Free Nonprofit Tools to Help Organizations Achieve Their Mission

The nonprofit sector is a rewarding, yet challenging, space for marketers. With low budgets and lots of spending constraints, finding the right fundraising strategy can be difficult. Luckily, nonprofits have an advantage over their for-profit counterparts. Many service companies offer free nonprofit tools. You’d be surprised by how many companies there are that are willing to support nonprofits and their mission by offering free or discounted tools. A lot of these deals and discounts go unnoticed, but do not fret!

Here are some of the best offers that your nonprofit organization can benefit from. From email to SEM to management and creative services, these are the best deals you can start using too expand your nonprofit’s mission.

Email

Vertical Response. Vertical Response is an email marketing company that offers 10,000 free email sends for registered nonprofits each month. Additionally, they offer discounted rates for nonprofits of up to 15 percent on emails in excess of 10,000 sends.

MailChimp. MailChimp offers free email marketing to nonprofits that have fewer than 2,000 email subscribers and that send less than 12,000 emails per month. Like Vertical Response, MailChimp offers a 15 percent discount to nonprofits who surpass 12,000 email sends.

SEM

Google. Google Grant is $10,000 worth of free search advertising money each month for nonprofits that manage a “GrantWords” account. Qualification is easy and simple, as Google only requires that your nonprofit is based in one of the many countries Google specifies in its policy (50 countries are on the list, so your nonprofit likely qualifies) and your nonprofit holds a valid charity status, such as a 501(c)(3) in the U.S.

Management Tools

Google. Google’s G Suite program is an integrated application that allows more productive workflow within an organization. G Suite includes Gmail, Docs, Drive, Sheets, Slides and much more. Just like Google Grant, G Suite is free for any nonprofit, with less than 3,000 employees, who meets Google’s nonprofit qualifications.

Slack. Slack is a great way for employees to stay in the loop and communicate with each other. Slack is a communication platform that is simple and easy to use. It allows nonprofits to create various message groups based on project, department or organizational needs. Depending on the size of your nonprofit, Slack offers free pricing for up to 10 integrations or 10,000 messages per month. If your nonprofit is larger than that, Slack pricing is affordable and something every non-profit should consider.

Creative

Canva. Canva is a graphic design shop that offers a free premium membership to any registered nonprofits. The program allows users to design presentations, social media graphics, logos and much more. Canva has thousands of various template layouts to choose from which makes design easy for the novice.

These are just a few options to consider when looking into vendor alternatives. Before paying full price for any tool, first ask if the business offers any deals for nonprofits. You’d be surprised by how many organizations there are that are willing to help your nonprofit at a low or even free cost. Using free and discounted tools first will free up valuable marketing dollars for paid advertising and stretch those fundraising dollars for even greater effectiveness.