Google Business Profile for Nonprofits

Managing Nonprofit Google Business Profiles

1. Verify Your Organization

If your nonprofit hasn’t been verified, click “Own this business?” in the Knowledge Graph and follow the steps to claim your profile. Google provides several verification methods, including:

• Email verification using the address linked to your organization.

• Phone verification via a call or SMS.

2. Centralize Profile Management

To ensure consistent and accurate updates, assign profile management to your marketing department, which will manage messaging consistency, reduce errors, and protect against unauthorized access and duplicate profiles.

• Shared Access: Use a general team email (e.g., info@nonprofit.org) to maintain access even if individual employees leave.

3. Keep Information Comprehensive and Updated

• Include logos, photos, and detailed descriptions to help users identify and trust your organization.

• Update hours of operation to prevent confusion, including holiday schedules.

4. Maintain Individual Profiles for Each Office

If your nonprofit operates multiple offices, each should have its own profile with individual contact details and hours. All office profiles should be managed centrally, using one email address.

• Linked Web Pages: Create individual web pages for each office and link them to the corresponding Google Business Profile for seamless navigation.

5. Assign Google Business Categories

Google Business offers over 4,000 preset categories for classifying organizations, with approximately 10% tailored to or applicable for nonprofits. Selecting the most specific categories ensures your organization is easily discoverable.

Tips for Choosing Categories:

• Prioritize Specificity: Choose the most precise category that reflects your organization’s purpose. For instance, select "Science museum" as the primary category rather than a broad category like "Museum." Use broader categories as secondary options to enhance search accuracy.

• Maximize Visibility: Leverage multiple categories to highlight all aspects of your services. For example, designate "Women’s shelter" as the primary category, and add secondary categories like "Women’s protection service" "Domestic abuse treatment center," or "Addiction treatment center" to inform the public about specific services.

• Anticipate Category Challenges: Be prepared for inconsistencies in Google’s category system. Some categories may seem oddly included or excluded, with variations in spelling and capitalization. Additionally, some listed categories may not be U.S.-specific, so review options carefully to ensure relevance.

Nonprofit Google Business Categories

Google doesn’t organize its business categories into predefined groups, so this article consolidates the categories most relevant to nonprofits for easier navigation.

• Many of the categories listed below can apply to nonprofit, for-profit, or government-owned entities—for example, hospitals may fall under any of these ownership types. If none of the listed categories align with your organization, consider exploring the Google Business for Government page, as some categories overlap between nonprofit and government sectors, particularly in areas like education, healthcare, and tourism.

• Additionally, certain categories appear in multiple groupings. For instance, “Cultural association” is listed under both Associations and Cultural Groups due to its diverse functions and audience.

