If you're a small and fairly new nonprofit organization like Women Funding Women, much of your operating budget comes from grants, donations, sponsorships, and other partnerships. For small organizations like ours, it's important to keep your overhead expenses as low as possible so that you can invest more into the community you serve.
This is why we were delighted to be a recipient of a software grant from Digital Lift by Monday.com. Because it's our mission to support America's entrepreneurial women, we couldn't accept the grant without spreading the word and confirming the validity of the new project launched by a familiar and trusted brand. This is Monday.com's "philanthropic arm aimed to help nonprofit teams access more technology, support and funding towards software products."
Applying was quick & painless! Here's the timeline. NOTE: the length of this process may vary.
July 8th WFW submitted the application for the grant.
August 7th a Digital Lift representative informed us that we had been approved.
August 10th the grant was deposited into the organizations account.
Overall, it took about a month after the application was submitted to be approved and receive funds. That's a quick turnaround which is always a plus!
No matter your industry, mission, or purpose, there's software available that can make business and therefore the lives of your team, alot easier. When you apply for the Digital-Lift software grant you'll need to be ready to list what software you'll be purchasing with the grant and the estimate cost. So, to be sure you're prepared; we've compiled a list of tools and software that entrepreneurs swear by. Feel free to review the entire list, browse the list by clicking the category you're interested in below, or bookmark this page to come sort through the list at a more convenient time.
Whatever you do...don't forget to head over to www.digital-lift.org to see if your organization qualifies.
Accounting & Bookkeeping
1. Wave Apps
Totally free solution that includes accounting, invoicing, payroll, and more.
2. QuickBooks
All-inclusive accounting software with packages designed specifically for small businesses and contractors.
3. FreshBooks
Comprehensive accounting solution tailored to service-based small businesses.
4. Xero
Robust and complete software that’s hosted in the cloud, so no downloads or installations.
Website Building
5. Squarespace
An all-in-one website building solution that make it super easy to create a stunning, professional-looking website for your business.
6. WordPress
Choose from thousands of free and premium themes to get your small business’ website or blog up and running in no time.
7. Wix
Drag-and-drop web building tool lets you choose from thousands of themes and customize individual pages.
Online Payment Tools
8. Square
You can create an ecommerce store through Square and accept online payments or use the Square payments app with 3rd party web platforms.
9. Stripe
Add Stripe Checkout to your small business’ website to utilize their pre-designed and customizable payment forms.
10. Shopify
Build your entire online store through Shopify and they’ll take care of everything from marketing to payments & shipping.
11. Amazon Payments
Make checkout easier and faster for customers by integrating Amazon accounts and checkout.
Marketing
12. HubSpot
Choose from CRM, sales, or full-fledged marketing software to help you automate your marketing process.
13. Marketo
End-to-end marketing automation covers everything from lead management and consumer marketing to email and customer base marketing.
14. Hatchbuck
All-in-one small business marketing tool and CRM solution helps you plan, automate and monitor marketing activities.
15. InfusionSoft
Inclusive sales and marketing automation software that handles lead capture and conversion and some CRM tasks.
Email Marketing
16. MailChimp ✸
Fully customizable email campaigns and automation that integrate seamlessly with ecommerce solutions like Shopify.
17. Campaign Monitor
Simple drag-and-drop function allows you to design unique and engaging email marketing campaigns.
18. Emma
Create results-oriented email campaigns and leverage insightful reporting to meet your goals faster.
19. AWeber
At the forefront of email automation, they offer powerful integrations with sites like PayPal and WordPress and boast A+ customer support.
20. Constant Contact
Customizable drag-and-drop templates, powerful automation, and real-time reporting make it easy to see success.
Social Media Marketing
21. Buffer
Create and schedule engaging social posts on all of the big social media sites — from Twitter and LinkedIn to Pinterest and Instagram.
22. TweetDeck
Keep track of everything that’s happening on Twitter by creating searches and hashtags, and get alerts when new content is posted.
23. Hootsuite
The all-in-one social media scheduling, listening, and reporting tool helps you do more with your social presence.
24. Later ✸
This is our choice for social media marketing and scheduling content find out why we prefer it to Hootsuite in this Linkedin Article written by our CEO
Content Marketing & SEO
25. Contently
A platform for all your content marketing needs from topic generation to execution by a huge network of talented freelancers.
26. Uberflip
Tailor your content to your customer’s journey and integrate your content platform with automation solutions like HubSpot and Marketo.
