Google for Nonprofits & Ad Grants FAQ

Start with the access and setup issues below — these are the Google for Nonprofits problems that stop organizations before they ever run an ad. Request administrative access to an existing Google for Nonprofits account

You should request administrative access to your organization's Google for Nonprofits account if:

• The previous administrator left the organization and did not add a new administrator.
• You don't know who the previous administrator for your organization was.

Submit a request for administrative access

Your contact information will be shared with the existing administrators of the Google for Nonprofits account that you're trying to access.

• Make sure you're signed in with the Google Account you want to use to access your organization's Google for Nonprofits account.
• Go to Google for Nonprofits.
• In the top right corner, click Get started.
• Follow the steps.

Your request will be sent to the current administrators of the Google for Nonprofits account for review.

If an administrator responds to the request, you'll get an email with their decision.

If an administrator does not respond to the request after 14 days, your request will be automatically sent to a Google representative for review.

If you need to cancel your request, you can log into your Google for Nonprofits account and click Cancel under the 'In Progress' messaging below the organization's name.

Product account access issues

If you're running into account access issues for Google Workspace or Ad Grants, check out the below help links.

Google Workspace: If you're having trouble accessing your Google Workspace account or need to create a new account but can't because an account using your domain name already exists, fill out this form.

Google Ad Grants: If the previous Google Ad Grants contact has left your organization, use the account recovery troubleshooter to help regain access to your Google Ad Grants account.

Your organization may not be eligible for Google for Nonprofits if it is any of the following:

• A government entity or organization.
• A hospital or health care organization (charitable arms or foundations associated with healthcare organizations are eligible).
• A school, academic institution, or university (philanthropic arms of educational organizations are eligible).

The documents must be the original version (no redactions) and in PDF format.

Government-issued documents:

These can be downloaded directly online without requiring authentication.

Organization-produced documents — here are the requirements:

• Must be the original copy.
• Must be a PDF file.
• Must be dated more than 30 days ago from the date of your claim or application.
• Must show your organization's legal name.
• Must show full name where appropriate (e.g., Employment Confirmation Letter).
• Must be signed.

Accepted documents:

• Bylaws
• Conflict of Interest Policy
• Board Meeting Minutes
• Financial Planning Document
• Employment Confirmation Letter
• Employment Contract
• Volunteer Confirmation Letter
• Volunteer Agreement
• Certificate of Service

Bank-issued documents — requirements for this document type:

• Must be the original electronic version (no scanned copies).
• Must be a PDF file.
• Must be dated more than 30 days ago from the date of your claim or application.
• Must show your organization's legal name.

Accepted documents:

• Bank Statement

To manage your team safely and prevent future lockouts, you must remember that your grant exists across two entirely separate environments: Google for Nonprofits (the master organization level) and Google Ads (the tactical campaign level).

Adding a user to one does not automatically give them access to the other. You must update both portals independently using these exact, current steps.

Phase 1: The Master Portal (Google for Nonprofits)

This level controls your organizational ownership, token access, and product activations.

To Add a New Administrator:

1. Go to the Google for Nonprofits portal and sign in using your current administrative account.
2. Click on your organization's name.
3. Select the Administrators tab at the top of the dashboard.
4. Click the Add Administrator button.
5. Enter the name and the exact email address of the new team member. (Note: Their email must be a registered Google Account or a Google Workspace email).
6. Click Add Administrator. They will receive an email invitation to accept.

To Remove Former Staff:

1. In the same Administrators tab, locate the name of the departing employee.
2. Click Remove (or the trash/delete icon) next to their name.
3. Confirm the action. Their access to the overarching master nonprofit portal is revoked instantly.

Phase 2: The Advertising Portal (Google Ads)

This is where the actual $10,000/month Ad Grant budget is managed.

To Add a New User:

1. Sign in directly to your Google Ads account.
2. In the navigation menu on the left side of the screen, click Admin, then select Access and security.
3. Click the blue plus (+) button in the top-left corner.
4. Enter the new user's email address.
5. Select their permission level. For full control, choose Admin; for everyday campaign management without user-management rights, choose Standard.
6. Click Send invitation.

The "Allowed Domains" Safety Lock: If you get a security error when sending the invite, it means the user's email domain isn't whitelisted. To fix this, click the Security tab at the top of that same Access and security page. Scroll down to Allowed Domains, add the domain name (e.g., yournonprofit.org or gmail.com), hit Save, and then retry sending the invitation.

To Remove Former Staff:

1. Navigate back to Admin > Access and security in Google Ads.
2. Browse the list under the Users tab to find the former employee.
3. Look at the Actions column on the far right and click Remove access.
4. Confirm the removal. They will instantly lose all data insight and campaign editing capabilities.

