When you launch a human rights or media-focused nonprofit project, you quickly run into the main challenge: how do you reach those for whom this information is vital when there is no marketing budget?
For us, the answer was the program Google Ad Grants. This is a Google grant that provides nonprofit organizations with up to $10,000 per month (or, more precisely, $329 per day) for search ads.
Not everyone gets through this process on their first try. As an IT specialist, I will walk you through the process I consistently complete a couple of times a year, step by step. In this article, I will break down the entire journey in detail—from verification to account setup—so that other nonprofits can replicate this experience.
Step 1: Legal Foundations and Website Preparation
Before approaching Google, you need to make sure that the organization meets the formal eligibility criteria and that its website is technically ready.
What the organization needed:
- Official nonprofit status: Our organization is registered in Lithuania as a VšĮ (Public Institution — a public institution and nonprofit legal entity). You must have an equivalent legal form in your jurisdiction.
- Statutory objectives: Your bylaws must clearly state that your activities are social, educational, or charitable in nature.
Website requirements (Critically important!):
Google has very strict requirements for nonprofit websites. Before applying, you need to check the following:
- HTTPS and SSL certificate: The website must be fully secure.
- Transparency: The website must include “About Us” and “Our Mission” pages, contact details, and clear information about what the organization does.
- No commercial advertising: The website must not contain Google AdSense units or third-party banners promoting other companies’ products or services.
- Your own domain: The website must belong to your organization.
Step 2. Verification through Goodstack (Google for Nonprofits)
Google does not verify nonprofits itself manually—it uses an accredited international partner platform. This used to be TechSoup; verification in many regions is now carried out by Goodstack.
- Registering for Google for Nonprofits: On the portal Google for Nonprofits you need to submit an application to create an account.
- Completing verification with Goodstack: You will be redirected to a Goodstack form. You will need to upload the following:
- An extract from the state register confirming the nonprofit's registration.
- The organization's charter.
- Documents confirming that you are authorized to represent this organization.
- Waiting: Verification takes anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks. Once Goodstack has confirmed our status, our Google for Nonprofits account will be marked “Approved”.
If your organization has a complex or highly specific mission, make sure that your documents and website clearly demonstrate its social impact, rather than simply presenting it as a “commercial publishing model.”
Step 3. Activating Google Ad Grants
Once Google has verified our nonprofit status, the dashboard Google for Nonprofits will provide access to products—including Google Ad Grants.
A technical detail about Google Ads:
The most common mistake at this stage is creating a regular Google Ads account and linking a bank card to it. Do not do this!
- An Ad Grants account is activated directly through a special form in the Google for Nonprofits dashboard.
- When creating a grant account, NO payment card is linked. If the system asks you to enter card details, you are creating a regular commercial account, not a grant account.
- The account currency is automatically set to USD, with a daily spending limit of $329.
Step 4. Connecting analytics and setting up conversions
Google doesn't award the grant “just because” — you must use it effectively. One of the program's main requirements is that a trackable conversion must be set up in the account.
You need to set up the proper end-to-end integration:
- Connect Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to the website.
- Set up key events (conversions):
- Visit the donation page / open the support form.
- Subscribe to the newsletter or regular updates.
- Download safety guides / submit the contact form.
- Link the GA4 account to the Google Ads account.
- Import key conversions from GA4 into Google Ads and set them as primary.
Step 5. Submit the account for final review and activation
After setting up key actions and creating the initial basic campaigns, you will submit the account to the Google Ad Grants team for final review.
Within a few days, you should receive the long-awaited confirmation by email: Your $10,000 monthly grant has been activated!
Important Google Ad Grants “Survival” Rules (Rules of the Game)
Getting the grant is only half the battle. It can easily be lost if you do not follow the account maintenance rules:
- Minimum CTR of 5%: Your account's monthly CTR (click-through rate) must not fall below 5%. If it does, the account may be temporarily suspended.
- No single-word keywords: You cannot run ads for single-word search queries (for example, simply “help” or “news”). Keyword phrases must be specific (2+ words).
- No overly broad keywords: Queries such as “free video” or “download” will get you banned.
- Campaign structure: Each ad group must contain at least 2 ads and at least 2 specific links to relevant website pages (Sitelinks).
- Targeted traffic only: If you're a media outlet, you should direct people to specific socially significant articles, analysis, or support resources—not simply sell advertising space.
Conclusion and advice for fellow nonprofit organizations
Google Ad Grants can be a powerful booster. You'll be able to share vital information, attract supporters, and defend people's rights without a budget for massive advertising campaigns.
Don't be intimidated by the bureaucracy. Treat it like a straightforward IT project: get your website in order, gather the documents for Goodstack, set up GA4—and gain a tool that will support your mission every day.
If you have any questions about the technical setup or verification, leave them in the comments.
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