Your charity can get $10,000 a month in free Google ads
Most Irish charities never claim it. Of the ones that do, plenty lose it without ever finding out why. I set the account up, keep it inside Google’s rules, and manage it every month.
Why charities lose the grant
Google does not hand over the account and leave you to it. Ad Grant accounts are held to rules ordinary advertisers are not, and Google can deactivate or suspend an account automatically. Do not count on a warning. Plenty of charities only notice when the ads have already stopped.
The 5% CTR rule
Grant accounts must hold a 5% click-through rate across the whole account every month. Miss it two months running and the account is temporarily deactivated. New accounts get a 90 day grace period, then it is enforced.
Keyword quality
Single-word keywords (apart from a few exceptions, like your own charity name), overly generic terms and anything sitting at a Quality Score of 1 or 2 all break policy and have to be found and paused before they do damage.
Conversion tracking
Accounts have to report real, meaningful conversions. Donations, volunteer sign-ups, event registrations. A homepage visit does not count, and broken tracking is one of the most common causes of suspension.
Smart Bidding
Any account created on or after 22 April 2019 has to run a conversion-based bidding strategy on every campaign. Older accounts are often still sitting on manual bidding, which is one of the first things I check on a handover.
Account structure
Specific geographic targeting and at least two sitelinks, or the account is out of compliance regardless of how well the ads are performing.
Simple neglect
An account nobody looks after drifts out of compliance. The click-through rate slips, weak keywords creep in, tracking breaks, and the annual programme survey goes unanswered. This is the one that catches small charities most often.
Performance Max is the way out
Performance Max campaigns are now permitted on grant accounts, and they are exempt from the 5% click-through rule. If your account has been switched off for CTR before, or keeps hovering near the line, this is usually the fix. Google Maps placements are eligible now too, which matters if you have a centre or sanctuary people need to find.
Is your account at risk?
Eight quick questions, about two minutes. You do not need to log in to anything. Answer what you can and pick “Not sure” where you do not know, because that is useful to find out too.
Want me to tell you what to fix first?
Send me your results and I will reply within one business day with a plain-English note on what matters most. No obligation, and no sales calls.
Start the check againTwo ways to run it
Most small charities need the grant kept alive and compliant. Some want it actively worked. Pick whichever is honest about where you are, and move between them whenever you like.
Compliance Watch
- Monthly check against every current Ad Grant policy
- Search term review and negative keywords added
- Low click-through keywords paused before they pull you under 5%
- Quality Score monitoring, non-compliant keywords removed
- Conversion tracking verified each month
- One page monthly report in plain English
- Annual programme survey handled so it is never missed
Managed
- Everything in Compliance Watch
- New ad copy written and tested each month
- Campaigns built around your fundraisers and appeals
- Keyword expansion as your services and campaigns change
- Landing page recommendations where traffic arrives and does not convert
- Conversion goals reviewed against what actually matters to you
- Quarterly strategy call
Setup is €395 one-off, covering the eligibility check, Google for Nonprofits registration and Goodstack verification, Ad Grants enrolment, website policy review, Google Analytics and conversion tracking, and the full account build with keyword research and ad copy. It is included free if I am also building or maintaining your website. If your application is refused by Google, you pay nothing.
What the setup covers
The build is the heavy part and it only happens once. Get it wrong and you spend the next year fighting the account instead of using it.
Getting you approved
- Eligibility check against your Charities Regulator, Revenue or CRO status before you commit to anything
- Google for Nonprofits registration and charity verification through Goodstack, which replaced TechSoup for new applicants
- Ad Grants pre-qualification and enrolment
- Website review against Google’s quality policy, which is where most applications fail
- Fixes recommended, or carried out if I built the site
Building the account
- Google Analytics installed and conversion tracking configured and tested
- Campaign and ad group structure mapped to what you actually do
- Keyword research with the policy limits designed in from the start
- Ad copy written to clear Google’s editorial bar
- Sitelinks, geographic targeting and negative keyword lists
- Conversion-based Smart Bidding configured per campaign
Tom O’Sullivan
I managed a Google Ad Grant account for an animal advocacy organisation for over two years, alongside running their social media across six platforms. Campaign structure, keyword research, ad copy, optimisation, the lot.
Most of my work is with charities, sanctuaries and small nonprofits in Ireland, on websites, social media and fundraising campaigns. I know what a communications budget looks like in an organisation where nobody has this as their actual job.
I take on a small number of accounts at a time, because an Ad Grant account that nobody looks at is an Ad Grant account that gets switched off.
Certifications
- Google Ads Certification (Google Skillshop)
- Google Analytics Certification (Google Skillshop)
- Hootsuite Platform Certification
- Hootsuite Social Marketing Certification
Based
- Dublin, working with organisations across Ireland
Honest answers
It is real advertising credit, not cash. It can only be spent on Google Search ads, it cannot be moved to Facebook or Instagram, and it cannot be drawn down. Most accounts never spend the full amount, because the grant is capped by how many relevant searches your cause actually gets. A well-run account for a small Irish charity is far more likely to use a few hundred dollars a month than ten thousand, and that traffic is still very much worth having. Anyone promising you full spend has not read the programme rules properly.
In Ireland, Google accepts organisations registered with the Charities Regulator, organisations with charitable tax exemption from Revenue, tax-exempt sports bodies, and nonprofit companies limited by guarantee registered with the CRO. You also need a website with real information about your work that meets Google’s quality policy. Schools, universities, hospitals and government bodies are excluded, though their charitable arms and foundations often still qualify. There are grey areas, so it is worth asking rather than assuming. I will check before you spend any time on it.
Usually a few weeks between Google for Nonprofits verification, Ad Grants pre-qualification and the account build. Google controls most of that timeline and I cannot speed it up, but I can make sure nothing gets bounced back for a fixable reason.
More of the right people finding you when they search for what you do. What that converts into depends on your cause, your website and who else is bidding on those searches, and I am not going to put a number on it before I have seen your account. Anyone who quotes you a figure up front is guessing.
That is the thing you are paying me to prevent. If it happens while I am managing the account, I bring it back into compliance and request reinstatement at no extra cost. If the cause was the 5% click-through rule, part of the rebuild is usually moving some of the account onto Performance Max, which is exempt from that rule and stops the same thing happening again.
Yes, and that is a common situation. I will audit what is there, tell you honestly whether it is worth rebuilding or repairing, and quote accordingly. If it has already been deactivated, reinstatement is usually possible once the underlying policy problems are fixed.
No. Both tiers are month to month with one month’s notice. If it is not working for you, you should be able to stop.
Find out if your charity qualifies
Takes me about fifteen minutes and costs you nothing. If you are not eligible I will tell you straight away and that is the end of it. No follow-up, no sales calls.
Prefer to talk? WhatsApp +353 85 211 2604 or email contact@thomasosullivanweb.site.