Ranked for the 6th time by Fortune magazine as the best company to work for, Google is providing lots of free tools for nonprofit organizations. Following their slogan that “building great products depends on great people”, the company continues to develop and upgrade the free tools and resources for nonprofits.
Does your nonprofit organization qualify for these tools? Below are some of the eligibility requirements:
- The nonprofit should maintain a valid charity status (501c3 status for US), which will be verified with the IRS online database. A determination letter of approval is not sufficient.
- Acknowledge and agree to the application’s required certifications regarding nondiscrimination and donation receipt and use;
- Have already created the organization’s website.
Some organizations don’t qualify for Google Ad grants, such as: governmental entities and organizations, schools, childcare centers, hospitals and medical facilities, and others.
If your nonprofit organization passes the eligibility test, the next step is to apply for the Program. The application process is simple, the organization needs to provide information about its tax-exempt status, EIN (Employer Identification Number), etc.
Only one membership per organization is granted. Organizations that follow under group exemption and use the same EIN, are eligible for individual membership.
More information about the Google process is available here.
Once the application is approved, the nonprofit has the opportunity to choose among specific great products, which include:
- Google Ad Grants;
- YouTube For Nonprofit Program;
- YouTube Video Volunteers;
- Google Earth & Google Maps;
- Google Apps – gmail, calendar, documents, spreadsheets, video chat, etc.;
- Google Analytics;
- Google Website Optimizer;
- Blogger;
- Google Groups.
Google Ads Grants – this is Google free advertising tool, which allows nonprofit organizations to promote their charitable cause through in-Kind AdWords for up to $10,000/month. The daily budget is set to $329 (or about $10,000/month); the maximum cost-per-click limit is $2; nonprofits can only run keyword-targeted campaigns; the search results will only appear on Google pages; only text ads are allowed. The grantees can only run mission-based text ads.
If the nonprofit organization already has an active Google Ad account, it can subscribe for AdWords Express Account, which will allow Google to maintain the promotion campaign by creating an online ad; automatically optimize the ads, and other useful features, which will significantly save your time and help you with the ad account management.
Go for it!