As a non-profit, if you are not taking advantage of the Google Grant offered to non-profits, you need to be.  It is a whopping $10,000/month to be used on Adwords.  Before you get too excited seeing that big number, let me run some statistics by you:

  • Even though the grant is for $10K/month, the average non-profit only spends about $350 per month.
  • Google Grants has the potential of driving 10,000 to 40,000 new website visitors to your website each month, but you must plan.
  • Nonprofits like Kiva, BeatBullying, Unicef, and charity: water all use Google Grants to fund their Google AdWords campaigns and drive more traffic through organic search.
  • There is a limitation of $2.00 per click and you’ll be shown below other paid advertisers, still, it is worth the cost (free).
  • Here’s how Google grants work:
    https://www.google.com/grants/how-it-works/

How to get started:

  1. Sign up as a non-profit with Google.  Here’s the steps and a link to the application:
    https://support.google.com/grants/answer/46115?hl=en
  2. Once they approve your non profit, signup for Google Grants, it is Step 4 in the previous link.

Get Planning

  • Create a campaign for every goal in your organization
  • Have a very robust keyword list to reach everyone possible
  • Leverage all variations of your brand and services as keywords
  • Include problem- and solution-oriented keywords

This will get you started, but having a bigger strategy is very important including identifying your audiences and setting goals.

Here’s some Google Case Studies, also a good read:
https://www.google.com/nonprofits/casestudies/