17 Free & Paid Tools To Optimise Not For Profits Systems

Not For Profits (NFPs) deal with some of the toughest world issues every single day. Due to the important nature of these causes, their resources are often invested in organisational areas that directly affect their endeavours... Leaving their digital marketing tools and tech processes to become stagnant, out-dated and neglected. 

But embracing new technology and tools can take your NFP to a whole new level. By adopting a mere couple of the following tools and technology, you’ll find a new ease in completing your everyday tasks and projects. 

So get ready to grow your funding, raise brand awareness and reach your target audiences by streamlining your efforts. Read on for our 17 favourite tools to help you modernise and systemise your organisation.

1. Google Drive

Google Drive lives securely in the cloud. It’s a secure shared drive for documents, spreadsheets, calendars and more that your whole organisation can access with ease. 

Perfect for those fighting for environmental causes, Google Drive eliminates unnecessary printing by sharing files online. Save paper by collaborating and editing documents without having to create versions after versions of one document when you can work together on the same document in real time. And oh, it also automatically saves so you don’t have to!

Google Docs offers free access to it’s G Suite Basic for NFPs to really keep your organisation streamlined.

2. Online Project Management Tools

Online project management software organises project tasks practically and effectively using clearly defined communication boards.

Online project management tools such as Asana, Basecamp and Trello offer free access to multiple project boards in one place, and views such as Gantt charts, Calendar, Kanban boards, timeline charts and more. 

Note that each tool offer different tools, so make your choice based on what your organisation prefers and can benefit from the most. 

3. Communication & Messaging Tools

Perfect for NFPs requiring work on the go, messaging tools like Slack is perfect to build a strong community (from wherever you are) and help you save time bypassing the need to jump from software to software.

Slack allows internal group and private chats to be organised by topic, group or month to share relevant files. You can even store these files in the app too as it integrates with Google Drive, CRM platforms, calendars and other apps to really promote efficiency. Watch how it works below.

4. Easy To Use Accounting Software

Accounting Software like Xero can save you hours of admin previously lost to sending invoices and receipts, and spend more time on fundraising endeavours.

You can pay staff quickly and easily with a seamless online payroll, integrate apps for fundraising and donor management, and securely share information online with stakeholders... all from your phone.

To make things even better, Xero currently offers NFPs a 25% discount. Boom!

5. HubSpot CRM 

HubSpot focuses on attracting, connecting, engaging and inspiring new leads for businesses. For NFPs this can result in ongoing partnerships, member growth and increases of steady donations. 

Many not for profits store their contact and company database in an Excel sheet or Word doc or in MailChimp. But that requires ALOT of manual work to filter through, segment and manage. Consider using HubSpot’s CRM (it’s free!) to get more context about your leads, partners, donors and members.

Best of all, you get to say goodbye to excel sheets and VLOOKUP formulas! Check out HubSpot’s Not For Profit Program.

6. Payment Gateways

Payment gateways are third party software that offer secure payments to and from your organisation. For those who have HubSpot, you can use DepositFix for your form payment fields. Chat with us if you’d like help with this.

For non-HubSpot uses, PayPal and Stripe are secure and well-known payment gateway options that manages the payment between customer and vendor. You only pay when a transaction is made so there’s no initial investment to worry about. PayPal offers NFPs some discounts but Stripe is cheaper in comparison.

7. Marketing Automation

Many NFPs view marketing automation as unnecessary. However, it can truly help maximise your resources... especially time! By automating repetitive tasks, you can free yourself of unnecessary tasks with ongoing reminders and notifications that get in the way of other work. 

Marketing automation is also used to automate emails and SMSs to be sent based on certain triggers and also help keep your CRM clean so you can fully focus on needle-moving work.

8. Design Like A Pro Using Canva

You don’t have to be a graphic designer these days to make eye-catching and captivating graphics. Offering free NFP subscriptions to its Pro services, Canva allows you to make designs for social media posts, email banners, business cards and more easily with stylish templates and tutorials. 