27. SumoMe
A web analytics tools to help you build email lists, optimize landing page conversion, and increase social shares.
28. Moz ✸
A tool for small business marketers to simplify the complicated worlds of search marketing and online paid advertising.
Public Relations
29. Help a Reporter Out (HARO) ✸
Get mentioned in publications small and large by using your expert knowledge to become a source for journalists.
30. Buzzstream
Keep track of outreach efforts including prospects, their contact info, and a full history of communication.
31. Mention
Monitor billions of sources in real-time for any keywords you want, and reply to engage with key influencers.
32. Google Alerts
Create weekly or daily alerts for key topics surrounding your brand and get an email roundup of the most popular content.
Customer Service & Helpdesk
33. HelpScout
Manage email at scale with features designed to maintain an organized team and happy customers.
34. Groove
Collaborate across your team on everything from emails to social media posts to phone calls all with one system.
35. Zendesk
Almost like a CRM for support, you get a help desk solution, self-service tool, and insightful data on engagement.
36. Desk.com
Robust, out-of-the-box support with self-service options and easy scalability as your team grows.
Communication
37. Slack
Create a channel for your team and groups within to focus in on specific projects or departments.
38. Skype
All-inclusive audio/video calls and messaging for your team to keep in touch from mobile, landline, or VoIP.
38. Grasshopper
Keep in touch with the office while you work from anywhere in the world with a toll free or local number that forwards to your mobile phone.
While we recently received a grant to be used toward necessary software, we were not paid for this article.
Project Management
39. Trello
Create team boards with individual or project-based lists and cards with a deadline for every step of the way.
40. Basecamp
A productivity app taken to the team level includes messaging, to-do lists, and document & file sharing.
41. Asana
Projects are easy to track from beginning to end with clear-cut responsibilities and next steps outlined.
42. Teamwork
Easily keep track of every team project in one place and collaborate with messaging and file sharing.
43. Monday.com ✸
The beauty about Monday.com is that they offer low/no cost memberships and licenses to nonprofit organizations through Digital-Lift. Be sure to check that out when you visit the website to apply for the grant.
Productivity
44. Evernote
Everything you need to get done or remember, all in one place and organized into notebooks — it’s as close as you can get to paper note-taking.
45. Todoist
It combines the accessibility of native apps with tools for collaboration and design that fosters productivity.
46. Any.do
Task management for both your work and home life that syncs seamlessly across simple mobile, desktop, and web apps.
47. Boomerang
Maintain inbox zen without losing track of important messages — send them away and Boomerang will return them whenever they’re needed.
Hiring & Human Resources
47. Workable
Recruiting software that combines job posting, candidate organization, and team collaboration to streamline the hiring process.
48. BambooHR
HR software targeted at small and medium sized businesses ticks off hiring tools with an employee database and reporting.
49. Workday
Recruiting, time-tracking, and payroll (among other features) all rolled up into one, scalable solution.
50. Insperity
Choose from a full-service, outsourced HR team or an individual solution tailored to your human resources needs.
Document Management
51. Google Drive ✸
Create and store word documents, slide presentations, and spreadsheets in the cloud that are accessible from anywhere.
52. Office 365
Get access to the full Microsoft suite of products and 1 terabyte of cloud storage that you can access from up to 5 of your devices.
53. Box
Share files securely with team members and even create, edit, and review documents in real-time.
54. Dropbox
Collaborate, store, share, and backup documents, photos, and videos that automatically sync across all your devices.
Tax Software
55. TurboTax
Tax returns made easy with straightforward questions customized to you and live, on-screen help.
56. H&R Block
All your forms and information in one, secure place and step-by-step guidance to help you get the most refund possible.
57. TaxAct
Access to over 300 available deductions and credits and a price-match guarantee to get the best value.
58. Jackson Hewitt Online
Simple, online filing with affordable pricing for small businesses and a maximum refund guarantee.
Entrepreneurial Growth
59. Clarity.fm
Talk to a variety of experts with experience in every aspect of starting and growing a business.
60. EDx
Choose from a huge bank of professional courses online and complete them at your own pace.
61. Udemy
Take courses on all types of topics, from learning Java coding to leveraging Microsoft Excel, to help you become more effective.
62. Grasshopper Academy
Learn everything you need to know about starting, running, and marketing your business with advice from experts and successful entrepreneurs.