You can bypass this by using another email address that is part of the administrators of your Google for Nonprofits portal.

No, you have absolutely not lost your chance. This is one of the most common hiccups nonprofits face.

What happened here is a standard timing mismatch: when you first sign up for Google Workspace, Google automatically starts a standard commercial 14-day free trial. If your organization takes a little time to gather paperwork, or if the background check with Goodstack takes longer than two weeks, the commercial trial expires and hits the emergency brakes, suspending your account before the free "Nonprofit Edition" status can be applied.

Your data and domain are completely safe. Here is how you jumpstart the system and lift the suspension under the latest guidelines.

The Step-by-Step Recovery Process

Do not attempt to fix this from inside the suspended Google Workspace Admin Console (which will likely just aggressively prompt you to enter a credit card for a high-tier paid plan). Instead, you need to bypass it using the master portal.

• Step 1: Go to the Master Portal — Navigate directly to the Google for Nonprofits dashboard and log in with your primary administrator account.
• Step 2: Trigger the Domain Activation — Scroll down to the Google Workspace for Nonprofits product tile and click Get Started (or Activate).
• Step 3: Feed Google Your Domain — The system will ask for the exact website domain name (e.g., yournonprofit.org) attached to that suspended Workspace trial. Input it character-for-character and click submit.
• Step 4: The Automated Override — This submission tells Google's backend to review the link, which typically takes between 3 to 5 business days. Once approved, the suspension is automatically erased, your email access returns, and your account status converts permanently to the free nonprofit tier.

This could be that you signed up for Google Workspace (paid) first. What you need to do is log in to your Google for Nonprofits portal, then log in to Workspace from the portal so you are directed to the correct account.

The hard truth is: You cannot directly convert, swap, or migrate a standard paid Google Ads account into a Google Ad Grants account.

Once a standard Google Ads account has credit card details attached to it, its backend framework is permanently locked in as a commercial profile.

Do not panic, but you must act quickly. Follow this emergency recovery protocol to stop the charges and locate your actual free grant.

Step 1: Stop the Bleeding (Pause All Campaigns)

Before doing anything else, you must stop Google from charging your card further. Google will bill you for every single click that happens until you do this.

1. Sign into the paid Google Ads account that is charging you.
2. Navigate to the Campaigns tab on the left-hand menu.
3. Click the green dot next to any active campaign, or select the checkboxes next to them.
4. Click Edit and choose Pause.

Step 2: The Customer ID Cross-Reference Scan

The most common reason this happens is that an administrator logged in with the wrong email address or got trapped in a standard business onboarding loop. The Google Ad Grant runs on the exact same website layout as a paid account, but it lives under an entirely separate 10-digit Customer ID.

• Find Your True ID: Log into your Google for Nonprofits master dashboard. Look at the Google Ad Grants product tile and write down the official 10-digit Customer ID listed there.
• Check Your Active ID: Log into Google Ads (ads.google.com). Look at the very top of the screen or click your profile icon in the top-right corner to see the 10-digit ID you are currently looking at.
• Use the Account Switcher: If the numbers do not match, click your profile icon in the top right. If you are logged into the correct master email, your free Ad Grants account will be sitting right there in the drop-down menu. Click it to switch over.
• Verify the Safety Status: Once inside the correct account, go to Billing >> Summary. If it is the true grant account, it will explicitly say "This account is not billed."

Step 3: What to Do If Your IDs Match (The Worst-Case Scenario)

If the 10-digit ID charging your card matches the ID listed in your Google for Nonprofits portal, it means you successfully accessed your grant shell but overrode the system by entering your credit card. That shell is permanently broken.

1. You must pay off any balance that has already accrued.
2. Cancel the account entirely by going to Admin >> Preferences >> Account Status >> Cancel my account.
3. Go back to your Google for Nonprofits portal and submit an account access/re-activation form to request that Google generate a completely fresh, unbilled grant shell for your organization.

How to Tell the Difference Moving Forward

Standard Paid Account (Do Not Use) vs. True Google Ad Grant Account:

• Billing Summary Page: Paid account displays your credit card, invoices, and payment threshold. Grant account displays a message stating "This account is not billed."
• Campaign Budgets: Paid account allows any custom amount you choose to spend. Grant account is set exactly to a total of $329.00 per day (which equals the $10,000/month grant).
• Ad Networks: Paid account can run Video, Display, Shopping, and Search ads. Grant account is restricted strictly to text-based ads on the Google Search Network.

