We are very honoured to support many charities with our business support services and know that spending money wisely is top of the considerations for every charity we work with.
To help with that, we’ve been doing some research to find out what tools and systems there are available on a free plan or via grants, which can help you run/systemise your charity’s business operations. We hope you find this useful.
1. Google Ad Grants
This program gives charities and the eligible nonprofits the chance to advertise on Google Ads for free. It provides qualified organisations with up to £7000 free advertising spend per month. By taking advantage of this program, it’s a great way for a charity can reach new users, donors, volunteers and campaigners.
To be eligible an organisation must hold current and valid charity status, agree to Google’s required certifications regarding non-discrimination and donation receipt and use, and have a live website with substantial content.
You will either need to implement the ads yourself, or we can put you in touch with people who can help do this for you.
2. Microsoft 365 Grant
Microsoft 365 Business Premium grant is available for free for up to 10 users and discounted pricing for additional team members. It works best for small and mid-sized nonprofits that need email, Office desktop applications, cloud file-storage and sharing, web conferencing with IM, audio and HD video, and simple device management and advanced security features.
To be eligible the organisation must be a registered charity. While Microsoft evaluates applications, organisations can do the “Nonprofit Digital Skills Training”, once approved they will have access to the Nonprofit Hub.
3. Canva for Nonprofits
Canva Nonprofits has everything needed to create powerful marketing campaigns. From creating social media posts, to presentations, infographics, marketing materials and so much more.
To be eligible for Canva’s Nonprofit program an organisation must be a registered nonprofit, be a social impact organisation with a mission consistent with a public or community benefit, be a public health organisation, or be a government entity assisting with public health.
4. Donation manager
Donation manager is a suite consisting of various systems and tools, that is currently used by over 13,000 charities in the UK.
It includes:
- TotalGiving: the first platform where money goes directly from the donor to the charity, cutting out the middleman.
- NowDonate: enables charities to take payments from debit and credit cards, direct debits, and PayPal.
- NowGoOnline: provides charities with the ability to have an unlimited number of websites. These are one-page websites designed to provide the most effective presence. You can set up an unlimited number of websites, for example one for each project.
- RedCloud: CRM system to easily connect, collaborate and engage with supporters.
- ChampionHeroes: a community of over 1000 donors and supporters.
It’s available to all UK registered charities.
5. Benchmark
Benchmark’s software packages are completely free to all registered charities, churches, clubs and non-profit organisations (NPOs) as part of their Free Software For Charities project. The products available include accounting software, payroll and auto enrolment, stock management software, CRM, website design tool, and more.
6. Fair Collective
Fair Collective provides courses and support for charities and socially purposed organisations. They have provided over 500 hours of pro bono work to small charities in the last 7 years and are happy to connect you with other free resources for your non profit.
Their rates are dependent on an organisation’s income, but they can also provide you with free spaces on their webinars and courses run by their founder.
7. Hootsuite
With an understanding that social media is incredibly important for charities, Hootsuite provides discounts and education for charities to make the most out of their social media.
You can save up to 75% if you register with them as a non profit organisation.
Find out more here.
8. Adobe Express for nonprofits:
Adobe Express Premium is free for charitable organisations. You can also receive discounted.
This will give you access to video creation software, Adobe fonts, Adobe stock, and social media scheduling and publishing software.
Find out more here.
9. Slack for nonprofits program
This is a cloud based tool workspace chat, collaboration, team building and meeting tool which offers an 85% discount for nonprofits. This is really handy as it connects meetings with Google Calendar.
Apply for your discount here.
We hope this list was helpful – if there’s anything we might have missed from the list, do let us know and we’ll keep this blog updated.
And as always, don’t hesitate to contact us if you need any help.
