- TOOLS
Powerful Tools of the Trade for Nonprofit Marketers
We only recommend online platforms that we use to manage and grow our own business and the nonprofits for which we consult. There’s no hype or fluff here—just the stuff we’ve found essential to nonprofit marketing success.
There are a ton of software tools out there. Choosing the right ones for your nonprofit can change the game.
Over the years, we’ve worked hard testing dozens of online platforms to find the ones that can be real game-changers for your nonprofit marketing. Here are the critical few we believe in so much that we use them ourselves.
Plus, many of these companies love nonprofits and offer special discounts using the links below. Look for the ❤️ for discounts.
Important Disclosure: Please Read Before Proceeding
We're proud affiliates for some of these tools, meaning if you click a link for a tool and make a purchase, we earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Our recommendations are based on deep experience with and knowledge of these companies and their products, and we recommend them because they are genuinely helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we may receive.
Top Recommended Tools
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is the only email marketing and CRM platform we use, and will ever use.
ActiveCampaign is our #1 recommended email marketing platform because it has been built with care to the exact needs of nonprofit organizations of all sizes. Their user experience is very user-friendly. And segmenting our subscribers into focused groups so that we can deliver content specific to their needs has never been easier. Most importantly, its powerful automation capabilities handles what no one else has time for. It’s like getting an extra employee without needing an extra desk!
Nerdy Nonprofit
All-in-one solution for WordPress website hosting, maintenance, security, and support.
Let us take care of your website so you can focus on what matters most – growing your nonprofit. Get peace of mind with premium hosting, bulletproof security, unparalleled speed, and friendly support when you need it most. We offer flexible plans starting at just $49 per month.
OptinMonster
OptinMonster makes it easy to convert and monetize web traffic with popups and forms.
Every day hundreds (or even thousands) of people visit your website and leave without engaging with you in a meaningful way. This powerful drag & drop builder allows you to create visually stunning forms and popups. Their platform allows you to create campaigns that generate more leads, attract more subscribers, and increase your nonprofit’s reach and impact.
Elementor Pro
Elementor is our go-to website builder platform for all of our websites, including this one.
We were totally blown away by Elementor when we discovered it. You can create beautiful websites and pages using its extremely friendly, yet powerful, drag and drop interface. They don’t offer a nonprofit discount, but it’s still our top pick at the affordable price of $49 per year. Seriously gang – powerful, easy to use, and inexpensive is a rare combination, but Elementor nails all three!
Elfsight Widgets
Elfsight saves us time and money with 50+ powerful, ready-to-use widgets for our site.
No matter which platform your site is built on—WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, or Elementor—there’s a reason to use Elfsight’s 50+ powerful plug-and-play widgets to upgrade your site, no coding necessary! We use Elfsight all the time to solve problems quickly without needing to hire a web developer. Need a cookie consent? Done. Instagram feed? Yep, that too. YouTube video gallery? Click and done. Interactive Google Maps? Well, I think you get the point.
Browse our other tools by category:
- Email Marketing & Automation
The only email marketing automation, and CRM platform we use, and will ever use.
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is our #1 recommended email marketing platform because it has been built with care to the exact needs of nonprofit organizations of all sizes. Their platform is user-friendly, and segmenting subscribers into focused groups to deliver content specific to their needs has never been easier.
Add urgency to emails with live countdown timers that perfectly match your style.
CountdownMail
Countdown timers create a sense of urgency. Creating urgency is a proven technique for increasing sales and conversions. We rely on CountdownMail to help us design countdown timers that perfectly match our email style. Your timer will look amazing in every inbox, on every device.
Supercharge your marketing campaigns with automated two-way texting.
Salesmsg Texting
Average email open rate is 20 percent. What’s the average open rate for a text message? That’s right, 100 percent! Salesmsg gives you a simple dashboard to send, receive, and manage text message conversations online or on the go. Even better, it lets you automate texts to kick start engaging conversations.
- Website & Page Builders
Our all-time favorite drag-and-drop website builder platform for all of our websites.
Elementor Pro
We were totally blown away by Elementor when we discovered it. You can create beautiful websites and pages using its extremely friendly, yet powerful, drag and drop interface. Seriously gang – powerful, easy to use, and inexpensive is a rare combination, but Elementor somehow nails all three!
A powerful landing page builder that helps easily create high-converting pages.
Leadpages
We have long used Leadpages to create dedicated landing pages to launch a new offers, campaigns, or helpful content to our audiences. Like most brands, we prefer to build pages on our own site. However, whenever we cannot, we use Leadpages to get the job done quickly and painlessly.
DonorBox is our go-to online donation platform for nonprofits.
DonorBox
Your online donation platform should be powerful enough to 2x donations and simple enough to be used effectively by absolutely everyone. That’s where DonorBox comes in. It’s so easy, you can start collecting donation on your website in about 30 minutes.
