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When we first announced the Google AdWords program our intention was simple, offer advertising for all of our clients in various search engines to help them with their branding as well as exposure to new donors. We simply thought this will be easy since organizations will create their own ads and come up with an automated way to create their AdWords. This was until all advertisements were stopped by Google in early January.
The Google AdWords Team stopped all our client campaigns stating that we are in violation of some basic rules and policies. After several going back and forth regarding what their policies mean we received the following requirements:
“If you can ask your clients to include the following in their ads/sites, we may be able to approve their ads:
1. First, donations that are not tax exempt cannot be solicited in ad text or be the main purpose of the landing page.
2. Second, if the donations are tax exempt, the landing page (or the Donations page) must have language to specify that the donations are tax exempt.
*In the United States, "501(c)(3)" status is an indicator of the required tax exempt status.
*Other countries need to have an equivalent status if soliciting donations such as being denoted as a registered charity, displaying charity number, or confirming tax exempt status.
3. Third, we do allow solicitation of political donations, as long as they prominently state on the landing page that they are not tax-exempt.
Once the landing page/sites comply with the above requirements, we can allow the ads to run. I hope this will provide you with a clearer understanding of what needs to be done.
Again, please make sure you do not submit any ads without making these changes because it could trigger a suspension.
Have a nice weekend
Sincerely,
The Google AdWords Team”
With this email we had to do all the following to avoid suspension:
Unfortunately adhering to the above is not possible since it will be impossible to monitor all clients’ accounts and make sure they are not in violation & considering a single violation could result in the company's advertisements to also be stopped, the risk will be too high.
We apologize for having to stop this free beta program. At Click & Pledge we are always looking for innovative ways to help our clients with their fundraising efforts but sometimes we can only go so far in pushing the envelope.
The Google AdWords Team stopped all our client campaigns stating that we are in violation of some basic rules and policies. After several going back and forth regarding what their policies mean we received the following requirements:
“If you can ask your clients to include the following in their ads/sites, we may be able to approve their ads:
1. First, donations that are not tax exempt cannot be solicited in ad text or be the main purpose of the landing page.
2. Second, if the donations are tax exempt, the landing page (or the Donations page) must have language to specify that the donations are tax exempt.
*In the United States, "501(c)(3)" status is an indicator of the required tax exempt status.
*Other countries need to have an equivalent status if soliciting donations such as being denoted as a registered charity, displaying charity number, or confirming tax exempt status.
3. Third, we do allow solicitation of political donations, as long as they prominently state on the landing page that they are not tax-exempt.
Once the landing page/sites comply with the above requirements, we can allow the ads to run. I hope this will provide you with a clearer understanding of what needs to be done.
Again, please make sure you do not submit any ads without making these changes because it could trigger a suspension.
Have a nice weekend
Sincerely,
The Google AdWords Team”
With this email we had to do all the following to avoid suspension:
- Change our administrative portal and add all the requirements
- Manually inspect every customer’s website & make sure the changes and additions are made prior to enabling their AdWords.
- Continuously monitor every site to make sure the disclaimers are not removed since a single violation would suspend all AdWords – including the Click & Pledge corporate account.
Unfortunately adhering to the above is not possible since it will be impossible to monitor all clients’ accounts and make sure they are not in violation & considering a single violation could result in the company's advertisements to also be stopped, the risk will be too high.
We apologize for having to stop this free beta program. At Click & Pledge we are always looking for innovative ways to help our clients with their fundraising efforts but sometimes we can only go so far in pushing the envelope.