I think that it goes without saying that everyone in the private sector wants their business to grow. Whether it’s through word of mouth marketing, expensive websites, or ad strategies, there are literally thousands of courses, books, and businesses dedicated to helping businesses accomplish their goal of making more money.
As leaders of ministries, pastors of churches, and followers of Christ, we want our ministries to grow. While this is true, I believe that all of us share a deep-seated conviction that we cannot and should not use the Good News of Christ for the purpose of furthering our own personal monetary gains. This is a noble and biblical worldview, but it’s created a major gap in the marketplace. The lack of income typical for churches and ministries means that we rarely have the same budget that businesses have, which makes a lot of the resources afforded to businesses in the secular world hard to come by.
Thankfully, there is a major exception to this, and it can increase your ministry’s marketing budget to $120,000 a year overnight.
Google offers a $10,000/month ad grant to all nonprofits, and your church or ministry likely qualifies for these free marketing dollars. Businesses spent $237.86 billion dollars on ads in 2023, making it the largest digital ads platform by a long shot. I’ve seen a lot of businesses run Google Ads, and most spend between $300/month and $5,000/month, depending on industry and size. This means that a $10,000 budget is incredibly large, and should be more than enough to move the needle for your ministry.
The process of applying for Google’s Ad Grant can be difficult, but we want to make it as easy as possible for you. If you’d like to apply for the grant on your own, we have a free guide that walks you through the process linked No link. This guide will help you apply for and receive the grant, and will also outline the best practices and keyword recommendations that we’ve found to be most effective for churches.
There are a few things that you need to know about the grant in order to receive it, and if your ministry meets the following requirements you are more than likely eligible.
- Organizations must be (i) registered with the IRS as exempt from federal income tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the US Internal Revenue Code, or (ii) a group exempt organization with proven affiliation to a central nonprofit that has 501c3 status
- This means that if you’re registered as a 501c3 or a church plant under a larger 501c3, you will likely qualify
- You cannot be a governmental entity or organization
- You cannot be a hospital or health care organization, although charitable arms or foundations associated with healthcare organizations are eligible
- This means that you cannot advertise items that have to do with mental health or addiction counseling services
- You cannot be a school, academic institution, or university, although philanthropic arms of educational organizations are eligible
- Google does have programs specific to educational institutions, you can find out more here.
If you’d like an expert to apply for the grant on your behalf, drop us a line and we’ll take care of your application free of charge. There are no strings attached and if your church doesn’t qualify, you’ll at least have peace of mind knowing that you’ve done everything you can to claim the money Google is putting on the table.
Once you’re approved, you can manage the ads yourself using the guide linked here, or you can leverage our team of experts to make sure you’re stewarding your new marketing funds well. We offer this service for a monthly fee that’s a fraction of the industry average, and you won’t ever have to sign up for a long-term contract.
The web is one of the most effective tools that you can use to grow your ministry, and Mere exists to make sure that you’re leveraging this tool to its fullest potential. If you’d like to hop on a call to see how we can help you with your digital marketing and website, shoot me an email at mitch@mereagency.com. We’re here to help.