Tag Archives: Nonprofits

Google for Nonprofits Launches in Mexico and Chile

Hola! Greetings from Mexico and Chile! Today, we’re excited to announce that we are continuing to expand Google for Nonprofits in Latin America. In partnership with TechSoup, Google for Nonprofits is now available in these countries, servicing tens of thousands of nonprofit organizations in the region.


Nonprofits can now apply to join the program (in Mexico and Chile), which provides access to a suite of free products and tools, including:

  • Google Ad Grants: Free AdWords advertising to promote your website on Google through keyword targeting.
  • Google Apps for Nonprofit: Free version of the Google Apps business productivity suite, including Gmail, Docs, Calendar, and more.
  • YouTube Nonprofit Program: Premium branding capabilities on YouTube channels, and increased uploading capacity.
Photo Courtesy of Vifac Nacional

Many nonprofits around the world are already taking advantage of these programs to recruit new volunteers, fundraise and raise awareness about their work.

Vifac is an organization that offers women and their children shelter, food, nutritional advice, psychological help, medical service and certifications at no cost. Vifac has helped thousands of women with unexpected pregnancies in vulnerable situations. However, the organization was looking for help finding a way to connect with the women who needed them. This problem led to a partnership with Google.

“Thanks to the  AdWords Google Grant  today we have been able to reach over 500,000 direct beneficiaries and their families,  and help thousands of women in a desperate state of abandonment, poverty and hopelessness” said Gabriela Tejeda, National Director of Vfiac.

Using the momentum that has been established by organizations such as Vifac, we can’t wait to continue partnering with organizations in Mexico and Chile starting with today’s launch.

Google for Nonprofits Launches in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic

Szia! Cześć! Ahoj! Dobrý den! Greetings from Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic!  Today, we’re excited to announce that we are continuing to expand Google for Nonprofits in Europe. In partnership with TechSoup, Google for Nonprofits is now available in these Central European countries, servicing tens of thousands of nonprofit organizations in the region.

Specified Nonprofit Corporations, Public Interest Corporations, and Social Welfare Corporations can now apply to join the program (in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic), which provides access to a suite of free products and tools, including:
  • Google Ad Grants: Free AdWords advertising to promote your website on Google through keyword targeting.
  • Google Apps for Nonprofit: Free version of the Google Apps business productivity suite, including Gmail, Docs, Calendar, and more.
  • YouTube Nonprofit Program: Premium branding capabilities on YouTube channels, and increased uploading capacity.

Many nonprofits around the world are already taking advantage of these programs to recruit new volunteers, fundraise and raise awareness about their work. Google Ad Grants, for example, is one great way to drive more traffic to your site through AdWords.

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UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) is a global humanitarian organization that develops programs to help children in more than 150 countries and territories. The most significant effort is targeted on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children everywhere. Through Google Grants, UNICEF has been able to increase traffic to the website, the charitable online store, and the amount of online donations by over 100%.
"Since we are a humanitarian organization whose activities are funded entirely by voluntary contributions, Google Grants has opened the door to new online fundraising opportunities that would have otherwise been financially unattainable. AdWords allows us to reach a large portion of the public that we previously weren’t able to reach. Thank you for these wonderful possibilities in digital fundraising", said Hana Čermáková, UNICEF Czech Republic Fundraising Manager.

We’re impressed already by how nonprofits are raising awareness for their organizations using technology. Using the momentum that has been established by organizations such as Unicef, we can’t wait to continue partnering with organizations in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic starting with today’s launch.

Bonjour! Google for Nonprofits Launches in France


Calling all Francophiles! What do you love about France? The wine? The cheese? The art & culture? Us too! But did you also know that France boasts more than 1.6 million nonprofits and 3,899 foundations? That’s why we’re excited to collaborate with TechSoup Global to bring Google for Nonprofits to France.


Eligible nonprofit associations and foundations can now apply to join the program, which provides access to a suite of free products and tools, including:

  • Ad Grants provides a $10,000 grant for nonprofits to raise awareness and target new audiences online.
  • YouTube for Nonprofits and Google Earth Outreach provide rich opportunities for nonprofits to create interactive content and visualize their impact.
  • Google Apps provides a range of enterprise tools -- from email to Google Docs -- that reduce technology costs and encourage collaboration.


