Google’s premium-level Ad Grants program no longer accepting applications

Google appears to be winding down the premium offering of its Ad Grants program for non-profits. The following message stating, “The Ad Grants team is no longer accepting Grantspro applications,” appeared within the past 24 hours on the Ad Grants support page for the program.

The Grantspro level of Google Grants offered eligible non-profits a monthly budget of $40,000, or a daily spend of up to $1,315, on free AdWords search advertising. The regular Google Grants program offers $10,000 monthly budgets for qualifying non-profits.

To be eligible to get to the Grantspro level, companies at the $10,000 a month level had to be hitting a $330-per-day spend cap, or $9,900 in two of the last six months, while maintaining an average click-through rate of at least 1.0 percent. The CPC cap for Google Grant recipients is $2 per click.

It’s not clear why the Grantspro program has stopped taking applications, but it’s not the first time Google has put a moratorium on Grantspro submissions. In 2013, Google stopped taking new applications but re-opened the Grantspro program in 2014 with new eligibility requirements, including those listed above.

Perhaps this is another period of time-off for the Grantspro program, rather than an end. We’ll update here if we find out more. Update 9/2/16: The Grantspro program is winding down. Google issued the following statement: “The Ad Grants team is no longer accepting applications for the Grantspro program as part of new efforts to streamline the program. This update aside, the program will continue to remain open and free to all eligible nonprofits.” New applications for Grantspro were being accepted and approved right up to the point the program closed to new applicants. Approved participants will continue to be able to use the Grantspro program.

Hat tip: Kahena Digital Marketing