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How is Zeffy free?
How is Zeffy free?
Zeffy relies entirely on optional contributions from donors. At the payment confirmation step - we ask donors to leave an optional contribution to Zeffy.
Managing donors can feel overwhelming, especially if you're running a small nonprofit or just starting out. The good news is that you don’t need full-time staff or powerful donor management software with a huge price tag to pull it off.
This guide is your go-to for simple donor management and free tools that help you do more with less time and less money. We’ll cover what matters to today’s donors and give you actionable steps to build relationships that grow your community and fundraising potential.
Along the way, you'll see how Zeffy’s 100% free donor management tool can relieve the stress of donor communication and give you simple reporting features built for nonprofits like yours.
Grab answers to all of your donor management questions, including:
Donor management is how a nonprofit builds and grows relationships with the supporters who make its mission possible. Donations can feel too transactional if people give and never hear from the organization or charitable cause again. Donor management strategies have become a non-negotiable for nonprofits that want to build a community of loyal supporters who will donate, fundraise, and advocate on their behalf. This is the human touch, the emotional connection, and what creates meaning around the action of giving.
Nonprofits provide clear communication about their impact (82%)
Nonprofits share regular updates about how donations are used (40%)
Donors are inspired by personal stories that show real-world results (39%)
Donors meet or hear from someone helped by the nonprofit (28%)
The impact is clear, and donor management doesn’t have to be overly complex or expensive to result in stronger donor relationships. Below, we’ll cover the simplest actions you can take to attract potential new donors, retain current supporters, and encourage further generosity.
Donor management for small nonprofits: Where to start
Effective donor engagement doesn’t require a big team or a perfectly laid-out process. At the heart of building relationships with your supporters is simply caring for them and turning that into thoughtful and consistent touchpoints throughout the year.
As a smaller or scrappy nonprofit, you already know how valuable a single donor can be, and because of that, you can add a more genuine tone to your donor management approach. It won’t be about finding time to do more when you’re already spread thin, but taking small steps that go a long way.
Start before you’re ready to gain a competitive edge
Even if you have under 50 donors, knowing who gave, when, and what inspired them can strengthen every fundraising decision you make in the future. You’ll learn what works and what you can save time on to hit your goals, whether to increase donors or build up more recurring gifts to rely on.
Knowing how to use free donor management tools that simplify it all is a game-changer. While others wait to invest in systems and solidify a process, you’ll already be building trust, connection, and loyalty in a way that fits your capacity.
Let’s start with the important topic of the budget. A quick Google search will show you several options, but which ones are built for small nonprofits that need simplicity and efficiency?
More importantly, is the cost worth it? We’ve broken it all down here:
No full-time development staff? No problem. You can see what motivates your supporters with even the most basic donor tracking.
Here’s a look at how these insights can help you build relationships:
Gift amount: See which donors have the potential to be major donors and send more personalized thank-you messages
How donors engage with campaigns: See which campaigns resonate with donors the most and invest more time into building or repeating those
Donation frequency: Identify donors to target messages to one-time donors to upgrade them to recurring givers, and celebrate recurring givers for their commitment
Monthly giving trends: Be able to pinpoint which seasons bring in the most donations, and plan your fundraising calendar and volunteer schedules to make the most of it
Communication history: See which emails land with donors and which go unopened to personalize your subject lines and messages better before and after a donation
People want to feel seen. Whether it’s a personal thank-you email or an invite to a behind-the-scenes update from your nonprofit, personalized outreach builds trust and makes effective donor management possible.
When you can see clear trends and themes across your donor data with a simple donor relationship management tool, you can tailor your outreach. This helps you show donors they matter and build a connection that keeps them loyal to your cause.
For example, imagine filtering data by first transaction date and sending a one-year-later impact update that details your nonprofit's progress and how its contributions contributed to tangible outcomes.
When growing your nonprofit and expanding your reach, keeping donors is just as important as attracting new ones. Donor management gives you a clear way to spot when supporters might stop engaging before they drop off, so you can reconnect with intention.
For example, a donor management dashboard might show you that a donor who gives to your annual campaign consistently has not opened your last few emails leading up to this year’s event. Now, you have an opportunity to send a message thanking them for the impact they’ve made and maybe inviting them to attend this year’s event for free as an honorary guest.
