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Top 10 Truly FREE Tools for Nonprofits + Even More Resources
Nonprofit organizations are what I like to call “ballin’ on a budget,” which means strategically selecting resources that won’t break the bank. But where do you start?

Here are our top 10 picks for the best free resources for nonprofits you should utilize to get your organization… organized.

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Free Tools for Nonprofits

1. G-Suite

The mecca of high-powered email and productivity tools is free for nonprofits through its basic plan, and it includes the usage of your domain name for your team’s email addresses. Beyond your domain, you have access to G-Docs, Calendar, Drive, and so much more.

2. Canva PRO

Photoshop out of your skill range? No worries, Canva is here to make your social graphics POP! With tons of templates available, you’ll be able to create anything from a quick Facebook post to an entire presentation. Features include saving preset branding color palettes as well as premium fonts and graphics, with the ability to save your work in a variety of formats.

3. Social Good by Facebook

Social Good is Facebook’s hub for all of the tools offered to nonprofits, such as Charitable Giving (Facebook’s fundraising/donation tool), Crisis Response, Health (Blood Donation, Suicide Hotline, and more), and Mentorship (connecting people in need of support with people who have the expertise to help!)

4. HotJar

Want to know how your users are behaving on your website? HotJar has the hookup with “heatmaps” that help you visualize user behavior and see where they are getting stuck or what is really motivating them. With this knowledge, you can better optimize for a great user experience. Their more advanced tracking tools are also 100% free for select nonprofits.

PSA: This is available to nonprofits who are nongovernmental, nonacademic, noncommercial, and nonpolitical in nature, with no religious affiliation. Their goal is to assist organizations working to “further charitable causes.”

5. Follow Facebook’s @nonprofits

Stay updated with all of Facebook’s nonprofit free resources and tools! They periodically announce fundraising events that your organization can participate in. For the last two years of #GivingTuesday, Facebook has secured a partner to match donations through Facebook’s Charitable Giving tool, first with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and then with PayPal. #FreeMoney

6. YouTube Nonprofit Program

Video content is king, and YouTube wants to help your organization with creating inspiring content. If you have over 1,000 followers, they’ll give you access to all of their production studios countrywide, as well as their powerful editing tools. Click here to find the closest studio near you!

7. Action Sprout

Grow your following by seeing actionable insights to your posts, and optimize them to further engage your followers for the most reach. You no longer have to wonder why a post performed well… or didn’t. Action Sprout is now free for nonprofits everywhere!

8. Hootsuite

For smaller organizations with less than two channels to manage, Hootsuite offers a “free-limited” plan with a 50% discount on the unlimited set-up, which lets you manage more than two social channels. With this software, you can schedule and manage your social media posts all in one place with built-in analytics.

9. Google Ad Grants

We’re back again with #FreeMoney! Google Ad Grants gives your organization $10,000 to create and deploy text-based ads, and up to $40,000 for organizations that participate in Grantspro. There are a few limitations, but all are easy to work within.

PSA: “Governmental entities and organizations, hospitals and medical groups, schools, academic institutions, and universities are not eligible for Google for Nonprofits, but philanthropic arms of educational institutions are eligible.”

10. CallHub

For smaller organizations, you can sign up for free and have 5,000 calls on CallHub’s tab for their “Collective Calling Campaign.” This free-for-nonprofit software helps organize and track your fundraising outreach via call and text, and it’s all capable of automation for ultimate efficiency.

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BONUS: 5 Heavily Discounted Tools
- - Slack
Communicate effectively with your team with an 85% discount, plus a free plan for organizations with under 250 employees.
- - LinkedIn
Find volunteers, employees, and so much more with a LinkedIn nonprofit account. Discounts are available upon request for nonprofits at [email protected].
- - BuzzSumo
Analyze what content works best with your demographic, or what’s working best for similar organizations to optimize your marketing campaigns. For discounted pricing for nonprofits, email [email protected].
- - Asana
A work and project management platform that offers a 50% discount for all nonprofits that qualify, which will assist your employees in keeping track of their to-do lists and projects.
- - Zapier
Big workload that can use some automation? Zapier offers a 15% discount on thousands of automation “triggers” that integrate with most of the apps and programs you use daily, including the many listed above.

Learn More About Free Things for Nonprofits

Nonprofits can have access to robust marketing tools and spare their wallets at the same time!

Though some of these are limited by the size of your nonprofit, many aren’t. If you’re in healthcare marketing, higher education marketing, or any other sector, these discounts can be a great way to get the most out of your budget.

