Reporting

Presenting Your Google Ad Grant Results To The Board

Your board cares about impact, not impressions. Here's how to translate your Google Ad Grant data into a story they'll actually understand.

December 30, 2025

Board Members Aren't Marketers

When you pull up your Google Ads dashboard, you see CTR, CPC, quality scores, impression share, and dozens of other metrics. Your board members see a wall of numbers that means nothing to them.

The biggest mistake nonprofits make when reporting on their Google Ad Grant is dumping raw advertising metrics on people who don't know what they mean. Your board wants to know one thing: is this grant helping our organization accomplish its mission?

The Metrics That Actually Matter To Your Board

Keep your reporting focused on these categories:

Dollar Value Of The Grant

Lead with the money. "This quarter, Google gave us $X,XXX in free advertising." Board members understand dollar values immediately. Show the trend — are you utilizing more of the $10,000/month over time?

Website Traffic Growth

"Our website received X,XXX visitors from Google Ads this quarter." Compare to the previous quarter or year. Traffic is intuitive — more people seeing your mission is clearly good.

Meaningful Actions (Conversions)

This is the most important metric. How many people took real action because of these ads? Donations, volunteer signups, email list subscriptions, event registrations, service requests. Tie each number to your mission.

Cost Per Acquisition

Even though the advertising is free, showing the equivalent cost helps your board understand the value. "Each new volunteer signup cost us the equivalent of $12 in ad spend — which Google covered entirely."

How To Structure The Presentation

Keep it short — aim for 5 minutes or less during a board meeting. Here's a structure that works:

1. The headline number. "This quarter, Google provided us $28,500 in free advertising." Start with impact.
2. What that advertising did. "That brought 12,000 new visitors to our website — a 35% increase over last quarter."
3. The real-world outcomes. "Those visitors resulted in 340 donation page visits, 89 volunteer signups, and 1,200 new email subscribers."
4. What's next. "Next quarter, we're expanding into [new keyword area] to reach [new audience]." Show forward momentum.

Metrics To Leave Out

Resist the temptation to show everything. These metrics are important for account management but don't belong in a board presentation:

× Click-through rate — Matters for compliance, not for board understanding
× Quality scores — Internal optimization metric
× Impression share — Too technical for a non-marketing audience
× Individual keyword performance — Way too granular

Use Comparisons They Understand

Framing matters. Instead of saying "we had 15,000 impressions," say something your board can visualize:

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"The grant is equivalent to hiring a full-time digital marketing employee — for free."
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"If we had to pay for these ads ourselves, it would cost us $120,000 per year."
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"Each new donor we acquired through ads cost the equivalent of $15 — but we didn't pay a cent."

The Bottom Line

Your board doesn't need to understand Google Ads — they need to understand the impact. Lead with dollar value, show real-world outcomes, keep it under 5 minutes, and always connect the data back to your mission. A clear, concise report builds board confidence and ensures continued support for your digital marketing efforts. If you're managing the grant yourself, a Google Ad Grant course can help you build these reporting skills. Or, a specialist agency like ours will handle board-ready reporting as part of the service.

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