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Do you have a recommendation for a very low cost tool for emailing fosters, adopters, donors?

  • 1.  Do you have a recommendation for a very low cost tool for emailing fosters, adopters, donors?

    Posted 02-27-2024 01:55 PM

    We are a small rescue and have been using RescueGroups.org for our data management and have a website built in WordPress.  RescueGroups has some mass emailing functionality, but only allows 3 lists I believe.  On our WordPress website, we have a plugin called "Newsletter," but the documentation and support is lacking.  I do like that RescueGroups integrates email with our database.

    I am totally new to  the idea of "CRM."  Does anyone have a recommendation for a very inexpensive option for the email portion that could still handle up to 1,000 people categorized a few ways?  I don't care too much about fancy templates for the emails.

    Or just share what you use.  I'd love to get ideas!

    Thank you!


    #DataandTechnology
    #FundraisingandDevelopment
    #MarketingandSocialMedia

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    Anne Fessler
    Underhound Railroad
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  • 2.  RE: Do you have a recommendation for a very low cost tool for emailing fosters, adopters, donors?

    Posted 02-28-2024 11:16 PM

    Hi! Kimberly from Stray Kitty Rescue. I would say the Microsoft suite is pretty good. Have you used MS Forms? Also good old fashion Excel can do the trick. As far as CRM try Rescue Groups . Org!!  



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    KIM GRI
    CEO
    STRAY KITTY RESCUE
    PA
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  • 3.  RE: Do you have a recommendation for a very low cost tool for emailing fosters, adopters, donors?

    Posted 02-29-2024 07:54 AM

    Hi Anne,

    We are a very small organization with a low budget, so we've been utilizing Google Workspace for Nonprofits and Mailchimp to coordinate this.

    Our website is Wordpress, and I've embedded a form from Mailchimp directly for folks to sign up to volunteer/ get our newsletter. It automatically puts it into Mailchimp and we send communication through there.

    Our adoption/foster application process is through Google Forms, which is embedded on our website, so folks can apply, then it puts the information in a shared Google Sheet where we maintain the application records (I do have to manually upload those to Mailchimp for communications every so often).

    Not sure that helps a ton, but that's what we've been doing.

    Professionally, I have used Airtable as a low-cost CRM that also has form embedding functionality!



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    Sital Sigh
    Volunteer Coordinator
    Second Chance Animal Alliance
    MS
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  • 4.  RE: Do you have a recommendation for a very low cost tool for emailing fosters, adopters, donors?

    Posted 02-29-2024 11:51 PM

    Microsoft offers grants for nonprofit orgs.



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    Tanya Copeland
    President & Co-Founder
    Bronx Community Cats
    NY
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Do you have a recommendation for a very low cost tool for emailing fosters, adopters, donors?

    Posted 03-03-2024 07:13 AM

    Thanks for the replies!  We're all set for things like forms for now, but I appreciate all the info.  I believe MailChimp costs more than we can afford right now for our number of users, so we will continue fumbling along with the free resources we have for sending mass emails.  :-)

    We do use Excel, WordPress, RescueGroups, and I am now trying out GiveButter, which I am liking for donor management!



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    Anne Fessler
    Underhound Railroad
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  • 6.  RE: Do you have a recommendation for a very low cost tool for emailing fosters, adopters, donors?

    Posted 03-04-2024 12:50 AM

    We use MailerLite for email (free up to 1,000 subscribers) and Zeffy for a free donor management platform that also covers our fees.  So far so good on both.  When we get to the limit of 1,000 subscribers on MailerLite, I have the name of another email free email platform we're going to switch to.  Please message me if you're at that point.



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    April King
    Volunteer and Board Member
    Kotor Kitties
    +1 206 407 5336
    http://www.kotorkitties.org
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Do you have a recommendation for a very low cost tool for emailing fosters, adopters, donors?

