When you think about charities and nonprofits, the word “marketing” doesn’t immediately come to mind. Indeed, in the perfect world, nonprofits wouldn’t have to convince people of the importance of their mission. Actually, in the perfect world, nonprofits probably wouldn’t exist. But our world isn’t perfect thus nonprofits need to use marketing techniques and tools to promote their message.
A lot of nonprofit marketing has moved online. Younger people, who mostly get information on the Internet, are also more likely to be interested in social and political issues. According to the 2017 Cone Gen Z CSR Study, 81% of Gen Z believes they can have an impact on social and environmental issues by using social media. The truth is, people who are most ready to chip in into changing the world, both with their time and money, spend a lot of their time on the Internet.
Oftentimes, digital marketing strategies presume that you will be using marketing tools: either to save time and manpower or to gain valuable data insights that can’t be obtained by humans. However, a nonprofit marketing budget is often limited and doesn’t allow spending thousands of dollars on marketing software. Luckily, there are amazing free and discounted tools that can help you with website optimization, email marketing, and social media management.
On this list, you will find marketing tools that won’t break your marketing budget and will help you promote your mission online.
1. Awario: social media monitoring and data analysis
This is a social media monitoring tool that finds all the mentions of the topics you’re interested in on the Internet and analyzes them. You can monitor the Internet for any keyword, phrase, or hashtag in real time and see how, where, and why people talk about it.
It pulls social data from all the major social media networks as well as websites, forums, and blogs. It then analyzes the location, languages, and sources of the mentions, the sentiment around your keywords, and in what context people use them.
There are three types of social media data reports that can give you valuable insights about your audience and your niche:
- Mention Statistics shows key stats around your keywords;
- Alert Comparison allows you to compare several sets of keywords (for example, Hurricane Sandy vs Hurricane Irma);
- Influencers shows you the most influential accounts that mentioned your keywords.
There is also the Awario Leads module that lets you find people that express interest in certain issues on the Internet.
Awario can be used both for finding and interacting with individual Internet users and for analyzing large sets of social media data.
How can nonprofits use it?
There are so many use-cases for nonprofits with this tool! They can use Awario to:
- monitor and manage their online reputation,
- find and engage with Internet users who want to support their values,
- find influential voices with large audiences to amplify their message,
- learn what inspires people to support their cause,
- see how people react to their campaigns,
- find people who are looking to donate to/start volunteering at an organization like yours.
Nonprofit discount
You can test the tool for free for a week.
Then, Awario offers a 50% nonprofit discount which equals $44.50 or $149.50 a month depending on the plan you choose.
2. Google Analytics: track your website
For any organization, a website is usually the heart of their digital presence. When people search for your organization or the causes you work with, most likely they will end up there.
Google Analytics is an essential tool to understand what’s happening with your website. The tool helps you evaluate whether your digital marketing strategy is yielding results and what you should fix to make your marketing campaigns more effective.
How can nonprofits use it
You can track how people get to your page, use this data to leverage your organic traffic, and turn it into donations, volunteers, newsletter sign-ups, and so on.
You can analyze what content your audience is drawn to and how effective your call to action is and more.
Nonprofit discount
The tool is free.
3. Hotjar: a heatmap of your website
Hotjar gives you another way to analyze your website by highlighting the content that draws most attention. Hotjar makes up heatmaps of your website based on user-behaviour data. You can also record how real visitors behave on your website.
The tool allows you to analyze where the visitors drop off on the path to conversion, how well do your forms work (contact, volunteer, and others) and get feedback from your audience.
How can nonprofits use it
By understanding what people do on your website, you can see what kind of stories inspire them to donate, what prevents them from becoming volunteers or donors, and what they engage with the most.
Nonprofit discount
Hotjar offers a free lifetime Business plan for nonprofit organizations.
If you wish to use a more advanced plan, they offer a 50% lifetime discount on a yearly subscription which would equal $500+ a month.
4. Mailchimp: manage your email campaigns
Mailchimp is a marketing platform that encompasses a lot of different sides: email marketing, landing page creation, eCommerce. The biggest value you get are its email marketing capabilities.
