In this article we will cover free services, subscriptions, and software applications that are available for free or at a discount for organizations with a valid 501(c)3 designation.
From website hosting to email marketing, companies are making it easier for non-profits to save in the digital world and continue the great work they are doing.
Growing your 501(c)3 digitally without the expenses
It’s one of the hardest parts of growing any organization in the digital era: how do you do it while being cost effective? For many non-profits, your funding is closely tied to delivery of services, hiring of staff, outreach, and a host of other areas that impact your mission.
The services and platforms that help marketing and fundraising campaigns be successful likely come at a discount for non-profit organizations
Marketing is a critically important aspect of expanding outreach and improving donor relationships. If you’re looking to improve in those areas or already are making progress, the services and platforms that help marketing and fundraising campaigns be successful likely come at a discount for non-profit organizations.
Here are some of the best free (or discounted) services that you can get today with a valid non-profit determination letter:
WordPress website hosting
We reached out to many website hosting companies that previously offered discounts to non-profits to confirm that they are no longer offer special pricing for 501(c)3. Sadly, many of them have discontinued offering nonprofit discounts, but the good news is that there are still high quality web hosting companies out there that do.
Dreamhost
Free shared hosting for one domain, or 35% off of dedicated WordPress hosting. One free domain registration.
Dreamhost is a great all-around service for non-profits that don’t want the hassle of managing a WordPress website. Like most hosting companies, they provide one-click installers, easy domain configurations, and better than most management tools. To get the nonprofit discount, contact their support and upload your 501(c)3 declaration letter to get the discount applied to your account.
A2 Hosting
20% discount for hosting plans
A2 Hosting offers cheap WordPress hosting plans that are great to start with a newer website, and the standard features that web hosts provide you to manage your website. To get the nonprofit discount, after purchasing a hosting plan, contact their support and ask for the nonprofit discount with your 501(c)3 declaration letter.
Email and marketing platforms
Choosing the right email and marketing automation platform can be the difference that makes a successful Giving Tuesday or year-end fundraising campaign. Marketing automation can be so much more than just integrating a sign-up form on your website or having the capability to schedule and send a monthly newsletter. When you put time and energy into writing those emails or reaching out to donors, you want the tools on hand to help you understand why past successful campaigns worked out well, whereas other campaigns might not have given you the results you hoped for.
We have researched the companies below to cover the essential tools and capabilities you need in a marketing platform, while providing a discount offering for non-profits. It’s a win-win.
MailChimp
15% discount on paid plans
MailChimp has done a lot in recent years to expand beyond just an email CRM company and providing an all-in-one marketing platform to manage everything from social channels, landing pages, marketing automation, and more.
If you are just getting started and have less than 2,000 subscribers, they have a free offering that you can get started, but even their lower tiers are pretty inexpensive for the value that you’re getting.
Salesforce
10 free seats to Enterprise Sales or Service Cloud
Salesforce is one of the biggest software companies are a reason: they offer a lot of features. Their nonprofit cloud offering gives you access to a huge set of tools and features that can seem overwhelming. With their platform you can manage donor relationships, track and store information about how customers and donors engage with your organization, run and analyze marketing campaigns, send and track surveys, all of which flows into one place for your team to manage.
Learn more at https://www.salesforce.org/nonprofit/get-started/.
Google Ad Grants(AdWords)
Up to $10,000 a month in free advertising
For nonprofits, free advertising on Google can mean more donors to your site, increasing awareness of your services, or reaching people in need of resources. Qualifying nonprofits that use this program will get access to the tools and platforms needed to build and run advertising campaigns for targeted keywords, and improve traffic to your website.
Learn more at https://www.google.com/grants/get-started/
YouTube Nonprofit Program
Free YouTube video promotion, access to YouTube creator studio, and other platform benefits
The YouTube nonprofit program is a great way to bring new traffic to your website and increase donations through their promotional tools.
Learn more at https://www.google.com/nonprofits/offerings/youtube-nonprofit-program/
Software
Google Workspace for Nonprofits
Free Gmail for your web domain, document storage (Google Drive), video conferencing, and other enterprise features
Google Workspace for Nonprofits is feature comparable to its Business Standard offering, but without the price tag for nonprofit organizations. Qualifying nonprofits get email, video conferencing, and document sharing together with the administrative capabilities to easily setup and manage accounts within the organization.
Learn more at https://www.google.com/nonprofits/workspace/compare/.
Adobe Design Suite
60% off the first year subscription, 40% off subsequent yearly subscriptions
TechSoup offers nonprofits discounts in a lot of areas, and the Adobe Design Suite is a great resource for graphic and video content creation. There are lots of free alternatives that will get the job done, but if you are needing more sophisticated design software, you can get it through TechSoup at a 60% initial discount for the first year, and 40% off all subsequent subscriptions after that. It still adds up to under $300 a year for a Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, but you’ll get access to Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Premier Pro to create any type of graphic or video content that your organization needs.
Learn more at techsoup.org.
Microsoft Office 365
10 free licenses to Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft Office 365 is a great tool for an organization that either already is using Microsoft software, or is looking to move to an online workspace to store and collaborate on files. In addition to the cloud applications of Excel, Word and Powerpoint, and email, you get the desktop applications through this subscription for free for up to 10 users, and then at $5/month/user after that through TechSoup.
It is a great alternative to the Google suite, and Microsoft has done a lot to continually make improvements to their cloud service offering.
Learn more at techsoup.org.
Closing tips to best use your 501(c)3 status
Ask vendors if they offer discounts to non-profit organizations. You might be surprised at how many vendors you are working with already offer discounts or free additional services to non-profits that you might not be making use of.
Small to medium-sized nonprofits don’t need a full business service package. The basic offering for most software programs is more than enough for small to medium-sized nonprofits. Video conferencing, shared document storage, and document editing tools cover most of what you will be doing on a day to day basis.
