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How to get $10,000 of Google Grants for Non-Profit in Canada
Imagine what you could do with $10,000 USD of in-kind advertising every month from AdWords, an online advertising solution from Google.
That’s what Google says on their Google Grant for non-profits page. They suggest that you could hire more volunteers, attract more donations and share your cause with the world.
Web development and Search Engine Marketing team-up for non-profits.
There are no doubts about how having a website can help non-profits organizations with their communications. Spreading the word, reaching potential partners and telling the story of those who are in need of help, whether it’s at home or abroad.
Over the course of the years, we’ve worked with several non-profits, all of which had a website and several communication channels like Social media — generally, twitter and Facebook, often Instagram. Very often these websites are informative, and even when they are well made, they could be improved in terms of SEO, online marketing, dashboards and automatization of processes. But this is where the cost explodes. Hiring an SEO team, developers to build complex applications to run events or manage volunteers, integrate with CRM, report data, advertise, adds up to amounts that are hard to allocate.
One of the ways to deal with these essential tools is to plan different development phases. The problem? Search Engine Marketing such as Adwords is generally at the last step.
Not with Google Grant for Nonprofits.
What is Google Grant for Non-profits?
In 2014 TechSoup and Google brought the program to Canada. Thanks to them, now Canadian registered charities, Canadian federal nonprofits, and Canadian provincial nonprofits can apply to get a $10,000 Adwords grant to spend every month, plus free tools and premium features for Youtube.
Above all the excitement, this program has many advantages:
- 1.It drives traffic to your organization’s website. A lot.
- 2.More traffic means more donations. You can now build your organization faster than ever.
- 3.By spreading the word, you have much more chances to get the interest of volunteers and sponsors.
- 4.With the appropriate tools (like Google Analytics) you can track what are the best keywords for your organization and build a better Information architecture.
- 5.It helps you cut in IT expenses.
- Remember that the Grant doesn’t allow you to do exactly what you want in your Adwords account, there are some limitations. (source Google)
Your ads will be entirely text-based (no videos or images).
They’ll appear only on Google search results pages, in positions below the ads of paying advertisers.
All campaigns must be keyword-targeted.
Your maximum cost-per-click (CPC) will be $2.00 USD.
You’ll receive $10,000 USD (up to $40,000 USD for Grantspro participants) of in kind AdWords advertising each month.
What else is included in the grant?
On top of the Adwords grant, here is what you can get:
Free access to the Google suite (Gmail, Drive, Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Surveys, Calendar and Sites)
Premium access to Youtube
Free license for Google Earth Pro
The conditions to be eligible to google Grants
Google specifies that all the grantees must meet certain criteria to qualify and keep that qualification active. See if you’re eligible by visiting Google eligibility page.
Once you know, you’ll need a TechSoup account. TechSoup is a program from the Centre for Social Innovation, a non-profit coworking space dedicated to helping people who change the world.
Here is how to register to TechSoup. Note that it generally takes around 7 to 10 days to be registered.
When you’re done, it’s time to apply to Google Grant.
Apply to Google Grant:
First, you’ll need to create or login to your Google account.
Then you need to certify that:
Once that’s done, enter your TechSoup token:
Once you’re done, select your organization and complete your profile to finish your application.
You got the Grant, what now?
You’ve been approved, congrats! You now have to choose the right Ad Program. If you want to control all the aspect of the SEM campaign, choose AdWords. If not, pick AdWords Express.
Set up your account, start working on your campaigns and submit your account for review.
In case you need to learn how to use Google AdWords, here is what you need to know about online marketing:
A few things to keep in mind when setting up your Adwords campaign with Google Grant
Due to the nature of the Adwords account, you might have to set up things slightly differently.
Good luck!
Don’t submit your billing information
Don’t include the display network. Ads are text only.
The email you use has to be tied to your organization. Don’t use a personal email.
Follow Google’s recommendation. Apply. Wait. Get approved. Set up Adwords. Submit. Wait. Get approved.
Don’t give up! If nothing happens in weeks, email Google or re-submit your application.
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