Google offers nonprofit organisations up to 10,000 dollars a month of text ads on its results pages, shown on their own or below paid ads. In Luxembourg, the programme is open to ASBL, public utility foundations and public utility organisations, after validation by Goodstack, Google's verification partner (eligibility criteria). Getting in takes a few days. Keeping the account requires meeting the programme compliance guide every month, starting with a 5% click-through rate, failing which the account is deactivated without further warning. What the credit is worth to a nonprofit in the country therefore depends as much on monthly management as on admission.
The facts
- The programme, according to the official FAQ: up to 10,000 dollars a month of text ads on Google results pages, shown either independently or in positions below paid ads. The programme policies require accounts created from 22 April 2019 to use conversion-based smart bidding, conversion tracking set up according to the programme guide, at least one conversion a month and complete answers to the programme questionnaires.
- Admission goes through Google for Nonprofits. The eligibility page requires being recognised as a charitable organisation in one of the listed countries, Luxembourg among them, and being validated by Goodstack; for Luxembourg it lists three forms: public utility organisation, non-profit association (ASBL) and public utility foundation. In Luxembourg, an ASBL acquires legal personality through its registration in the trade and companies register, and public utility status is granted by grand-ducal decree (Ministry of Justice). The law of 7 August 2023, in force since 23 September 2023, has applied to all ASBL since the end of the transitional period on 23 September 2025.
- The compliance guide sets the rules that cost the account: a 5% click-through rate at account level, with two consecutive months below it leading to temporary deactivation; pausing or removing keywords with a quality score of 1 or 2; a ban on single-word keywords, apart from brand terms and a few exceptions; at least two ad groups and two sitelink assets per campaign; conversion tracking for accounts created after January 2018; an annual survey to complete.
The credit is real, the position on the page less so
Programme ads appear after those of paying advertisers, or on their own when nobody bids on the query. On contested keywords, online donations or fundraising for instance, an Ad Grants nonprofit therefore comes behind the players who pay. On queries tied to its mission, its name and its actions, it often has the page to itself. The work consists in finding those queries and devoting the account to them.
In Luxembourg, actual spend depends on the number of searches related to the mission, in the languages of the country, and generally stays well below the monthly ceiling. The figure that matters lies elsewhere: since 22 April 2019, an account has to bid on conversions, which means defining what a conversion is for the organisation, a donation, a volunteer sign-up, an information request, a document download, and measuring it on the website before the first campaign.
In Luxembourg, entry goes through Goodstack and up-to-date statutes
The application is made in Google for Nonprofits, which passes the verification of the organisation's legal existence to Goodstack. Government entities, hospitals and healthcare organisations, schools and universities are excluded; their charitable arm may be admitted. The website must belong to the organisation, be served over HTTPS and state its mission clearly.
Since 23 September 2025, the law of 7 August 2023 has applied to every ASBL and foundation in the country, the two-year transitional period being over. A nonprofit whose statutes and registration are up to date can supply the documents the verification asks for without delay; a nonprofit still on old statutes starts with that housekeeping, before any campaign.
The rules that cost the account fit into a monthly routine
The 5% click-through rate is read at account level and is kept through keyword choice: precise phrases tied to the mission and the organisation's name, and the removal of any broad term that gets shown without being clicked. Keywords with a quality score of 1 or 2 are paused, single-word keywords are excluded from the start. Each campaign carries at least two ad groups and two sitelinks, and the account has to record at least one conversion a month. The programme's annual survey is completed as soon as it arrives.
Once the account is deactivated, reactivation is requested through a form after the failing points have been corrected. A monthly review of click-through rate, keywords and conversions avoids getting there. The programme covers neither images, nor video, nor Display: a separate paid Google Ads account is added for those formats, in a distinct auction, as we explain on our page on Google Ad Grants account management.
AIxH's view
Google keeps a directory of certified Ad Grants professionals whose admission conditions are not published; we are not in it. Grégory Camus has run Ad Grants accounts for the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale, Hekatech and the association Gardez la pêche, and no figure from those accounts is published, because they belong to those organisations. A Luxembourg nonprofit can handle the application and the management on its own: the programme is designed for that, and the monthly routine described above takes a few hours. Our Google Ads team steps in when time is short, when an account has been suspended, or when the organisation wants to link the free credit to a paid account and to shared conversion measurement. Before contacting us, check three things on your website: it runs on HTTPS, the mission is written there, and a measurable action exists.
