Google Ad Grants: why your donation page belongs on your own website
The grant is worth up to $10,000 a month in search ads, but only if the ads point to a domain you own and you record a conversion every month.
Google Ad Grants gives eligible charities up to $10,000 USD a month of search advertising, and unused budget doesn't roll over (Google for Nonprofits). For a charity with no advertising budget, that is a lot of reach. Keeping it depends on a few rules, and two of them are about where your donation happens.
The rules that matter here
You must own the website your ads point to. Google's website policy says: "Your nonprofit must own the domain(s) your ads point to." The domain you submit must host your own website, and it "cannot automatically redirect visitors to a different web address, a third-party platform (like a donation portal), or a social media page" (Ad Grants website policy).
You must record conversions. Accounts created since April 2019 need at least one conversion a month, and must use conversion-based smart bidding (Ad Grants account management policy). Donations count as a conversion.
The same policy asks for a 5% click-through rate each month, at least two sitelinks and sensible location targeting.
Why the donation page location matters
The conversion you most want to count is a donation. If the gift finishes on your own site, the confirmation page is yours: you can put Google's conversion tag on it and see which ads produced gifts. If the gift finishes on another company's platform, you can usually only count what happens on your own pages, such as a click on a "Donate" button, and you depend on what that platform lets you track. You also can't point your grant-funded ads at the platform's page, because you don't own that domain.
A note on Meta
Tracking on Facebook and Instagram is its own problem. Since January 2025, Meta has restricted pixel and Conversions API data for domains in sensitive categories, which mainly affects health-related charities (Torchbox). If you are a health charity, check how your domain has been categorised before you plan a campaign around conversion data.
What to set up
- A donation page on your own domain, with a confirmation page you control.
- A Google Ads conversion on that confirmation page, with the donation amount passed in if you can.
- Campaigns pointing at pages on your site: appeals, not just the home page.
- A monthly check of click-through rate and conversions, so the account stays compliant.