Google for Nonprofits
Summary
Google for Nonprofits is the entry point that unlocks Google Workspace for Nonprofits (free edition), Google Ad Grants ($10,000/month in-kind search ads), Google Maps Platform credits, and Google Cloud credits for validated nonprofits. The eligibility rules explicitly bar political organisations and those whose primary purpose is influencing legislation, making this the single largest exclusion zone for advocacy NGOs.
Body
https://www.google.com/nonprofits/
Google for Nonprofits is a single eligibility gateway operated by Google in partnership with TechSoup and country-equivalent validators: an eligible organisation registers once at google.com/nonprofits and is then able to activate the Workspace edition, the Ad Grants account, the Maps API credits, and (separately) the Google Cloud credits program [source: google-for-nonprofits]. Eligibility broadly requires recognition as a charitable organisation under local law — 501(c)(3) in the US, registered charity in the UK, gemeinnützig in DE, association loi 1901 d’intérêt général in FR, and equivalents in the ~100 countries where Google for Nonprofits operates [source: google-for-nonprofits].
The decisive exclusion is political: the program’s eligibility language bars “political organizations and organizations whose primary purpose is influencing legislation” [source: google-for-nonprofits]. This applies to all products unlocked through the gateway — Workspace, Ad Grants, Maps credits, and YouTube nonprofit features. A non-partisan policy-advocacy organisation whose primary mission is charitable (e.g. education, research, human rights, environmental protection) may qualify; a partisan electoral organisation or a 501(c)(4) social-welfare group will not [source: google-for-nonprofits].
For a campaigning NGO, this is the most common silent disqualifier in the procurement stack. The official portal can be reached only after the country validator (TechSoup US, Stifter-helfen DE, Solidatech FR, etc.) has cleared the organisation against Google’s primary-purpose test.
Use it for
Deciding whether to apply to Google for Nonprofits given your organisation’s primary purpose (the answer is no for partisan/electoral orgs, yes for non-partisan charitable orgs doing some advocacy, check with TechSoup if you are unsure); understanding that the same gateway controls Workspace + Ad Grants + Maps + Cloud credits, so a rejection blocks all four.
Related
- civic-tech
- digital-security
- distributed-organizing
- framing-and-narrative
- petitions-and-e-campaigning
Learn more
- On Wikipedia: Google.org — CC BY-SA 4.0