Remarketing for Nonprofits: Why the Grant Can't Do It and How to Set It Up Properly

Here's a frustrating truth about the Google Ad Grant: it can drive thousands of visitors to your website every month, but it can't follow up with the ones who didn't convert. Someone visits your donation page, reads about your mission, feels inspired, gets distracted by a phone call, and closes the tab. Gone.

Remarketing (also called retargeting) solves this. It shows targeted ads to people who've already visited your website, reminding them to come back and complete the action they started. It has the highest conversion rate of any digital advertising tactic.

The catch: remarketing is not available through Google Ad Grants. It requires a paid Google Ads account. But the investment is modest, and the returns are significant.

Key Takeaways - The Grant can't do remarketing; it requires a separate paid Google Ads account - Remarketing converts at 2-3x the rate of first-time visitor campaigns - Even $200-$300/month in remarketing budget delivers strong ROI - Build audiences in the Grant account (where most traffic comes from), share with the paid account - Four key audiences: donation page visitors, volunteer page visitors, content readers, cart/form abandoners

Why Remarketing Matters for Nonprofits

The problem: Only 2-5% of first-time website visitors take a meaningful action (donate, sign up, volunteer). The other 95-98% leave without converting, many of them genuinely interested but not ready to act in that moment.

The solution: Remarketing keeps your organization visible to those visitors as they browse other websites, watch YouTube, scroll through Gmail, or search Google again. When they're ready to act, your ad is there.

The data: Remarketing typically delivers 2-3x higher click-through rates and 2-3x higher conversion rates compared to targeting cold audiences. For nonprofits, this means more donations, sign-ups, and volunteers from the same website traffic.

Setting Up Remarketing

Step 1: Create a Paid Google Ads Account

Remarketing requires a paid account with a payment method on file. This is separate from your Grant account. See our hybrid strategy guide for setup instructions using a Manager Account (MCC).

Step 2: Build Remarketing Audiences

Create audiences in the Google Ads account that has the most traffic (usually your Grant account):

1. Go to Tools, then Shared library, then Audience manager
2. Click + to create a new audience segment
3. Choose Website visitors
4. Define your audience rules

Step 3: Share Audiences with Your Paid Account

If you built audiences in your Grant account, share them with the paid account through your MCC's audience sharing settings.

The Four Key Remarketing Audiences

Audience 1: Donation Page Visitors (Highest Priority)

Who: People who visited your donation page but didn't complete a donation.

Rule: Visited URL containing "/donate" or "/give" but did NOT visit your thank-you/confirmation page.

Duration: 30 days (most people who will convert do so within 30 days).

Ad message: "Still thinking about supporting [cause]? Your $50 provides [specific impact]. Donate today."

Why highest priority: These people have the strongest giving intent. They found your donation page, read about your mission, and were close to giving. A gentle reminder often completes the conversion.

Audience 2: Volunteer/Service Page Visitors

Who: People who visited your volunteer sign-up page or service pages but didn't complete a form.

Rule: Visited URL containing "/volunteer" or "/programs" but did NOT visit the form confirmation page.

Duration: 14-30 days.

Ad message: "Volunteer spots available this weekend. Sign up takes 2 minutes. Join 400+ volunteers making a difference."

Audience 3: Content Readers (Nurture Audience)

Who: People who read your blog posts, resource pages, or educational content (likely driven by your Grant's educational keywords).

Rule: Visited 2+ pages on your site, or spent more than 2 minutes, or visited specific content sections.

Duration: 60-90 days (longer nurture window for educational visitors).

Ad message: Not a hard donation ask. Instead: "Subscribe to our newsletter for [cause] updates" or "See the impact your support makes" (linking to an impact story or video).

Why this audience matters: Grant-driven educational traffic represents people who care about your cause but aren't ready to donate yet. Remarketing nurtures them from awareness to consideration to action over time.

Audience 4: Past Donors (Retention and Upgrade)

Who: People who completed a donation in the past (using your Customer Match list or a "donated" audience based on thank-you page visitors).

Rule: Visited your donation confirmation page, or uploaded as a Customer Match list from your CRM.

Duration: 180-365 days.

