A lot of nonprofits do amazing work and make world a better place. But they struggle with awareness and fundraising to sustain in the long run. Sea of Solidarity has been leveraging Google for Nonprofits and AmazonSmile in a substantial way. Here is how you can do it for your nonprofit.
- Prerequisite: To be eligible for the Google for Nonprofits program, organizations must hold current 501(c)(3) status, as determined by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. More on eligibility info.
- Setup Google Apps for Nonprofit: which is free version of the Google Apps business productivity suite, including Gmail, Docs, Calendar, and more. Businesses pay $5 per user per month, as a nonprofit you get it for free.
- Register for Google Ad Grants: which is free AdWords advertising to promote your nonprofit on Google through keyword targeting. All Google Ad Grants accounts get a monthly budget of $10,000 USD, which comes out to a daily budget of $329 USD! This will help raise awareness about your nonprofit. We have seen unrecognized donations coming from visitors from clicks on Ads. More about Ad Grants. Businesses pay a tonne of money for this. Did I mention you get this for free?
4. Here is my favorite: One Today by Google which grants free access to a mobile fundraising platform. This platform connects nonprofits with donors who want to make a difference, while letting nonprofits raise the funds they need for the cause. Here are a couple of campaigns we created on the platform and at the end of the month we received checks for ~$350 USD for our cause. And yes, One Today is free too. Register here.
5. Register for AmazonSmile: For eligible purchases at AmazonSmile, the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price to the customer’s selected charitable organization at no additional cost to the customer or the nonprofit.
Each year google donates $100,000,000 in grants and $1 Billion in products. These figures get overlooked and do not get enough recongnition they deserve. Every eligible nonprofit should leverage these services which are truly helping move the needle and make world a better place.
Feel free to reach out to me personally for pointers to set this up for your nonprofit.