Don’t forget to take advantage of the free trials and discounts available! With a little research, you can find plenty of software that fits your needs — and your budget.

Check out some of our educational resources and our blog for more great marketing and SEO advice.

Ready to break new ground in marketing your nonprofit?

Allow us to present you the latest in pick axe technology — Search Influence’s new eBook, Unlocking Free Resources for Nonprofits: Your Roadmap to Using Ad Grants and Free Marketing Tools.

This eBook is your key to unlocking countless nonprofit marketing capabilities without breaking the bank.

Our team compiled a list of over 15 free services for nonprofits that encompass every aspect of marketing, including:
- Copywriting
- Graphic design
- Email marketing
- Analytics & lead tracking
- Social media marketing
- Search engine optimization
- Project management
- Online advertising (Google Ad Grants & Microsoft Ads for Social Impact)
As you read along, you’ll learn how to access these tools and the best ways to use them to boost your marketing ROI.

From Hemingway Editor and Canva to Google Analytics and Ahrefs, gain access to a whole new world of marketing capabilities for your nonprofit for just $9.95 when you purchase Unlocking Free Resources for Nonprofits: Your Roadmap to Using Ad Grants and Free Marketing Tools.

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Images:

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Signage
August 7, 2019
NOLA’s Mama Maji Leverages Online Relationships to Fight Global Water Crisis

Based in New Orleans, Mama Maji is a nonprofit organization that works globally to connect and empower women to address the global water crisis. Every day, women lose 152 million hours collecting the water necessary to drink, cook, clean, and bathe. In spite of the need for clean water access in villages, water projects are notoriously prone to failure. Pumps need maintenance, and even well-funded projects encounter unforeseen difficulties or fail to take local preferences into account. Mama Maji works to help with health training and water access abroad, and the organization also hosts seminars in New Orleans.

Work Abroad and at Home

The Chiga Community Water and Sanitation Project started with a deep well to support food production for a rescue center in Chiga, a community near Kisumu in Kenya. The rescue center serves as a temporary home for at-risk children until permanent homes can be found. Mama Maji has helped to expand the project’s impact by building pipelines and kiosks in nearby communities. Training community members in health, water, and sanitation helps to maximize the impact of clean water access. Meanwhile, in New Orleans, Mama Maji facilitates professional development seminars for women.

Getting Online

Active since 2012, Mama Maji now has a presence across several social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram. Founding Director Sydney Gray explains that Instagram has been useful as a convenient place to upload photos that will then appear on other social media like their Facebook and Twitter pages. Twitter has been valuable during campaign periods like World Water Week, when tweets have allowed the relatively small nonprofit to engage in international dialogues.

Inspirational People

With over 500 likes, Mama Maji’s Facebook page features project updates, fundraisers, and inspirational success stories. Sarah, a resident in Obino village in Kenya, is one of those stories. She was one of thirty volunteer women from 14 villages who trained with Mama Maji in April, learning the basics of water, health, and sanitation. In the following three months, not only did Sarah train over 300 people, but she also managed to prevent a cholera outbreak before it started. She recognized the symptoms while volunteering at a local health fair and mobilized the Kenyan Department of Public Health. The government rushed ambulances to the village for the four people who were already sick and screened the rest of the village.

Getting Noticed

“People connect to people, not organizations,” explained Sydney, who has found that people relate to personal stories more than they relate to statistics. Getting people to engage with the content by liking, commenting, and sharing is great, but the ultimate goal is getting donations. Emails, quarterly newsletters, and videos seem to have the biggest impact on donations, but Mama Maji has also developed a detailed guide to crowdfunding.

The Catalyst 500 Challenge

The challenge takes Catalysts who have pledged to raise $500 toward the Chiga Community Water and Sanitation Project, and it shows those pledges how to use their social media and email contacts to crowdfund on a three-week schedule. By finding about 10 contacts who will relay the message to their own networks and contacts, a Catalyst’s message is greatly amplified. Expanding this same concept and preparing for a month and a half, one volunteer was able to raise $4,000.

The Catalyst 500 Challenge, Mama Maji’s crowdfunding program, uses these week-by-week guides for those interested in raising funds. For more information, contact Sydney Gray and the Mama Maji team to learn more about the program. To help, connect with Mama Maji on social media to help spread their message.