Many nonprofits in France are already taking advantage of these programs to recruit new volunteers, fundraise and raise awareness about their work. Google Ad Grants, for example, is one great way to drive more traffic to your site through AdWords.


SOS Amitié 2.jpg


Photo Credit : Sophie Spiteri


S.O.S Amitié is an anonymous listening service for those who suffer from loneliness, unhappiness or depression and who may be tempted to take their own lives. Volunteers are listening on the phone and the internet 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  The organization is comprised of 1600 listeners who respond to 700,000 calls per year in France (that’s a call every 40 seconds).  Through Google Grants, S.O.S Amitié is able to gain better visibility on the web, attributing approximately 80% of their site traffic to Google Ad Grants Campaigns -- nearly 7,000 visits per month. S.O.S. Amité also has increased web applications for volunteers from 18 percent in 2009 to 46 percent in 2013. In addition, the organization has seen an increase in donations thanks to an ad campaign launched through Google Ad Grants.


"This greater visibility on the web, the ability to easily adapt our messages to reach our goals, is a great help to fulfill our mission," said Maxime Bonin, S.O.S Amitié President.


We’re impressed already by how nonprofits in France are raising awareness for their organizations using technology. Using the momentum that has been established by organizations such as S.O.S Amitié, we can’t wait to continue partnering with organizations in France starting with today’s launch.

Visit Google for Nonprofits to learn more about the tools and join the program.

We’ve revamped our YouTube Channel!

Check out the Top 3 Tips from our #G4NP Channel Refresh

If you’ve ever visited the Google for Nonprofits YouTube channel before, maybe it’s time to take a second look. Over the summer we re-launched our channel to optimize it for our audience - you! To transform the Google for Nonprofits channel, we thought long and hard about the needs of our nonprofit users, and followed several of the basic guidelines from the Creator Academy Handbook.  

Below, check out our Top 3 Tips from the #G4NP YouTube Refresh:

    • What we did: We updated the first impression of our landing page by adding a trailer video, added compelling channel art and added social media links.  
    • Tip:  Use channel art that is relevant and captivating to help tell your story, demonstrate impact or feature an anthem video, for example. Remember, it takes less than two-tenths of a second for an online visitor to form a first opinion of your brand (source: http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/223150).


      • What we did: We took a close look at all of the content that was currently on the channel, as well as what has been the most impactful to our audience, and we discovered that themes emerged. We then created sections and Playlists based on these learnings that we were able to apply across the channel. (Nonprofit Voices, Google Product Tutorials, Industry Insights and Hot Topics and Trainings Keynotes and Events)  
      • Tip: Take a look at the content on your channel and see if there are any themes or similar threads that arise. Creating sections can help consumers find content quicker, which will give them more time to watch your content.




    • What we did: We cleaned up the raw content on our channel, updated the titles to be consistent in formatting and wording, and ensured the thumbnails gave a  glimpse into what the full video was about. For example, in this series of videos, Case Studies: Nonprofits using Google Tools, we edited to ensure that the faces of the nonprofit leaders were featured prominently.
    • Tip: Tease out the story that your videos tell through the title, thumbnail and description. Think of these pieces, collectively, as your content’s billboard. A compelling video billboard can be the hook that attracts new fans who are looking for great videos and channels on YouTube. Check out a good example, here.

Our team continues to work on more advanced YouTube optimizations that we hope will make the content more accessible and relevant to our users. As we continue to learn and iterate, we will share best practices with our community so that you can take some of the learnings and implement on your own channels.

To learn more about YouTube Creator Academy, click here.

Introducing Skybox for Good

With Skybox joining Google we have a tremendous opportunity to leverage our imaging satellites for positive change in the world. Yesterday, at our annual Geo for Good User Summit, we announced the Skybox for Good program, under which we will contribute fresh satellite imagery to projects that save lives, protect the environment, promote education, and positively impact humanity.

We’ve already begun supporting projects such as this, and we wanted to share some of the results. We have been monitoring sites critical to our understanding of global climate change, such as the Helheim Glacier in Greenland.
Helheim Glacier.jpg
18 August, 2014 | Helheim Glacier, Greenland | SkySat-1

The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative’s Signal Program  has been using our imagery to help develop tools for Internally Displaced Persons camp management in Africa and the Middle East.
16 March 2014 - Yida, South Sudan - SkySat-1

Access to global satellite imagery through Google Earth and Maps has changed the way people see their world - from the cities they live in to faraway places. On the Google Earth Outreach team, we have witnessed the way these tools have changed how our partners do their work and tell their amazing stories.

