Get To Know Us

Our Origin Story

In 2009, ConnectAd founder Simon Choy found a summer job in the digital marketing industry where he learned about managing Google AdWords. His work with for-profit companies gave him an appreciation for how complicated campaigns could get.

Later that summer, he discovered the Google Grants program, but was surprised to find out that nobody was out there helping nonprofits. Agencies serving for-profit companies were everywhere, but why wasn’t anyone assisting nonprofits in taking advantage of $10,000 per month in free ads?

Always having had a passion for social enterprise, he decided to be that person and opened ConnectAd in 2010 with the mission of helping nonprofits. Since then, ConnectAd has remain committed to only working with nonprofits, managing their Google Grants. We proud to say we’ve helped almost 200 nonprofits get their Google Ad Grant. Using the grant, we’ve generated over 50 million dollars in ads and 1.8 billion ad impressions!

Our Team

Meet our friendly and passionate team of nonprofit digital marketing experts!

Simon_Choy

Simon Choy

Founder & CEO

Steph_Vesely

Steph Vesely

Director of Paid Media

Emily_Brown

Emily Brown

Senior Account Manager

Stella_Tran

Stella Tran

Senior Account Manager

Ilia_Khairetdinov

Ilia Khairetdinov

Growth Specialist

Annie_Hinan

Annie Hinan

Account Manager

Claire_Frizelle

Claire Frizelle

Account Manager

Meryl_Gosch

Meryl Gosch

Account Manager

Emily_Bowers

Emily Bowers

Account Manager

Nathaniel_Roizen

Nathaniel Roizen

Account Manager

Amparo_Wu

Amparo Wu

Account Manager

Jenna_Bucholtz

Jenna Bucholtz

Account Manager

Sarah_Ahmed

Sarah Ahmed

Analyst

1

Ricardo Jimenez

Account Manager

2

Stephen Davies

Operations Specialist

team headshots (bw & brick)

Adrian Schaap

Account Manager

What Our Nonprofit Partners Have To Say About Us

The Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Chicago has greatly benefited from partnering with Simon Choy at ConnectAd to professionally manage our Google AdWords campaign. Simon and ConnectAd provide the expertise and knowledge to manage this part of our business so that we can focus more extensively on our mission. The results have been impressive.
Kurt Florian
Kurt FlorianFormer President and CEO
ConnectAd simplified the whole process and got us a Google Grant. Now that ConnectAd is managing our grant, in just two months we are already benefiting from $9,000 of free online advertising per month.
Charlene Ragin
Charlene RaginFormer Marketing & Communications
ConnectAd has been an outstanding partner and advisor to Project Open Hand. Since we started Google Ads with ConnectAd’s support, the number of visitors to our website has doubled – all in less than one year! Simon is delightful and continues to be very responsive to our requests. They get an A+ for customer service. I highly recommend ConnectAd to any company or organization that wants to boost its online presence.
Maria Stokes
Maria StokesFormer Director of Marketing & Communications
Simon and the ConnectAd team are true experts at managing our AdWords account. ConnectAd helped us bump up our AdWords grant to the pro level and is helping to drive more traffic to our site than ever before. In addition to their level of expertise and knowledge, the team is truly a joy to work with! As a small non-profit, we know it's hard to find the resources to truly maximize the benefits of the Google AdWords Grant program. ConnectAd provides an easy and cost effective way for our organization to get the most from our grant.
Regan Ranoa
Regan RanoaOutreach Manager
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Land Acknowledgement

At ConnectAd, we recognize the land on which we work as the traditional territories shared by the Anishinaabe Nation, the Haudenosaunee, the Senecas, the Huron-Wendat, the Petun, and is the present-day treaty lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit.Tkaronto, meaning the place in the water where the trees are standing, is now home to a diverse community of First Nation, Inuit, Metis, and non-Indigenous peoples. While our work is rooted in the digital space, we recognize the ways in which our physical presence on these lands upholds colonialism and reproduces the dispossession of Indigenous people.

We commit to working and learning more about how we can prioritize upholding the treaties of these lands, and invite others to consider how they may contribute to Indigenous-led movements toward true reconciliation.

Talk to a Google Ad Grants expert

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