General Nonprofit

Social Services

• Family service center

• Mental health service

• Social services organization

• Social welfare center

• Social worker

• Women’s shelter

• Women's protection service

Children

• Adoption agency

• After school program

• Children hall

• Children's farm

• Children’s home

• Children’s library

• Foster care service

• Group home

• Head start center

• Orphanage

• Youth care service

• Youth center

• Youth organization

• Youth social services organization

Disabilities

• Adaptive sports center

• Adult day care center

• Adult foster care service

• Disability services and support organization

Elder Care

• Aged care

• Home health care service

• Home help

• Home help service agency

• Senior citizen center

Animal

• Animal park

• Animal protection organization

• Animal rescue service

• Animal shelter

• Animal watering hole

• Aquarium

• Bird watching area

• Dog park

• Wildlife rescue service

• Zoo

Arts

• Aboriginal art gallery

• Amateur theater

• Art center

• Art gallery

• Arts organization

• Ballet theater

• Children’s theater

• Choir

• Drama theater

• Performing arts group

• Performing arts theater

• Theater company

Pregnancy / Women's Health

• Abortion clinic

• Birth control center

• Family planning center

• Family planning counselor

• Pregnancy care center

• Reproductive health clinic

• Women’s health clinic

Camp

• Campground

• Children’s camp

• English language camp

• Fishing camp

• Summer camp

Housing

• Homeless service

• Homeless shelter

• Hostel

• Low income housing program

• Working women’s hostel

Treatment

• Addiction treatment center

• Alcoholism treatment program

• Domestic abuse treatment center

• Eating disorder treatment center

Food

• Soup kitchen

• Food bank

Cultural Location / Museum

• Archaeological museum

• Army museum

• Art museum

• Castle

• Children’s museum

• Cultural center

• Cultural landmark

• Ethnographic museum

• Exhibit

• Handicraft museum

• Heritage building

• Heritage museum

• Heritage preservation

• Heritage railroad

• Historical landmark

• Historical place museum

• History museum

• Local history museum

• Maritime museum

• Modern art museum

• Museum

• Museum of space history

• Museum of zoology

• Natural history museum

• Open air museum

• Planetarium

• Rail museum

• Science museum

• Sculpture museum

• Technology museum

• Toy museum

• Wax museum

Other General Nonprofit

• Asylum center

• Bingo hall

• Blood bank

• Blood donation center

• Building society

• Chamber of Commerce

• Christmas market

• Citizen information bureau

• Citizens advice bureau

• Community garden

• Consumer advice center

• Convention information bureau

• Environmental organization

• Environmental protection organization

• Information services

• Literacy program

• Marriage celebrant

• Missing persons organization

• Observatory

• Political party office

• Reenactment site

• Rehabilitation center

• Scouting

• Second hand store

• Support group

• Thrift store

• Toy library

• Tutoring service

• Volunteer organization

• Water works

Organizations

Associations / Unions

• Association / Organization

• Agricultural association

• Architects association

• Armed forces association

• Cultural association

• Gay & lesbian organization

• Ecologists association

• Foreman builders association

• Fraternal organization

• Historical society

• Homeowners’ association

• Housing association

• Labor union

• Notaries association

• Nursing association

• Patients support association

• Professional and hobby associations

• Professional association

• Residents association

• Singles organization

• Students parents association

• Students support association

• Tenant’s union

• Veterans organization

• Women’s organization

Cultural Group

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisation

• Cultural association

• Maori organization

• Tribal headquarters

Sports Clubs

• Aikido club

• Archery club

• Athletic club

• Badminton club

• Baseball club

• Basketball club

• Beach volleyball club

• Bicycle club

• BMX club

• Bowling club

• Boxing club

• Canoe and kayak club

• Cricket club

• Croquet club

• Curling club

• Dive club

• Fishing club

• Football club

• Handball club

• Hockey club

• Ice hockey club

• Ice skating club

• Karate club

• Little league club

• Martial arts club

• Netball club

• Racquetball club

• Rowing club

• Rugby club

• Rugby league club

• Sailing club

• Ski club

• Skittle club

• Soccer club

• Softball club

• Squash club

• Swim club

• Table tennis club

• Tennis club

• Volleyball club

• Water skiing club

Other Clubs

• Club

• Anime club

• Board game club

• Boat Club

• Bridge club

• Cannabis club

• Carnival club

• Chess and card club

• Chess club

• Children’s club

• Computer club

• Conservative club

• Dance club

• Disco club

• Equestrian club

• Gun club

• Hiking club

• Host club

• Hunting club

• Judo club

• Marksmen’s clubhouse

• Motoring club

• Nudist club

• Scale model club

• Scout hall

• Scout home

• Social club

• Surf lifesaving club

• Wine club

• Workers’ club

• Youth club

• Youth group

Educational

Primary and Secondary Schools

• Agricultural high school

• Berufsfachschule (vocational school with apprenticeship)

• Boarding school

• Boys’ high school

• Catholic school

• CBSE school

• Charter school

• Co-ed school

• Combined primary and secondary school

• Community school

• Comprehensive secondary school

• Elementary school

• General education school

• Girls’ high school

• Grammar school

• Gymnasium school

• High school

• Higher secondary school

• Hospitality high school

• ICSE school

• Hauptschule (lower-tier secondary school)

• International school

• Kindergarten

• Middle school

• Montessori school

• Nursery school

• Parochial school

• Preparatory school

• Preschool

• Primary school

• Private educational institution

• Realschule (middle-tier secondary school)