That one action might be the difference between losing that donor and making an impression that makes them confident in continuing to support you for years to come. They might even share the positive experience with others in their network.
Automation is made for organizations that need to do a lot more with less time, money, and resources. Donor management tools like Zeffy know you need information fast and without needing to manually input details about your fundraising journey.
That’s why automating tasks like these can save you hours:
Organize your contacts by donor segments
Track every donation in a single donor database
Schedule messages to go out to certain groups at set times
Send tax-compliant donation receipts to every donor
When you're planning a campaign or setting goals for the year, real-time donor data can relieve the pressure and help you take action that will move the needle.
For example, Zeffy’s pre-filled forms are automatically tailored to a specific donor, so you can share them with their preferences and information aligns to their donor history in a click. When such a personalized experience is so simple to create, you can see higher conversion rates fast and without the extra effort.
6. Stronger compliance
You never know when you’ll need your fundraising data accessible in a pinch. Tax season, board meetings, or accounting audits will require clean and organized reporting, which donor management will keep pristine for you without a spreadsheet.
Seeing everything in one place keeps you ahead and free of any compliance penalties.
Not sure where to start? Zeffy’s built-in donor management tools are 100% free and designed for small teams like yours. Whether tracking a handful of supporters or growing fast, Zeffy helps you stay organized without the overhead.
If you’ve ever said, “We use Excel and hope for the best,” or “I don’t have time to learn complex tools,” you’re not alone. When it comes down to creating a donor management process that works, this cheat sheet helps you build momentum at every stage of the donor lifecycle.
Stage 1: Capture
Begin by identifying who’s most likely to care. Start with your existing donors and see who’s already giving, sharing your posts, or attending events.
Once you’ve found your people, the next step is warming them up. Instead of pushing for donations right away, invite them in to learn about your story.
It’s helpful to think about:
What got your nonprofit started?
What impact are you hoping to make?
What emotional appeal brings people to your cause?
Share your mission personally through Instagram reels, a warm email, or a quick video from your team. As you build curiosity, you can continue nurturing lasting relationships.
You can personalize your message by using what you know about a donor, such as their favorite cause or donation history. Zeffy’s fundraising and donor management tools simplify this type of targeting, even for those new to fundraising tech.
Some touchpoints for donor stewardship to plan ahead for:
Social posts about your wins
Email newsletters with campaign updates
Personal thank-you notes after a campaign
A quick email saying, “Here’s what your donation did.”
Don’t worry, you don’t need to carve out much time for these messages to strengthen donor relationships. Modern AI-based tools like ChatGPT are making personalizing outreach easier and developing new ways to share fun and engaging information based on your platform to reach donors.
Now that you’ve sparked interest, offer clear ways to get involved. You never want supporters to wonder how to give or take action, so don’t be afraid to be more direct and share a campaign, promote an event, or ask for help spreading the word.
Some actionable ways to reach out with consistency:
Automating a personal touchpoint every 3 months so no donor goes ignored
Automating anniversary emails to emphasize the impact of staying with your organization
Sending out a feedback survey once a year to ask for direct feedback on how to improve your donor experience, campaigns, or volunteer programs, while giving donors a voice
Donor management best practices that drive results
Set realistic goals
Taking actions that make a difference is about knowing exactly what you want to accomplish. Pick a few donor management goals that matter and start small.
A few examples:
Add 50 new donors by year-end
Increase monthly giving by 20% in the next quarter
Re-engage 30 lapsed donors by Spring
Grow your email list by 20 people each month
Choose a few metrics to focus on
Not sure what to track? Tracking everything might be overwhelming if you’re just getting started or working with a smaller donor base.
You can start by identifying the numbers that tell you the most about your donors and impact. Pick three to focus on, and then build from there as your capacity grows.
Here are a few solid starting points:
Donor retention rate: Who’s coming back to give again? This helps you know if your thank-yous and follow-ups are working.
Donor acquisition cost: What did it take to bring in a new donor? This is great for understanding whether your campaigns are paying off.
Donor lifetime value: How much does one donor give over time? This is a powerful way to see the long-term impact of building relationships and how loyal donors lead to impact.
Donor engagement: Who’s opening your emails, showing up at events, or sharing your posts? Track this to find your most active supporters and invite them deeper.
Donor churn: Who’s dropping off? Spot trends and re-engage before they disappear for good.