It enables you to organize your email lists, create and schedule email campaigns, and analyze their results. It offers an enormous number of templates for any type of email you can think of. You can also track your email campaigns through reports that will help you understand what worked and what didn’t. You can A/B test your campaigns and view open rates, click-through rates, campaign engagement, bounce rates, unsubscribes, and subscriber email activities.
How can nonprofits use it
With Mailchimp, you can:
- Keep in contact with and manage your volunteers
- Educate your audience about the important issues
- Build rapport with your donors
Moreover, Mailchimp offers custom templates to encourage donor participation.
Nonprofit discount
You can use Mailchimp for free for up to 2,000 subscribers.
There’s also a 15% discount for any paid plan for nonprofits which would come to the starter price of $8.50 a month.
5. Buffer: social media scheduling and management.
Buffer is a social media management tool that consists of three platforms: Publish, Analyze, and Reply.
Publish enables you to schedule social media posts, see your content schedule, and republish old evergreen content.
Analyze measures your own social media profiles’ performance and gives you insights on your social media strategy. Here you can also create reports to show to your colleagues and stakeholders.
Reply lets you monitor and interact with people who are reaching out to you in the comments or through direct messages.
Buffer supports all the major social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram (including Stories), Pinterest.
How can nonprofits use it
Your social media presence is incredibly important in keeping people aware of your work and the issues you deal with. With Buffer, you can schedule updates, respond to questions and comments, build your social media strategy and analyze what works and what doesn’t.
Nonprofit discount
You can use Buffer Publish for free to queue up to 10 posts.
There’s a 50% discount for nonprofits on all Buffer plans making the Basic plan $7.50 a month.
6. Hubspot
Hubspot is a giant marketing and sales platform that includes a lot of different tools. It aims to optimize and streamline your sales and inbound marketing efforts. It covers all the digital marketing channels: websites, emails, social media and consists of four major components: Sales Hub, Marketing Hub, Service Hub, and a powerful free CRM.
Basically, the platform provides you with anything you need to run a successful inbound marketing strategy.
How can nonprofits use it
Hubspot’s inbound marketing model works for nonprofits too! With the tool, you can increase your organization awareness and attract new audiences by using SEO, social media monitoring, and blogging tools Hubspot offers. You can engage with your supporters, volunteers, and donors through emails and social media and personalize your communication with them by using the tool’s powerful analytics.
Nonprofit discount
Hubspot offers a range of free marketing tools that includes a CRM, free automated emails, a marketing analytics dashboard, a contact database and more.
7. Later: social media management with the focus on Instagram.
Later is another social media management tool, but it puts a big emphasis on visual-first platforms, specifically, Instagram. It allows you to schedule your posts, manage content calendar, aesthetically organize your Instagram grid and organize your content library for quicker access. Its user-generated content feature allows you to find, repost and save to your library the content that you were tagged in.
It also gives you access to a vast pool of Instagram analytics and provides you with actionable tips.
It’s an official Instagram Partner so you don’t need to worry about using an unverified tool.
How can nonprofits use it
Visual storytelling is a powerful tool and Instagram is the best place to apply it. Share your nonprofit’s day-to-day work or launch a campaign to raise social awareness by publishing posts and Stories.
Nonprofit discount
You can use Later’s basic features for free.
There is also a 50% nonprofit discount. You can choose from three plans that cost $8, $12, and $20.50 a month respectively.
8. Zapier: integration and automation software
Zapier allows you to integrate all your other tools and apps and automate their work. Basically, it enables you to automate all the processes (including the marketing ones) with workflows called Zaps. You can connect Facebook Leads Ads, Slack, Google Docs, Mailchimp, social media apps, task management tools, messengers and more. If there’s a process that needs automation, Zapier is the tool for you.
How can nonprofits use it
Zapier offers a range of integrations with nonprofit tools such as GivingFuel and Donately, as well as a bunch of integration for email marketing, ads, social media marketing, and event marketing.
Nonprofit discount
You can use Zapier for free for up to 100 tasks a month.
