8 Marketing Automation Tools for Nonprofits

Imagine manually sending thank-you notes to new donors or personalizing every email before hitting send. Without marketing automation, these tasks would be tedious and prone to human error.

37% of nonprofits agree that managing their workload is their biggest challenge. Luckily, fundraisers can streamline their workflows, save time, and create personalized outreach with the right marketing automation tools. But with so many options, how do you choose the right one? 

In this guide, we’re bringing you our top picks for marketing automation for nonprofits. This list is backed by a combination of research, experience, and user insights, and we’re confident these tools offer the best value and features for nonprofits today.

What is marketing automation?

Marketing automation involves using software to handle repetitive or time-consuming marketing tasks, freeing up nonprofit marketers to focus on strategy and creative campaigns. It helps streamline workflows and automate tasks, while also enabling customized messaging to your supporters.

Top marketing automation platforms allow fundraisers to create welcome email series for new subscribers, send personalized donor thank-you emails automatically, and optimize messaging for fundraising campaigns. When you choose the right tools and set up your processes effectively, marketing automation doesn’t just save time—it also enhances donor experiences. 

What to consider when comparing marketing automation software

There are thousands of marketing automation tools out there, but there’s no reason to spend time sifting through them all. Before you start your search, determine your needs, set your budget, and identify the most important features you need.

As you compare different nonprofit marketing automation tools, here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Is this software a single-feature tool or an all-in-one solution? 🧰
• Are there specific features designed for nonprofits? 💰
• Does this software integrate with your other fundraising, CRM, and marketing tools? ⚙️
• Can this software help personalize donor communications? 📧
• What’s the potential return on investment of automating your operations? 📊
• Do you need one tool or a combination of different apps? 🏆
• Are there case studies and examples showing how nonprofits have successfully used this software? 📚

These questions, along with your feature requirements and budget, should help you create a shortlist of potential tools to explore further, test, and ultimately invest in.

The best nonprofit automation tools for 2025

1. Givebutter: Best for marketing and fundraising in one place
2. HubSpot: Best for advanced marketing automation
3. Mailchimp: Best for entry-level marketing automation
4. ChatBot: Best for adding a chat widget to your website
5. Monday.com: Best for project management and marketing automation
6. Buffer: Best for social media automation
7. Zapier: Best for overall automation

7 affordable marketing automation tools for nonprofits to consider

We’ve done the research to bring you this list of the most useful, most affordable marketing automation tools for nonprofit organizations.

1. Givebutter: Best for marketing and fundraising in one place

For changemakers who want fundraising, donor management, and marketing integrated in one central platform, Givebutter is the best choice. Not only is Givebutter packed with fundraising features, but it’s also a powerhouse for marketing automation. Givebutter receives rave reviews for its intuitive interface, robust integrations, and text-to-donate capabilities. 

💰 Price: Givebutter’s core fundraising and donor management features are free, thanks to optional donor tips. For advanced workflows and task automation features, Givebutter Plus starts at just $29 per month.

📣 Standout features:

• Donor management and CRM
• Fundraising pages and events
• Donation forms
• Marketing and engagement tools
• Text-to-donate and scan-to-donate
• Direct mail
• Email templates
• Enhanced donor stewardship, task tracking, automation workflows, and email marketing features as part of Givebutter Plus

✅ Best for: Nonprofits looking for an easy, all-in-one solution

‍🔥 Our take: Givebutter is the most-loved fundraising platform for nonprofits for a reason. With easy-to-use fundraising tools and clever automation, Givebutter offers everything you need to send engaging, personalized donor communications—all in one place. 

What users like about Givebutter

‍“It was very easy to create and share our marketing campaign as well as produce a ticketing structure that was appropriate to our needs. The platform also gave people the option to make donations in addition to ticket purchases, and this helped tremendously with our fundraising.”- Givebutter Review, Jacquelyn D.

‍What users dislike about Givebutter

‍“One potential con to Givebutter is that their extensive feature set and customization options can have a learning curve for new users who may not be familiar with online fundraising platforms. It might take some time and effort to fully explore and utilize all the available tools and functionalities.”- Givebutter review, Michelle P.

2. HubSpot for Nonprofits: Best for advanced marketing automation

HubSpot is a leading marketing, CRM, and sales platform that covers everything from basic email marketing to sophisticated lead scoring, custom reporting, and dynamic personalization. While not built specifically for nonprofits, it offers a generous nonprofit discount.

💰 Price: HubSpot offers a free basic plan, with paid plans starting at $15 per user per month. HubSpot offers a 40% discount for nonprofits on their marketing, sales, and CMS hub plans. 

