Louder+Both Hands
How an Optimized Google Ad Grant Increased Donations by 155%
An under-utilized Google Ad Grant was leaving money on the table.
The Challenge
$10,000 a month in free ads. 98% of it going unused.
For eligible nonprofits, Google provides $10,000 in free advertising every month. Deployed strategically, this grant can boost nonprofits to the top of Google search results and reach supporters in the moment they need you: a parent searching for help, a donor searching for a cause, or a volunteer searching for a place to serve. But without proper management and strategy, nonprofits leave money on the table.
In 2025, Both Hands was using less than 2% of its monthly Google Ad Grant. Like many nonprofits, they didn't have the expertise or capacity to keep up with best practices, much less perform the daily maintenance required to truly move the needle.
Their ads generated some monthly donations and impressions, but Both Hands was underutilizing a free asset with exponential potential to bring in new volunteers, donors, and clients. When impact and real-life transformation is on the line, every tool at your disposal is consequential.
- +480%Donation conversions
- +155%Donations raised
- +360%Monthly impressions
- +4,157%Grant utilization
“Who is managing your Google ad account matters as much as whether you have one.”
The Tactics
We turned a neglected grant into a donation and volunteer funnel.
Many nonprofits apply for the grant, build one campaign, and check in once a month. Their $10,000 goes unused, or worse, gets suspended. When we started managing Both Hands' grant, we set up multiple, strategic campaigns to reach the right people who were already searching for Both Hands and ready to take their next step.
Ongoing maintenance and optimization transformed their grant from generating a modest boost to a high-performing donation and volunteer funnel.
Strategic ad campaign setup
- Mission-driven campaign strategy
- In-depth keyword research
- Compelling, high-converting ad copy
Ongoing compliance and optimization
- Compliance monitoring
- Strategic grant utilization
- Ad development and optimization
- Keyword research
- Budget management
- Conversion tracking
Working with Louder
Most agencies set ads and forget them. We're in the account every day.
The critical difference between successful Google Ad Grants and underperforming ones is management, paired with deep audience research.
To get the most out of Both Hands' Google Ad Grant, we followed three key principles:
- 01We build multiple campaigns, not one. Your donors and the people you serve aren't the same audience searching for the same thing. We build for both, sometimes more.
- 02We meet people at different points in their journey. A first-time visitor needs something different than someone ready to take action.
- 03We're in accounts every day. Not once a month when something breaks.
To reach the right people, it is critical to understand your audience, what they're searching for, and their readiness to act. A family learning about adoption is in a very different place than a family actively searching for ways to fund their adoption. Effective Google ads treat these families as two unique audiences with different pain points, goals, and next steps.
For Both Hands, we've run seven distinct campaigns, each strategically targeting specific audiences based on where they are in their journey.
This high-touch approach to management combined with deep audience research allows us to see what's working in real time and continually tweak campaigns to optimize ads for a more effective reach.
“We had an outside Ad Grant specialist review our account and he called Louder's improvements a '1,000x upgrade.' We're now consistently hearing from new donors who found us by searching on Google.”
The Outcome
Every metric more than doubled, and the grant finally moving the mission.
All engagement isn't inherently meaningful. But when you connect with the right audience and provide solutions to their problems, every ad click is purposeful.
Both Hands isn't just generating more views and clicks with optimized ads. They're turning that attention into action, converting leads into enthusiastic donors, volunteers, and supporters.
Over the course of 12 months, we continued to refine audience targeting based on ad performance data, leading to more than 100% improvements across the board. They're now consistently using the majority of their grant each month. By taking advantage of Google's free ad spend, they're moving the needle on their mission.
| Metric | Pre-Louder | With Louder | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donation conversions | 10 | 58 | +480% |
| Donations raised | $8,135.90over 12 months | $20,785.35after 9 months | +155% |
| Monthly impressions | ~1,281/mo | ~5,895/mo | +360% |
| Monthly clicks | ~115/mo | ~420/mo | +265% |
| Grant utilization | $195.33Feb 2025 | $8,315.48Feb 2026 | +4,157% |
Donations raised
- BeforeOver 12 months $8,135.90
- AfterAfter 9 months $20,785.35
“These conversions, and using the grant to get more of those conversions, are actually moving the needle. So, the bottom line is that you're now using the conversion data to optimize the campaigns, and actually bring meaningful visits and behaviors on your website.”