    Posted 03-04-2024 08:04 AM

    We use WIX our Website platform. Includes Contacts, unlimited numbers I think. Everyone who contacts us about our Newsletter, Adoptions, General Inquiries, Assistance with TNR or S/N - all emails are captured which grows our contacts list. We send out monthly Mewsletters and other fundraising campaigns.



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    Laurie Counts
    Director
    Madison Community Cats aka MAD Cats
    VA
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Do you have a recommendation for a very low cost tool for emailing fosters, adopters, donors?

    Posted 03-13-2024 06:33 PM

    Thank you, April!  I'm going to look into MailerLite!



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    Anne Fessler
    Underhound Railroad
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    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Do you have a recommendation for a very low cost tool for emailing fosters, adopters, donors?

    Posted 09-23-2025 05:42 AM

    Since MailerLite has just changed to only allowing 500 subscribers on the free plan, I'll be searching for a new email marketing platform.  Let me know if you have switched to something you like!  Thanks!



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    Anne Fessler
    Underhound Railroad
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    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: Do you have a recommendation for a very low cost tool for emailing fosters, adopters, donors?

    Posted 09-24-2025 09:46 AM

    Hi Anne! 

    We use Zeffy as our payment platform. It's free for nonprofits and we absolutely love it! They recently added a newsletter feature and I haven't heard of any size limits for it. You can upload your list of contacts to them and categorize those contacts as volunteers or however you want and use them for sending out your newsletters. I would also recommend checking out all they have to offer besides the newsletter. We've been able to utilize the platform for so many different kinds of fundraising all at no cost. If you have any questions I'd be more than happy to answer anything I could. 

    Michelle



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    Michelle Reardon
    JEFFERSON COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY
    OH
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  • 11.  RE: Do you have a recommendation for a very low cost tool for emailing fosters, adopters, donors?

    Posted 09-25-2025 06:45 PM

    Thank you so much, Michelle!  We just barely started using Zeffy for some things, and I hadn't really given the newsletter feature a look, so thanking you for telling me about it!  I will check it out.

    Yesterday I was looking into Brevo and Email Octopus as well.  I ruled out several other ones.  MailerLite does offer a 30% discount for non-profits, but we just can't afford to pay a monthly fee



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    Anne Fessler
    Underhound Railroad
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    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: Do you have a recommendation for a very low cost tool for emailing fosters, adopters, donors?

    Posted 09-26-2025 09:16 AM

    We use Constant Contact. I'm not a huge fan of it, but I might be looking for more robust ways of customization that aren't applicable to you (yet!). I recommend MailChimp, as they've kind of been the go-to and are worth the effort, imo. What you should really focus on is integration - you want to make sure all of your systems can talk to each other. If you're relying on manual data entry, that may come back to bite you!



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    Caitie Andris
    Development Coordinator
    Providence Animal Rescue League
    RI
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  • 13.  RE: Do you have a recommendation for a very low cost tool for emailing fosters, adopters, donors?

    Posted 09-26-2025 01:44 PM

    Thanks Caitie, I'm afraid you're right about the manual entry, but we use RescueGroups for our main database, and it doesn't integrate with email marketing options.  Can I ask what you use for your shelter database containing animals, adoptions, etc.?



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    Anne Fessler
    Underhound Railroad
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    Original Message


  • 14.  RE: Do you have a recommendation for a very low cost tool for emailing fosters, adopters, donors?

    Posted 10-09-2025 07:47 PM
      |   view attached

    Hello Everyone, 

    We recently switched from Flipcause and MailChimp to Givebutter. WE LOVE GIVEBUTTER!!! Everything is in one place. Contact list, donations, outgoing emails, and much more. And, it's free to non-profits as long as you enable Givebutter tips. The support for getting started is amazing and the ongoing support has been great. After popping back and forth between Excel spreadsheets and Flipcause/MailChimp/PayPal/etc., switching to GB has really streamlined the workflow. I've attached a screenshot of the GB menu. 



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    Lori Perry
    Creative Director
    Center for Animal Protection and Education
    CA
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