Help people find you
Ads for the people your charity serves, at the moment they search for help.
Best for: Services, support lines, programs, referrals. Often the most valuable use, and the easiest to keep above 5%.
Google
Ad Grants.
Google Ad Grants gives eligible charities up to US$10,000 a month in Google Search ads, free. The catch is the rules: an account has to keep a 5% click-through rate, working conversion tracking and specific keywords, or Google switches it off. I run grants accounts so they stay compliant, use more of the grant, and bring in donations, volunteers and people who need your help, not just clicks.
Written by Dan Picken, founder. Last checked 28 October 2026.From my audits
What I find
in grants accounts.
I manage grants accounts for welfare and mental health charities. These are the patterns I see most when I first look at one.
- 1
Most of the grant unspent
Up to US$10,000 a month on offer and a fraction of it used, usually because bids are capped and conversion tracking isn't good enough for smarter bidding.
- 2
Conversions that aren't
Page views or time on site counted as conversions. It breaks the rules and teaches the account nothing.
- 3
Nobody watching the rate
The click-through rate drifts towards 5% month by month, and the first anyone hears of it is when the ads stop.
- 4
Everything to the home page
Someone searching for a specific service lands on a general page and has to hunt. Matching the page to the search fixes both conversions and the rate.
- 5
Only asking for money
Every campaign about donations, when the people who need the service, and the volunteers who deliver it, are searching too.
The rules, in plain English
Free money,
with strings.
Google's grants rules exist to keep charity ads useful. Most accounts that get switched off break one of these, usually without anyone noticing until the ads stop.
- 01
Who can apply
The organisation has to be a registered charity in a supported country, verified by Google's partner. Government bodies, hospitals and schools aren't eligible, though their charitable foundations can be.
What I do: Check eligibility before anything else. Australia is a supported country.
- 02
The 5% rule
The account must keep a 5% click-through rate each month. Two months in a row under it and the account is deactivated until it's fixed and reinstatement is requested.
What I do: Pause the keywords dragging the rate down every month, not after a warning.
- 03
Keywords that say what people want
Single-word keywords, overly generic searches and keywords with a Quality Score of 1 or 2 aren't allowed. Every ad and keyword must reflect the charity's mission.
What I do: Build campaigns around specific needs: 'free financial counselling newcastle', not 'help'.
- 04
Conversions that mean something
Accounts need valid conversion tracking and at least one conversion a month, and page views or time on site can't count as conversions.
What I do: Track donations, volunteer sign-ups, calls and referrals, so bidding learns from what matters.
- 05
Bid limits
Grants accounts have limits on budget and bids. Manual bids are capped, which is why conversion-based bidding, which can bid higher, matters so much.
What I do: Get conversion tracking right first, then let conversion-based bidding compete for the searches that matter.
Rules checked on the date below against Google's own help pages. Google changes them, so each one is linked.
Grants compliance check
Is your grant
at risk?
Google can switch off an Ad Grants account that breaks its rules. Tick everything that's true of yours right now. Anything unticked shows up as a fix, most serious first.
Rules met
0 of 9
The psychology of giving
One story beats
a statistic. Mostly.
The research on what makes people give is useful for grants ads and landing pages, as long as you read the fine print.
01Writing the appeal
The identifiable victim effect
In Stanford research, people gave more to help one named child than in response to statistics, and adding statistics to the story reduced giving.
A specific person or situation moves people more than numbers about the problem.
What I do: Lead with one real story, used with consent. Keep the big numbers for the people who want them.
02Reading the fine print
How big the effect really is
A meta-analysis found the effect is real but modest, and most reliable for a single person, often a child, with little responsibility for their situation.
It isn't a magic switch, and it won't fit every cause.
What I do: Test a story-led page against your current one. Measure completed donations, not clicks.
Studies linked so you can read them. Any story used in ads needs the person's consent and care for their dignity.
What the grant can do
Four jobs
for the grant.
Most grants accounts only ask for donations. The grant works hardest when each campaign has one job.
Volunteers
Campaigns for people searching how to volunteer, by area and type of role.
Best for: When volunteer shortages are holding the service back.
Donations and fundraising
Campaigns for donation searches, appeals and events, tracked to completed gifts.
Best for: Year-round, with extra weight before 30 June, when Australians give for tax time.
Awareness of the cause
Content campaigns that answer questions about the issue your charity works on.
Best for: When you have useful guides or information people search for.
How most grants accounts run.
How I run them.
Most grants accountsHow I do it
ComplianceFixed after a warning, or after deactivation.Checked monthly: rate, keywords, Quality Scores, tracking.
ConversionsPage views and clicks.Donations, sign-ups, calls and referrals that actually happened.
CampaignsOne donate campaign.One job each: help, volunteers, donations, awareness.
ReportingImpressions and clicks.What the grant led to, in terms your board understands.
How it works
Four steps.
Nothing hidden.
- 01
Free audit
I check your account against the grants rules, and look at how much of the grant you're using and what it leads to.
- 02
Fix compliance
Keywords, Quality Scores, sitelinks, locations and conversion tracking, so the account is safe.
- 03
Rebuild around the mission
Campaigns for help, volunteers, donations and awareness, each landing on the right page.
- 04
Monthly care
The rate and keywords checked every month, and a plain report on what the grant led to.
What you get
- A compliance check against Google's current grants rules
- Conversion tracking for donations, sign-ups, calls and referrals
- Campaigns built around your mission, one job each
- Monthly checks on click-through rate, keywords and Quality Scores
- A report on what the grant led to, for your board
- Direct access to me, start to finish
Signals this works on
Out of the 8 signals every page and ad sends.
- Relevance signal
- Message match
- Conversion trigger
Questions
people ask.
What is Google Ad Grants?
A Google program that gives eligible charities up to US$10,000 a month in free Google Search ads. The ads look like normal search ads, but the account has to follow extra rules.
Is my organisation eligible for Google Ad Grants?
Registered charities in supported countries, including Australia, can apply through Google for Nonprofits. Government bodies, hospitals and schools aren't eligible, though their charitable foundations can be.
Why was my Ad Grants account deactivated?
Most often the click-through rate fell below 5% for two months in a row, conversion tracking was missing or invalid, or the yearly survey went unanswered. Fix the cause, then request reinstatement through Google's reactivation process.
Why can't we spend the whole grant?
Usually bids and keywords. Manual bids are limited, so the account loses auctions. Good conversion tracking lets you use conversion-based bidding, which can compete harder for the searches that matter.
Can we run paid Google Ads as well as the grant?
Yes. Many charities run a paid account alongside the grant for searches the grant can't win, like competitive fundraising terms. They need to be planned together so they don't compete.
Does the grant cover YouTube or display ads?
No. The grant is for Google Search ads only.
Use more of the grant.
Keep the account safe.
Takes a minute. Audits come back within 1 to 2 business days. For anything else, I'll get back to you as soon as possible.
What happens next
- 1I'll ask for read-only access, or just your website for a search audit.
- 2I go through it and write up the 3 biggest fixes.
- 3A 20-minute call to walk you through it. No pitch unless you ask.
Keep going