Hubspot for Nonprofits: A Step-by-Step Guide [2024]

Nonprofit organizations often juggle multiple tasks with limited resources. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems can help streamline operations and donor management. 

HubSpot for Nonprofits is one such CRM platform designed specifically for the nonprofit sector. It offers tools for managing workflows, donor relationships, and communication. The platform aims to centralize data and automate processes, allowing nonprofits to focus more on their core missions. 

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Table of Contents

Why use HubSpot for nonprofits?

HubSpot features for nonprofits 

HubSpot pricing for nonprofits

HubSpot eligibility requirements for nonprofits

What can you create with HubSpot for nonprofits

How to set up HubSpot for nonprofits with Zeffy

Best practices for making the most of HubSpot for nonprofits

Potential limitations of HubSpot for nonprofits

Final thoughts on HubSpot for nonprofits

FAQs on HubSpot for nonprofit organizations

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Why use HubSpot for nonprofits?

HubSpot for nonprofit organizations offers a CRM and marketing platform to support your mission and fundraisers. 

Here’s why over 4,000 forward-thinking organizations trust HubSpot:

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Better data management

HubSpot's CRM software centralizes donor data and provides tools to track interactions. It offers features for creating targeted communications and testing different outreach approaches. These tools aim to help nonprofits manage donor relationships and refine their engagement strategies over time.

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Simple and better donor segmentation

HubSpot's CRM platform includes features for organizing and viewing information about donors. The filters enable you to segment lists into precise supporter groups.

For instance, you can group donors into several categories, such as:

• Recurring donors
• One-time donors
• Inactive donors
• Geo-specific donors

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Automation to save time

HubSpot helps automate outreach efforts while building lasting relationships with donors and volunteers. Create and automate email campaigns to engage supporters. Set up triggers based on donor behavior to take appropriate actions.

For example, a newsletter subscriber may read an email about a fundraising campaign and leave without donating. Automation allows you to follow up to nudge the donor. 

It enables nonprofits to manage and track social media ads to drive donations and sign-ups. 

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Measure performance to improve strategies

HubSpot's CRM includes a dashboard for tracking donor data and analyzing performance metrics. The platform offers analytics tools for websites, email campaigns, social media, and ads. Nonprofits can track and review past data to better plan future strategies for effective outcomes. 

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HubSpot features for nonprofits 

CMS Hub for captivating websites

HubSpot’s CMS tool allows you to build customized websites, including a drag-and-drop interface and built-in SEO tools for a streamlined user experience and better rankings. 

Here are some of the features available on HubSpot's content management system:

• Editable themes and templates
• Pre-built SEO tools
• Easy drag-and-drop editor, even for non-technical staff
• Charity-specific customizable landing pages

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Marketing Hub

HubSpot's Marketing Hub offers features for nonprofits to manage donor outreach and fundraising campaigns. These features include: 

• A landing page builder to create custom and tailored themes for your campaigns
• Email marketing and social media management functionalities 
• Data and analytics to track website visitors' behavior
• Customizable email templates in line with your branding
• Drip campaigns and automated workflow emails triggered by donors' actions

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Sales Hub

Sales Hub provides insights, automation, and other tools to maximize donor management efforts. 

The tools auto-populate contact profiles every time you interact with the donor. You can automatically get information for further communications. 

Create personalized messages, secure your donations, and maintain better donor relationships. The Deal feature lets you track the progress of your goals and identify trends. 

Here are some other key features it offers: 

• Flexible CRM system to engage donors
• Donor cultivation pipelines to approach, engage, and nurture donor relationships
• In-line donation forms (via Marketplace integrations, like Zapier) to help donors contribute without redirecting to a different page

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HubSpot pricing for nonprofits

HubSpot has free and paid plans (discounted for nonprofits). The free plan includes three modules: marketing, sales, and CMS. These come with:

• Nonprofit-friendly onboarding
• Up to one million contacts
• Website SEO 
• Website traffic analysis
• 1-to-1 emails with HubSpot branding
• Up to 10 custom properties
• List segmentation for 10 active and 1,000 static lists
• Email scheduling
• Stripe payment processing
• Mobile inbox
• HubSpot mobile app
• Standard web analytics dashboard (3 dashboards with 10 reports/dashboard)
• And more

The free plan has many features, but there are usage limitations.

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HubSpot’s general pricing

1. Marketing Hub

1. Marketing Hub Professional: $800/month for 3 users + one-time onboarding charges of $3,000
2. Marketing Hub Enterprise: $3,600/month for 5 users + one-time onboarding charges of $7,000
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2. Sales Hub

1. Sales Hub Professional: $90/month/user + one-time onboarding charges of $1,500
2. Sales Hub Enterprise: $150/month/user + one-time onboarding charges of $3,500
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3. Service Hub

1. Service Hub Professional: $90/month/user + one-time onboarding charges of $1,500
2. Service Hub Enterprise: $130/month/user + one-time onboarding charges of $3,500

HubSpot offers nonprofits a 40% discount on tools for engaging donors, tracking reports, and scaling marketing.

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HubSpot eligibility requirements for nonprofits

HubSpot for nonprofits has the following requirements to qualify for the 40% discount. Your organization must:

• Be present and registered as a nonprofit in North America, Australia, or New Zealand 
• Be a new HubSpot customer
• Sign up for an annual term contract
• Provide valid proof of your nonprofit status

You can’t apply the nonprofit program pricing to existing products/subscriptions or combine it with other discounts.

