What changed, and what still gets accounts suspended.

This has been updated periodically since 2020, and it needed a real update this time. A couple of the underlying rules have actually changed, not just the language around them.

What's actually changed since this was first written

The nonprofit verification partner has moved from TechSoup to Goodstack for new applicants in 2026: if you're applying for the first time now, that's who you'll go through, not TechSoup. Smart Bidding is now mandatory, not optional, for most accounts (specifically those created after April 2019, which covers the large majority of active grants). Performance Max campaigns are newly allowed inside Ad Grants accounts, and usefully, they're exempt from the account-wide 5% CTR requirement. Google Maps placements are also newly eligible for grant-funded ads.

The rules that actually matter

The 5% CTR requirement is the one that catches the most accounts off guard. It's measured account-wide, and falling below it for two consecutive months triggers suspension, not immediately, so there's time to catch and fix it if the account is being checked regularly.

The old $2 manual bid cap is gone once Smart Bidding is switched on, which it now has to be for most accounts anyway. Google bids what it estimates a click is worth instead, within the daily budget.

Single-word keywords are not allowed, with a short list of exceptions (branded terms, specific medical conditions). "Environment" isn't allowed; "environmental conservation volunteering" is.

Ad groups need to stay tightly themed: keywords, ad copy, and landing page all actually matching each other, not just technically related.

Why so much of the grant goes unused

Here's the plain fact: the average Ad Grant account uses only around $300 of the available $10,000 a month, according to nonprofit marketing agency Getting Attention's own account data. That's not a funding gap, it's a structure gap. Keywords too generic ("animal shelter") get outcompeted; keywords too narrow ("support for stray calico cats") don't have enough search volume to spend against. The useful middle is specific enough to signal real intent, broad enough to have real volume, something closer to "donate to an animal shelter in [city]" than either extreme.

Once real conversion tracking exists (GA4, tied into the account), switching to conversion-based bidding, optimizing for actual donations or signups rather than raw clicks, is usually what closes the rest of the utilization gap.

For Indian nonprofits specifically

Beyond Goodstack verification, an Indian NGO also needs to be compliant under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) if the organization receives contributions from outside India. A separate legal requirement worth checking early, not something to discover mid-application.

One more thing worth insisting on: the nonprofit itself should always retain full administrative ownership of the Ad Grants account, granting any manager (internal or external) restricted access through a standard management link rather than handing over the account outright.

Why accounts actually lose the grant

Almost never intent. Usually it's the account quietly drifting out of compliance over weeks or months: CTR sliding, conversion tracking breaking silently, nobody checking in. That's the actual argument for ongoing management rather than a one-time setup. A grant that was compliant on day one can stop being compliant three months later without anyone noticing until Google's suspension email arrives.

This is the same compliance work behind the Ad Grant management done for the Suicide Prevention India Foundation and QPR India, both supported pro bono.