Grassroots · under $250k raised / yr

The under-$250k fundraising stack

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The stack, line by line

At under $250k raised, your whole stack should be free. Collect gifts on a platform that costs nothing and keeps the donor record for you, run forms in one place, and do funder research at the library. Budget $0 to start, and about $250 a year at the top end if the forms outgrow the free tier.

Why these picks

Money in and your donor record: Zeffy ($0). At this size the donation platform is the database. Zeffy processes every gift free (no platform fee, no processing fee, a $100 gift deposits $100) and holds the donor list, gift history and receipts that a shop this size would otherwise buy a CRM for. The trade to understand before your first campaign: it is funded by an optional tip donors are asked for at checkout, and some boards care about that. Decide once, on purpose. When receipting, soft credits or lapsed-donor reporting become real problems, that is the sign you have outgrown this stack, not that this pick was wrong.

Forms and operations: Jotform ($0 to about $17/mo). Jotform covers event registration, volunteer intake and the program application, with submissions landing in one place instead of an inbox. It also takes payments through Stripe, PayPal or Square where a form needs to collect a fee. Free to start, and the nonprofit discount halves the paid tier if you hit the free plan’s limits.

Grant research: the Foundation Directory, free at your library. Candid’s Foundation Directory is the same funder database grant consultants use, and most public libraries in Candid’s Funding Information Network offer it free on-site; search “Funding Information Network” plus your county. An afternoon at the library with a target list beats a subscription you use twice. When applications become a monthly job with deadlines across two people, that is when a paid tool like Instrumentl starts earning its price; load the 14-day trial with your real applications before you commit, and skip federal grants at this size either way; the reporting obligations outweigh the money.

What you should not buy yet

Two categories get sold hard to small shops, and neither belongs here.

Wealth screening. Screening tells you which donors have capacity. That is only useful if someone has time to build a portfolio and go make the visits. At under $250k with one fundraiser who is also the ED, nobody has that time, and a screening report you cannot act on is a report you paid for twice. Skip it until major gifts are somebody’s actual job.

Event and auction software. A dedicated auction platform is priced for a gala clearing six figures. A community event of eighty people runs fine on a registration form and a spreadsheet of items. Add the software when the event outgrows the volunteer running it, not before.

When you’ve outgrown this stack

Move up to the Growing stack when donor history starts living in three places at once, when you hire your first dedicated fundraiser, or when someone asks a reporting question your board deck cannot answer. That is when a real CRM starts earning its line.