I love helping nonprofits improve their online visibility.
Over the years, I’ve worked with dozens of nonprofits, and regardless of their cause or size of their organization, many of them struggle with outreach to donors and volunteers.
The conventional wisdom is often is that nonprofits don’t have the time, staff, or budget required to consistently and effectively reach their target audience. While it’s true that any good marketing requires some effort, there are several programs available to nonprofits, which can make a world of difference.
The most notable is Google for Nonprofits, a free program Google offers to eligible 501c3 organizations. There are a bunch of benefits to the program, but the two biggest are:
- Google Ad Grants account, which provides up to $10k/month ($329/day) in paid ad clicks. These are the ads that appear at the top of Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) when you search for something. Typically, with for-profit businesses who are running paid ads, each ad click could cost somewhere in the $2-10 range (or even more expensive depending on your industry).
Assuming a $10 cost-per-click (CPC), the available $10k/month could translate to 1,000 additional clicks to your website every month! While the ultimate goal is to more drive conversions (e.g. donations, volunteer sign-ups, email newsletter sign-ups, etc.), generating more awareness and traffic to your website is the first step. And as long as you maintain some minimum performance thresholds, the $10k/month budget allowance is available in perpetuity. - Google Workspace for Nonprofits account for the entire organization, which includes Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive (Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc.), and Google Meet screen sharing and conference calls.
- At Causeway Digital, I already use Google Workspace and happily pay Google around $10/user/month for all these services. However, with the Google for Nonprofits program, you get everything for free!
- Google Workspace for Nonprofits also allows you to have an unlimited number of email addresses at your own domain name (e.g. [email protected]) which can be nicer and more professional than a standard, free Gmail address.
Other benefits of the program include the YouTube Nonprofit Program and credits for Google Earth and Maps.
For the ongoing benefits it can provide, applying to the Google for Nonprofits program is my top recommendation for any nonprofit.
Applying to the Google Ad Grants program and getting everything set up can take some time and effort, but once launched, many Grant accounts can provide a significant, ongoing flow of website traffic with minimal maintenance.
For DIY folks, Google provides some good tutorials, but if this sounds overwhelming, just shoot me an email and I’m happy to provide an estimate and talk through the process.