Google for Nonprofits tools now available in Canada

Good news today as Google for Nonprofits and the suite of supporting tools has now been expanded to include Canada. I’d previously written about the relaunch and benefits of Google for Nonprofits and while I understand Google introducing their programs in the US I’m thrilled to see the new platform now supported in the Canadian nonprofit sector. Online fundraising support tools are so numerous that it can be hard to know where to begin but I would encourage those of you in Canada to enroll for the Google program now and take it for a test drive over the second half of 2014.

Google for Nonprofits Canada officially launched last month and you can register and get started today. Two great reasons to take part is the large array of completely free tools that will be at your disposal and secondly is the support of a company as internet savvy as Google. Google for Nonprofits program includes Google Apps for Nonprofits, Google Ad Grants, YouTube Nonprofit Program, and Google Earth Pro. At present eligible candidates include Canadian Registered Charities, Canadian Federal Nonprofits, and Canadian Provincial Nonprofits.

Registration and Eligibility

The program is being rolled out as part of a collaboration between Google, TechSoup Global and TechSoup Canada to ensure an efficient validation process is in place. Not only does this partnership speed up the process for registration and approval but ensures that only certified nonprofits have access to the tools being offered. To register for the program an organization must:

• Have a validated account with TechSoup’s local partner. (To register with Techsoup visit this link).
• Be a Canadian Registered Charity, a Canadian Federal Nonprofit or a Canadian Provincial Nonprofit.
• Acknowledge and agree to the application’s required certification regarding nondiscrimination and donation receipt of use.
• Currently the program is not open to governmental entities and organizations, hospitals and health care organizations, schools, childcare centers, academic institutions, and universities (nonprofit fundraising programs for educational institutions are eligible).

Google for Nonprofits Products and Tools

• Google Apps for Nonprofits – Completely free apps for your nonprofit to enable you to have organizational-wide access to the full suite of Google tools including Google Calendar and Google Drive. The cloud-based storage for charities includes 30GB of free storage plus Google online support is provided 24/7 for all users. The benefits of accessing your data anywhere, by all members of your fundraising team can greatly improve productivity throughout your organization.
• Google Ad Grants – Google AdWords is the leading online pay per click program for drawing traffic to websites. This product can help you reach new donors by improving your Google search page results by using free AdWords ‘spending’ as part of the programs nonprofit grant funding. Use AdWords in conjunction with Google Analytics to fully monitor the metrics of your marketing efforts.
• YouTube Nonprofit Program – Google’s purchase of YouTube has rarely been as beneficial as here with the advantages of the YouTube Nonprofit Program. Enhanced tools for your videos include overlays that help call donors to action along with annotation options and a dedicated YouTube channel for your organization
• Google Earth Pro – I plan to learn much more about this, but apparently the program provides tools to create a visual/map-based story about your cause with dedicated maps, narration options and more. The video below provides a quick overview of some of the features.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUO_vcN7xqo[/youtube]

Learn much more about Google Nonprofit Tools here.

To apply for membership for Google for Nonprofits Canada please visit this link and let me know how quick the approval process is and what you think of the tools provided.
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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including PCI compliant inbound telephone fundraising, outbound telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery fundraising services, donation processing and receipting and direct mail fundraising services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all our business decisions and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.