Let's face it – it isn't always easy to stay productive at your nonprofit. You have a lot to do, but getting organized can sometimes feel impossible. That's where these productivity tools come in! We've collected 10 of the best tools to help nonprofits in a variety of ways. Read on!
![Top 10 Productivity Tools for Nonprofits [Discounts and Features Included]](https://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/New-Design-2022-blog-images-1-1-1.png)
Nonprofits can involve hundreds, even thousands of people. These are individuals working on beneficiary programs, fundraising, management, finance, maintenance, and other areas needed to keep an organization running. Several online tools are available to increase productivity and make things easier for people to get things done.
In this article, we’ve listed the 10 best productivity tools for your nonprofit, segmented as five different tool types – Fundraising and donors, Automation, Marketing, Team Management and Passwords.
Fundraising is a time-consuming but necessary part of running a nonprofit. Most people think fundraising starts and stops with events, but in today’s world, nonprofits know how vital it is to run online fundraising campaigns and build donor relationships. Luckily there are online productivity tools nonprofits can use.
Donorbox is an affordable online fundraising tool for nonprofits of all sizes. In addition to helping over 80,000 nonprofits with various fundraising features, it also helps manage donors effectively. Your organization can create customized recurring donation forms and fundraising pages that accept Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo, Stripe, ACH Bank payments, Direct Debit payments like Canadian PADs and UK Bacs, etc., and more.
Donorbox features include –
…and more! Learn about all the Donorbox features in detail here.
Donorbox also offers nonprofits the opportunity to substantially increase their donations with the help of Donorbox Premium. You get expert fundraising coaching helping you meet fundraising goals, a dedicated account ambassador who guides you through challenges, a team of tech wizards, and premium tools to give your fundraising a boost.
Nonprofits can sign up with Donorbox for no starting or monthly fees. The only cost involved is the platform fee starting at 1.75% (for the Standard plan) and the payment processing fees of Stripe or PayPal. However, nonprofits can give donors the option to cover these fees when they make a donation.
The Events and Memberships features come with a platform fee of 2.95%. For peer-to-peer fundraising, the child campaigns and the original campaign have platform fees of 2.95% and 1.75% respectively.
But nonprofits can upgrade to our Pro, Premium Edge, or Premium Signature plans to reduce the platform fee to 1.5% for most features and receive more benefits on Donorbox. Learn about all our plans here.
Nonprofits are all filled with busy people. They’re doing a lot through little resources and time. Hence, automation is at the heart of nonprofit success. It helps boost productivity and enables you to efficiently use data to create lasting donor relationships and fundraise better.
Zapier remains the top choice for busy professionals and organizations. It helps you automate your daily work through 5000+ apps. Why nonprofits should use it? The reason is simple: to automate most of their work and find time for what matters most – furthering their mission!
It is more of a trigger and action system that helps nonprofits transfer data between their web apps, thus hugely reducing the need for manual effort.
Zapier helps nonprofits in the following ways –
Zapier integrates with Donorbox to help nonprofits automate their work by sending donors, donations, and campaign data from Donorbox to the apps of their choice. You can easily connect 2000+ apps through this integration. Some of the apps you can connect to (that you may be using daily to manage and utilize data) include Google Sheets, MailChimp, Slack, Salesforce, HubSpot, QuickBooks, Airtable, Gmail, monday.com, etc.
Quickly learn more about this easy integration on this Donorbox video guide here.
Zapier has a free plan that gives you 5 single-step zaps and 100 tasks/month. Their paid plans start with Standard which is priced at $19.99 and goes up to $599 for Company. Nonprofits receive a 15% discount on all premium plans when they’re eligible.
Nonprofits looking to reach a new audience and raise more funds need tools to help them with content and marketing. Technology has increased people’s voraciousness for more content and information about nonprofits before donating. The following productivity tools help nonprofits find images, create designs, share on social media, and edit content.
Canva is a free graphic design and editing tool that allows you to create marketing pieces without extensive editing knowledge or experience. Nonprofits can use Canva to create event invitations, banners, cards, social media posts, newsletters, etc.
Canva helps nonprofits in the following ways –
Canva has a free plan that gives you everything you need to start designing. You can invite team members, collaborate, and comment in real-time. Canva’s Pro Plan is $119.99 and lets up to 5 people use more photos and templates. The Enterprize Plan gives organizations unlimited storage and multiple Brand Kits. Eligible nonprofits can get the Pro Plan for free.
Hootsuite is a premier social media tool for organizations of all sizes. Nonprofits can save and publish social media posts, advertise, monitor, and analyze all account activity. Know the eligibility guidelines for Hootsuite for nonprofits.