October 2, 2015
Go Go Google Grantspro
Being a Google Grants Pro:

So you’ve heard of Google Ad Grants … in fact, you applied to be a part of the program ages ago. IN FACT, you have been a part of the Google Ad Grants program since like 2005 and you’ve been running campaigns in AdWords to promote your mission and grow your nonprofit organization like a pro (and all on Google’s dime—$10,000 worth of dimes, to be precise).

Well, that’s cool. Congrats on being a pro with your Google Ad Grants account. But what if we told you—you’re not really a pro until you get accepted into Google Grantspro?

That’s right. After Google Ad Grants comes Grantspro, and along with Grantspro comes $40,000 of Cold. Hard. AdWords spending limit. Get excited. Your nonprofit organization is about to expand its reach to where it has never reached before…gain visibility where it was never visible before…increase awareness where it was never aware before!

Wait. What?

Becoming Eligible for Google Grantspro

Ah, the good part. Pay attention.

To become eligible for Google Grantspro, you must:
- Currently be a part of the Google Ad Grants program. (What’s that? Oh, boy.)
- Have conversion tracking installed and have successfully tracked at least one conversion.
- Hit the Google Ad Grants budget cap for at least two different months over the past six months.
- Currently be a part of the Google Ad Grants program. (What’s Google Ad Grants? Seriously?)
- Have maintained an average account level click-through rate of 1 percent or higher over the past 6 months.
- Be on good terms with the Google Ad Grants program.
- Submit an online application for Google Grantspro.
- Currently be a part of the Google Ad Grants Program. (How do I become a part of that? Come ON!)
- Complete biweekly maintenance of your AdWords account.
- Complete an annual survey.
- Agree to share your impact or conversion data.
Sounds simple enough, right? You just have to meet all of the above requirements and you’ll be good to go! Just kidding. Space is limited, and meeting the minimum eligibility requirements does not guarantee acceptance.

It’s OK. Don’t cry. This is why we’re here: to make sure your application stands out to the College Admissions Rep so you get into your first choice school. Erhm…

Seriously though, think of Search Influence as your admissions coach. We’ve been through this process before, and we’re familiar with every step of the Grantspro application process. This is part of our job. Get in touch and let us help your nonprofit rise above the rest!
August 17, 2015
Tell Me a Story: Nonprofit Storytelling Tips for Effective Social Conversion

Effective nonprofit marketing (and fundraising) starts with a story. A good story resonates with the audience, advances the mission of the nonprofit, and calls people to action. Nonprofits are unique from their for-profit counterparts, because even more important than facts are feelings. A good story creates an emotional connection between the supporter and the organization. The Center for Social Impact Communication at Georgetown University recently conducted a survey of 81 nonprofits in the Washington, D.C., area and discovered that 78 percent of them had a goal or purpose for storytelling, but only 64 percent felt their goals were met. So how can your nonprofit leverage compelling, inspirational, emotional stories to get more online engagement, more supporters and more donations?

Be Authentic.

True passion is contagious. You can’t expect others to get excited about your cause if they can’t see the passion behind your efforts.

Make them Feel.

Don’t tell your audience how they should feel; show them how the characters in your story feel. Choose active players in your organization—those with a passion for the work and those affected by the work—and ask them to share their challenges and triumphs. Rather than simply saying, “This organization changed my life, and it can change yours too …” have them tell their entire story from start to finish. Encourage them to include sensory details as they explain what their life was like before, throughout their experience and now.

Get Visual.

A picture says a thousand words. According to a study conducted by SimplyMeasured, videos are shared 12 times more often than links and text posts combined, and photos are liked twice as often as text updates. Though words are an essential part of storytelling, the digital market begs for compelling images to support strong stories. Photos have the power to spark human rights campaigns, change public policy, and more. Visual media fosters awareness and compels people to act.

Ask your Audience to be a Part of your Story.

Include a clear call to action. Make sure the call to action is supported by a conflict from the story, which makes people want to act urgently.

Sharing your organization’s impact from the perspective of those impacted is the most effective way to get others to care and offer their support. So while social media is a great platform for sharing industry updates and tweeting about your latest project, don’t forget to tell the story that connects your organization’s mission to the people you serve.

August 11, 2015
New Orleans Non-profit Spotlight: Café Reconcile

Many of us go about our days without thinking about the non-profit world in New Orleans, including myself. I heard about Café Reconcile through one of my family members and wanted to share some of the amazing things they are doing to turn lives around in Central City, New Orleans.

The dining room at Cafe Reconcile usually packs a good crowd.

