Google Adwords and Google Apps for Non Profits
Google Adwords for Non Profits in Australia
If you live in Australia and you are a Non Profit Business, you may have visited Google for Non-Profits. When you visited there, if you came to the conclusion that the website is just for America, then you would be wrong. Google Adwords for Non Profits can take up to 6 months to get approval but it is worth the wait.
You will need to have your DGR certificate to prove you are entitled to apply and your ABN as well. Think very carefully about how you layout your application. Don’t have affiliate marketing on your website or use Google Adsense to advertise your business. Not sure about this last one. You can go to the Google Grants forum for more help.
Google Apps for Non Profits.
Google has launched their support for Australia in the area of Google Apps for Non Profits. I support a local branch of Meals on Wheels and they applied for 20 accounts with Google Apps and to their surprise Google came back with 50 accounts for them. Here is a link to UTube on Google Apps. You can set up your company with interactive support between each other. In other words if you are working on a document and another staff member is working on the same document at the same time then your document will update straight away. This is what is known as collaboration. You can even revert back to your original documents if you don’t want what was changed. What does this mean for you, well no more e-mail documents all over the place. It is much easier and faster. There are lots of other things that come with Google Apps, like Google Gmail and Google Videos.
How do you apply for a Non Profit account is easy, there is some confusion on this, when you apply you need to fill out the Education package. It starts out by saying Google Apps for Non Profits but when you click on get started, it says Educational. Just ignore that and fill out the application, you will need your ABN number handy to quote, when filling out the application. You also need to have your own domain name, so you can setup your system for your company.
If you have been keen and setup a Business Account and you installed Postini, uninstall it before applying because postini is not supported in the Non Profit package and they will tell you to uninstall it. A Business Google Apps account costs $50us per person and the Non Profit package is free for up to 3,000 accounts.
If you are having trouble doing all of this you are welcome to contact us and we will help you through the process. There is no charge to any Non Profit Charity company willing to learn how to run their own business online. Google Adwords for Non Profits and Google Apps are free accounts, no strings attached.
Update:
I have just received an update for Non Profits in Australia. here is the extract from the e-mail I received from Google:
Though we have reached out to some Australian organisations as a pilot, we haven’t rolled out the availability of Education Edition to non-profits outside of the US. We are hoping to do so in the future, but need to overcome some obstacles to achieve this.
Lets hope the outcome will be soon, and there is nothing stopping you from using the free online Google tools while you wait.
