Charity PPC: Ad Grants and paid search

01/ What is charity PPC?

Paid search for a cause, not a product.

PPC means you pay, or spend grant credit, each time someone clicks your ad on a search results page.

For a charity the mechanics are the same as for any advertiser. What differs is the goal: a donation, a new member, a volunteer, a petition signature or someone finding a support service.

It also differs in the money. Google for Nonprofits describes Ad Grants as “up to $10,000/month in Search ads on Google Search” for eligible organisations (Google for Nonprofits). That is in-kind credit, set in US dollars, and it comes with rules a paid account does not have.

So charity PPC is usually a question of how to use the grant well, and when to put real money alongside it.

02/ Google Ad Grants vs paid Google Ads

Two accounts, two jobs.

Compare what each account can do. Rules are from Google’s own Ad Grants pages, read 29 October 2026.

The grant is generous but constrained. Because it is a Search-only programme with its own bidding and quality rules, it often loses auctions on high-value donation and legacy terms that commercial advertisers also want.

A paid account fills those gaps. It can bid on competitive terms, run remarketing and use formats such as video that the grant does not cover.

Many charities therefore run both, with separate goals, and avoid the two accounts competing for the same searches.

03/ Google Ad Grants eligibility

Check eligibility before you build anything.

Ad Grants sits inside Google for Nonprofits. Google’s own wording is that your organisation “must hold valid charity status in your country” (Google Ad Grants).

Some types are excluded outright: governmental entities, hospitals and healthcare organisations, and schools, academic institutions and universities (Google for Nonprofits eligibility). Google says a third-party partner, Goodstack, verifies legal status, typically within 2 to 14 business days (Google for Nonprofits).

The website matters too. Your charity must own the domain the ads point to, and it cannot simply redirect to a donation platform or social page (Ad Grants website policy).

04/ Google Ad Grants policy rules

The rules that switch a grant off.

Google’s account management policy is short and strict. Accounts must keep a 5% click-through rate each month at account level; miss it for two consecutive months and the account is temporarily deactivated (Ad Grants account management policy).

The same policy requires specific geo-targeting, at least two unique sitelink assets, and, for accounts created on or after 22 April 2019, conversion-based Smart Bidding on every campaign: Maximise conversions, Maximise conversion value, target CPA or target ROAS (Ad Grants account management policy).

Single-word keywords that are too broad are restricted. Google lists the exceptions, among them “charity”, “donate”, “donation”, “nonprofit” and “volunteer”, alongside owned brand terms and medical conditions (Ad Grants single keyword policy).

05/ Conversion tracking for charities

Count donations and members, not visits.

Google’s examples of meaningful conversions include donations, membership registrations, new membership form completions, email and volunteer sign-ups, petitions and calls. Time on site and homepage visits may be tracked but must be excluded from “Conversions” and categorised as Other (Ad Grants account management policy).

A charity should go further and give each conversion a value. A one-off gift, a monthly direct debit and a membership are worth very different amounts over time.

Gift Aid changes the value of a donation. A charity can claim back 25p for every £1 an eligible individual donates, if the donor has made a Gift Aid declaration (GOV.UK, Claiming Gift Aid).

Membership subscriptions are narrower. HMRC says a charity subscription qualifies only if it is for membership alone and does not give members personal use of the charity’s facilities or services (GOV.UK, Gift Aid donation claims). Do not add Gift Aid to the value of a membership conversion unless the subscription meets that test.

06/ Structuring charity PPC campaigns

One campaign per intent.

A structure that suits both accounts. Group by what the searcher wants, not by your departments.

Searches for help are where the grant tends to do most good, because they are specific and mission-led.

Donation and legacy terms are more contested, which is where a paid budget can earn its keep at appeal peaks.

08/ Choosing a charity PPC agency

Questions that separate a good agency.

Score an agency, or your own team, before you hand over the account.

Fees matter less than ownership and reporting. If you do not own the accounts, every month of learning leaves with the agency.

Ask how they would handle a CTR warning in month one, and how they value a membership against a one-off gift. The answers tell you more than a case study.