Volunteers are often the lifeblood of nonprofit organizations. The hours of unpaid work they generously provide can help a nonprofit organization stretch their limited funding much further, without compromising services. Depending on the type of nonprofit you operate, you might use volunteers to help your organization provide core services, complete necessary administrative work, operate events, fundraise, and more.
In this article, I want to talk about one specific area of operations and discuss whether or not it’s a good idea to use volunteers to help out: Google Ad Grant management.
Google Ad Grant management involves overseeing the implementation of a Google Ads campaign using the free advertising dollars that Google makes available to qualifying nonprofits. Nonprofit organizations can use Google Ads to promote their services to those who can benefit from them, attract new supporters and donors, promote their events, and raise awareness about their cause.
A Google Ads campaign can be notoriously difficult to manage, so you definitely want someone in charge of the campaign who can dedicate a considerable amount of effort to this task. It’s also great if they come to it with some previous experience with Google Ads campaigns.
In probably the best-case scenario, you will find a marketing company that wants to take on some pro bono work and then agrees to do your Google Ad Grant management for free. Count yourself as very fortunate if this is the case, but also make sure that you have reasonable expectations. As well meaning as a marketing company may be, it is highly likely that the free work they promise to do for you will regularly get moved to bottom of their to-do list—below the work they do for their paying clients. If you’re good with that, then go ahead and take them up on their offer.
Another good situation is to find a volunteer who has experience running Google Ads for their own business or the company they work for. While they may not have the same expertise as someone who works for a marketing company and deals with Google Ads all the time, they could still be a valuable asset to your nonprofit. They will at least be familiar with Google Ads and possibly have some insight into what makes a campaign successful.
What I would caution against is giving an inexperienced volunteer the task of running your Google Ads campaign—especially if you don’t have anyone in house to train them properly. It will likely be nothing more than a source of frustration for them, where they feel like they are doing a lot of work and have very little to show for it in the end. Giving a volunteer a task where they might feel like a failure is definitely not a good way to ensure they stick around!
When using a volunteer for your Google Ads campaign is not an option, consider working with a company that specializes in Google Ad Grant management for nonprofits. Yes, you’ll have to pay them, but it then frees up your volunteers and staff to work in places where they will be more effective and fulfilled.
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