Google Ad Grants
Free Google Ads advertising for non-profit organisations. I help you secure the grant and run it so your cause gets the visibility it deserves.
What is Google Ad Grants?
Google Ad Grants is a Google programme that gives eligible non-profit organisations up to $10,000 a month in free advertising on Google Search. That comes to $120,000 a year of advertising budget.
With the grant you can promote your mission, raise donations, recruit volunteers and build visibility for your cause, reaching people who are already searching for related subjects.
Advertising at no cost
Google provides the budget
Google Search
Visibility in the search results
More Volunteers
Reach the people who want to help
More Donations
Raise more in your fundraising
How I can help
Full support, from applying for the grant through to running the campaigns.
Eligibility Check
I review your organisation against the criteria and confirm whether you qualify for the grant.
Grant Application
I handle the whole application: registering with Google for Nonprofits and activating Ad Grants.
Campaign Setup
I build and configure Google Ads campaigns tuned to make full use of the budget.
Ongoing Management
Monthly campaign optimisation, KPI monitoring and reporting on the conversions achieved.
Compliance
I keep you within Google's policies, avoiding suspensions and keeping the grant active.
Training
Training for your team on reading the reports and understanding how the campaigns are performing.
Who can apply
Check whether your organisation meets the eligibility criteria.
Recognised non-profit status
A third-sector organisation with a registered office in Italy: an incorporated or unincorporated association, a foundation, a social cooperative, a religious organisation or the Italian branch of an NGO registered with the Foreign Ministry. Since 1 January 2026 the ONLUS register has been abolished: former members had to move to the RUNTS register by 31 March 2026.
A working website
A website on your own domain, with good content and a clear explanation of your mission.
Compliant policies
A privacy policy and cookie policy published on the site, and an active SSL certificate (HTTPS).
A mission of social benefit
Working in fields such as social care, the environment, human rights, culture, international cooperation or animal welfare. Note: healthcare and education are excluded, even when the organisation is genuinely non-profit.
Exclusions worth knowing before you apply
Google excludes government bodies and agencies, all schools, academic institutions and universities (only their philanthropic arms qualify), hospitals and healthcare organisations, and political or party organisations. These are the four cases where I see applications rejected most often.
Who benefits
The legal forms Google recognises as eligible in Italy. If yours is not listed, it is not automatically a no: get in touch and I will check.
How it works
The steps to securing and using Google Ad Grants.
Check
I assess your organisation's eligibility and whether the website meets the requirements.
Eligibility check
I register the organisation with Google for Nonprofits and handle the eligibility review, which Google entrusts to Goodstack. Everything is decided here: the statute, the deed of incorporation and the tax code must match one another.
Activating the grant
I apply for Ad Grants, create the Google Ads account and configure it to the programme rules: conversion tracking in place, Smart Bidding, at least two ad groups per campaign.
Management and compliance
Ongoing optimisation plus a monthly check of the figures that keep the grant alive, starting with the 5% click-through rate. Two months below it and the account is switched off.
The rules that keep the grant alive
Getting Ad Grants is the easy part. Grants are lost afterwards, and nearly always for one of these reasons.
A 5% click-through rate every month
This is what brings most accounts down. Two consecutive months below a 5% click-through rate and Google switches the grant off. It can be recovered, but it takes a reactivation request and the traffic is lost in the meantime.
Conversion tracking, at least one a month
Conversion tracking must be active and record at least one meaningful conversion per month. Without it the grant is formally out of compliance, even while the ads are running.
Smart Bidding and the bid cap
Ad Grants accounts created after 22 April 2019 must use a Smart Bidding strategy. With manual bidding the cap is $2.00 per click, and it can only be exceeded with Maximise conversions, Target CPA or Target ROAS.
Keyword restrictions
Single-word keywords are not allowed, apart from exceptions such as the organisation's own name or a recognised medical condition. Overly generic keywords must be paused and those with a quality score of 1 or 2 removed. This is where the click-through rate is lost.
Minimum account structure
At least two ad groups per campaign, at least two ads per group and at least two sitelink extensions. Geographic targeting is required, and the grant only covers the Search network: no Display, no YouTube.
The annual survey
Google requires a survey to be completed once a year. It is trivial, which is exactly why it gets forgotten: missing it is grounds for suspension.
What people ask me most
The recurring questions from the thirty or so applications I have handled for Italian associations.
Is Google Ad Grants really free?
The advertising budget is: up to $10,000 a month of ads on Google Search, capped at $329 a day, with nothing paid to Google. What is not free is the work of building and maintaining the account, and without that work the grant is lost through non-compliance. Be wary of anyone who presents the two as the same thing.
Who checks whether my organisation is eligible?
Not Google directly and, since 2023, no longer TechSoup. The review is handled by Goodstack, a third party that verifies the organisation's legal status. Many Italian guides still point to TechSoup: that is out of date and wastes time. You need the statute, the deed of incorporation and the tax code, and they must agree with one another, because the most common reason for rejection is a detail that does not match.
Can an amateur sports club get Ad Grants?
Amateur sports associations do not appear among the legal forms Google lists as eligible for Italy, and sports organisations are among the excluded categories. It is not an automatic no for every organisation running sporting activity: what counts is the legal form and the mission set out in the statute. It needs checking case by case, before applying.
My organisation works in healthcare. Can I apply?
No. Google explicitly excludes hospitals and healthcare organisations, even when they are non-profit in every respect. The same exclusion applies to schools, academic institutions and universities: only their philanthropic arms can apply, where these exist as separate entities.
How long does it take to get the grant running?
The eligibility review usually takes from a few days to a couple of weeks, depending on how well the paperwork holds up. After approval, activating Ad Grants and configuring the account to the programme rules takes a few days more. Allow a month from start to the first campaign actually running.
What happens if the click-through rate drops below 5%?
One month below the threshold has no immediate consequence. Two consecutive months does: Google deactivates the account. Reactivation is possible, but it means fixing the causes and submitting a request, and the ads are off in the meantime. In practice the rate almost always collapses because overly generic keywords were left running.
Are Ad Grants and Google Workspace for Nonprofits the same thing?
No, they are two separate programmes within Google for Nonprofits. Ad Grants is advertising budget on Google Search. Workspace for Nonprofits is the mail, Drive and Meet suite, free for eligible organisations. You can have one without the other, and Ad Grants does not require moving the organisation's email.
Note. This page is for information and describes an independent consulting service. I am not a Google partner or reseller: the Google Partner status I hold relates to managing Google Ads. Google Ad Grants, Google for Nonprofits and Google Workspace are programmes run by Google, which sets and changes their requirements and conditions freely; the outcome of any application rests with Google and its verification partner. The trademarks mentioned belong to their respective owners and are referred to descriptively. Always check the current conditions in Google's official documentation for Italy.
What people say
What people who chose to work with me have to say.
Is your organisation eligible?
Get in touch for a free check. Let's find out whether you can claim up to $10,000 a month in free advertising.
Check Eligibility