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What can you create with HubSpot for nonprofits?

With HubSpot, nonprofits can create various resources and assets to support missions. This includes:

• Creating engaging email campaigns
• Building user-friendly websites
• Managing donor databases
• Analyzing marketing performance, and more

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Donations management

HubSpot's donation management module helps create a user-friendly donation experience for your supporters. 

Customize your donation pages using the HubSpot Marketplace's themes and templates, which offer drag-and-drop modules for easy customization. You can automate follow-up emails based on donor segments to ensure timely and personalized communication.

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Ad management

HubSpot’s centralized platform helps create, manage, and analyze ads from several platforms, including Google Ads, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. 

Using its precise segmentation feature, you can run hyper-targeted ad campaigns, and set and track your budget to make the most out of limited resources. 

The pre-built ad campaign templates also help you save time when creating effective ads. 

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Volunteer management

HubSpot streamlines volunteer management by automatically adding volunteers to workflows based on custom criteria. 

Automate follow-up communications to ensure volunteers receive timely thank-you messages and updates on events and opportunities. You can also use HubSpot's automated workflows to collect feedback and improve the volunteer experience.

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Social media management

Manage your social media campaigns with HubSpot by adding all your profiles to your account. Create, schedule, and track posts for your nonprofit’s social media channels from a single platform.

HubSpot also gives you the option to publish content across channels and batch-schedule posts in advance. This allows you to spread awareness about your nonprofit's program through social media.

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Launching a landing page

Create effective landing pages for your campaigns using HubSpot's Marketing Hub and CMS. 

Choose from pre-made themes or create custom designs without needing technical skills. Target potential donors by using filters to narrow down your audience. Edit pages easily with drag-and-drop modules to optimize conversions and boost donations.

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Email marketing

HubSpot offers email marketing tools that are integrated into its free CRM software. These tools allow users to create effective email campaigns, manage contacts, and use live chat features. 

With reliable email marketing tools, optimize each supporter's experience. Using traffic and conversion analytics, you can improve your campaigns and get a better ROI.

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How to set up HubSpot for nonprofits with Zeffy

Nonprofits that fundraise with Zeffy can benefit from HubSpot’s features. Zeffy is a 100% free fundraising platform that can integrate with HubSpot via the third-party integration tool Zapier. 

Take these simple steps to integrate Zeffy using Zapier:

1. Get your Zeffy’s Zapier invite link
2. Login / sign up to Zapier
3. On Zapier, create a new Zap that triggers when a new donation is made on Zeffy
4. Set the action to create or update a contact in HubSpot 
5. Map the relevant fields from Zeffy (e.g., donor name, email, donation amount) to HubSpot contact properties

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Best practices for making the most of HubSpot for nonprofits

1. Personalized communications with the core audiences

Leverage HubSpot's personalization and automation features to segment your audience and send targeted messages. Use filters like donation history, interests, and demographics to create tailored content and landing pages that resonate with your supporters.

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2. Optimize donation forms

Streamline donations with HubSpot's custom forms. This donor management system uses smart fields and conditional logic to simplify the process. It can pre-fill information for returning donors, making giving easier. By reducing steps and personalizing the experience, you can improve donor satisfaction and potentially increase donations.

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3. Measure impact and improve

Your HubSpot account offers several tools to analyze key metrics. Check the “Reports” tab and see what features you can use to improve donor relationships and engagement. 

Analytics measure impact and track donation trends, volunteer engagements, and campaign performances. See if your fundraisers are lacking in any of these areas and identify what you can do to improve them.

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4. Nurture donors and supporters

HubSpot's analytics tools allow you to track key metrics and gain insights into your fundraising efforts. Analyze donation trends, volunteer engagement, and campaign performance to identify areas for improvement and optimize your strategies.

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Potential limitations of HubSpot for nonprofits

1. Limited report customization:
   Users can only work with pre-set measurements, limiting the ability to create customized reports tailored to specific nonprofit needs
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2. Learning curve:
   Some users find HubSpot's extensive features overwhelming initially, requiring time and resources for staff training.
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3. Cost considerations:
   Although there's a free plan and nonprofit discount, some smaller organizations may find the paid plans expensive, especially with onboarding fees.
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4. Overkill for smaller nonprofits:
   Smaller organizations might not need all the features HubSpot offers, potentially leading to under-utilization of the platform

These limitations are worth considering when evaluating if HubSpot is the right fit for your nonprofit's specific needs and resources. If you’re looking for a cost-effective alternative to HubSpot, Zeffy is a 100% free CRM software for nonprofits.

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Final thoughts on HubSpot for nonprofits

HubSpot is a versatile sales, marketing, service, operations, and website-building platform. By using HubSpot's features and integrations, nonprofits can create personalized experiences for their supporters. 

HubSpot equips nonprofits with tools required to maximize impact, from automating repetitive tasks to gaining valuable insights through analytics. Pairing HubSpot with a dedicated fundraising platform can streamline your nonprofit’s functions and help you raise more.

While HubSpot offers powerful CRM capabilities, it's not the only solution for nonprofits. If you're already using HubSpot, you can seamlessly integrate it with Zeffy, a 100% free fundraising platform, to enhance your donor management.

If you're looking for a cost-effective alternative, Zeffy also offers comprehensive donor management tools at no cost.

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FAQs on HubSpot for nonprofit organizations

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