- Website Hosting & Security
Our very own all-in-one solution for WordPress website hosting, maintenance, security, and friendly support.
Website Care
Let us take care of your website so you can focus on what matters most – growing your nonprofit. Get peace of mind with premium hosting, bulletproof security, unparalleled speed, and friendly support when you need it most. We offer flexible plans starting at just $49 per month.
Our all-time favorite drag-and-drop website builder platform for all of our websites.
Elementor Pro
We were totally blown away by Elementor when we discovered it. You can create beautiful websites and pages using its extremely friendly, yet powerful, drag and drop interface. Seriously gang – powerful, easy to use, and inexpensive is a rare combination, but Elementor somehow nails all three!
Our all-time favorite drag-and-drop website builder platform for all of our websites.
Elementor Pro
We were totally blown away by Elementor when we discovered it. You can create beautiful websites and pages using its extremely friendly, yet powerful, drag and drop interface. Seriously gang – powerful, easy to use, and inexpensive is a rare combination, but Elementor somehow nails all three!
- Website Widgets & Add-ons
OptinMonster’s popups and forms turn web traffic into subscribers, leads and sales.
OptinMonster
Every day hundreds (or even thousands) of people visit your site and leave without engaging with you in a meaningful way. This powerful drag & drop builder allows you to create visually stunning forms and popups, so you can generate more leads, attract more subscribers, and increase your nonprofit’s reach and impact.
Elfsight saves us time and money with 50+ powerful, ready-to-use widgets for our site.
Elfsight Widgets
No matter which platform your site is built on—WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, or Elementor—there’s a reason to use Elfsight’s 50+ powerful plug-and-play widgets to upgrade your site, no coding necessary! We use Elfsight all the time to solve problems quickly without needing to hire a web developer.
The best live chat tool available, plain and simple. And it’s FREE for nonprofits.
LiveChat
Customers love chatting because it’s quick, convenient, and simple. In fact, 51 percent of people prefer (and expect) live chat over email and phone. LiveChat’s platform makes it easy to personalize its look and feel to match your brand and deliver superb customer experiences with flexible and personalized chatbots.
Increase your organization’s credibility and boost conversions with social proof.
Proof
Social proof can have a huge impact on your website visitors’ behavior. When they see how popular your cause or products are, they’ll be more likely to engage with your organization. Pulse enables you to show notifications of real people taking action on your site, like donating or subscribing to a newsletter.
Deliver the right message, to the right person, at the right time on your website.
RightMessage
Personalized marketing is the future. And it’s easier than you think to get started. Personalize any and all content on your website, including headlines, copy, images, and more. Zero code required. Your audience will thank you, and you’ll be rewarded with more of them filling in your opt-in and order forms.
A powerful landing page builder that helps easily create high-converting pages.
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ActiveCampaign is our #1 recommended email marketing platform because it has been built with care to the exact needs of nonprofit organizations of all sizes. Their platform is user-friendly, and segmenting subscribers into focused groups to deliver content specific to their needs has never been easier.
- Graphic Design Tools
Design beautiful graphics without needing graphic design knowledge and skills.
Canva
Most nonprofit marketing teams can’t afford to hire graphic designers to create invitations, social images, and email banners. That’s why Canva’s drag and drop interface makes it a breeze for anyone to create beautiful, professional designs using its 50,000+ templates. The best way to understand Canva is to try it! It only takes 23 seconds to learn.
Connect with graphic designers to create logos, branded merchandise, and more.
99designs
Need something professionally designed? Here’s how 99designs works:
- Write a simple brief to help designers understand your design needs.
- Open your contest to the global design community and designers submit 40+ concepts for you to consider.
- Give feedback, fine-tune submissions, and pick the winning design. Done!
A powerful landing page builder that helps easily create high-converting pages.
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ActiveCampaign is our #1 recommended email marketing platform because it has been built with care to the exact needs of nonprofit organizations of all sizes. Their platform is user-friendly, and segmenting subscribers into focused groups to deliver content specific to their needs has never been easier.
- Project Management Apps
Planning, tracking and delivering marketing campaign tasks has never been easier.
Monday.com
A unique thing about marketing is how it seems to touch every other area of an organization. And that makes project management pretty complicated! Monday.com makes it easy to visualize your campaigns, tasks, deadlines, and more so nothing falls through the cracks. See why marketing teams love it.
Make social media scheduling and publishing effortless for you and your team.
SocialPilot
Social media management can be a monster to manage! Visualize and optimize your social media strategy with a bird’s eye view of your content schedule for all your connected social accounts. SocialPilot’s advanced post composer even enables you to compose posts for multiple social networks from one place.
A powerful landing page builder that helps easily create high-converting pages.
????
ActiveCampaign is our #1 recommended email marketing platform because it has been built with care to the exact needs of nonprofit organizations of all sizes. Their platform is user-friendly, and segmenting subscribers into focused groups to deliver content specific to their needs has never been easier.