📣 Standout features:

• CRM
• Email marketing
• Forms
• Ad campaign creation
• Workflows
• Social media
• Website traffic analytics
• SEO recommendations

✅ Best for: Bigger nonprofits with a large budget and a need for more sophisticated marketing campaign automation tools.

‍🔥 Our take: HubSpot has plenty to offer nonprofits, but the various plans and add-ons can feel overwhelming. And if you need more than basic automation, the costs can quickly add up—making it an expensive investment.

‍What users like about HubSpot

‍“The platform is user-friendly and reasonably affordable. It provides peace of mind by allowing me to avoid the hassle of meticulously tracking small details, which is not my strength. Additionally, it has been helpful in tracking opportunities, strengths, weaknesses, and threats related to our email marketing efforts.”- HubSpot review, Cori F.

‍What users dislike about HubSpot

‍“I think the reporting is very limited. It's difficult to track the customer journey and understand the timeline of marketing events at a high level.”- HubSpot review, Joey G.

3. Mailchimp: Best for entry-level marketing automation

Mailchimp is an email marketing and automation platform designed to help organizations send targeted SMS and email campaigns. It enables nonprofits to reach donors with a personalized message at the right time and offers the option to enhance automation with integrations. 

💰 Price: Mailchimp has a limited free plan for up to 500 contacts. After that, plans start at $20 per month for email marketing or $33 per month for email marketing and SMS. Eligible nonprofits can take advantage of a 15% discount.

📣 Standout features:

• Email marketing
• SMS marketing
• Workflows and targeting
• Social media marketing
• Reporting and analytics
• Templates
• Content creation

✅ Best for: Small nonprofits with basic marketing automation needs and a small contact list.

‍🔥 Our take: Mailchimp’s free plan is a helpful introduction to email marketing, but its small maximum list size and limited features mean users need to pay to unlock full marketing automation capabilities—or try a Mailchimp alternative.

‍What users like about Mailchimp

‍“For the price, the tools and automation are exactly what you need them to be, and social media scheduling is a nice additional feature.”- Mailchimp review, Thomas H.

‍What users dislike about Mailchimp

‍“The least favorable aspect of Intuit Mailchimp is its pricing structure, which can become expensive for small businesses as their subscriber lists grow and they require more advanced features.”- Mailchimp review, Shanelle D.

4. ChatBot: Best for adding a chat widget to your website

ChatBot is a platform that enables fundraisers to engage with supporters through AI-powered chatbots. Nonprofits can add the chat widget to their website, customize it, and drive higher levels of engagement with visitors.

💰 Price: ChatBot’s standard pricing starts at $52 per month. Eligible nonprofits can use ChatBot’s software for free.

📣 Standout features:

• AI-powered chatbot
• Multichannel communication
• Visual builder
• Personalized communication
• Offer upsells
• Automated emails
• Reporting

✅ Best for: Nonprofits that want to improve the donor experience on their website.

‍🔥 Our take: ChatBot offers nonprofits an affordable way to engage with supporters through AI and marketing automation. For eligible nonprofits, the fact that it’s free is also a bonus.

‍What users like about ChatBot

‍“Navigating through the platform and integration is super easy. The customization options are pretty rad. Being able to tailor the chatbot's responses to match the brand's tone and style is a sweet touch.- ChatBot review, Chandan M.

‍What users dislike about ChatBot

‍“Expensive compared to other better alternatives; for live chat, you have to buy a separate live-chat subscription which is costly too.”- ChatBot review, Sameer G.

5. monday.com: Best for project management and marketing automation

monday.com makes it easier for nonprofits to streamline operations management and marketing automation in one platform. Users can track fundraising goals, send automated fundraising emails, and send automated event feedback forms.

💰 Price: monday.com has a free plan with limited features, with upgrades available from $8 per seat per month. Eligible nonprofits can use the nonprofit plan to get 10 seats free, followed by a 70% discount on further users.

📣 Standout features:

• Automated email marketing
• Text messaging
• Grant management
• Donation pipelines
• Automated forms
• Task management
• Project management
• Reporting and analytics

✅ Best for: Nonprofits that want to improve operations management and add some marketing automation capability.

‍🔥 Our take: monday.com is known for its project and work management capabilities, but it also has useful features for nonprofits that want to automate their marketing—making it a good option if you want to check off both goals at once.

‍What users like about monday.com

‍“Monday helps us manage our campaigns and projects effectively in our marketing team. It is a very easy tool to use. I like the automation features, they help us scale our projects and never miss any deadlines.”- monday.com review, Thami R.

