Good tech makes life easier and work more fun.

 There are HUNDREDS of good tools out there, for every sort of thing you can imagine.

But, we wanted to give you our top 10 recommendations for nonprofits to consider.

These are tools that our team uses every day or find ourselves always recommending to nonprofit clients we work with.

1. Slack

Slack is an incredible collaboration tool that I fell in love with over 4 years ago and have used almost every work-day since.

When you first hear about Slack, you might wonder “What’s the big deal? Other tools can do the same thing…”. I said the same thing about the iPhone before the first one was released.

Some products and technologies go beyond function and are just plain enjoyable to use.  Slack is one of those tools.  And that is why it has had the fastest business app growth in history. (source)

 The Slack for Nonprofits program offers free or discounted plan upgrades to eligible organizations. 

Learn more about Slack here.

2. G-Suite for Nonprofits

I literally never use Microsoft Excel, Word, or Powerpoint anymore. The collaboration and ease of Google’s G-Suite has just made it my go-to tool for every presentation, proposal, document, and spreadsheet. I love being able to edit on my phone and laptop, and see the live edits of others I’m working with.

And similar to Slack, the user interface is just so delightful. (which matters when you are looking at it all day, everyday!)

Oh, and G-Suite is free for nonprofits!

3. Canva for Nonprofits

I can get around pretty well in Photoshop, but I rarely have to anymore thanks to Canva.

If you haven’t already jumped on the bandwagon, it’s time you give Canva a try. Our team uses Canva for social media graphics, new design concepts, and our business cards.

Canva offers its premium version free to registered nonprofits.

4. Loom

Loom videos are a great way to say “thank you” to a donor in a creative and unforgettable way. (in 5 minutes or less!)

I love Loom because it allows me to capture my screen, record with my front-facing camera, and narrate it all at once, then instantly share with a simple link. No switching apps or uploading required.

Record unlimited videos & access 100 more for free with Loom. 

5. Zapier

Stop doing everything manually, and start automating!

Zapier connects your web apps to each other so that you can spend your time doing more meaningful work. Our team uses Zapier to notify us in a Slack channel every time we get a new email subscriber,  among other things.

Zapier offers a 15% discount on any paid plan for nonprofits.

6. LastPass

It seems like every website makes you create a username and password these days.

Lastpass is great because you only have to remember ONE master password, and it remembers the rest for you. It autofills passwords on every site you want it to, is available on all your devices, and is trusted by over 16 million people.

Not only does this make your life easier, LastPass also makes your donor data more secure. And that’s a big deal.

Did I mention that Lastpass is also free?

7. Buffer

Taking the time to find the picture and add the caption to every post you make on social media can be extremely time consuming, especially if you’re trying to post on multiple networks at once.

Buffer lets you plan and publish your content for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn, all from one simple dashboard, and makes posting 5 steps easier.

Buffer offers free plans and 50% off paid plans for nonprofits.

8. Divi

If your nonprofit’s website needs a facelift but you don’t have the time or money for a developer, I’d highly recommend Divi for WordPress.

Divi is easy to learn, customizable, and easy to collaborate on. I love it because I can make blog posts, client portals, sales pages, and informational pages all from the same place and in the same straightforward way. 

Our website was built on Divi and it is SO easy for us to make updates and edits on the fly.

Divi has a custom template built specifically for nonprofits.

9. Trello

Trello is how we keep the Branches team aligned and organized.

Trello’s boards, lists, and cards enable you to organize and prioritize your projects in a flexible, collaborative, and effortless way. Our team uses Trello for meetings, project management, reminders, and idea collaboration. There are a lot of great project management tools out there (Basecamp, Asana, Monday, etc.) but we’ve landed on Trello because it is free (for now) and easy.

Trello is free to start, and offers a 75% discount on paid plans for nonprofits.

10. Mailchimp

Our team uses ConvertKit for email marketing (and we LOVE it!). So, we recommend you check it out too, especially as you start using more and more email automation.

However, Mailchimp remains the go-to ‘starter’ for many nonprofit because it is so affordable, user friendly, and easily integrates with lots of important tools (like WordPress).

Mailchimp offers free plans and 15% off to nonprofits on all paid plans.