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Google Ad Grants for Charities: How to Get £7,800/Month in Free Advertising

NUVIX · 17 November 2025 · 12 min read
TLDR: Google gives eligible charities up to $10,000 (roughly £7,800) per month in free Google Ads credit. Most charities either don’t know about it or waste it because the programme has strict rules. You need a 5% minimum CTR, Quality Scores above 2, and proper conversion tracking.

What Google Ad Grants Is

Google Ad Grants is a programme that gives eligible non-profit organisations up to $10,000 per month in free Google Ads credit. That’s $120,000 per year. In the UK, that works out to roughly £7,800 per month or £93,600 per year, depending on exchange rates.

The programme has been running since 2003. Google has given over $10 billion in free advertising to non-profits worldwide. Despite this, a huge number of eligible charities in the UK either don’t know it exists or have set it up badly and use only a fraction of the allocation.

The catch is that Ad Grants comes with significant restrictions that don’t apply to regular Google Ads accounts. These restrictions mean you can’t just set it up and leave it alone — it requires ongoing management to stay compliant and actually spend the full allocation effectively.

Eligibility

To qualify for Google Ad Grants, your organisation must:

Organisations that are not eligible include:

The application process typically takes 2–4 weeks. You’ll need to register with Google for Nonprofits first, which requires validation through a third-party partner (Percent in the UK). Once approved, you can activate Ad Grants from your Google for Nonprofits dashboard.

The Restrictions

This is where most charities run into trouble. Ad Grants accounts have several restrictions that regular Google Ads accounts don’t. Break these rules and your account gets suspended. Here’s what you need to know:

$2.00 CPC cap

Ad Grants accounts are limited to a maximum cost per click of $2.00 (roughly £1.56). In competitive markets, this means your ads may not show for high-value keywords because paid advertisers are bidding significantly more. This is the most impactful restriction — it limits which keywords you can realistically compete on.

The workaround: use the maximise conversions bidding strategy, which is exempt from the $2.00 cap. With maximise conversions, Google can bid above $2.00 on individual clicks if it predicts they’ll convert. This is the single most important strategy for getting the most from your grant allocation.

Search campaigns only

Ad Grants can only be used for Search campaigns. No Display, no Video, no Shopping, no Performance Max. You’re limited to text ads triggered by keyword searches. This is actually fine for most charities — Search is the highest-intent channel, and it’s where people are actively looking for help, information, or ways to donate.

5% CTR requirement

Your account must maintain a minimum 5% click-through rate across all campaigns. If your CTR drops below 5% for two consecutive months, your account gets suspended. This is the rule that catches most charities off guard.

A 5% CTR is actually quite high for Search ads — the average across industries is around 3–4%. To maintain it, you need highly relevant keywords, tightly structured ad groups, and compelling ad copy. You also need to aggressively pause any keywords or ad groups dragging your overall CTR down.

Quality Score minimum

Every keyword must have a Quality Score above 2. Keywords scoring 1 or 2 must be paused or removed within a reasonable timeframe. Google checks this as part of their compliance reviews.

No single-word keywords

You cannot bid on single-word keywords (with some exceptions like branded terms). ‘Charity’ is not allowed. ‘Homelessness’ is not allowed. ‘Homeless charity London’ is fine. This rule prevents charities from targeting overly broad terms that waste the grant on irrelevant clicks.

No overly generic keywords

Beyond single words, Google also prohibits keywords that are too generic. Terms like ‘free videos’, ‘best apps’, ‘e-books’, or other terms that don’t clearly relate to your charity’s mission are not allowed. Stick to keywords that directly relate to your cause, services, and audience.

Must set up conversion tracking

Google requires Ad Grants accounts to have at least one meaningful conversion action set up and to report at least one conversion per month. Meaningful means actions like donations, volunteer sign-ups, newsletter subscriptions, or service enquiries — not page views or time on site.

How to Set It Up Properly

Step 1: Get your website ready

Before applying, make sure your website is in good shape. Google reviews it as part of the application. You need clear information about your charity’s mission, programmes, and impact. You need a privacy policy. The site needs to load quickly and work on mobile. Remove any broken links or outdated content.

Step 2: Register with Google for Nonprofits

Go to google.com/nonprofits and start the registration process. You’ll need to verify your charity through Percent (formerly TechSoup). Have your charity registration number ready. This step can take 1–2 weeks for verification.

Step 3: Activate Google Ad Grants

Once your Google for Nonprofits account is approved, activate Ad Grants from the dashboard. This creates a special Google Ads account with the $10,000 monthly credit. Follow the activation checklist Google provides — they’ll walk you through the initial setup.

Step 4: Set up conversion tracking

Before creating any campaigns, set up conversion tracking. Install the Google tag on your website and create conversion actions for your key goals: donations, volunteer sign-ups, contact form submissions, newsletter subscriptions. If you use GA4, import key events into Google Ads. This step is not optional — it’s required for compliance and it’s essential for using maximise conversions bidding.

Step 5: Build your campaign structure

Structure your campaigns around your charity’s key goals. For example, a homelessness charity might have:

Each campaign should have tightly themed ad groups with 5–15 closely related keywords. Use a mix of phrase match and exact match — avoid broad match unless you’re pairing it with maximise conversions bidding.

Step 6: Write compelling ads

Your ads need to be specific and relevant to hit the 5% CTR target. Here’s an example for a food bank charity:

Headline 1: Donate to [Charity Name] Food Bank
Headline 2: Help Feed Families in [City]
Headline 3: Every £1 Provides 3 Meals
Description 1: Your donation provides emergency food parcels to families facing hunger in [City]. 97p of every pound goes directly to food provision.
Description 2: We’ve fed over 10,000 families this year. Help us reach more. Donate online in 2 minutes — every amount makes a difference.

Notice the specificity: a named city, a concrete impact metric (£1 = 3 meals), social proof (10,000 families), and a clear call to action. Generic ads like ‘Support our charity — donate today’ won’t hit the 5% CTR threshold.

Maintaining the Account

Keeping above 5% CTR

The 5% CTR requirement is the most common reason Ad Grants accounts get suspended. Here’s how to stay above it:

Monthly maintenance checklist

If your account gets suspended

If Google suspends your Ad Grants account, don’t panic. You can fix the issues and submit a reinstatement request. Here’s the process:

  1. Log into your Google Ads account and review the notification explaining why you were suspended
  2. Fix the specific issues identified — usually CTR below 5%, missing conversion tracking, or policy violations
  3. Submit a reinstatement request through the Google for Nonprofits dashboard
  4. Google typically reviews requests within 5–10 business days

Common suspension reasons: CTR below 5% for two consecutive months, no conversion tracking set up, single-word keywords still active, or the account hasn’t been logged into for an extended period. Most of these are fixable within a few hours.

Getting the Most From $10,000/Month

Most charities with Ad Grants only spend a fraction of their allocation. The $2.00 CPC cap and keyword restrictions make it difficult to fully utilise the grant in competitive markets. Here’s how to maximise what you get:

Combining Ad Grants With Paid Google Ads

You can run a paid Google Ads account alongside your Ad Grants account. In fact, this is often the best approach for charities with some marketing budget. Here’s how they work together:

The key is coordination. Make sure your grant account and paid account aren’t competing against each other for the same keywords. Use different keyword match types or bid strategies in each account, and structure them so the paid account handles what the grant account can’t.

Google Ad Grants is one of the most valuable free resources available to charities, but only if it’s set up and managed properly. The charities that get the most from it treat it like a real advertising channel — with proper strategy, regular optimisation, and dedicated landing pages. The ones that waste it set it up once and forget about it until Google suspends the account.