We think every nonprofit zoo, aquarium, museum, and public garden should be utilizing the Google Ad Grants for Nonprofits program.
It’s $120,000 a year in free advertising. And, what nonprofit attraction couldn’t use $120,000 a year in free advertising?
In this guide, we walk through the most common questions we hear about the Google Ad Grants program. We also cover this topic in this episode of our podcast.
Quick Links
- Download our Google Ad Grants Checklist
- What is Google Ad Grants?
- What kind of ads can I run?
- Can I manage a Google Ad Grants campaign on my own?
- How do I apply for Google Ad Grants?
- How do I stay compliant with Google Ad Grants for Nonprofits?
- Strategies to maximize your grant
- Listen to our podcast about Google Ad Grants
What is Google Ad Grants for Nonprofits?
Google provides nonprofits with up to $10,000 per month in free advertising on their search platform.
Any zoo, aquarium, museum, or public garden that is a registered 501(c)(3) is eligible to receive this grant.
This is free advertising from Google! You will never be invoiced. There is no ‘gotcha’.
Every nonprofit attraction should take advantage of the potential $120,000 of free advertising from Google.
Why isn’t every nonprofit attraction utilizing the Ad Grant?
We’ve found there are many reasons why zoos, aquariums, museums, and gardens don’t maximize the full potential of this grant. Below are the most common:
They weren’t familiar with the grant.
We did a quick poll among our network of zoos, aquariums, museums, and gardens. We learned that about 30% of these organizations were not familiar with the Google Ad Grants for Nonprofits program.
We also found some attractions working with outside marketing agencies were not taking advantage of the program. We suspect these marketing agencies are also unaware of the program and therefore don’t recommend it.
They don’t have anyone on staff that can manage it.
While the grant may be free, the time investment isn’t.
You may need to outsource the management to a Google search expert. Smaller nonprofit attractions may not be able to afford this.
They think the Grant can only be used for mission-based messaging.
While it is true that ‘grant’ campaigns are often utilized to promote mission, donations, and volunteering, you can create ads to sell tickets, so long as the revenue supports your mission.
They are using it, but not staying consistent.
Many nonprofit attractions are active within the Google Ad Grants program but aren’t investing much time in managing their campaigns.
These attractions only ‘spend’ a few hundred to a few thousand dollars of their monthly advertising grant.
What kind of ads can I run?
Ads that run in the Google Ad Grants program can be used to support anything that supports your mission as a nonprofit.
Yes, you can run ads to sell tickets.
A common misconception we heard was that the Grant funds couldn’t support ticket sales.
You can use sales language in your ads as long as your ticketed revenue supports your mission, which in most cases it does.
This includes selling memberships and tickets, promoting special events, volunteer opportunities, donations, email signups, and more.
You can only run search ads.
No, you can’t run display, video, or YouTube ads with Google Ad Grants – only Google’s classic ‘search’ ads they’re known for.
Bummer.
Keep in mind…search advertising is an extremely effective advertising channel. And…Google is giving you it for free.
Google prioritizes paid ads over grant ads.
One of the reasons nonprofit attractions may think ‘grant’ ads can’t be used to promote ticket sales is likely due to ‘grant’ campaigns not being able to compete with ‘paid’ campaigns.
This scenario applies to attractions that are running ‘paid’ campaigns and ‘grant’ campaigns simultaneously.
Google treats a ‘paid’ account and a ‘grant’ account as separate accounts within the Google Ads platform.
Google will always display your ‘paid’ ads if there’s an overlap with your ‘grant’ ads.
So, if your attraction is running ads promoting ticket sales, Google will run the ‘paid’ ad first and then default to the ‘grant’ ad if needed.
Can I manage an Ad Grants campaign on my own?
The answer is…maybe?
While it’s fairly straightforward to set up and launch a campaign in Google Ads, Google does have compliance rules to keep your grant.
After launching your first campaign, Google gives you 3 months to get your Google Ad Grants account in good standing.
If you don’t follow Google’s minimum benchmarks they will cancel your grant.
Managing a grant campaign in-house
We see a majority of zoos, aquariums, museums, and public gardens manage their Google Ad Grants in-house.
Sometimes this assignment gets ‘lost in the shuffle.’
After all…it’s free money.
The nonprofit attractions that manage the grant in-house and maximize the $10,000 per month grant make the management of the grant a part of a job’s role.
This role could be a marketing coordinator, digital marketing specialist, or something similar.
Here are a few other items to consider when assigning this role:
- Do they have a general understanding of paid search advertising?
- Will they have the time each week to prioritize this task?
- Can they set up more advanced strategies like conversion tracking?
- What happens if this person leaves the organization?
Time and experience are the keys to ‘spending’ the full $10,000 per month grant.
Hiring an outside agency or freelancer
For some nonprofit attractions, it makes more sense to outsource the grant’s management to a marketing agency or freelancer that has Google search expertise.
An expert will be able to ramp up your campaign much faster and ensure you are meeting all compliance requirements.
If you plan to pay an outside contractor, work with one that understands Google Ad Grants for Nonprofits campaigns.
Ideally, you will hire someone who has experience managing both paid and grant campaigns.
