A community engagement platform helps nonprofits foster lasting connections, engage and retain members, and amplify fundraising efforts. We have curated a list of the top 10 community engagement platform options for you, along with tips to help choose the right one. Keep reading!
Community engagement platforms play an important role in the success of nonprofit organizations. They empower nonprofits by fostering connections, gathering feedback, and promoting member participation. The ultimate goal is to enhance member engagement, improve retention rates, and boost fundraising efforts.
This blog post will guide you through the top 10 community engagement platforms that you can use as a nonprofit to build a community. Before we begin, let’s deep dive into the benefits of building an online community for your nonprofit.
An online community provides a platform for your members to connect with one another, share experiences, and build valuable relationships.
By engaging your community members in discussions and surveys, you can gather valuable feedback and insights to help you make informed decisions for your organization.
A vibrant online community encourages active participation, empowering your members to contribute their ideas, opinions, and expertise. This increased engagement leads to a stronger sense of ownership and commitment to your organization’s mission.
When members feel a sense of belonging and connection within your community, they are more likely to stay engaged and continue supporting your nonprofit in the long run.
An online community that offers tools and features will make it easier to manage groups of volunteers, assign tasks, and communicate effectively, saving you time and effort.
Through your online community, you can spread awareness of your fundraising campaigns, share success stories, and inspire your members to contribute to your cause, thereby boosting your fundraising initiatives.
Now that we’ve explored the benefits of having an online community for your nonprofit, it’s important to consider certain factors before choosing a community engagement platform. These considerations will help you make an informed decision that aligns with your organization’s specific needs and goals.
Clearly define the purpose of your online community and the goals you aim to achieve through it. Are you looking to enhance member engagement, facilitate peer-to-peer support, or drive fundraising efforts? Understanding your objectives will guide your platform selection.
Look for a platform that offers a user-friendly interface and straightforward setup process. Consider the level of technical expertise required to manage and customize the platform to suit your nonprofit’s branding and requirements.
Assess the range of features and functionality offered by each platform. Determine which features are essential for your community, such as discussion forums, event management, member directories, analytics, and integration capabilities with other tools or systems.
Consider the scalability of the platform to accommodate your growing community and evolving needs. Ensure that the platform can handle increased user activity, content volume, and engagement as your nonprofit expands.
Evaluate the extent to which you can tailor the platform to reflect your nonprofit’s unique identity. Customization options should include branding elements, design templates, and the ability to create personalized member experiences.
Consider the platform’s pricing structure and determine if it aligns with your budget constraints. Evaluate the value you will receive from the features offered, weighing them against the associated costs.
Now that we have considered the benefits and have a checklist in place, let’s look at the top 10 community engagement platforms for nonprofits.
Hawker is a web-based platform that allows you to create free communities similar to Facebook groups but with the added ability to create different channels like Slack. The number of communities and channels you can create is unlimited.
Hawker is a fairly new platform, so only a few people may know about it.
Creating a community is free on Hawker. You only need to pay a fee when you charge a membership fee from your members.
Mighty Networks is a community management platform that helps organizations create a community. Organizations can bring their courses, memberships, and offers together under one platform.
14-day free trial and the beginner plan starts at $33/month, and the business plan is priced at $99/month.
Discourse is an open-source discussion platform that is designed to make online discussions more engaging and productive. Key features include just-in-time loading and real-time notifications for mentions, quotes, and replies.
The Basic plan starts at $25 per month and includes a private, invite-only space for up to 100 members. The Standard plan starts at $100 per month including up to 250 members. The Business plan starts at $300 per month, including up to 500 members.
Hivebrite is an online community platform that provides building blocks for creating great communities. It offers a range of features, including user profile customization, access rights management, and a powerful administration dashboard for driving and measuring engagement.
Pricing starts at around $500 per month for the basic plan.
Bettermode is a platform that helps businesses create customer communities. It has pre-built templates for discussions, ideas, questions, articles, and events. It also has security features like single sign-on (SSO) and moderation tools like post-flagging.
The advanced plan starts at $599 per month.
Reddit is a social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website. Creating a community on this platform can be a great way for nonprofits to engage with their members and supporters.
Reddit provides a platform for open discussion and allows nonprofits to share information about their cause, events, and initiatives. Additionally, it has a large and diverse user base, which means that nonprofits can reach a wider audience than they might be able to through other channels.
It’s completely free.
Facebook Groups are online communities within the Facebook platform that allow people to connect and share information about a common interest or goal. It can be a great place to build an online community since the platform already has a large user base. Members can easily interact with each other and share content.
Facebook Groups is free to use.
Slack is a cloud-based communication platform that enables teams to collaborate and communicate online. While Slack was designed for businesses, it can also be a good place to build an online community to engage members.
It’s designed to be a centralized hub for messaging, file sharing, and other team-based activities. It’s also easy to use, has a variety of integrations, and can be customized to fit the needs of the community.
Slack is designed for team-based communication, so it may not be the best fit for all types of communities.
Slack offers two pricing plans for its users. The Free plan includes basic features such as messaging and file sharing, 10 app integrations, and 5GB total file storage for the workspace.
The second plan is the Pro plan, which costs $7.25 per active user per month when paying once a year, or $8.75 per active user per month when paying monthly.
Circle is an all-in-one community platform that enables creators and brands to bring together courses, discussions, members, live streams, chat, events, and memberships all in one place, under their own brand.
Circle’s basic plan starts at $49 a month.
Disciple is an online community platform that allows businesses to create their own independent and fully-branded platform to grow, engage, and monetize their community, without requiring any coding skills.
Disciple is a paid platform, so it may not be accessible to all nonprofits.
Disciple offers a range of pricing plans to suit the needs of businesses and individual creators. The plans start at an affordable $46 and go up to approximately $999.
No matter which platform you choose, building an online community is an amazing way to engage your members and improve their experience. By creating a space where members can connect and engage, nonprofits can improve member engagement, retention rates, and fundraising efforts. Start building your online community today and see the positive impact it can make for your nonprofit.
At Donorbox, we are committed to developing products, features, and content that help nonprofits elevate their fundraising efforts and donor management. 80,000+ nonprofits are leveraging Donorbox to raise money for their causes. And we’ve helped them $2 billion in donations – and counting!
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Raviraj heads the sales and marketing team at Donorbox. His growth-hacking abilities have helped Donorbox boost fundraising efforts for thousands of nonprofit organizations.
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