Case studyGoogle Ad GrantsAnti-trafficking nonprofit
How The SOAP Project got approved for $10,000 a month in Google Ads.
$10,000
a month in Google search ads from the Ad Grant
66 days
from the first application to approval
3
campaigns live on the grant
16
search ads written to the grant's rules
01The situation
The SOAP Project is a Columbus, Ohio nonprofit that has fought human trafficking for twenty years. It is survivor-led, and its team runs hotel outreach and education programs. That work depends on donors and volunteers finding it.
Google's Ad Grants program gives eligible nonprofits up to $10,000 a month in search ads, and getting in is the hard part. The first application stalled at validation. Once the account was through, Google denied it under its website policy, and the denial emails gave no reason.
02What we built
- The Ad Grants application, from nonprofit validation through to admin access on the Google Ads account the organization already had.
- A fix for the website policy denial. The activation console named the cause. Google was reading the site's online store as commercial content, with products on about four in ten of its pages. The store came down, and the next review approved the grant.
- Conversion tracking, which the grant needs before it can run Google's conversion-based bidding. That meant three conversion actions, the tracking code on every page of the site, a new thank-you page, and the donation form sending givers there after a gift. A $1 test donation confirmed the whole path before launch.
- Advertiser verification with Google, completed before the first ad ran.
- Three campaigns written to the grant's rules, one each for donation intent, the founder and the brand, and education and action. Sixteen responsive search ads on Maximize conversions bidding.
- A read-only check that reviews the account every 72 hours against the grant's compliance rules, so a problem gets caught before it costs the grant.
03The results
$10,000
a month in Google search ads, approved September 11, 2026
66 days
from the first application on July 7 to approval
$1
test donation tracked from the form into Google Ads before launch
3
campaigns live on September 30, after advertiser verification
The campaigns went live on September 30, 2026. This study covers the application, the policy fix and the build. Ad results are too early to report.
The denial emails never said what was wrong, and the activation console did. Check it before you rewrite the site or the application.