We’ve captured some images of Nagarkovil village in Northern Sri Lanka. HALO Trust previously cleared landmines in this area and used updated imagery to help verify that people are returning, having built 84 houses and cultivating over 40 hectares of agricultural land.
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3 October, 2014 - Nagarkovil, Sri Lanka - SkySat-1
View full image in Google Maps

In this beta phase of the program, we will select a small group of organizations and provide the imagery they need to accelerate their work.  The images collected for these partners are being made available publicly, under a Creative Commons By Attribution license (CC BY 4.0), for everyone to see and use. We’ve already started collecting a few images, which you can see on this map. Check out the images in West Virginia, where SkyTruth and Appalachian Voices are monitoring and measuring the rapid expansion of mountaintop-removal (MTR) mining which is devastating forests and communities across Appalachia, visible in the image below, right next to the popular hiking trails of Kanawha State Forest.  
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M October, 2014 - KD-2 Mine, West Virginia - SkySat-2
View full image in Google Maps

Google Earth Outreach gives nonprofits and public benefit organizations the knowledge and resources they need to visualize their cause and tell their story. In the future, we hope to expand the Skybox for Good program to allow many more non-profit organizations and public interest groups to benefit from the use of Skybox data.

For more details visit the Skybox blog.
Follow us @earthoutreach for updates as we expand the program.

Posted by Julian Mann, Skybox co-founder & Developer Advocate, Google Earth Outreach

Google for Nonprofits Goes Down Under

Over the past few months, we’ve been overwhelmed by the incredible energy and excitement of the Australian charities who have participated in the Google Impact Challenge.  On issues ranging from ecological preservation, to homelessness, sanitation and solar power, Australian charities are proving that digital tools can have a transformative effect on an issue. 

That’s why today, we’re excited to take our commitment one step further by launching Google for Nonprofits in Australia.

Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits can now apply to join the program, which provides access to a suite of free products and tools, including:


  • Google Apps provides a range of enterprise tools -- from email to Google Docs -- that reduce technology costs and encourage collaboration.
  • Ad Grants provides a $10,000 grant for nonprofits to raise awareness and target new audiences online.
  • YouTube for Nonprofits and Google Earth Outreach provide rich opportunities for nonprofits to create interactive content and visualize their impact.

Australia has 60,000 charitable institutions, and many of them are already using Google tools. For example, The Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) is using Google Earth Pro’s 3D mapping technology to demonstrate their impact to donors, community members, and a global audience.




With twenty-three wildlife sanctuaries across Australia, AWC protects more native Australian animal species than any other non-government organization. Using Google Earth Pro, AWC is now able to take their supporters on a virtual “tour” of their sanctuaries around Australia and provide a broad overview of the scale and diversity of the wildlife and habitats they protect.

Check out our case studies learn how AWC and other Australian NGOs are using Google for Nonprofits, and join the program.

Google for Nonprofits launches in New Zealand



For most Kiwi charities, the web is becoming a vital platform for improving visibility, raising awareness, and connecting with donors and volunteers. The big challenge, though, is how to make the most of this technology when there are so many competing demands for funding and resources.  

That’s why we’re so pleased to be making Google for Nonprofits available here in New Zealand. Starting today, eligible community and voluntary organisations in NZ will now have free access to online marketing and technology from Google worth more than $120,000 each a year.


What’s in the package? Eligible charities will receive:
  • Up to USD $10,000 of Google AdWords each month, so they can get their site in front of people who are searching for services like theirs.
  • Free use of Google Apps, so they can run their email and important documents in the cloud and work collaboratively on documents while dramatically reducing IT costs
  • Google Earth Outreach, a free license for the pro version of Google Earth so they can visualize their data in map version online
  • YouTube for Nonprofits, so they can make great campaigns that catch the eye of donors and supporters


Last night, we officially launched Google for Nonprofits in New Zealand at the Mental Health Foundation. Various NGOs that are already leveraging some of Google's tools attended and shared best practices and insights into how best to use these tools. One presenter, Judi Clements, CEO of the Mental Health Foundation spoke about how Ad Words delivered a 25% increase in traffic to their website, the largest increase in traffic they have ever experienced.

