help inform Google’s algorithm, especially under Maximize Conversions bidding.

Need help? Here’s a step-by-step setup guide for conversion tracking.

Dealing with suspensions and reactivation

Ad Grants suspensions happen, and they’re frustrating and time consuming. The good news is, with the right changes and communication, most accounts can be reinstated.

We know of a youth-focused UK nonprofit whos account was shut down for policy non-compliance. With good practice setup: restructured campaigns, cleaned up keywords, added real conversion goals, and were reinstated in under a month.

If your account is suspended:

1. Check the email Google sent, it outlines the exact reason.
2. Fix all issues thoroughly (not just superficially).
3. Submit the reactivation request through the Google Ad Grants support form.

Optimising for real impact: Use cases and tactics

Google Ad Grants can be far more than just a traffic boost. Used correctly, they become a reliable engine for deeper engagement, from nurturing donor interest to filling volunteer rosters and getting people to your next event.

Driving donations and appeals with ads

While bidding directly on “donate to charity” might not work (especially with strict bidding rules) you can guide people toward giving by targeting the questions they ask first.

Instead of a hard sell, use the grant to promote informative, emotionally compelling content like blog posts or campaign stories. From there, drive users to dedicated donation pages that reinforce impact and make giving easy.

This indirect route works because it aligns with how people search, they’re curious before they’re committed.

Volunteer recruitment and awareness campaigns

Looking to grow your community of supporters? Many organisations use Google Ad Grants to promote volunteer opportunities and raise visibility for their cause.

Targeting localised, intent-based search terms like “volunteer in Exeter” or “how to help with homelessness in Devon” ensures your message reaches people who are actively looking to get involved.

When paired with strong storytelling and accessible sign-up pages, these ads can turn interest into action.

Promoting events, resources and educational content

Events, webinars, downloadable guides often sit in the underused part of a charity’s website. Yet they’re perfect for Ad Grants.

Using Dynamic Search Ads can help surface these pages to people searching for niche, low-competition topics, driving awareness without blowing your budget.

Educational content builds credibility, showcases expertise and brings in users who are in learning mode, a key part of the supporter journey.

Tools, integrations and advanced strategies

Linking Google Analytics, Tag Manager and conversion tracking

To get the most out of your Google Ad Grant, accurate tracking is essential. This means setting up Google Analytics 4, Google Tag Manager and conversion tracking from the outset.

We do this by default for the charities we support, helping them track meaningful actions like contact form submissions, phone clicks or resource downloads.

Linking your Google Ads and Analytics accounts also gives you deeper insights into user behaviour, so you can refine your campaigns and boost performance over time.

Automation and scripts for ongoing optimisation

Manual tweaks only get you so far. Google Ads scripts help streamline your account management, automate tasks, and ensure compliance.

Some favourites include broken link checkers, negative keyword conflict scripts, and n-gram analysis tools to better understand keyword performance.

Scripts are especially useful for charities with limited resources, but for complex or large-scale accounts, switching to the Google Ads API can unlock even more powerful automation.

When to combine Ad Grants with paid campaigns

It’s true that Ad Grants come with limitations, but combining them with a paid Google Ads campaign can offer the best of both worlds.

As a BCorp digital marketing agency, We manage charity PPC campaigns for charities of all sizes, and the ones seeing the greatest impact often blend the two.

Paid campaigns remove the $2 bid cap and allow for broader keyword targeting, while the grant continues to fund awareness-building and educational content.

Done well, this dual strategy delivers reach, traffic, and real conversions, especially when budgets are tight.

Common challenges and how to overcome them

Low CTR or account suspension

Low click-through rates (CTR) are one of the most common reasons accounts get flagged, or even suspended. Google requires a minimum 5% CTR across all campaigns, which can be tough when you’re just starting out.

If your account has been suspended, you likely received a vague notification with limited guidance. One example from a charity involved Google’s website standards, issues with speed, navigation and content quality triggered a suspension.

Tools like PageSpeed Insights and ensuring content is regularly updated can help you stay compliant.

The key to keeping your account in good standing? Relevant ads, clear calls to action, and a tight connection between keywords, ads and landing pages.

Bidding limitations and competitive keywords

Let’s be honest, Ad Grants don’t play fair with high-value keywords. You’re capped at $2 per click and not eligible for Display or Shopping ads. That means you’ll lose out on popular donation terms or commercial intent searches.

The solution is to think differently. Focus on long-tail, low-competition keywords your audience is still searching for. Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs) are particularly useful here, they crawl your site and serve ads to relevant queries you may not have thought of. Start there, then refine using the data they return.

It’s not about beating paying advertisers, it’s about finding the keyword opportunities they ignore.

Resource constraints (time, staff, expertise)

We know most charities aren’t rocking a full-time marketing team. Most charities don’t have the luxury of in-house PPC experts or the time to micromanage a grant account.

That’s where good processes (and sometimes a trusted partner) come in. If you can carve out just a few hours a month, you can keep your account healthy, track key conversions and improve results over time.

Need help scaling or staying compliant? That’s what we do.

Case study: UK charity success with Google Ad Grants

Before & after performance (impressions, conversions, cost)

An Exeter-based charity came to us with a relatively underused Ad Grants account. They’d previously struggled to generate meaningful traffic, with minimal conversions and thousands in unused ad credit each month.

Fast-forward to last month (after restructuring campaigns and optimising for relevance) they spent £7,472 of the grant budget. This drove 4,758 targeted visitors to their site, generating 125 telephone enquiries and 81 contact form submissions.

It’s the difference between sitting on £95k of unused budget and turning it into real-world results.

Lessons learned & recommendations

The biggest takeaway? Structure and intent matter.

We focused their campaigns around awareness, service-specific information, and timely fundraising appeals, avoiding overly competitive keywords that would never win impressions. We also improved their tracking setup, giving us better data to optimise campaigns.

For any charity getting started, our advice is simple: build lean, relevant campaigns with clear goals, track the right actions, and start small. Let performance guide your next move.

Scaling and next steps

Now that the campaigns are consistently delivering results, we’re working with the charity to scale. This includes:

• Adding new campaigns around seasonal events and specific services.
• Using Dynamic Search Ads to uncover new keyword opportunities.
• Testing automated bidding strategies as they move toward full monthly budget utilisation.

They’re also beginning to build landing pages for volunteer recruitment and expanding their content strategy, opening the door to even more grant potential.

Final checklist & next steps

Pre-application checklist

Before you dive in, here’s what you’ll need to have ready:

• A registered charity number (or equivalent nonprofit status)
• An eligible, high-quality website that meets Google’s Ad Grants policy
• A clear understanding of your goals—awareness, engagement, or support
• Time and resource to manage your account (or a trusted partner)

Double-check your site loads quickly, offers a clear user journey, and features useful, up-to-date content with calls to action. These are common pitfalls that delay approval.

30‑, 60‑, 90‑day action plan

Day 0–30:

Set up your Google for Nonprofits account, complete TechSoup validation, and apply for Ad Grants. If approved, structure your account with focused campaigns and launch 1–2 core themes.

Day 30–60:

Optimise your account. Use early data to refine ad copy and keywords, improve landing pages, and set up tracking via Google Analytics or Tag Manager.

Day 60–90:

Test new campaigns. Build landing pages around new themes like events or volunteer recruitment. Explore automation or DSAs to discover untapped opportunities.

Need help managing your Google Ad Grant?

Get expert support from our Exeter-based digital marketing team to maximise your £95K Google Ad Grant. From setup to strategy, we’ll help you reach more people, drive impact, and stay compliant.

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