Nonprofits are eligible for a 15% discount on any paid plan which makes the cheapest plan $17 a month.
9. Tailwind: social media scheduling for Pinterest and Instagram
Tailwind is a scheduling tool that focuses on image-first platforms a bit like Later. You can schedule photo and video posts, get hashtag suggestions, use a visual drag-and-drop calendar to plan out your content. Based on the analysis of your performance, Tailwind will suggest the best times to post. It also offers Pinterest monitoring.
You can also use Tailwind tribes to find niche communities and promote relevant issues to them.
How can nonprofits use it
We already discussed the importance of visual storytelling for Instagram. Pinterest is also a good platform for that. It has an engaged community and allows you to link back to your website, which makes posting calls to action especially effective.
Nonprofit discount
Tailwind offers a 50% discount on Large Business, Agency and Enterprise plans for nonprofits. You need to contact the company to get the exact price, but to give you a sense of how much you might be spending, the Professional plan costs $799,99 without a discount.
10. Salesforce: an all-encompassing CRM for marketing and sales
Salesforce is a CRM software that integrates marketing, sales, eCommerce, and customer service in one platform. It gives you data to map out your target audience and personalize your strategy, enables you to respond to your customers across channels, and allows you to eliminate time-consuming tasks by using automation.
How can nonprofits use it
Salesforce is able to connect three areas: program management, fundraising, and marketing in one platform.
Nonprofit discount
Salesforce offers a special nonprofit Power of Us program. As a part of it, the tool provides 10 free subscriptions to any eligible nonprofits and deep discounts on additional subscriptions.
11. GetResponse: email marketing tool
GetResponse is another comprehensive marketing platform that combines several tools in one. It amplifies your sales strategy, content creation, and increases your website traffic. The platform offers email marketing capabilities, autoresponders, and landing page optimization tools. You can choose from various customizable email templates to deliver your message. The platform also provides analytics to track conversions, leads, and customers’ opinions.
How can nonprofits use it
Send out regular email updates, promote your campaigns, invite people to your events, stay in touch with the volunteers and more!
Nonprofit discount
You can get 30% off any plan or 50% off if you agree to put the GetResponse logo on your website. For the basic plan it would mean $11.5 and $7.5 a month respectively.
12. SocialPilot: social media scheduling and analytics
SocialPilot is a social media marketing tool that enables you to schedule posts, analyze your social media performance, create customizable reports, manage your social inboxes, get content suggestions, and collaborate with your teammates.
It supports a wide variety of social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok.
How can nonprofits use it
With SocialPilot you can leverage your social media communication: stay connected with your supporters, share your success stories, and ask for support.
Nonprofit discount
You can get a nonprofit discount by contacting the support team.
There’s no information on the exact amount of discount, but to give you the feeling of SocialPilot’s price range, the most affordable full-price plan costs $25 a month.
13. Hootsuite: social media scheduling, content curation, and monitoring
This tool supports your every social media marketing step. With Hootsuite, you’ll be able to schedule posts, organize your content library, build a content plan for the future, track the performance of your social media campaigns, and monitor social conversations by keywords and hashtags.
It covers multiple social media networks including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest. It also supports integrations with WordPress, Salesforce, and MailChimp.
How can nonprofits use it
Hootsuite allows you to save time on social media content creation and publishing. You can engage with your audience and use social media monitoring to track the success of your social media campaigns.
Nonprofit discount
As a part of HootGiving program, Hootsuite provides a 50% discount and social media education for nonprofits.
For the Professional plan, which is the most affordable, you’d end up paying $9.5 per month.
14. Eventbrite: manage your events
This event management tool helps organize and keep track of your events. You can use the platform to issue tickets, track RSVPs, promote your event through email and social media, and create event pages to simplify registration and sign-up process.
How can nonprofits use it
Events are an integral part of nonprofit marketing: from fundraisers to galas and charity concerts, you can use events to attract supporters, raise donations, and draw attention to your cause. Eventbrite makes nonprofit event management simpler and more efficient.
Nonprofit discount
If your event doesn’t have an entrance fee, you can use Eventbrite for free.
