What can you use besides Mailchimp? Mailchimp is a popular email marketing company that offers free services, but there are several other free or powerful alternatives that may work better for your nonprofit. In this article, we’ll share where Mailchimp falls short and list eight alternatives that your nonprofit should check out.
Mailchimp is the first email marketing company that comes to mind when starting a nonprofit, but is it the right choice for everyone? There are several Mailchimp alternatives for nonprofits, and many reasons organizations should research and learn more about these companies.
While Mailchimp offers a free package and many exceptional features, other companies provide the same and more. In this article, we’ll share where Mailchimp falls short and eight other alternatives that nonprofits should check out.
Mailchimp’s free package lets nonprofits add up to 500 contacts to their CRM system and send up to 2,500 emails monthly. Users can track supporters’ geographical information, create triggers, and segment donor lists by the emails they open and click.
With all these features, some may ask why nonprofit organizations would choose a different tool. There are a few reasons.
To start with, Mailchimp’s free plan does not include the following essential email marketing features –
Even their Essentials package at $13 a month fails to include email segmentation and offers limited email scheduling.
Nonprofits using Mailchimp have found the limits to email designs, social media connections, workflows, and segmenting donors. They severely constrain the success of their emails.
Those looking for something different (and better) may find that the following free or affordable choices better fit their needs.
Mailchimp is not the only inexpensive email marketing tool available for nonprofits. The following eight options include many of the same features at similar or lesser costs.
Known for world-class fundraising tools, Donorbox’s Email Marketing feature (now in beta) can help you take your donor outreach to the next level.
Donorbox Email Marketing is currently in beta. If you’re a current CRM user, you can apply for beta access through the onboarding page. Not using Donorbox CRM yet? Learn more about all it has to offer and connect with our sales team to create your custom account.
Busy fundraisers know the value of having all of your tools in one place. Donorbox Email Marketing streamlines your workflows so you can track campaign success, build supporter profiles, create robust fundraising materials, and send action-driving communications without ever leaving the Donorbox environment.
Plus, Donorbox Email Marketing is designed to be user-friendly. It doesn’t take a ton of technical know-how to pull together attractive, engaging email campaigns. The segmentation feature also makes it easy to target your emails to any existing Groups you’ve created, meaning you only have to do the segmentation work once.
Enjoy powerful communication tools without all of the complication so you can focus on what matters most: building better donor relationships.
Start Using Donorbox CRM + Email Marketing
ActiveCampaign can be the better choice to advance your marketing outreach if your nonprofit has knowledgeable marketing staff or volunteers.
ActiveCampaign does not have a free package, but users get a 14-day free trial. After that, the lowest paid package for 500 contacts is $9 a month.
ActiveCampaign is an excellent email marketing tool for those already knowledgeable about marketing. Each package includes A/B testing, email segmentation, and automatic workflows. These features are missing in Mailchimp’s free as well as basic packages.
Nonprofits can also create personalized emails based on donors’ responses. ActiveCampaign allows nonprofits to use social media in their emails better and integrates with hundreds of third-party platforms.
For example, Donorbox. You can seamlessly integrate Donorbox with ActiveCampaign to send your donor, donation, and campaign data to this email marketing platform. This helps you streamline your email marketing, saving hours of manual effort.
This integration is done via Zapier which also lets you connect to 2000+ other useful apps from Donorbox. Learn more in this short video –
HubSpot is a well-known and respected CRM for businesses and nonprofits. It also excels as an email marketing tool that sends beautiful, personalized emails to nonprofits’ segmented donor base.
This Mailchimp alternative stands out for its potential as an all-in-one marketing hub for nonprofits, where you get more than you think you need at first glance.
HubSpot’s free starting package lets users –
Paid packages start at $45 per month. You can apply to get a 40% nonprofit discount on their plans. Do check the eligibility criteria on their website before that.
HubSpot’s free plan lets nonprofits send out 2,000 emails a month. This alternative excels over Mailchimp because the email system is built on sending emails to a segmented donor base.
Nonprofits that segment donors based on their donation history, ability to give, and program interests will see better responses to their emails. Plus, nonprofits that use HubSpot to send emails also have access to their CRM database.
Donorbox integrates with HubSpot CRM to help you leverage this ultimate digital platform. Send all your donor data from Donorbox’s donor database to HubSpot CRM to better utilize it for all your marketing needs in just a few simple steps.
Brevo, formerly Sendinblue, is an exceptional Mailchimp alternative that will let your nonprofit send 300 free emails daily. Like HubSpot, it also provides a number of marketing tools to help its users. Including SMS and WhatsApp campaigns, transactional emails, automation software, and more.
Brevo’s free plan lets nonprofits send 300 emails a day, in addition to –
Their paid plans start at $25 per month.
Brevo allows nonprofits to store unlimited contacts in their CRM system, and nonprofits only pay more when sending over 300 emails daily. This makes it a great Mailchimp alternative for growing nonprofits.