Ad message: "Thank you for supporting [cause]. Your impact so far: [stat]. Give again or become a monthly donor."

Why this audience matters: Acquiring a new donor costs 5-10x more than retaining an existing one. Remarketing to past donors encourages repeat giving and monthly donor conversion.

Recommended Remarketing Campaign Setup

This is not a large investment. For $250-$400/month, you're re-engaging the thousands of visitors your $10,000/month Grant is already driving to your site.

Ad Creative for Remarketing

Display Ads

You'll need image ads in multiple sizes. Key sizes: 300x250 (medium rectangle), 728x90 (leaderboard), 160x600 (wide skyscraper), 320x50 (mobile leaderboard).

Design principles:

• Your logo (brand recognition is the whole point)
• One compelling image (beneficiary, program in action, impact)
• One clear message (short: "Complete your donation" or "Join 400+ volunteers")
• One CTA button ("Donate Now," "Sign Up," "Learn More")
• Clean, uncluttered design

YouTube Ads (If Budget Allows)

A 15-30 second video ad shown to your content readers and past donors:

• Open with emotional impact (beneficiary story)
• Show your organization in action
• Clear CTA with end card
• Keep it under 30 seconds for skippable ads

Privacy and Sensitivity Considerations

Mental health and sensitive services: If your nonprofit provides sensitive services (mental health, domestic violence, addiction recovery), be extremely cautious with remarketing. Someone who visited your crisis support page does not want ads about it following them across the internet. Exclude sensitive page visitors from remarketing audiences.

Frequency capping: Set frequency caps (3-5 impressions per user per week) to avoid overwhelming people. Nobody wants to see the same ad 20 times a day.

Transparency: If your privacy policy mentions remarketing, ensure it's accurate. See our privacy policy guidance for compliance considerations.

Measuring Remarketing ROI

Track these metrics for each remarketing campaign:

• Conversions (donations, sign-ups, registrations attributed to remarketing)
• Cost per conversion (should be lower than first-touch campaigns)
• Return on ad spend (donation revenue / remarketing spend)
• View-through conversions (people who saw your remarketing ad but converted later through a different channel)

Expected benchmarks: Remarketing CPC is typically $0.50-$2.00 for Display and $1.00-$4.00 for Search remarketing. Conversion rates are 2-3x higher than cold traffic campaigns.

Get Started with Your Hybrid Strategy

GrantMax identifies the audiences your Grant is building (donation page visitors, content readers, volunteer page visitors) and quantifies the remarketing opportunity.

See My Remarketing Opportunity - Free

Prefer to hand it off to an expert? Our Google Ad Grant management services coordinate with paid remarketing for maximum combined ROI. Explore Grant Services

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I do any kind of remarketing through the Grant? No. The Grant is restricted to Search campaigns and PMax (Search + Maps only). Remarketing requires Display, YouTube, or Search remarketing audiences, all of which require a paid account.

How many website visitors do I need before remarketing is effective? Google requires a minimum of 1,000 users in a remarketing audience before it can serve ads to that audience. If your website gets 1,000+ monthly visitors (which most Grant-active accounts achieve), you can start remarketing within the first month.

Is remarketing the same as retargeting? Functionally, yes. "Remarketing" is Google's term. "Retargeting" is the broader industry term. They refer to the same concept: showing ads to people who've previously interacted with your website or content.

Can I use Meta (Facebook/Instagram) for remarketing instead? Yes. Meta remarketing requires installing the Meta Pixel on your website. It's a viable alternative (especially for visual storytelling) and can run alongside Google remarketing. The approach is similar: build audiences from your website visitors and serve targeted ads.

Key Takeaways

• The Grant can't remarket: you need a separate paid Google Ads account
• Remarketing converts 2-3x better than cold traffic campaigns
• $250-$400/month covers effective remarketing across four key audiences
• Donation page visitors are your highest-priority remarketing audience
• Build audiences in your Grant account (most traffic) and share with the paid account
• Be sensitive: exclude visitors to crisis/sensitive pages from remarketing
• Set frequency caps: 3-5 impressions per user per week maximum

Published: March 2026 | Last Updated: March 2026 | Author: GrantMax Category: Strategy | Tags: Advanced, Strategy