As you start tracking, you can also find your benchmarks and set goals based on them (e.g., decreasing churn by 20%).
Whether it's a personalized thank-you message, a note to loyal donors, or a campaign announcement, it’s far more impactful to show impact than to talk about it. Donors respond better when they can visualize the change they help create and can become more invested in your cause because of it.
What that looks like:
Instead of saying it’s been a record year, feature real statistics that demonstrate that growth
Instead of saying thank you for helping families fight hunger, feature the real story of a family whose lives were changed, told in their voice
Instead of updating donors that your campaign helped build a school, show images of the work in progress, volunteers on the ground, and students who will start learning there
Donor management tools automatically capture key details, but checking in about name changes, address updates, or contact information never hurts. This can be done easily with a friendly, “Can you confirm your contact info?” email quarterly.
Donor information to collect and check in on includes:
First and last name
Mailing address
Email address
Phone number
Communication preferences
Age
Gender
Occupation
What drew them to your cause
What to look for in donor management software
If you're not ready for a powerhouse CRM like Salesforce or don’t have the budget or time to manage something that complex, that's okay. The right tool for a small nonprofit is built for simplicity, not scale. Here are the must-haves that make a real difference for an effective donor management system:
Easy contact import and export
You should be able to upload your donor list from a spreadsheet and download it again anytime. This keeps your data portable and manageable, especially if you're migrating from one tool to another or sharing information with your board.
Automatic tax receipts
No more chasing year-end paperwork. Look for software that automatically sends tax receipts after each donation, so your donors stay informed and you stay compliant without lifting a finger.
Tagging and filtering
This lets you segment your donors into helpful groups (like "monthly givers," "event attendees," or "major gift prospects") so you can personalize your outreach and avoid sending the same message to everyone.
Being able to segment donors helps you build meaningful relationships. If you can easily analyze donor data you can also make quick decisions.
Donation forms with pre-filled amounts
Pre-filled forms reduce friction and help donors give quickly. Customizing amounts based on donor history or campaign goals can significantly increase conversions.
Email tracking and automation
You’ll want to know who opened, clicked, or responded to emails. Ideally, schedule thank-you emails or reminders without manually sending each one. This is how small teams save time while still showing up thoughtfully.
It's far easier to keep donors informed about fundraising campaigns or tailor donation requests with this information at your fingertips.
Event and campaign integration
Whether you're selling tickets to a fundraiser or running a giving campaign, a good donor management tool should link everything together under a single fundraising platform. This gives you a complete picture of donor activity in one place—no extra spreadsheets required.
How efficient donor management helped one nonprofit raise over $47K
Community Music School (CMS) of Santa Cruz set out to find a free donor management system that easily transfers the years of data it relies on. They came across Zeffy’s 100% free solution built specifically for nonprofits, which quickly became crucial to their fundraising strategy.
“What started as a way for me to track donations soon became a solution for much more: not only could we receive donations without any charges, but we could also conduct our camp registration and concert ticket sales. Over the past 17 months, we’ve saved over $2000 in fees that we’d normally pay to PayPal or Square. That is a big chunk of money for us!” - Susan Willats, The Community Music School of Santa Cruz
A seamless way to execute various campaigns, track every transaction in real time, and automate personalized outreach to engage donors helped CMS of Santa Cruz raise an impressive $47,664.50. Because of Zeffy's free model, the organization also saved an additional $2,383.25 in transaction fees.
A donor management system is a software or tool that helps nonprofit organizations maintain relationships with donors. It is a donor database where vital information is housed and updated as a source of truth to inform decision-making and personalized outreach strategies.
Some examples of data you might learn with donor management strategies in place include:
How many donors give one-time vs. recurring donors
Many small teams start with spreadsheets or basic tools, but those get messy fast. A growing number are switching to free platforms like Zeffy, which handle donor tracking, email outreach, tax receipts, and campaign data all in one place (with $0 in fees).
You don’t need a big CRM budget or a data team to manage donors effectively. You just need the right beginner-friendly system that does the complex parts.
Here’s a checklist of key donor information worth tracking:
Name
Email
Mailing address
Phone number
Giving history (amount, date, frequency)
Communication preferences
Why do they care about your cause
Campaigns or events they’ve joined
Volunteer or survey participation
Zeffy stores and updates all of this automatically, so you always know who your donors are and how to reach them personally and relevantly.
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