Google gives eligible nonprofits up to $10,000/month in free search advertising. Most small organizations use part of it. Approval is Google's, never guaranteed — by us or anyone. So we start with a free eligibility pre-screen, and you only pay if you qualify and choose to proceed.
Request your free pre-screenThe Google Ad Grant is in-kind advertising credit for registered nonprofits: your ads appear in Google search results when people look for churches, services, events and causes near them. The credit is capped at $10,000 per month (about $329 per day) and unused credit doesn't roll over. Government bodies, hospitals and schools are excluded; churches and other 501(c)(3) nonprofits are the intended recipients.
Google verifies your 501(c)(3) status through its validation partner. We check whether your organization appears in IRS records. If you hold a denominational group exemption, we'll verify the parent's letter and your listing under it.
A quick check that your organization isn't in an excluded category (government, hospital, school).
Grant ads must point to your own domain, on a secure (HTTPS) site with substantial, real content. If your site isn't ready, that's a known, quotable fix — it becomes part of onboarding, not a surprise.
Google for Nonprofits asks for a non-discrimination attestation. We surface it up front so your leadership can decide with open eyes.
The determination-letter note for churches: churches are tax-exempt automatically under US law, but many never received an IRS determination letter — and Google's verification needs IRS-visible status or a denominational group-exemption letter. If you have neither, the path is an IRS application first, which can take weeks to months. We'll tell you plainly which of the three situations you're in: qualifies · qualifies with a fix · doesn't qualify yet.
The most common state we expect to find is a grant that was approved once and has gone quiet — dormant, or suspended after a missed survey or a slow month. That's invisible from the outside, and it matters: reactivating a grant you already have skips the eligibility risk entirely. Mention it when you contact us and we'll check together.
A grant account is not set-and-forget. Google requires an account-level click-through rate of at least 5%, valid conversion tracking with real conversions each month, conversion-based bidding, geographic targeting, and an annual program survey. Miss the rules and the account can be deactivated. That's exactly the work our module exists to do — a named, weekly compliance routine, with a monthly report showing grant credit provided versus actually used.
| Line | What it is | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Starheart's fee | Eligibility pre-screen | Free |
| Setup (application, account build, conversion tracking) | $995 — waived on a 12-month commitment | |
| Monthly management | $397/mo standalone, or $299/mo added to any Starheart plan | |
| Your ad budget | Paid Google Ads, only if you choose them. Your money, in your account. | $0 required |
| Google's grant credit | In-kind search advertising from Google. Reported monthly: provided vs. used. | Up to $10,000/mo |
Your organization owns the Google for Nonprofits and Ads accounts; Starheart manages them on your behalf and can be unlinked at any time.
Start with the free pre-screen