We’re running a series of items this week on free and discounted resources for not-for-profits under the headings of digital, social media, design, training and volunteers. The materials listed below originally appeared on the Lightful website, a technology company for social good. Not-for-profits can sign up for free to Lightful, but there is also a pricing structure if you’re interested in more of the resources on offer.
Today’s item looks at free or discounted digital services.
o Salesforce – Salesforce for non-profits is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool that offers 10 free subscriptions to charities as well as discounts on additional subscriptions, products, and services from Salesforce.
o WordPress – if your charity is really small and can’t afford a website, then build one yourself with WordPress. Whilst it’s completely free, it is recommended that you pay for a domain name. Note that WordPress.com is free but if you think you may need more functionality as some stage, then go with WordPress.org which is self-hosted. It does mean having to pay a hosting company but this can cost less than £5 per month.
Read this 5 Minute Guide to WordPress for Charities & Non-profits by Irish Charity Lab to help get you started. Alternatively, you can use WordPress as a blog for your charity. Does your charity really need a blog? This article of the Lightful website will help you decide.
o MailChimp – easily design and create professional, mobile optimised emails for your organisation, for free, through MailChimp. You can send up to 12,000 emails per month and have a maximum of 2,000 email subscribers to qualify for the free version. If you need more than this, apply for a non-profit discount.
o Google Grants – did you know that Google offers free ad grants to non-profits to help you reach more people and drive traffic to your website? Well, here’s where to apply. There are terms and conditions so be sure to read this post from Platypus Digital to ensure you comply with the new Google Grants changes.
o Google G-Suite – charities can get access to Google G-Suite for free. What is G-Suite? It’s a host of tools such as creating a calendar that everyone in your organisation can access, meeting or webinar functionality via Hangouts, the ability to create forms using Form Builder and more.
o Slack – a digital workspace where you can create public and private channels, collaborate and upload images and files to get work done. It’s a very versatile tool and there’s an App for your phone so you can use it on the move. Slack is free to use up to a certain amount of users but “Slack for non profits” offers charities a huge discount if you’re too big for the free version.
o Trello – Trello is a really easy to use project management tool that allows you to create boards, manage tasks and assign tasks to team members. It’s free to use but if your non-profit needs to upgrade to the Business Class pricing plan, you can request a charity discount through their customer support.
o Workplace by Facebook – described as ‘more than a collaboration tool’, Workplace by Facebook is free for charities and non-profits. It’s similar to Facebook in look, usability and even features but it’s for organisations to use to brainstorm, create teams to work on projects, share relevant news and much more.