⚠️ The Reality of Refunds: Google's terms of service are unyielding on this issue. Because their setup guides explicitly state that you should never enter credit card information for an Ad Grant, Google almost never issues refunds for accidental commercial campaigns. You will likely have to pay the outstanding balance to keep your corporate Google profile in good legal standing.

Do not panic — this is a temporary deactivation, not a permanent ban.

The 5% account-level Click-Through Rate (CTR) rule is Google's primary tool for forcing nonprofits to keep their ads highly relevant. If your account-wide average drops below 5% for two consecutive months, the automated compliance engine pulls the plug.

To get your grant back, you cannot simply submit an appeal promising to do better. You must log into your deactivated dashboard, clean up the account first by following the below steps.

Step 1: Deep-Clean Your Keywords (The Pruning Process)

Even though your account is suspended and ads aren't actively running, you still have full editing access. You must isolate and disable the exact keywords that tanked your average.

1. Log into your Google Ads account.
2. Set the calendar date range to the last 7 to 14 days that your ads were actively running before the suspension hit.
3. Navigate to Audiences, keywords, and content >> Search keywords.
4. Filter the view for Status: Enabled.
5. Click the Impressions column header to sort your keywords from highest to lowest impressions.
6. Look down the list for high-impression keywords that have a CTR below 5% (such as broad, generic terms like "charity" or "global aid").
7. Select those keywords and click Pause.

📊 The Math Behind the Fix: By pausing keywords with high impressions but low clicks, you remove the negative "ballast" dragging down your account. The moment you pause them, the mathematical average of your remaining, highly-targeted keywords will instantly rise above the required 5% threshold.

Step 2: Clear Out "Hidden" Compliance Violations

When a human Google team member reviews your reinstatement request, they will run a full audit. If they find other minor compliance infractions, they will reject your appeal. Double-check these three rules before submitting:

• The Single-Word Ban: Filter your keywords and pause any single-word terms (e.g., targeting just "food" or "donations"). Brand names and specific medical conditions are the only exceptions.
• Quality Score Floor: Add the "Quality Score" column to your keyword view. Pause any keyword with a Quality Score of 1 to 3.
• Account Structure: Ensure every active campaign has at least 2 distinct ad groups, and that you have at least 2 active sitelink assets (extensions) applied.

Step 3: Upgrade to the 2026 "Smart Bidding Shield"

Manual bidding makes maintaining a 5% CTR incredibly difficult because AI search features often satisfy simple queries directly on the search results page. To survive:

• Change your campaign bidding strategy from Manual CPC to Maximize Conversions.
• When you switch to conversion-based smart bidding, Google's AI bypasses the standard $2.00 bid limit and targets high-intent users who are statistically far more likely to click your ad. This organically pulls your overall CTR well above the 5% danger zone.

Step 4: Submit the Official Reactivation Form

Once the account is completely clean and compliant, open the official Google Ad Grants Reactivation Request Form.

When filling out the description box, do not write an emotional appeal. Google's reviewers want factual, technical compliance evidence. Use this template for your explanation:

"We have audited our account for the 14 days prior to suspension and taken direct corrective action. We have permanently paused [Number] high-impression, low-CTR keywords that were dragging down our average. Furthermore, we have removed all single-word keywords, paused all terms with a Quality Score below 3, and transitioned our primary campaigns to a 'Maximize Conversions' Smart Bidding strategy to ensure ongoing relevance."

How to Prevent This From Happening Again

Once you are reinstated, protect your account from a second suspension by setting up an Automated Rule to handle the pruning for you:

1. Create Rule: Go to Tools >> Bulk Options >> Rules >> Create new rule.
2. Action: Set action to Pause keywords.
3. Condition: Set condition to CTR less than 5% AND Quality Score less than 3.
4. Frequency: Set to run Weekly using data from the Last 30 days.

If your Google Ad Grants application feels stuck in limbo, you are not alone. Navigating Google's delayed onboarding sequence can easily cause unexpected delays.

The application process is handled through a coordinated handoff between Google and its vetting partners (Goodstack). If your application is delayed, it is almost certainly bottlenecked by a structural omission or a hidden compliance check.

Why Your Application Is Delayed (The Bottlenecks)

The absolute most common reasons your approval is hanging in the queue include:

• Goodstack Identity Holds: Google's vetting partners do not just check if your nonprofit is real — they check if you are authorized to represent it. If you applied with a personal email (@gmail.com) instead of your nonprofit's domain name, your application is likely paused in a manual review queue waiting for security verification.
• Website Quality Failures: Google's automated system crawls your website before approving the grant. If your site lacks a clear mission statement, does not feature your official registration/tax-exempt number, lacks an active HTTPS/SSL security certificate, or features broken navigation links, the system will silently pause your application.