Google for Non-Profits just launched!

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Google for Non-Profits just launched!

03.18.08 | Comments

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Hat tip to Techcrunch for pointing out that Google has just launched a non-profit specific portal. It’s a pretty simple way to finally repackage all the Google nonprofit services in one page. This is great for the average nonprofit executive looking to take advantage of Google’s special programs for non-profits. Those of you who are overseas will be happy to note that Google is looking to serve more nonprofits outside of the US if they have registered with key authorities in their home country. However, the coverage still varies so each specific program will have its own rule. For instance, Google Checkout still looks to serve only US nonprofits while Google Grants serves nonprofits in many countries.

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On 03.20.08 Dan Melton said:

Anyone else think the AdWords ‘grants’ program is a little limiting? I am thankful that they will be granting adwords space…but a quarterly review process for thousands upon thousands of nonprofits with each having dozens of messages….and each one needs to be approved? Its not scalable or timely for social campaigns. Could Google just offer free adwords to any 501c3 for certain terms, like ‘hunger’ or ‘fight racism’?

On 03.20.08 Allan Benamer said:

This was a lot easier to do last year but I’ve seen turnaround times in a matter of weeks not months. What kind of turnaround times are you seeing now for handling new 501c3s?

On 03.21.08 Dan Melton said:

It’s not so much the turn around time…more that they are moving the decisionmaking process to a quarterly granting period. I just think there is a better way….would they screen every business advertisement that comes through by checking their corporate paperwork and asking themselves whether or not Google should allow that business to advertise? I’m sure Google is taking a tax write off for donating the space…I just think nonprofits should be treated the same as forprofit entities who advertise on Google.

On 03.21.08 Allan Benamer said:

I’ll ask the Google people that I know and see if they can explain the change to a quarterly granting period. My guess is that they’re understaffed and didn’t quite understand the avalanche they were courting with free Google ads but let’s ask…

On 03.21.08 Dan Melton said:

Sounds good to me. See what you come up with…I use Google for everything and am working on an OpenSocial Google Checkout application for nonprofits for widgets and the iphone….I love their products. While you’re asking, (:0)), we need a way to verify that a nonprofit has been screened by Google…a simple api query (rest based) to ascertain whether or not the Google Checkout email is indeed a match for the registered 501c3 organization would super helpful!

Also, it would be helpful if they would abandon the grant option and allow developers like myself write code to allow nonprofits to launch/manage adwords campaigns…not have them checked out every quarter.

On 03.21.08 Allan Benamer said:

You’re looking for an API to determine whether or not an e-mail address for Google Checkout is a match for a 501c3? I take it that you want to independently verify the status of an organization by passing an e-mail address to some code that spits out whether or not that e-mail is coming from a 501c3? That’s a pretty tall order but if you’re just looking for a database of 501c3s that you can access, you should look at Network for Good and Guidestar. With the right amount of pecuniary persuasion, you can get access to that API. [rant on] They collected the database so I guess it’s their data. I wish the IRS would just release their 501c3 data for free. After all, it’s our tax dollars at work, yadda yadda. [rant off]

Are you saying that Google AdWord campaigns are going to be interrupted every quarter by Google’s manual verification that the ad variations you’re creating don’t go beyond the terms of the Google Grants agreement? To be honest, I didn’t know that that would be the case for people using Google AdWords. I haven’t gotten my Google Grants yet but I’ve been gathering lots of regular AdWords experience. I know on the paid-for side of Google AdWords you can roll out ad variations like crazy without any vetting. I’ll check and see if this is actually what Google is going to do.

On 03.21.08 Dan Melton said:

Yeah….if they have to ‘ok’ adwords every time…that’s a big problem. Plus, a quarterly review process means that x nonprofit has to wait 4 months to be reviewed…just verify the 501c3 and be done with it…let the nonprofit post whatever it wants (just run a filter, just like they do with business ads…and if the are worried about overuse, place a max number of adwords ads or displays)

On the google 501c3 verification….I dont think it’s that big of a deal. We can already access limited information about a seller through google check out, why not just make the same information available for a nonprofit…..here’s the problem. If I want to create a widget that allows an organization to widgetize their googlecheckout process, I want to make sure that no random persons are pretending to be xyz society. So, a simple process of me submitting a verification check on an email, and it returning a 501c3 number registered with that email address (or not found) would ensure that the organization is indeed who they say they are…that would be huge, and should be pretty easy to do since google tags all checkout accounts as nonprofits with a gmail address.