We want Kiwi charities to be as connected and collaborative as possible, so they can continue to do their great work changing the world.  With Google for Nonprofits, they can have the same web tools as much larger, better resourced organisations, so they can do their great work more easily.
Posted by Ross Young, Public Policy Manager, Google New Zealand, Cross-posted from the Google New Zealand Blog

Inspire kids to create our future: Apply for a 2015 RISE Award

Technology has the power to change the world for the better, but today far too few have access to the education or encouragement they need to become creators, not just consumers. We know that pre-university exposure to Computer Science education is critically important for inspiring kids to pursue a career in computing. 

That’s why Google offers the RISE Awards -- grants of $15,000 to $50,000 USD -- to organizations across the globe working to promote access to Computer Science education for girls and underrepresented minorities. Our RISE partners are changemakers: they engage, educate, and excite students about computing through extracurricular outreach. In 2014, 42 organizations received RISE Awards—with projects ranging from coding clubs in Europe to web development camps in Sub-Saharan Africa. In April, we brought all of our partners together for a Global Summit that sparked resource sharing and collaboration amongst organizations. 
We’re looking for more partners in 2015. Submit your application by September 30, 2014 in English, French, Japanese, Russian or Spanish. All eligibility information is listed on our website. 

Posted by Roxana Shirkhoda, K12/Pre-University Education Outreach 
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Google for Nonprofits launches in Japan

Japan has a growing and increasingly impactful nonprofit community—a 1998 NPO law invigorated the sector, and gave rise to the incorporation of more than 49,000 new organizations. Nonprofits like these are doing critical work for people in need, including recovery efforts for the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, and we want to do more to support them. That’s why today, we’re excited to collaborate with TechSoup Global to bring Google for Nonprofits to Japan.

Specified Nonprofit Corporations, Public Interest Corporations, and Social Welfare Corporations can now apply to join the program, which provides access to a suite of free products and tools, including:
  • Ad Grants provides a $10,000 grant for nonprofits to raise awareness and target new audiences online.
  • YouTube for Nonprofits and Google Earth Outreach provide rich opportunities for nonprofits to create interactive content and visualize their impact.
  • Google Apps provides a range of enterprise tools -- from email to Google Docs -- that reduce technology costs and encourage collaboration.

We’re big believers in the Internet’s ability to help nonprofit organizations find new donors and volunteers, as well as become more efficient in their work. Japanese NPO Katariba, for example, is an volunteer-led organization that provides career education and counseling for high-school students.
Photo from NPO法人カタリバ | NPO Katariba, an organization using Google for Nonprofits.

Before joining Google for Nonprofits, Katariba’s volunteer recruitment process was labor intensive for staff, and outreach required a large portion of their PR budget. Now, Katariba saves time and money by using their $10,000 per month Ad Grant to reach people who are already searching for “NPO job” or “education volunteer” on Google. Since joining the program, the organization has seen 35,000 new site visitors.

We’re inspired by Katariba’s story and the amazing ways so many more nonprofits are using technology to aid their cause. We’re looking forward to supporting the work of more nonprofits in Japan.

Visit Google for Nonprofits to learn more about the tools and join the program.

Posted by Naveen Viswanatha, Product Manager, Google for Nonprofits

You’re changing the world. We want to help.

Today, we are excited to work with TechSoup Global and TechSoup Canada to bring Google for Nonprofits to Canada. Canadian Registered Charities, Canadian Federal Nonprofits, and Canadian Provincial Nonprofits can apply to join the program, which offers access to our suite of free products and tools.

Once your organisation is approved, you can get access to free Google Apps to cut IT costs and operate more efficiently, up to $10,000 a month in advertising on Google AdWords to reach more donors, and premium features for YouTube and our mapping technologies to raise awareness of your cause.  We’ve also developed other online resources such as educational videos, case studies and other ways to connect with other nonprofits.
We see the impact every day of nonprofits embracing the web - it’s literally transforming the way they work. Samasource has connected women, youth and refugees to meaningful work opportunities over the internet. Kiva funds millions of dollars in loans through online donations to entrepreneurs in need. We’re also seeing this in Canada. And Ladies Learning Code is one of many organizations in Canada using web-based tools to run a network of 6,000 volunteers to host code-learning workshops all over the country.

We’re inspired and humbled by the amazing ways nonprofits are making the world a better place, and look forward to supporting the work of more nonprofits in Canada.

Posted by Naveen Viswanatha, Product Manager, Google for Nonprofits