Are You A Google Ad Grants User? If So Read This

Important action that all Ad Grants users need to take before the end of March 2017.

Google have just announced that to continue participating in Google Ad Grants you’ll need to make sure that your organisation is enrolled in the Google for Nonprofits program and that your Nonprofits account is linked with your Google Grant account. It’s vital to take action on this now since the process can take up to 20 days and the deadline is March 31, 2017.

Some simple steps on how to do this are outline below.

Unsure whether you’re enrolled in the Google for Nonprofits program?

Head over to www.google.com/nonprofits/ and login using whichever email address your organisation originally enrolled in.  If you’re not sure which email address was used either because it was a loooong time ago since you last logged in or somebody else created the account then I recommend logging in to your AdWords Grant account and looking at the list of users with administrative access – there’s a good chance that one of the email addresses listed as an admin was also used to create your Google for NFPs account (see grab below). However, this method isn’t foolproof. If you can’t access then I’d suggest following the steps below to register for Google for Nonprofits and linking your AdWords Grant account.

Google AdWords view user access
How to view users with Admin access to your Google Ad Grant account. 1) Login to your AdWords account, 2) click the little settings cog in the top right, then “Account settings”, 3) click “Account access” on the left nav…

How Do I Register for Google for Nonprofits?

  1. Check the eligibility criteria for your country.  In Australia organisations need to be registered with Connecting Up, TechSoup Global’s regional arm in Australia and organisations must be a non-government income tax exempt (ITE) nonprofit organisation as defined by the Australian Charities and Nonprofits Commission (ACNC) and/or the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
  2. Follow the steps to apply for the program membership.

How do I link my Ad Grants account with my Google for Nonprofits account?

  1. Sign in to your Google for Nonprofits account.
  2. Click Sign up now.
  3. Under “Google Ad Grants,” click Enroll.
  4. Enter your -digit AdWords customer ID (CID), which is the same as your current Ad Grants account (see top right corner when you’re logged into AdWords).
  5. Enter the referral code adgrants2017 and complete the rest of the form.
  6. Click Enroll.

Job done! It’s definitely worth investing the time to complete this process sooner rather than later to keep your monthly grant active.

What are Google doing this?

We can’t be sure but we think this change is probably part of a longer term strategy to promote the Google for Nonprofits programme.  It’s also a good opportunity for Google to review the Ad Grants that are currently in use and to ensure that the organisations using them are still eligible for the programme.