Brevo’s free plan also includes unlimited emails to reset passwords, shipping notifications, and ticket notifications. If you’re using Donorbox for your nonprofit’s fundraising needs, Brevo also integrates with our tool.
Once you authorize in both apps, just set triggers for your donor data to be sent from Donorbox to Brevo. This will help you easily send marketing emails, newsletters, email appeals, and more to your campaign donors.
Constant Contact offers a complete digital marketing suite for nonprofits, including stunning emails. It comprises many of the same features as Mailchimp but is much easier to use.
Based on your experience in digital marketing, they let you start with email marketing and then move on to more in-depth marketing automation.
Constant Contact does not have a free plan, but their packages start at $9.99 monthly for up to 500 contacts and include unlimited emails.
This Mailchimp alternative also offers you a nonprofit discount of 20-30% on their plans. You must be an eligible nonprofit to be able to apply for that.
Constant Contact has been around for years. All its plans come with unlimited emails; unopened emails are also resent. Their live chat and phone support give nonprofits hands-on help if they encounter anything they don’t understand.
Constant Contact also integrates with Excel, Outlook, and Salesforce, which allows nonprofits to use contacts and add new contacts from their email campaigns.
Nonprofits that use Shopify also benefit from an automatic abandoned cart email that reminds donors of their missed purchases.
Constant Contact also integrates with Donorbox via Zapier. It takes just 4 simple steps for your donor data to sync up with Constant Contact’s powerful marketing tools.
AWeber offers users the opportunity to grow and engage their audience through email marketing, landing page builder, eCommerce pages, and email automation.
AWeber has a free email plan for up to 500 email subscribers. Their paid plan starts at $19.99 per month. All paid plans offer the same range of features; pricing varies with the number of subscribers.
Nonprofits can get the first three months free and a 25% discount.
AWeber and MailChimp offer similar features, but the main difference (also advantage) is that AWeber provides all paid features regardless of the plan users choose.
Mailchimp’s higher-priced plans include A/B testing and email scheduling that AWeber gives users for free. This alternative also gives all users free support via phone, email, and live chat.
Donorbox lets you easily send your donor data to your AWeber account. As you can see below, the integration requires no coding and just a few simple steps to create subscribers from your campaign donor data.
Kit, formerly ConvertKit, is the go-to marketing hub for users to grow their audience with landing page design, email marketing, and marketing automation. It lets nonprofits tag and segment donors and creates workflows that work for each donor type.
Kit has a free plan that lets nonprofits upload up to 300 subscribers and create unlimited landing pages, forms, and broadcasts. Nonprofits can tag and segment donors and sell digital products and subscriptions with this package.
The paid plans are priced at $25/month and $50/month respectively.
Kit is an excellent tool for smaller organizations and creators. The best and unique feature it offers is for users to create automation workflows that walk donors through the steps you want them to take.
Thanks to their integration with third-party tools, users can also sell products, services, and subscriptions with this Mailchimp alternative.
Using Donorbox for your fundraising? No worries – it also integrates with Kit via Zapier. Your donor data from your Donorbox campaigns will be sent to Kit so you can send automated, stunning marketing emails to your supporters.
Omnisend is specifically suitable for nonprofits and organizations that raise money by selling products or services. It helps segment contacts based on their shopping behavior and send emails accordingly. It can also be used for marketing automation, SMS marketing, web push notifications, reporting, and more.
Omnisend’s free package lets nonprofits upload up to 250 contacts and send 500 emails a month. The next package starts at $16 a month.
Omnisend stands out for its eCommerce features. Their email funnels use click maps, popups, segmentation, and automation to create workflows that convince supporters to purchase a product or service.
Omnisend is also very flexible and allows organizations to segment their donors and create automated workflows that work best for them. Naturally, it’s a must-have for nonprofits that highly depend on product or service sales to pursue their mission.
Donorbox lets you send the campaign and donor data to your Omnisend account. For example, for any new or updated campaign on Donorbox, this integration will create or update your subscriber information on Omnisend. Yes, it’s that simple – with no need for coding!
Email marketing remains one of the best ways to reach and convince donors to act. Quality email marketing tools give organizations access to features like design templates, donor segmenting, automated workflows, and A/B testing.
These tools and others help nonprofits create compelling emails with subject lines that catch supporters’ attention. Nonprofits looking for a Mailchimp alternative should visit each of these websites and learn more about how their features will work for their needs.
Donorbox Email Marketing (Beta) offers features to help you craft high-impact communications, driving donations and donor engagement – all within Donorbox CRM. Learn more about our Email Marketing platform and apply to join the beta today!
Check out the Donorbox Nonprofit Blog for insightful articles, guides, and free resources. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive them in your inbox every month.
Kristine Ensor is a freelance writer with over a decade of experience working with local and international nonprofits. As a nonprofit professional she has specialized in fundraising, marketing, event planning, volunteer management, and board development.
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Kristine Ensor