Hootsuite helps nonprofits in the following ways –
A free plan is available for up to two social media accounts and scheduled messages for one user. Hootsuite’s Professional Plan for $49 a month, Team Plan for $129 a month, and Business Plan for $739 a month lets nonprofits add more users and social media accounts. Eligible nonprofits get a 50% discount.
Grammarly is an excellent tool that nonprofits can use to create and edit content. With this cloud-based content assistant, you can review spelling, grammar, and punctuation. You’ll get regular feedback on any new writing styles, improvements, and issues you have. Grammarly offers all its key features as well as premium-level writing suggestions for free to eligible nonprofits.
Grammarly helps nonprofits in the following ways –
A free account is available, but Grammarly’s Premium Package at $30 a month helps nonprofits write compelling solicitation letters, annual reports, online fundraising campaign content, and acknowledgments and it can be added directly to Microsoft Office, Gmail, Google Docs, and other apps.
Images and videos are important for nonprofits. Be it for the website, social media, online fundraising, email marketing, or anything for that matter, without good visuals your content is incomplete and unattractive. But most nonprofits cannot afford a professional photographer or lack these skills among their volunteer base. Pexels can come to your rescue. It is an excellent content tool. With Pexels, nonprofits can download free photos and videos, save, and reuse them when needed. Pexels is an easy way to find more pictures for your website, social media posts, event flyers, and newsletters.
Pexels helps nonprofits in the following ways –
Pexels is free for all users to download and use and edit photos.
Nonprofits need team management to run programs and events successfully. Project management tools allow organizations to form and run remote teams. With the following tools, board members, staff, and volunteers can lead teams and track their activities.
Board Director is an all-in-one platform developed to schedule and prepare for board meetings. The Board Director app helps board members schedule, edit, share, and store all board materials. This app also lets board members easily communicate and collaborate.
Board Director helps nonprofits in the following ways –
Sign up for a 21-day free trial to get started and schedule a demo for information on their pricing. Eligible nonprofits receive a grant of up to 90% on any subscription.
Slack is a team management and communication tool that allows nonprofits to start centralized conversations and share files with remote team members.
Slack helps nonprofits in the following ways –
You can connect Donorbox and Slack through Zapier. Get a new Slack notification for every new donor or donation added to Donorbox. The integration is simple and reduces a lot of your manual effort significantly while keeping all members notified of any campaign progress.
There is a free package, but paid options start at $8 a month and can be configured for HIPAA and FINRA compliance. You can also integrate Slack with Google Drive, Trello, Asana, Dropbox, and other online apps. Eligible nonprofits with 250 or fewer members get a free upgrade from their free package. For bigger nonprofits, there’s an 85% discount.
Asana is a popular project management tool that provides a 50% discount for 501c3 organizations. Nonprofits use Asana to coordinate teams and build Gantt charts, Kanban boards, and dashboards to view and manage teams.
Asana helps nonprofits in the following ways –
Easily connect your Donorbox account to Asana through Zapier. Create triggers for every new donor or donation and set an action to be created on Asana. This makes your project management simpler through automation.
Asana Basic is $0. But their premium plans start from $10.99 and go up to $24.99. Talk with the Asana sales team for prices and see if your organization is eligible for the 50% discount.
Modern technology is a blessing in many ways. Unfortunately, technology also comes with the threat of online theft, and that’s where passwords come in. Creating numerous passwords is another necessary part of running a nonprofit, but passwords can get lost or forgotten, and sharing them is always a problem. That’s where companies like LastPass can help.
LastPass is an auto-pilot for all your nonprofit’s passwords. With this app, you can generate and share solid passwords and store digital records.
LastPass helps nonprofits in the following ways –
LastPass has a free plan that lets nonprofits create and store an unlimited number of passwords on one device and gives you access to a 30-day free Premium trial. LastPass also has a Family Package for $4 a month. Users receive all Premium features for up to 6 individuals, group and share items in folders, and create personal security dashboards and notifications. For nonprofits, LastPass does not have a special discount. However, colleges and universities that are eligible do get a discounted rate.
Nonprofits need productivity tools like the ones listed in this article to manage teams, store and share passwords, create content, promote the organization, raise funds, and strengthen donor relationships. Find more useful tools for nonprofits on our blog posts for project management, social media, and online fundraising.
Tools are many and these are only a few that stood out in this article. If you have used or are still using any other tool not listed in this article to run your nonprofit effectively, share your experience and knowledge with us and other nonprofit peers on Donorbox Knowledge Community. From sharing your wins and experiences to learning from others to finding free nonprofit resources, this knowledge hub is everything you need for success.
Donorbox, as we’ve earlier talked about in this article, has helped thousands of nonprofits raise over $1 billion in donations and it is a 4.8-rated online donation tool on Capterra. If you wish to know more about us, do visit the website and learn about our features. You’re just 15 minutes away from fundraising, selling tickets, setting up membership campaigns, managing donors, and more!
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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