Most organizations that meet the conditions of the major vendors' nonprofit donation programs are not-for-profit structures, properly registered, whose activity does not fall into an excluded category. Each vendor sets its own rules, and being eligible never guarantees acceptance. Before spending hours on a file, five questions tell you where you stand. They draw on the criteria published by the programs themselves, current as of the day this article was written.
Question 1: is your organization a not-for-profit structure?
This is the first filter, and the clearest one. Donation programs are aimed at not-for-profit structures, not companies.
For France, Google's nonprofit donation program states that the organization must be a not-for-profit constituted under one of these forms: an association loi 1901, a fondation loi 1987, or a fonds de dotation loi 2008-776 (eligibility guidelines, France page).
Canva's nonprofit program, for its part, asks that the organization be officially registered as a charitable or not-for-profit body in its country, that it operate independently of any government affiliation, and that it not run for commercial profit (Canva eligibility guidelines).
If your project is carried by a commercial company, a sole trader or a classic startup, the answer to this first question is no for these programs. That is not a dead end: it is simply another route, which we come back to at the end.
Question 2: are you registered, and can you prove it?
An organization that exists in practice but is not registered does not enter any of these schemes. Vendors check legal existence.
Google's program asks that the organization be registered in the Journal officiel des associations or another official French legal publication (eligibility guidelines, France page). In practice, this means your declaration at the prefecture was followed by a publication, and that you hold your RNA number (your association's W number).
Canva, on its side, indicates that organizations may go through a verification process confirming their status, with supporting documents, the review of those documents being handled by a specialist provider (Canva eligibility guidelines).
Before applying, gather the basic pieces: the receipt of declaration, the extract of publication in the official journal, and up to date statutes. A complete file from the start avoids back and forth.
The reflex that saves the most time: build a single reference folder, kept in one place, that you reuse for every program. Your RNA number, signed statutes, the latest minutes of a general meeting, and a short description of your mission and the people you serve: these come up almost everywhere. Preparing them once, cleanly, beats hunting for them under pressure at each application.
Question 3: does your activity fall into an excluded category?
This is the question that surprises people most. An organization can be perfectly not-for-profit and still fall outside a program because of its sector of activity.
Google's program excludes hospitals and health care organizations (their charitable arms or associated foundations can be eligible) as well as schools, academic institutions and universities (the philanthropic arms of educational organizations remaining eligible) (eligibility guidelines, France page).
Canva's program publishes a broader exclusion list, which notably includes government agencies, political organizations, educational institutions, for profit companies, grant making foundations, professional societies, financial services and professional sports (Canva eligibility guidelines).
The practical lesson: read each program's exclusion list before anything else. Two organizations with the same legal status can get opposite answers depending on their purpose.
Question 4: have you checked each vendor's rules, one by one?
There is no single eligibility status that opens every door at once. Each vendor keeps its own grid, and those grids differ.
| Point checked | Google program | Canva program |
|---|---|---|
| Legal forms named | association loi 1901, fondation loi 1987, fonds de dotation loi 2008-776 | registered charitable or not-for-profit body |
| Schools and universities | excluded (except philanthropic arm) | educational institutions excluded |
| Grant making foundations | not specified on the France page | excluded |
| Verification | registration in a legal publication | verification process via a provider |
This table reflects only elements published by the two programs, consulted on the day of writing. Conditions change: the only reliable reference remains each program's official page at the moment you apply. An article, however current, does not replace that direct reading.
For a French language overview, the solidarity aggregator Solidatech addresses associations loi 1901, endowment funds, foundations recognized as being of public utility, and public libraries, and invites eligible structures to register free of charge so their eligibility can be studied before accessing its partners' offers at a solidarity price (Solidatech program). It is a useful entry point when you do not know where to start.
Question 5: are you ready for eligible not to mean accepted?
Meeting the criteria is not enough. The programs say so plainly.
Canva states that meeting the criteria does not guarantee eligibility, participation remaining subject to review and to the vendor's discretion (Canva eligibility guidelines). The same caution applies everywhere: a file can be compliant and still not succeed, or require additions.
Hence three useful reflexes:
- Do not depend on a single application. Prepare your documents once, then present them to several programs.
- Document as you go. A clean file is reused and updated faster than it is rebuilt.
- Do not promise anything internally on the basis of theoretical eligibility until the answer has arrived.
Recap: five yeses, in order
- You are a properly constituted not-for-profit structure.
- You are registered and you can prove it (publication, RNA, statutes).
- Your activity does not fall into an excluded category.
- You have checked each vendor's rules, one by one, on their official pages.
- You approach every application knowing that eligible does not mean accepted.
Five yeses, and building a donation file becomes realistic. A single no on the first three, and it is better to know before you invest the time.
These five questions do not replace reading the official pages, but they stop you from starting at the end. Too many organizations discover a sector exclusion after filling in half a form. Asking them in order means sorting early: you then focus your energy on the programs where you genuinely stand a chance, and you document your situation once and for all.
And if the whole thing feels heavy?
Gathering the right documents, reading each grid, tracking the changes: for a small team already busy with its mission, that is time missing elsewhere.
This is exactly the role of the Autonomy Program at Horyond Non Profit. When a nonprofit, an NGO or a public interest structure is eligible for the major vendors' donation schemes, we help build the files and we train the teams, so that the organization then stays independent and knows how to manage on its own. The support is framed and selective: not every request is taken on, and the guidance depends on your situation.
And if you answer no to the first question because your structure is not eligible for the not-for-profit schemes, that is not the end of the road: the StartUp Program exists for structures that do not fall under nonprofit schemes. In both cases, the starting point is the same: a short conversation to place your project.