For the events that sell tickets, Eventbrite charges based on the price and the number of tickets you sell. Its Eventbrite for Causes program allows nonprofits to pay 2% of the event ticket price plus 99 cents per ticket sold (the normal rate is 2.5% of the ticket price plus 99 cents per ticket sold).
15. Crello: easily create visual content
Content creation is an essential part of every digital marketing strategy. Crello makes creating stunning visuals easy. Crello provides you with more than 65 million free stock images and 10,000 design templates for different purposes.
How can nonprofits use it
Vizuals have the tendency to evoke the strongest emotion, so using them in any digital marketing activity is always a plus. With Crello, you can create anything from infographics that explain your vision in detail to newsletters and postcards for your donors.
Nonprofit discount
Anyone can use Crello’s basic functionalities with no payment required.
Besides, nonprofits can get free access to PRO subscription which includes more templates, images, and design tools.
16. Shutterstock: stock images, video, and music.
Speaking about images, probably the most famous resource for stock images is Shutterstock. It boasts a huge collection of high-quality images, videos, and music. Here you can source licensed content for all your creative endeavours.
How can nonprofits use it
Even if you take pictures and shoot videos yourself, stock content can help you save time and, more importantly, money. In many cases, Shutterstock can even replace an illustrator, so if your team doesn’t have resources for the in-house illustrator, this tool could help.
Nonprofit discount
You can acquire a 35% nonprofit discount for Shutterstock images and 25% discount for footage (packs or monthly subscription) on Techsoup. This would mean a price range of $215 – $270 a month for Team plans.
17. Livechat: stay in touch with your audience.
Livechat allows you to easily connect to your website visitors and chat with them in real time. The tool is available both on the desktop and mobile and is extremely easy to use. You can supervise all the chats from one place, tag other organization members, and send each other advice on how to respond. You can also use ChatBot to automate responses to the frequently asked questions.
How can nonprofits use it
Building relationships and staying in touch with your audience is extremely important for nonprofit organizations. Livechat allows you to respond to questions from any interested party, be it a potential volunteer, donor, or a beneficiary who needs your help.
Nonprofit discount
For nonprofits, Livechat offers free Business Plans.
18. YouTube Nonprofit Program: launch video campaigns
YouTube doesn’t need an introduction: it’s the leading video content website where anyone can upload their clips.
YouTube Nonprofit program includes several offers:
- Link Anywhere cards that enable you to put direct links in your videos
- Access to YouTube Space for video production
- Dedicated technical support
- Educational resources
How can nonprofits use it
Video is one of the main devices for storytelling right now. YouTube enables you to share your story with the world easily. Film interviews with your heroes, make a vlog-style video about a day in the life of your organization, or collaborate with influencers on a video campaign: the possibilities are truly endless.
Nonprofit discount
YouTube Nonprofit Program is completely free.
19. Typito: create videos for social media
Typito also aids in creating visual content, but this time it’s video. It’s a web-based tool that allows you to create videos without any editing skills by dragging and dropping videos, images, and pieces of text.
How can nonprofits use it
Create videos for your social media and websites to tell your story! Short videos can help you explain a complicated issue, raise awareness, or even encourage people to join your cause.
Nonprofit discount
Typito’s basic features are free.
You can also apply for a 50% nonprofit discount on annual plans starting at $12.5 per month ($150 billed annually).
20. Google Ad Grants: advertise on Google for free
Since Google is an indisputable leader when it comes to Internet search, Ads on Google’s search pages are extremely effective (and are one of the most popular marketing tactics). Google Ad Grants allows you to run Google ads for your organization or your cause with no ad budget necessary.
How can nonprofits use it
You can set up ads to raise awareness about a certain issue, encourage people to sign a petition, gather donations, and more.
Nonprofit discount
You need to have a Google for Nonprofits account to apply. Google Ad Grants provides you with up to $10,000 advertising budget.
Recap
And that’s it! Twenty marketing tools that will be helpful to your charity or nonprofit organization and won’t take a toll on your budget. Your money and time are better spent on helping people and making the world better, and these tools help you with that!