For nonprofits, email serves about as many purposes as the staff who run them. The Director may also be responsible writing applications for grants as well as Event Coordinator. Your volunteer manager also runs around all day soliciting donaations and writing social media posts.
Nonprofit emails also have a lot of roles to fill, including: newsletters, event announcements, volunteer coordination, donor outreach, donation drives and more.
The best email marketing platforms manage these together, instead of forcing your nonprofit to juggle between multiple systems and platforms with several login credentials you share with the team acrtoss post-it notes.
Consider starting by looking event management tools. Fundraising events are central to nonprofit work. An animal shelter could host a adopt-a-thon, an annual gala or restaurant partnership nights.
You'll want to look for a platform that offers:
Registration pages that meet your branding
Offer attendees the ability to check in with their mobile device
Ability to sell add-ons (Merchandise)
Fundraising integrations (DonorPerfect, Blackbaud, etc.)
Email templates designed around various non-profit goals.
Fun fact, Constant Contact offers all of these.
Next, what's absolutely essential for your organization?
Must haves
Nice to haves
Not needed (Yet)
Email campaigns
Automation
Additional user seats
Events
Advanced automations
Reporting
Contact management
It's like when you finally decided it's time to purchase a new tv. You get overwhelmed by the features. What's the difference between OLED and Mini-OLED, 4k, and 8k? If you start looking at all of them you'll probably wind up spending way more than you need to.
Important note: ask about nonprofit discounts. Constant Contact’s nonprofit program offers 20% off for 6-month prepaid plans, or 30% off for annual prepayment (monthly billing does not receive a discount).