Zoos, museums, and public gardens are typically faced with:
- Investing time by having someone in-house manage and ‘own’ the grant….or…
- Investing money by having an outside expert manage and ‘own’ the grant
How do I apply for the Google Ad Grant?
Below is a great video that shows you the steps you’ll take and the questions you will be asked.
Watch this video before starting the application process.
A few things to note about applying for the Google Ad Grants program:
- Your organization will need to provide proof that you are a 501(c)(3)
- Your organization’s nonprofit status is verified by a third party, not Google
- Approval can take up to 2 weeks
Once you are approved, you can set up your Ad Grant campaign. This will be separate from any ‘paid’ Google Ad account you may have set up.
If you are working with a contractor or agency, you’ll be able to give them access to the campaign to manage the campaign for you.
Note that your nonprofit organization will own the Google Ads account – not the marketing agency.
Oftentimes, ‘paid’ Google Ad accounts may be owned by your agency. In this case, you will own it.
How do I stay compliant with Google Ad Grants for Nonprofits?
Once you get access to the Ad Grants account, you’ll have 3 months to get your account compliant.
Maintain a minimum 5% click-through rate (CTR).
This 5% minimum CTR benchmark is for the campaign as a whole – not the individual ad group or ad.
Zoos, museums, and public gardens should be able to exceed this benchmark with proper management and strategy.
We recommend using branded keywords to help boost your campaign’s click-through rate and remain compliant.
Have at least two ad groups.
This is Google’s way of saying: “You can’t just dump in a bunch of keywords with no structure and get our money.“
Here’s an example of a Google Ad Grants ad group structure for the San Antonio Zoo:
- San Antonio Zoo
- Attractions in San Antonio
- San Antonio Events
- San Antonio Charities
Note how we created four ad groups.
Create two ads for each of these ad groups.
Google wants to test different ad variations to see which people find the most valuable.
Create two site extensions.
It’s best to align site extensions with the user’s search intent.
For example:
- Use a site extension that links to your attraction’s hours of operation when someone searches for “Missouri Botanical Garden tickets.”
- Use a site extension that links to your volunteer page when someone searches for “St Louis volunteer opportunities.”
No single-word keywords.
Avoid very broad keywords like “zoo,” or “museum.”
Log in at least once a month.
Google wants you to be actively managing your $10,000 in free advertising.
Make it a habit to log into the Google Ads platform at least once a month.
What are some strategies nonprofit attractions can use for maximizing Google Ad Grants campaigns?
The approach to a ‘grant’ campaign and a ‘paid’ campaign are, in a way, the exact opposite.
With a ‘paid’ campaign we typically want to narrowly focus our keywords and ads to the most revenue-producing actions.
With ‘grant’ campaigns we want to use as much of the grant allotment as possible.
Create ads about everything you offer
Brainstorm a list of everything your attraction does.
Of course, there’s your mission. And, the actual attraction itself.
But, what about merchandising? Food and beverage? Volunteer opportunities. Charitable donations.
All of these aspects of your attraction should have its ad group.
Branded keywords
We use the phrase ‘branded keywords’ to describe keywords that include the name of your attraction.
Your ‘grant’ campaign is the perfect opportunity to use branded keywords.
National scope
Consider setting the geographic target of some of your ads to the entire US.
Things like branded keywords, donations, and merchandise/e-comm work best when ads run across the country.
Target tourist markets
Create a campaign designed to run in your attraction’s tourist markets.
These ads could promote how easy it is to get to your attraction.
Setup conversion tracking
We like to say: “You manage what you measure.”
We have a hunch that the attractions that maximize the $10,000 per month grant also have a robust conversion tracking setup.
They can point back to their Ad Grants account and say we sold this number of tickets last month based on our efforts.
In turn, that attraction puts more effort into maximizing the grant.
What happens if I get canceled?
While Google will provide you with free advertising on their platform, they aren’t going to do the work for you.
If you fail to keep your Ads Grant account compliant Google will cancel your account.
The good news is you can get your account reactivated. You won’t be kicked out forever.
First things first – fix your account.
Go back to our checklist, review your account, and make sure you are compliant.
Check your notifications and look for emails from Google (to the email address the account was set up with). These usually will tell you what you did wrong.
Once you’ve reviewed your account and fixed the issues, you can apply to reinstate your account here.
If you have reviewed the checklist and notification and are still unsure why you were kicked out, you can call Google support.
Your local number is listed in your ad account. You’ll also need your campaign ID. Make sure to tell them it is an Ad Grants account.
What if I can’t get into my Ad Grant account?
So you’re new to an organization and no one is sure how to log in to the Google Grant account.
Or someone set it up a long time ago and that someone has left (and they are the administrator associated with the account).
Not all is lost!
You’ll need to request access to the current Google Ad Grants account.
If the administrator (or former employee) doesn’t respond, it goes to a Google rep to review.
Talk to Us About Your Attraction’s Google Ad Grants
We help zoos, aquariums, gardens, and museums maximize their Google Ad Grants as well as provide strategy, audits, and ongoing management of paid Google Ad campaigns.
Let’s talk about your attraction.
We offer a free, 30-minute strategy session.
Schedule your free Strategy Session here.
