Google Ad Grants: what your organisation needs to know (and why the website is decisive)

Editor’s note: eligibility criteria and programme availability change regularly. Check every point against your real application before committing; this article gives you bearings, not a guarantee of admission.

What is Google Ad Grants?

Google Ad Grants is part of Google for Nonprofits. It gives non-profit organisations a Google Ads advertising budget of up to US$10,000 per month (about 6 million F CFA). This budget funds text ads on Google Search only: raising awareness of your mission, recruiting volunteers, collecting donations, directing beneficiaries to your services.

It is not money paid to the organisation. It is an advertising credit, usable only within Google Ads and subject to specific usage rules.

Who is eligible in Cameroon?

To apply, an organisation generally must:

• be officially registered as a non-profit (association registration certificate, NGO or foundation status…);
• be validated by Google for Nonprofits, through the partner organisation responsible for verification in the region;
• not be a government entity, a hospital or a school — these fall under other schemes;
• accept the terms relating to advertising and non-discrimination.

Availability and terms vary from one country to another. The first step is always to create a Google for Nonprofits account and have your organisation verified.

The requirement: a compliant website

Google requires the organisation to have a working website that it owns — not just a Facebook page, not a free sub-domain site. In practice, the site must:

• be hosted on your own domain name;
• use a secure connection (HTTPS);
• present real, up-to-date content describing your mission, activities and goals;
• not be mainly commercial and not display third-party advertising.

In practice, this is often what blocks applications: the site does not exist, it has been abandoned, or it is not substantial enough to convince.

Once the account is granted

The budget is not automatic: you have to build and run the campaigns. Google requires a minimum quality level (click-through rate, keyword relevance, campaign structure) and regular sign-ins to the account. An inactive or poorly managed account can be suspended.

How OZO Soft can help

OZO Soft supports civil society organisations across the whole journey:

• building or redesigning a website that meets Google’s requirements, on a simple CMS your team can use;
• setting up the domain name, hosting and HTTPS;
• help preparing the Google for Nonprofits application;
• initial setup of the Ad Grants campaigns and training your staff to keep them running.

Websites we have built for CSOs

Among the organisations for which we have designed a website built to last and to be managed in-house: Un Monde Avenir, Fondation Kangourou Cameroun and IRESCO.

Where to start?

Start by assessing your organisation’s digital maturity with our free assessment (5 minutes). You can also write to us directly:

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