Google for Nonprofits launch in New Zealand

Google New Zealand has announced an initiative to help nonprofit New Zealand charities to use the web more effectively to improve visibility, raising awareness, and connecting with donors and volunteers.

In a blog post introducing the initiative, Ross Young, Public Policy Manager Google New Zealand said that "The big challenge, though, is how to make the most of this technology when there are so many competing demands for funding and resources."

Eligible community and voluntary organisations in NZ will now have free access to online marketing and technology from Google worth more than $120,000 each a year.

Those eligible charities will receive a package containing:

- Up to USD $10,000 of Google AdWords each month, so they can get their site in front of people who are searching for services like theirs.
- Free use of Google Apps, so they can run their email and important documents in the cloud and work collaboratively on documents while dramatically reducing IT costs
- Google Earth Outreach, a free license for the pro version of Google Earth so they can visualize their data in map version online
- YouTube for Nonprofits, so they can make great campaigns that catch the eye of donors and supporters

Google for Nonprofits in New Zealand was launched with the Mental Health Foundation. Various NGOs that are already leveraging some of Google's tools attended the event and shared best practices and insights into how best to use these tools. One presenter, Judi Clements, CEO of the Mental Health Foundation spoke about how Ad Words delivered a 25% increase in traffic to their website, the largest increase in traffic they have ever experienced.