Begin by defining what you want to achieve and who you want to reach. For a nonprofit targeting donors, the primary goal might be to drive online donations or sign-ups (conversions). Identify your audience – for Praxis Initiative, this could be individuals interested in criminal justice reform in Arizona, philanthropists, or locals who care about prison oversight. Make sure to set a concrete goal (e.g. “increase monthly donation count by 20%”) and decide how you will measure it (such as a conversion action for completed donations).

• Budget Planning: Determine how much you can spend. As a nonprofit, also consider applying for Google Ad Grants, which offers eligible nonprofits

  “up to $10,000 USD per month in Search ads”

  for free. This grant can significantly expand your reach to people searching for your cause (helping you “raise awareness, attract donors, and recruit new volunteers”). Whether using grant funds or a paid budget, decide on a monthly budget and a daily spend limit that’s sustainable. For example, a $1,500/month budget equates to about $50 per day (monthly budget ÷ 30).
• Audience & Location Targeting: Since Praxis Initiative focuses on Arizona, you may target ads to users in Arizona or broaden to the entire U.S. if you welcome nationwide support. Clearly define your geographic target now, as you’ll configure it in the campaign settings later. Also consider any audience characteristics (interests in criminal justice reform, etc.) that could inform your keyword and ad strategy.

Finding the right keywords is crucial. Use Google Keyword Planner (accessible via the Google Ads interface under Tools & Settings > Planning > Keyword Planner) to discover keywords relevant to your nonprofit’s mission. Click “Discover new keywords,” and enter seed terms related to your cause (for example, “prison reform Arizona,” “criminal justice nonprofit,” “donate prison reform”) or even your website URL to let Google suggest ideas. Be sure to set the location filter in Keyword Planner to United States or Arizona (as appropriate) so that the search volume and suggestions reflect your target region.

When you click Get Results, Keyword Planner will return a list of keyword ideas along with metrics like average monthly searches, competition level, and suggested bid ranges. Take advantage of these insights:

• Review Search Volumes and Competition: Focus on terms that your target donors are likely to search. For example, keywords containing “donate,” “support,” or “help” plus your cause (e.g. “donate to prison reform” or “support criminal justice reform Arizona”) indicate strong donor intent. Prefer keywords with a decent search volume but that are highly relevant to your mission – quality matters more than quantity of keywords.
• Cost Estimates: Note the bid estimates (e.g. top-of-page bid) for each keyword. This helps gauge how expensive a click might be, which is useful for budgeting. Nonprofits often face less competition on niche cause-related terms, but broad keywords like “charity donation” might have high costs.
• Use Variations and Long-Tails: Identify long-tail keywords (more specific multi-word phrases) related to your cause, since these can capture people further along in decision-making.

  “If you’re focused on local PPC, target location-based keywords like ‘divorce lawyer Boston’,”

  advises one PPC guide. In your case, keywords like “Arizona prison reform donations” could be valuable.
• Refine and Filter: Use Keyword Planner’s filters to narrow the list. For example, you can filter out extremely low-volume keywords or those with very high competition. You might also filter by suggested bid to find keywords that fit your budget.

Once you identify good keywords in Keyword Planner, save them into a plan for easy reference and future use. Keyword Planner lets you add keywords to your plan (also known as “Saved keywords” in the tool). To do this, check the box next to each keyword you want to keep, then click the “Add keywords” button. You can add them to an existing keyword plan or create a new plan. When adding, specify the match type (Broad, Phrase, or Exact) for each keyword—this controls how closely the search query must match your keyword to trigger your ad.

By adding to “Saved keywords,” you’re essentially building a keyword list that you can later import into your campaign. This keyword plan also enables you to see forecasts. Switch to the Forecasts tab of Keyword Planner’s plan to review projected performance: you can see estimates of clicks, impressions, cost, and even conversions based on different budget levels. Use this to sanity-check your keywords and budget.

With a solid keyword plan, you’re ready to create the actual Google Ads campaign. In your Google Ads account, click the Create Campaign button. Choose a campaign objective like “Website traffic” or “Conversions,” then select the campaign type; here we’ll use a Search campaign. Give your campaign a descriptive name (e.g., “Praxis Initiative – Donor Campaign USA”).

Now configure the key campaign settings:

• Networks: It’s usually best to uncheck Display Network for a Search campaign to focus your budget. You can keep Search partners enabled for broader reach or disable for tighter control.
• Locations: Set your location targeting. For Praxis Initiative, you might target United States > Arizona or the entire country. Select “Presence: People in or regularly in your targeted locations” to ensure you’re reaching users physically in the region.
• Languages: Choose the language your ads are written in, likely English for U.S. donors.
• Ad Schedule (optional): By default, your ads run 24/7. You can set a schedule if you know when donors are most active, but starting with no constraints is fine.

Next, confirm other basic settings like Campaign URL options (usually leave as default) and Ad Rotation. Google's default optimized rotation is suitable for most cases as it favors higher-performing ads.

In your campaign settings, you will specify a daily budget and a bidding strategy. These two determine how much you spend and how Google bids for you in the ad auction:

• Daily Budget: Enter the amount you’re willing to spend per day. This should align with your monthly budget (e.g., $900/month ≈ $30/day). Keep in mind Google can overspend on some days but will average out to your daily budget over the month.
• Bidding Strategy: For a new campaign, an automated strategy like Maximize Conversions (if you have conversion tracking) or Maximize Clicks is a good start. Alternatively, you could start with Manual CPC bidding (with Enhanced CPC enabled) for more control, but it requires more monitoring.

