Do I agree with Google for Nonprofits Terms and Conditions?

When you’re applying for Google for Nonprofits, the last step is to agree to Google’s terms and conditions. If you have questions about these terms and conditions, see the information below:

• You are a representative of the organization.
  • Google requires that this form be filled out by someone associated with your church. This prevents someone random from applying for this account on your church’s behalf.
• Your organization does not discriminate against any person or group of people in either hiring/employment practices or in the administration of programs and services, including on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
  • If you have more questions about this clause in the terms and conditions, check out the information below.
• You have read the full Google for Nonprofits terms.
  • Here is the list of terms they are referring to - Google for Nonprofits Additional Terms of Service. It’s very basic information saying that you won’t use the account in any illegal or unethical ways.

What about Google's Nondiscrimination Clause?

At Church Fuel we feel best equipped to serve Jesus-Centered Evangelical Churches. Many Evangelical churches ask about the Non-Discrimination Clause that Google uses when they apply for their Grant Program. Here is how the clause reads:

"My organization does not discriminate against any person or group of people in either hiring/employment practices or in the administration of programs and services, including on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity." 

We’re not lawyers and this isn’t legal advice. (Consult your legal counsel.) This is how we process this clause with the churches we serve.

As we understand it, the US Supreme Court has ruled that churches have the freedom to hire in alignment with their religious beliefs and theology. The Supreme Court has clarified that this is not considered discrimination, but protected religious practice. 

We would estimate that Google has already approved thousands of Evangelical churches into the program. We have not observed a clarification from Google that would go against the Supreme Court’s rulings. We would anticipate that if Google chose to clarify its policy and go against the Supreme Court – then churches would be removed from the program at that time. In our experience, we have not seen Google use the Ad Grant Program as a way to control or limit churches. Therefore, we are comfortable recommending Evangelical churches apply for the Google Ad Grant. 

Now let’s go a little deeper into the details of this clause.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Google’s clause language is taken directly from Title VII of the Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits discrimination in the workplace due to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, and sexual orientation, or gender identity. Because of that connection, some churches believe that Google is forcing them to agree to something their beliefs and doctrines do not allow.

In the United States, Title VII is the law of the land and all employers are expected to follow that law, including churches. However, there is a Religious Organization Exception to this Civil Rights Act. The gist of it is that your religious organization can hire and fire people according to your beliefs, and those beliefs supersede the broader discrimination definitions. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the government Agency in charge of enforcing Title VII, that exemption states:

Religious Organization Exception: Under Title VII, religious organizations are permitted to give employment preference to members of their own religion. The exception applies only to those institutions whose “purpose and character are primarily religious.”  

For a more complete analysis, read EEOC’s Q&A on Religious Discrimination in the Workplace.

Why Is Google Willing to Give $10,000/Month to Churches?

Although Sheryl Sandberg, former CEO of Facebook, says she created the program to give nonprofits the opportunity to reach new audiences online and expand the impact they are making in the world, let’s be realistic and understand that Google’s primary strategy with the Adwords Grant is financial.

First, it makes Google as a brand look great. Second, it appears to be a massive tax write-off. Third, it also seems to increase Google’s profit by driving up the ad costs for businesses running paid ads that now have to bid against grant campaigns. 

Ultimately it’s an ingenious way to generate goodwill, decrease their tax bill, and inflate the keyword bids for paid for-profit advertisers

Actual Church Experiences with Google Ad Grant

Nothing speaks louder than experience; fortunately for churches, there is much experience with the Google Ad Grant. Chad Hugghins from CV Outreach, an organization that works with more than 400 churches of all sizes on the Google ad Grant, offered the following observations:

“I can attest that Google is fully aware that churches use the Adwords Grant. In the documentation, churches are explicitly referenced as organizations that would benefit from Google for Nonprofits and the Adwords Grant.

“I can also attest that Google isn’t using the Adwords Grants as some sort of scheme to affect massive secularism of the U.S. In fact, there are less than a dozen people that are on the Non-Profits team at Google. It's simply a financial gain for them, and they don't devote a bunch of resources to it.

“I can also tell you that we are constantly calling Google and talking to our reps about our church campaigns, what the goal is, what the mission of our church organizations is, and that they don’t mind, and are oftentimes encouraged by it.

“Finally, I’ll just say that we’ve spent $16 million in Adwords Grant money for church partners this year, and because of that free money, we’ve seen millions of people visit a church website, hundreds of thousands of people exposed to the Gospel through short, video presentations, and thousands of people start conversations with our church partners directly.”

Nick Runyon of CV Outreach says they’ve run all of this past their lawyers who back up the points made about hiring practices, “For those of you who may be worried about legal exposure, it may be helpful to know that we’ve spent the time and money to have our legal team fully review our position on Google’s application process. You and your church have to make your own decisions. But after spending a lot of time on this issue we find no issue with applying as CV and recommending churches do the same.”

Church Fuel has been working with over 800 churches in our Grow Program utilizing the Google Ad Grant, some of them for several years. We've spent over $25 million annually in Google Ad Grant money for churches!