‍What users dislike about monday.com

‍“I would like to see more automations out of the box, and not have to fidget with how to make things work.”- monday.com review, Sheila K.

6. Buffer: Best for social media automation

Buffer is a marketing automation tool centered around social media management. It allows fundraisers to create content, schedule posts, publish, engage with followers, and analyze performance across social channels like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn. 

💰 Price: Buffer offers a free plan with a limited amount of scheduled posts and features. Paid plans start at $5 per month for one channel. Eligible nonprofits receive a 50% discount on all plans.

📣 Standout features:

• Content creation
• Social media scheduling
• Landing pages
• Engagement tools
• AI writing assistant
• Reporting and analytics

✅ Best for: Nonprofits looking to improve their social media impact.

‍🔥 Our take: While most of the tools on this list focus on email marketing and donor communication, Buffer is a strong choice for expanding your social media reach. Pair it with another automation tool to create a comprehensive marketing strategy.

‍What users like about Buffer

‍“We were able to increase our brand's visibility and presence by optimizing Buffer's ability to analyze the performance of our posts. This has allowed us to change our approach and achieve higher engagement results.”- Buffer review, Carmen M.

‍What users dislike about Buffer

‍“The mobile app isn't as seamless as the web version. I do a lot of repetitive tasks on the move so it kind of is a big deal for me.- Buffer review, Victory J.

‍7. Zapier: Best for overall automation

Zapier is a no-code platform that helps users streamline workflows and connect different apps together with the help of automation. Nonprofit fundraisers can use Zapier’s ready-made “Zaps” to automate workflows or create their own.

‍💰 Price: Zapier has a free plan for basic use, but users can upgrade to paid plans with extra features from $20 per month. Eligible nonprofits can secure a 15% discount on a single plan.

📣 Standout features:

• Ready-made and DIY workflow automation
• AI workflows
• Databases for workflows
• Chatbots (beta)
• AI assistants (beta)

✅ Best for: Nonprofits that want to create a connection between apps to streamline workflows.

‍🔥 Our take: Zapier enables nonprofits to send data between apps and tools without the need to consult a software developer or invest in expensive integrations, making it ideal for nonprofits on a budget—or check out some Zapier alternatives. 

‍What users like about Zapier

‍“What I appreciate most about Zapier is the reliability and consistency it offers. Once a "Zap" is set up, it just works in the background, allowing us to focus on more critical tasks without worrying about routine processes.”- Zapier review, Michael F.

‍What users dislike about Zapier

‍“Zapier's advanced features can be pricey, complex workflows might require troubleshooting, and it depends heavily on app integrations being up-to-date.”- Zapier review, Prajwal S.

How to find the right marketing automation tools for your nonprofit

These might be our go-to marketing automation tools for nonprofits, but that doesn’t mean they’re right for everyone. Before making your final decision, here’s how to find the best tool for your needs:

• Stick to your budget 💰 Get clear on your budget to avoid solutions that are too expensive.
• Look out for nonprofit discounts ✂️ Check if the software provider offers discounts or special plans for nonprofit organizations.
• Prioritize must-have features ⚒️ Focus on software that meets your immediate needs.
• Ask about analytics 📈 Ensure the software includes analytics to help you track performance and measure ROI.
• Read user reviews and case studies 🏆 Seek out real-life experiences from others to see if the tool fits your needs.
• Compare the onboarding experience 🗺️ Determine if the tool will be easy to use or have a steep learning curve based on your team’s knowledge and experience.
• Consider investing in an all-in-one tool 🧰 Look for one solution that handles both fundraising and marketing automation, like Givebutter.
• Take a test drive 🚗 Experience the software for yourself with a demo, trial, or free plan.

Finding the right software for your nonprofit means knowing what you need, understanding how the software works, and deciding if it’s a good match for your goals, budget, and needs. 

More to explore

Streamline operations with the top nonprofit apps →

Transform your nonprofit marketing with Givebutter

If you’re looking for one tool to act as your marketing hub, Givebutter is the best choice. Not only does it offer a built-in CRM, email marketing, and plenty of donor personalization options, but with Givebutter Plus, you can access even more powerful features, including an advanced, drag-and-drop email editor with hundreds of templates, automated task management, and time-saving workflows. 

Givebutter has everything you need to streamline your processes and drive personalized donor communications—all at an affordable price. Sign up for Givebutter today to experience marketing automation designed with nonprofit fundraisers in mind.