You can also set a max CPC bid limit when using Maximize Clicks to prevent overpaying for a single click. A good starting point is the average CPC suggested by Keyword Planner for your core keywords.

Ad groups are like folders within your campaign that contain a set of related keywords and their corresponding ads.

“Ad groups are literally just holding cells for your ads and keywords that help keep your campaigns organized.”

Using your keyword list, identify logical groupings. For a nonprofit, themes could be:

• Branded Terms: e.g., “Praxis Initiative”
• Donation Intent: e.g., “donate to prison reform”
• Cause Interest: e.g., “prison reform Arizona”
• Location-Specific: e.g., “Phoenix prison reform donations”

Aim for a handful of tightly-related keywords per ad group (5-20 is a good range). This allows you to write highly relevant ads, which can boost your Quality Score. A higher Quality Score

“can mean lower costs and better ad placement.”

When adding keywords, use a mix of match types. Consider Phrase match or Exact match for high-intent terms to ensure relevance.

Don't forget negative keywords—terms you want to exclude. This prevents wasted spend on irrelevant searches.

“Negative keywords work to ensure your ads are only shown to the people... most likely to be interested.”

In each ad group, create one or more Responsive Search Ads (RSAs). RSAs allow multiple headlines and descriptions, which Google tests to find the best-performing combinations. Aim for at least 8-10 headlines and 3-4 descriptions per RSA.

Best practices for ad copy:

• Include Keywords in Headlines: Google advises tying your headline to your keywords because it

  “increases the relevance of your ad combinations for users.”

• Focus on Donor Benefits & CTAs: Don't just say "Donate." Illustrate the impact: “Help Improve Prison Conditions – Your Gift Makes a Difference.” Use clear Calls-to-Action like “Donate Now” or “Join the Initiative.”
• Use All Available Fields: Fill out as many of the 15 headlines and 4 descriptions as you can with varied messaging. Highlight your nonprofit's unique value, such as “Praxis Initiative is Arizona’s only formerly incarcerated-led nonprofit.”
• Ensure a Relevant Landing Page: The page you link to must match the ad's promise. Consistency between keyword → ad copy → landing page is key to a high Quality Score.

  A higher Quality Score can lower your cost per click and improve your ad rank.

• Be Genuine and Comply with Policies: Trust is vital for nonprofits. Write clear, honest ad copy and avoid misleading claims to build credibility and prevent ad disapprovals.

Ad extensions (now called “assets”) are extra pieces of information that expand your search ads, making them larger and more informative. They significantly improve click-through rates.

Useful extensions for a nonprofit include:

• Sitelink Extensions: Additional links to pages like “About Our Mission,” “Our Impact,” or “Donate Now.” They help users

  “link to additional pages on your website besides the main page that your ad is for.”

• Callout Extensions: Brief, non-clickable text snippets to highlight key value points like “501(c)(3) Nonprofit,” “Tax-Deductible Donations,” or “Local Arizona Impact.”
• Call Extension: Adds a phone number, allowing mobile users to click-to-call. Use this only if you have staff to handle donor calls.
• Structured Snippet Extension: Lets you list items under a header like “Programs:” to showcase what your nonprofit does (e.g., “Legislative Advocacy, Prison Oversight, Reentry Support”).
• Image Extension: If available, adds a visual element to your ad, which can be very powerful for nonprofits.

To build an *effective* campaign, you must measure results. Conversion tracking is essential for knowing if your ads are leading to donations. Define a conversion action for your primary goal, such as viewing a "thank you" page after a donation.

To set up basic conversion tracking:

1. In Google Ads, go to Tools & Settings > Measurement > Conversions.
2. Click + New Conversion Action and choose Website.
3. Enter your domain and specify the conversion details. Set the category to Donate, give it a clear name (e.g., “Donation Completed”), and decide how to track its value.
4. Choose to count Every conversion, since multiple donations from one user are valuable.
5. Get the conversion tag (a code snippet) and install it on your website’s donation confirmation page. You can do this directly in the site's code or via Google Tag Manager.

Why this matters: With conversion tracking, you can see which keywords and ads drive donations. It's also a requirement for automated bidding strategies like Maximize Conversions, as it tells the algorithm what success looks like.

Once everything is set, launch your campaign! The work now shifts to monitoring performance and continuous optimization.

Key post-launch activities:

• Monitor Performance Metrics: Watch metrics like Clicks, CTR, Conversions, and Cost per Conversion. Also monitor the Quality Score of your keywords.
• Use the Search Terms Report: Regularly review the Search Terms report to find irrelevant queries. Add these as negative keywords to avoid wasted spend.

  “Regularly checking your search terms can save you from spending your budget on the wrong audience.”

• Ad Performance and A/B Testing: Check the RSA asset report to see which headlines and descriptions perform best. Replace underperforming assets. You can also run A/B tests with multiple RSAs to refine your messaging.
• Adjust Bids or Budget: Reallocate your budget by raising bids on high-performing keywords and lowering bids on poor ones. If you have a strong ROI, consider increasing the budget to amplify results.
• Geo and Schedule Optimizations: Check reports to see if certain locations or times of day perform better. Use this data to refine targeting or set bid adjustments.