9. Text Messaging Tools

According to research, by 2025, the number of people who send and receive text messages is predicted to rise to 5.9 billion! If you are looking for other ways to connect with your customers, consider adding text messaging to your marketing mix. 

Companies like JustCall and Twilio allow you to easily send and receive SMSs in bulk. SMS can be very powerful to remind your customers of upcoming events, upsell donations or even reinforce reasons why they need to support your mission.

10. Video Calls With Zoom 

Zoom is a cloud-based video call software - with high security - that allows you to host webinars, record video calls and even share your screen in meetings. You can use Zoom for free as long as the calls are under 40 minutes!

It’s so convenient that when linked with your Google Calendar, you can easily generate Zoom video meeting links for your meetings in literally a click of a button.  

11. Google Donation Tools

Did you know that Google offers not-for-profits free fundraising tools at no cost? This way you can save your resources towards helping your cause and for those who need it most.

As part of Google Donations Tools, the Google One Today is a free app that allows people to easily donate and learn about new not-for-profit projects right from their smartphone and not-for-profits to accept secure online donations. Perfect way to reach a new audience and get more donations to support your cause!

12. Create Meeting Links with Calendly 

Calendly is a free tool to link parties together at a convenient time for meetings. Save time by simply sending stakeholders a link with your availabilities and select a match. Calendly allows you to reschedule meetings with ease, even linking with your Google Calendar to ensure timing of other tasks don’t clash. It works with Microsoft 365, Gmail and Outlook!

13. Promote and Analyse Events with Eventbrite

As events are a massive contributor for raising NFP funds and awareness, Eventbrite is ideal for spreading the word, new potential leads to find your event and managing event registrations and attendance. 

With Eventbrite, you can even have “bump up” offers to prompt registrants to donate money alongside ticket sales. Boost your events by integrating Eventbrite with Facebook Events for free and leverage on the “virality” potential of Facebook Events. 

14. Make Influential Videos with Biteable

All NFPs have amazing missions with inspiring stories that should be shared with the world – but these can be difficult and time-exhausting just to make. Luckily with Biteable, you can easily create beautiful and effective videos in short periods by dragging and dropping templates and images. And for those with zero design skills – don’t fret! You can utilise their ready made templates for extra convenience.

Example video I made for myself back a few years.

15. Membership Sites

Membership sites are brilliant ways to show different content to different membership tiers. By providing different content to different levels you can increase membership sales and engagement through relevant content. It creates a sense of “fear of missing out” and curiosity about what lies on the other side. In turn, helping you retain members and achieve higher revenue growth in the long term.

Many website platforms should have membership website options but WordPress and HubSpot Membership CMS are the recommended and reliable options. If you are on HubSpot but using a WordPress website, InboundAddons Member is the way to go to make your membership website.

16. Data Visualisation Tools with Databox

Business data is actually really important for NFPs to help achieve KPIs and organisational goals. Some may find this foreign but you will (and should be) measuring them. Time is always an issue that’s why using platforms like Databox, you can have a real-time dashboard showing the number of donations, subscriptions, event attendees, CRM contacts, donations, online traffic and more. 

Viewing this data allows you to easily understand what areas of your efforts are succeeding or not working well. Even better, Databox’s free option suits any NFP on a tight budget.

17. Vidyard for Personalised Videos

There’s nothing like connecting face-to-face with your prospects and customers. But sometimes that’s just impossible. That’s where Vidyard comes in. Vidyard is perfect for NFPs looking to drive more revenue through recording videos and personalised videos. 

Videos are great for grabbing your audience’s attention and drawing them into your story. These videos can be used for social media, email marketing, business proposals, partnership applications and your website. Oh, you don’t need fancy equipment to record as Vidyard allows Chrome users to record with ease from a laptop.

You don’t need to make a hundred changes to help bring your organisation into the modern tech world. Pick and choose one tool at a time to meet your needs and watch your free time and resources grow... along with donations and members! If you need more support on systemising and marketing your not for profits, book a time on my calendar here.