Nonprofits scramble to comply with new Google ad policy

Google gives $10,000 in credits each to 35,000 nonprofits worldwide every month to buy ads on its search engine. But Google found that some ads received few clicks and announced in December 2017 that it would stop funding groups that generate clicks off less than 5 percent of their ads in two consecutive months. Grant recipients called it a wake up call to pay attention to Google after years of focusing on social media marketing. But despite rushing to comply, several said they could not do so in only two months and that their accounts may not get funded for March. “We’re very grateful for the program,” said Conrad Contreras, communications manager for Greenlining Institute, an Oakland (CA) social justice organization afraid of losing the funds. “But five percent in two months, it’s just unrealistic.” Organizations can seek reinstatement after demonstrating changes. The 15-year-old AdWords Ad Grants program did not previously have a click threshold. Advertisers list search terms such as “donate clothing” for which they would like their ads to appear. Perfecting phrases is key to garnering clicks.