Café Reconcile improves future employment opportunities for youth by removing some of the barriers that generally stand between them and success. Since the non-profit restaurant opened in 2000, it has made strides in reducing the roll of poverty in a part of town that is ridden with drugs and crime. Marketing & Events Coordinator Cara McMenamin, said, “We want to change the perception of Central City,” and they are doing just that. This change is largely catalyzed by the restaurant training they provide students. Participants in the program can train in nine different restaurant positions, giving them the tools they need to secure a job in a restaurant, hospital, or other food provider.

I had a chance to speak with Cara about Café Reconcile’s social media marketing. They have almost 4,000 likes on Facebook and nearly 3,200 Twitter followers. They are reaching a wide audience from the New Orleans area and around the country. On Facebook, they have found that posts on lunch specials, special events, smiling students, and good-looking food attract a lot of attention, usually in the form of likes.

Members of the Cafe Reconcile team.

The restaurant uses their Twitter account to get quick words out to their followers while things are happening such as contests and graduations. They find that people mention them in tweets while they are eating at the restaurant. Café Reconcile occasionally receives negative feedback on social media, but it’s usually from individuals who are ignorant of the fact that the restaurant is staffed by students.

Café Reconcile is open Monday through Friday for lunch and also offers off-site catering and space for special events on the second floor. Like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter to stay updated on their delicious food and inspiring updates!

August 1, 2013
Local U New Orleans: 14 Things You’ll Want to Know
About a month ago, my team and I attended Local U –
an online marketing seminar held at Tulane University. It was an extremely valuable, very energizing half-day! Various industry leaders in local SEO have dedicated their time and resources to helping small businesses learn the basics. It was more than worth the price of admission!

Not only did I take away a lot of valuable information, but I’ve already started thinking about how I can apply the topics discussed to help Audubon improve our online presence. I’m excited to put a plan into action and work with my team to make the website even better.

Below are my top takeaways from the day. If Local U is coming to your city, I highly recommend attending.

Takeaways:
1. Does your website answer the top 10 most frequently asked questions that you hear from customers in your physical space/store?
2. Is your NAP (business name, address, phone number) easy to find on every page?
  This tiger needs a nap! Too bad this type of nap won’t help your local presence!
3. Remove all Marketing Speak.
4. Are you consistently blogging? (Tip: Top 10 FAQs make excellent blog post topics.)
5. Are you building links on your site to other reputable sites? Links are gold! Search engines move from link to link.
6. Content is not just text. Content is photos, graphics, video, reviews.
7. Future of online marketing is customer reviews. Do you have a review process built into your sales process – to both encourage reviews and deal with negative reviews?
8. When asked what do you do on Google, 46% say read customer reviews. Reviews are social proof.
9. If you are not talking about something on your site, you cannot rank in search for it! Create pages for what you want to rank for.
  It’s important to add enticing photos and videos. Who wouldn’t love to look at cute pictures of animals all day?
10. There is no single Google search results page. 50-200 different algorithms at work at any given time and results are personalized. We are all seeing slightly different results.
11. Rank for what you are best at, be specific!
12. YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine. What will users find there about you?
13. You cannot own or control Facebook. You can own and control your website. Your website is most important, at the heart of all your online marketing.
14. Emails must be readable on all devices. 42% of all mails are opened on a mobile device.
Lani McWilliams is the Director of Member Services & Ecommerce at Audubon Nature Institute. Audubon Nature Institute is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to celebrating the wonders of nature and educating their visitors about the natural world.
June 25, 2013
New Orleans: A Growing Tech City
For those of you who don’t know, before Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Gulf South, New Orleans was on a steady rate of decline. However, the city we love to call home here at Search Influence is in the middle of a major renaissance. News sources across the nation have reported New Orleans is the fastest growing city in America.
- Population in April 2010: 343,829
- Population in July of 2011: 360,740
- Change in population: 4.9 percent (national average 0.73%)
- Unemployment rate May 2012: 7.2%
- Unemployment rate December 2012: 6.8 % (national average 7.8%)
With all of these growth changes and increase in jobs, New Orleans has also become a hub of entrepreneurial activity. Forbes recently said New Orleans is one of the biggest brain magnets in the country, attracting young, innovative minds. It is reported that 427 out of every 100,000 adults started up a new business in the New Orleans metro area, which is 40% above the national average.

