Nonprofits
There’s $10,000 a month you’re probably not spending
The Google Ad Grant doesn’t roll over, most organisations use a fraction of it, and plenty get suspended
What the numbers say
Three figures that decide the year
$10,000Monthly Google Search advertising available to eligible nonprofits through Google Ad Grants. It expires at month end — unspent grant is goneGoogle Ad Grants programme terms
5%Minimum monthly click-through rate an Ad Grant account must maintain. Two consecutive months below it and the account is suspendedGoogle Ad Grants policy compliance requirements
25–95%Profit increase from a 5% improvement in retention. The mechanism — you already paid to find them — applies directly to donorsFrederick Reichheld, Bain & Company, via Harvard Business Review
The rules nobody reads until it's too late
The Ad Grant is free. Keeping it isn’t automatic
An Ad Grant account left running untouched will eventually breach something and get suspended
What keeps the account alive
- A 5% click-through rate, every month. Two consecutive months below it and the account is suspended. This is the rule that catches most organisations, and it’s why broad keywords chosen for volume are actively dangerous here.
- Structure requirements. At least two active ad groups per campaign, at least two active ads per ad group, and active sitelink extensions at account level.
- Geo-targeting, conversion tracking and genuine active management. “Set up once in 2021” is a compliance failure waiting to happen.
- New for 2026: Performance Max campaigns are now permitted in Ad Grants accounts and are exempt from the 5% CTR rule — which is the most practical route to spending more of the grant without risking suspension. All Ad Grant campaigns must now also use a Smart Bidding strategy.
If your account is still running a manual-bidding structure built years ago, it’s both non-compliant and leaving most of the grant unspent. Those two problems have the same fix.
Google Ad Grants policy requirements as at 2026. Programme terms change — check the current policy before restructuring an account.
Where the real money is
You sent a receipt, then asked again in December
Most nonprofit fundraising is built around appeals, which means most donor relationships consist of being asked for money, receiving a receipt, and then being asked for money again. That teaches donors they’re a payment source.
The second gift is dramatically cheaper than the first — you already paid to find that person. Reichheld’s work at Bain found a 5% improvement in retention lifted profits by 25–95%, and the mechanism is identical for giving. An organisation that raises well in December and loses those donors by the following December is running an expensive treadmill.
What converts a one-off donor into a regular one is being told, specifically and promptly, what their money did — with no second ask attached. It costs almost nothing and almost nobody does it.
How we run it
The nonprofit playbook
01
Audit the Ad Grant account firstCheck compliance, then check spend. Both are usually failing, and both usually have the same root cause — a structure nobody has touched in years.
02
Rebuild around intent, not volumeThe 5% CTR rule punishes broad keywords chosen to look busy. Tight, specific terms that people actually click are safer and more useful.
03
Use Performance Max to absorb the restNow permitted in Ad Grants accounts and exempt from the CTR rule — the practical route to spending more of the $10,000 without risking suspension.
04
Give grant traffic somewhere to goFree traffic landing on a page with no clear action is a vanity metric with a compliance risk attached. Every campaign needs a defined conversion.
05
Build the stewardship sequencePrompt, specific thanks. What the gift did. No immediate second ask. This is the highest-return fundraising work available and it isn’t a campaign.
06
Talk about overhead directlyExplaining what the operating budget buys beats competing on who has the lowest admin percentage — a measure that rewards underinvestment and delivers less.
What we run for nonprofits
Where the leverage is
Ad Grant management
Compliance first, then spend. Rebuilt structure, Smart Bidding, and Performance Max to absorb the budget the CTR rule blocks.
Corunit CRM
Donor records, stewardship sequences and lapsed-donor reactivation — the second gift, automated.
Donation page optimization
Where most giving is lost. Fewer fields, working on a phone, suggested amounts that reflect what people actually give.
SEO
Ranking for the questions your beneficiaries and supporters are already asking, which the grant can’t reach cheaply.
Social media
Awareness among people who’ve never heard of you — the gap the Ad Grant structurally cannot fill.
Website
Fast, accessible and clear about what you do and what a gift achieves. Accessibility genuinely matters more here than elsewhere.
Good questions
Nonprofit marketing, answered
Not sure whether your Ad Grant account is compliant, or how much of the $10,000 you’re actually using? That’s a ten-minute check.
What is the Google Ad Grant worth?
Up to $10,000 a month in free Google Search advertising for eligible nonprofits. The catch is that most organisations never spend anywhere near it, because the account rules make it harder to use than a normal Google Ads account — and the grant expires monthly rather than accumulating. Unspent grant is simply gone at the end of the month.
Why do Ad Grant accounts get suspended?
Most often the click-through rate rule. The account must maintain at least a 5% CTR each month, and falling below for two consecutive months triggers suspension. There are also structural requirements: at least two active ad groups per campaign, two active ads per ad group, active sitelink extensions at account level, geo-targeting, conversion tracking and genuine ongoing management. An account left untouched will eventually fail one of them.
What changed for Ad Grants in 2026?
Two things worth knowing. Performance Max campaigns are now permitted in Ad Grants accounts and are exempt from the 5% CTR rule, which gives organisations a route to spend more of the grant without risking suspension. And all Ad Grant campaigns must now use a Smart Bidding strategy. If your account is still running manual bidding on a structure built years ago, it needs revisiting.
Should we spend the whole grant every month?
Spend as much as you can put behind traffic that does something useful — but don’t chase the number for its own sake. Grant traffic landing on a page with no clear action is a vanity metric with a compliance risk attached, since poor click-through rates threaten the account. Organisations that get real value from the grant treat it as a channel with conversion goals, not a quota to hit.
Is the Ad Grant enough on its own?
No, and treating it as the whole strategy is the most common mistake. The grant covers Search only, on Google only, with a bid cap that keeps you out of competitive auctions and stops you bidding against commercial advertisers for the most valuable terms. It’s excellent at capturing people already searching for your cause. It will not build awareness among people who’ve never heard of you.
Why does donor retention matter more than donor acquisition?
Because the second gift costs almost nothing to win compared with the first. Reichheld’s research at Bain found a 5% improvement in retention increased profits by 25–95% depending on industry, and the underlying mechanism applies directly to giving — you already paid to find that donor. An organisation that raises well in December and loses most of those donors by the following December is running an expensive treadmill.
What actually turns a one-off donor into a regular one?
Being told what happened to the money. The most neglected asset in nonprofit fundraising is the thank-you and the follow-up: a specific account of what a gift did, sent promptly, without an immediate second ask attached. Most organisations send a receipt and then nothing until the next appeal, which teaches donors they’re a payment source rather than a participant.
How should a nonprofit talk about overhead?
Directly, because the alternative is letting donors assume the worst. Ratio-based judgements about administrative costs are widely criticised as a measure of effectiveness, since an organisation that underinvests in staff and systems usually delivers less rather than more. Explaining what the operating budget buys, in concrete terms, tends to outperform competing on who has the lowest overhead percentage.
Do the FTC review rules apply to charitable testimonials?
Treat them as applying. The FTC rule on consumer reviews and testimonials, effective October 2024, addresses fake reviews, undisclosed insider endorsements and suppression of negative feedback, with civil penalties up to $53,088 per violation as of 2026. Whether a particular charitable communication falls inside its scope is a question for counsel — but a nonprofit inventing beneficiary quotes or paying for endorsements without disclosure has a reputational problem long before it has a legal one.
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