• School

• Secondary school

• Senior high school

• Single sex secondary school

• Sixth form college

• Special education school

• Vocational gymnasium school

• Waldorf school

Post-Secondary

• Adult education school

• Christian college

• College

• College of agriculture

• Community college

• Graduate school

• Junior college

• Open university

• Polytechnic institute

• Private college

• Private university

• Public university

• Residential college

• Technical school

• Technical university

• Trade school

• Vocational school

• Vocational secondary school

• University

• Women’s college

Professional School

• Accounting school

• Acupuncture school

• Architecture school

• Aviation training institute

• Barber school

• Bartending school

• Beauty school

• Business school

• Cooking school

• Culinary school

• Dental school

• Engineering school

• Farm school

• Fire fighters academy

• Flight school

• Hospitality and tourism school

• Institute of technology

• Law school

• Management school

• Massage school

• Mathematics school

• Medical school

• Modeling school

• Nursing school

• Real estate school

• Teachers college

• Telecommunication school

• Truck driving school

Arts School

• Art school

• Ballet school

• Dance school

• Drama school

• Drum school

• Handicraft school

• Music school

• Music college

• Samba school

Language School

• Bilingual school

• Chinese language school

• English language school

• Foreign languages program school

• French language school

• German language school

• Language school

Sports School

• Sports school

• Cue sports school

• Fencing school

• Sailing school

• Ski school

• Surf school

• Swimming school

• Wrestling school

Martial Arts School

• Aikido school

• Judo school

• Jujitsu school

• Karate school

• Martial arts school

• Sambo school

• Tai chi school

• Wing chun school

Recreation

• Baby swimming school

• Capoeira school

• Stitching class

Other School

• Civil examinations academy

• Government school

• Evening school

• Religious school

• School administration office

• School for the deaf

• School for the visually impaired

• School house

• Study at home school

• Training centre

Faculty

• Faculty of chemistry

• Faculty of geography and history

• Faculty of law

• Faculty of media and information science

• Faculty of pharmacy

• Faculty of science

Educational Other

• Academic department

• Board of education

• Education center

• Educational institution

• Law library

• Public educational institution

• Research foundation

• Research institute

• School cafeteria

• School center

• School district office

• Student housing center

• Student union

• Students parents association

• Students support association

• Studying center

• Teachers’ housing

• University library

Religious

General Religious

• Orthodox synagogue

• Abbey

• Ashram

• Bahá’í house of worship

• Buddhist temple

• Catholic school

• Christian book store

• Christian college

• Church council office

• Clergyman

• Conservative synagogue

• Convent

• Hindu priest

• Hindu temple

• Jain temple

• Messianic synagogue

• Mission

• Monastery

• Mosque

• Parsi temple

• Rectory

• Reform synagogue

• Religious book store

• Religious destination

• Religious goods store

• Religious institution

• Religious lodging

• Religious organization

• Retreat center

• Seminary

• Shinto shrine

• Shrine

• Spiritist center

• Synagogue

• Taoist temple

• Wedding chapel

• Yeshiva

• Youth group

Church

• Abundant Life church

• Alliance church

• Anglican church

• Apostolic church

• Armenian church

• Assemblies of God church

• Baptist church

• Basilica

• Calvary Chapel church

• Cathedral

• Catholic cathedral

• Catholic church

• Chapel

• Christian church

• Church

• Church of Christ

• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

• Church of the Nazarene

• Congregation

• Deaf church

• Disciples of Christ Church

• Eastern Orthodox Church

• Episcopal church

• Evangelical church

• Foursquare church

• Friends church

• Full Gospel church

• Gospel church

• Greek Orthodox church

• Hispanic church

• Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall

• Korean church

• Lutheran church

• Mennonite church

• Methodist church

• Moravian church

• New Age church

• Non-denominational church

• Orthodox church

• Parish

• Pentecostal church

• Place of worship

• Presbyterian church

• Protestant church

• Quaker church

• Reformed church

• Russian Orthodox church

• Seventh-day Adventist church

• Unitarian Universalist Church

• United Church of Canada

• United Church of Christ

• United Methodist church

• Unity church

• Vineyard church

• Wesleyan church