Many of these entrepreneurial efforts are tech-based. Companies such as Idea Village and LaunchPad have helped young tech and digital media entrepreneurs start their businesses, giving them advice, a place to work, and grants. Marketing firms, apps, and software are all being developed in this city, which is quite shocking considering this has always been a city known for being 10 years behind everyone else. Kickboard, started by Jennifer Medbery after teaching at a charter school, is software that provides a centralized location for teachers to record their students’ progress.

Even Search Influence was founded during Katrina’s aftermath, and along with this city, we have grown at a rapid rate. In 2011 we made it on Inc. 500’s list of fastest growing companies, and we are now the largest online marketing firm in New Orleans. Digital media has many different facets, and we are proud to offer SEO, social media, and paid search services.

New Orleans institutions such as the Audubon Institute, Naked Pizza, and Southern Costume Company have integrated the digital space into their marketing efforts. Naked Pizza tweets on a regular basis, and they have truly embraced pop-culture (I strongly encourage you to watch their Harlem Shake video).

The Audubon Institute and Southern Costume Company have opened their marketing efforts to include social media promotions and building their brand on Facebook.

Digital Media, online marketing, and social media have become vital factors for today’s businesses to succeed. It’s all about the conversation and being transparent with your customers. We are so happy to report that our city and businesses are flourishing due to technology and media advancements.
March 13, 2013
No Drip (GNODRP) – Hurricane Preparedness and Hurricane Recovery Partnership
GNODRP ("No Drip") Greater New Orleans Disaster Recovery Partnership

“No Drip” (GNODRP) – Hurricane Preparedness and Hurricane Recovery Partnership

Greater New Orleans Disaster Recovery Partnership (GNODRP)

Formed in November of 2005

Gulf coast residents know all too well what June – November mean: Hurricane Season!

Thankfully all has been calm out in the ocean water but that does not mean New Orleans isn’t engaged in serious preparation. The Greater New Orleans Disaster Recovery Partnership (GNODRP) pronounced “no drip’ is just that. In the coming months the greater New Orleans area will need to be on guard and preparing for tropical storms and hurricanes. GNODRP offers services to help the community prepare before a disaster and to recover after. GNODRP is also working in many ways with people still recovering from hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The Mission of the Greater New Orleans Disaster Recovery Partnership (GNODRP) is to regionally support long-term recovery and preparedness.

What You Should Know Now

The GNODRP is working on two large projects that benefit the greater New Orleans area.
1. RECOVERY SUPPORT: GNODRP provides long-term recovery support to victims of Katrina and Rita. The number of people still needing recovery is extensive and GNODRP wants to get the word out that they’re here to help.
2. FUTURE DISASTER PREPAREDNESS: GNODRP will be serving as the central point of contact for nonprofit organizations for preparedness and recovery efforts of future disasters. GNODRP will serve as the leader in organizing nonprofit recovery efforts in the event of a future disaster. Referred to as Greater New Orleans Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (GNO VOAD)
Hurricane Katrina Satellite Image

Who and What GNODRP Serves

GNODRP currently has 7 member parishes: Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Washington & the River Parishes: St. John the Baptist and St. Charles.

GNODRP offers services to aid in the disaster recovery process, these include but are not limited to rebuilding and repairing homes, case management, advocacy, emotional and spiritual care, donations collection and distribution, preparedness and volunteer coordination.

Through the GNODRP Donations Warehouse Program, rebuild agencies and case management agencies can pick up furnishings and materials on behalf of clients still in need of recovery. The materials are donated from a hodgepodge of sources. The partnerships that GNODRP has are extensive.

Who Is Involved?

GNODRP is made up of a coalition of over 70 organizations who give support by meeting community needs in the recovery process that have gone un-met by other sources The coalition is made up of faith-based, non-profit, government liaisons and long term recovery organizations.

A full list of member agencies and resource partners can be found by click the corresponding link. Some representative members include the United Way of New Orleans, the Red Cross and Catholic Charities and there are many more.

How You Can Get Involved

The GNODRP is always looking for people and organizations to join in their effort to collaborate and share resources. There are many ways to support GNODRP some include putting your name on the mailing list, signing up to volunteer, or making a donation. GNODRP is looking for many skill sets including social services, construction expertise, grant writing, PR, and most of all friendly and passionate people who want to make a difference in the local community.

For more information about GNODRP and to get Involved visit their site at: http://www.gnodrp.org/

or email: [email protected]

Keywords: disaster recovery, disaster preparedness, hurricane, New Orleans, GNO
July 18, 2009