On 03.22.08 Allan Benamer said:

“So, a simple process of me submitting a verification check on an email, and it returning a 501c3 number registered with that email address (or not found) would ensure that the organization is indeed who they say they are…”

This would be great if it could exist but does Google have the right data to perform this check reliably? I don’t think they have a database of all nonprofits, just the ones that have signed onto their system. My guess is that they would have to rely on Network for Good or Guidestar for more thorough list. Those two orgs are the only ones who have it down to an API and they serve as this kind of authentication mechanism for numerous startup online donation aggregators. Personally, I’m not sure if I would rely on a check of e-mail as an authentication mechanism since it’s so easily spoofed. There’s no other way this can be done?

On 03.23.08 Dan Melton said:

Sorry. I’ll take a step back and explain myself fully. Google does not maintain a list of all organizations with an email. Nor do they maintain a comprehensive list of 501c3s (that we know of)…in fact, the IRS is the only one that has the list (and I’m sure it’s terrible).

When 501c3s sign up for a Google Checkout account, they are required to email or fax their 501c3 paperwork, which Google verifies (presumably by a look up in Guidestar). Then, the email that the organization used to setup the account is matched with the 501c3, so google can (presumably) take a tax break on the transaction.

In other words, Google verifies all nonprofits that sign up for accounts through the 501c3 fax/email process….the result of this process is what I want to verify via api.

So, if a nonprofit wants to use my nifty XYZ donation service that creates fun widgets on top of google’s donation checkout, then I can take their 501c3 number or their email address for the google checkout account and pass to the google api which returns a “Yes! this is a valid nonprofit google checkout account”.

The problem with widget-based donations becoming freely available (i.e. no % deducted from the donation) is that a third party always has to 1. process the transaction through a money-making % per transaction service and 2. verify that the organization is indeed a 501c3 and not a front for some crazy person trying to dupe people out of money.

The development foundation triangle if you will of this process:
Donor
Myspace(ie)
Donation Widget
WYSIWYG Widget-making
3rd Party Verification/Processing
Payment Gateway/Shopping Cart/501c3 Account Signup

Outfits like Network for Good or Causes eat the cost of the bottom 2 layers (on top of the coding for the widget-making software), which is why they have to charge for their service as a percentage of every transaction.

Well…Google is eating the bottom 2 layers. They have an api out for the bottom layer…now we need an api for the result of the 2nd layer. Then, anyone can create widget-making software for donations, and completely circumvent the per transaction % cost.

Google benefits from tax deductions, marketing, and of course, sign ups and increases in the market share of users (over paypal and others)…nonprofits benefit b/c the cost of donations becomes essentially 0 per transaction (Wired article was fantastic – Kudos to Chris Anderson) and thus the business model of accepting donations will have to change to software as a service subscription or advertising.

On 03.24.08 Allan Benamer said:

Aha! Now I get it — sorry I was being so dense there but I really couldn’t figure out how the widgetry and your verification code was going to work together. Now that I get it — yes, you’re perfectly right — widgetization of Google Checkout code would be the next step. Google Checkout’s zero-cost transactions was a huge win for us over at socialmarkets. Our developers have Rails code that integrates with Google Checkout on the back end.

Actually, zero-cost transactions are only the beginning of Google Checkout. It also makes micropayments very feasible. And I think all the smart readers out there can imagine the opportunities afterwards. You’re right on this Dan, nonprofit business models are going to have to change but I’ve seen very little open discussion about this because most nonprofit fundraisers don’t tend to be very experimental in their fundraising strategies. I’ve discussed it a little bit here on this blog but few seem to grasp the possibilities. I know a few nonprofits don’t charge anything at all for credit card transactions, Kiva is one, the nonprofit I run, socialmarkets, is another. However, I don’t think anyone has really exploited the potential of zero cost transactions.

On 03.24.08 Dan Melton said:

Yep. You got it. Now, let’s get Google to add this to their Google CheckOut API!

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