Nine Free Technology Tools to Improve Nonprofit Efficiency in 2025

When I launched my first nonprofit I had no idea how to fundraise, but I did know how to keep my technology costs low while maximizing efficiency. Most of the day-to-day operations were run out of Google Workspace (free for Nonprofits), Slack (85% discount), and Eventbrite, with our monthly tech spend at less than $100/month between hosting costs and an email marketing platform.

As my first nonprofit grew to 50+ volunteer “staff”, running 5+ monthly events, quarterly workshops, and serving hundreds of attendees monthly, we often chose to go with a free or low-cost platform to support the process changes required by that growth instead of building our own (Our volunteer base was largely comprised of professional software engineers, designers, and project managers who would be more than up for the task).

Here are The Nonprofit Engineer’s free software tool recommendations to help nonprofits with:

• Better Organization, File sharing, Internal Processes, & Management
• Advanced Reporting
• Easy, breezy Marketing Asset Creation
• Expert Digital Marketing

Organization, File sharing, Internal Processes, & Management

Google Workspace

Google Workspace gives a lot of bang for zero bucks, Gmail is a superior email client, Google Groups makes it easy to set up and manage distribution lists, group-based permissions make document sharing and access management easy, and Google Calendar allows you to create booking pages which makes scheduling meetings a breeze! (See mine here)

Cost: Free for qualifying nonprofits

Airtable

While Google Sheets is powerful, Airtable can take table-based workflows to the next level. From HR needs to managing grant cycles to tracking data around donations, you can build your organization’s processes into this technical platform without requiring any code to be written.

Cost: Free tier or 50% discount for qualifying nonprofits

Zapier

Maximize your organization’s productivity with task automation. If you or your staff spend time on repetitive tasks - like uploading files between different software platforms, you can automate that work with Zapier. I’ve used Zapier often when I need data from a platform updated regularly - I can quickly set up a Zap to download the data I need and upload it where I want, like Google Drive to build a Looker Studio report. Zapier offers 7,000+ app connections to help your staff spend less time on repetitive tasks and more time working on carrying out your nonprofits mission.

Cost: Free tier or 15% discount for qualifying nonprofits

Reporting

Looker Studio

Looker Studio (formerly Data Studio) by Google is my secret weapon for quickly generating reports from almost any source. Looker Studio will take any data you give it and help you create custom reports tailored to your reporting needs. You can set date-range filters to quickly compare historical data and analyze trends over time. Data studio will allow you to create reports against any data you can dream of, from just a spreadsheet to data from one of the many integrations including:

• Salesforce
• Paypal
• Analytics platforms (instagram, TikTok)

If you or your staff dreads gathering data for reporting needs, I highly encourage you to check out Looker Studio, or schedule a meeting with The Nonprofit Engineer for a free walkthrough.

Cost: Free, some integration plugins may be paid

Marketing Asset Creation

Canva

I have a Bachelors degree in Graphic Design and five years ago I would have turned my nose up at the thought of using Canva as a primary marketing asset generation tool, but today I recognize Canva for the powerhouse platform it is. Canva can be your in-house graphic designer and social media maven for no cost - there are countless templates, fonts, and graphics to create any images, banners, even t-shirts you may need. There is a free version, but I highly recommend opting for Canva pro which gives you access to:

• High quality stock photos, videos, and graphics
• Brand template creation
• Magic Studio’s background eraser + other image editing tools

Cost: CanvaPro free for qualifying nonprofits

Image Compressr

How often have you tried to upload marketing assets to a CRM, event ticketing site, or fundraising platform and been told your image is too large? I use online image compression tools all the time - https://imagecompressr.com/ allows for bulk image uploading & compression.

Cost: Free

Figma

Figma is the new Photoshop. It is the ultimate software platform for designers, so it may feel intimidating for folks lacking design tool experience, but can produce powerful results. Figma will allow you to create freeform designs in a way that Canva won’t, and is backed by a robust community that has created plugins, tools, and asset kits for your team to take advantage of. That snazzy Nonprofit Engineer logo and site graphics? I designed them in the free version of Figma.

Cost: Free tier suitable for most non-profit’s needs. Some community plugins/assets may be paid.

Digital Marketing

Typeform

Typeform is a more robust form solution. If you’re looking for ways to get data from your member base, donors, or volunteers, Typeform allows you to create branded forms and surveys with advanced customization logic, and will even generate a QR code for sharing the form - useful for in-person event feedback gathering!

Cost: Free tier or 25% discount for qualifying nonprofits

Beehiiv

Many email marketing platforms have become large, cumbersome, and overpriced. Beehiiv is the current darling of technical content creators for pushing email content to their audiences, and the free tier is more than generous - unlimited emails for up to 2,500 subscribers! There’s even a way to generate revenue through ads, boosts, and paid subscriptions.

Cost: Free up to 2,500 subscribers

Speaking of newsletters, want to hear more about free tools for improving nonprofit productivity plus technical tips & insights? Subscribe to The Nonprofit Engineer’s newsletter for monthly tech tools & news curated just for nonprofits.