Email Marketing for Nonprofits: Best Tools and Strategies

Nonprofit teams are stretched thin. You have a small (or volunteer) marketing team, a tight budget that has to justify every line item, and a supporter list built through real relationships — not paid ads. The wrong email platform charges you more as your donor base grows, buries useful features behind expensive tiers, or adds complexity you simply don’t have time for.

The good news: most major email marketing platforms offer nonprofit discounts ranging from 15% to 50% off, and several have free plans that work for smaller organizations. The challenge is knowing which discount actually delivers value and which platform fits how nonprofits really use email — event invitations, donation appeals, volunteer recruitment, and annual reports, not just promotional blasts.

Six tools that make real sense for nonprofits, with honest assessments of what each one costs and where each one falls short.

Quick Picks

If you already know roughly what you need:

• Tightest budget, starting from zero: Brevo — unlimited contacts on the free plan
• Best nonprofit discount program: GetResponse — 50% off for qualifying organizations
• Best for growing lists and beginner teams: MailerLite — 30% discount, straightforward interface
• Best for nonprofits that need a CRM too: HubSpot — free plan includes the full CRM with unlimited contacts
• Largest brand recognition, slower to recommend: Mailchimp — 15% discount but a much weaker free plan since January 2026

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MailerLite

MailerLite is the most consistently recommended email platform for small-to-mid nonprofits, and the 30% nonprofit discount is a genuine advantage. At the $10/month Growing Business plan (before discount), you get automation, landing pages, and website hosting for up to 500 subscribers — and the discount brings that to $7/month.

The free plan supports up to 500 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month, which covers a lot of community organizations at launch. You get access to automations on the free tier too, which is rare.

Where it falls short: MailerLite cut its free plan subscriber limit from 1,000 to 500 contacts in late 2025. If you have an existing list of 600–1,000 contacts, you’re on a paid plan immediately. The platform also lacks a built-in CRM, so you’ll need a separate donor management tool if you’re tracking giving history, grant cycles, or major donor relationships.

Best for: Community nonprofits, advocacy organizations, and small foundations that want an affordable, no-fuss platform with room to grow.

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Brevo

Brevo’s free plan is genuinely unusual: unlimited contacts, 300 emails per day (roughly 9,000 per month), and no time limit. Most email platforms cap contacts on the free tier. Brevo charges by email volume instead, which makes it excellent for nonprofits with a large donor database that only sends occasional newsletters or annual appeals.

The Starter paid plan begins at $9/month for 5,000 emails per month. You keep the unlimited contact storage regardless of which plan you’re on.

Where it falls short: Brevo does not appear to offer a formal nonprofit discount program — you pay standard pricing once you exceed the free plan limits. The 300-email-per-day cap on the free plan can be a real constraint if you’re doing a fundraising campaign push to a list of several thousand. The $9 Starter plan also adds Brevo branding to your emails unless you pay $9/month more to remove it.

Best for: Nonprofits with large contact lists but infrequent sending — think a museum with 5,000 supporters that sends a monthly newsletter and a year-end appeal.

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HubSpot

HubSpot’s free plan includes the full CRM alongside email marketing, which makes it the strongest free option for nonprofits that need to track donor relationships, not just send emails. You get unlimited contacts, 2,000 email sends per month, and built-in tools for contact management, deal tracking, and basic reporting.

For nonprofits that qualify, HubSpot offers a 40% discount on Professional and Enterprise tier products. The discount is verified through TechSoup and is currently available to nonprofits in North America, Australia, and New Zealand.

Where it falls short: HubSpot’s paid plans are expensive even with the discount — the Marketing Hub Professional tier starts around $800/month (before the 40% reduction). That’s appropriate for large nonprofits with dedicated marketing staff, but it’s overkill for most organizations. The Starter tier is not discounted. The free plan’s 2,000-email-per-month cap is also quite low if you’re sending to a list of more than a few hundred people.

Best for: Mid-to-large nonprofits that need donor CRM and email in one place, particularly those with relationship-heavy fundraising programs (major gifts, planned giving, corporate partnerships).

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Mailchimp

Mailchimp is the name most people already know, which cuts the internal conversation short when you’re proposing a new tool to a board. The 15% nonprofit discount is easy to claim — sign up for a free account and contact the billing team with your organization’s website URL and username.

The bad news: Mailchimp’s free plan became significantly less useful in January 2026. The contact limit dropped from 500 to 250 and the monthly send limit dropped from 1,000 to 500 emails. Most nonprofits outgrow this within months.

The paid Essentials plan starts at $13/month for 500 contacts, dropping to around $11/month with the 15% nonprofit discount. At higher contact counts, Mailchimp prices noticeably higher than MailerLite or Brevo for similar features.

Where it falls short: The 15% discount is the weakest in this category — GetResponse, MailerLite, and HubSpot all offer better deals for qualifying organizations. Mailchimp’s pricing also scales aggressively with list size, and their legacy plan price increases (which affected many long-term customers in 2025–2026) have pushed nonprofits to look elsewhere. See our Mailchimp alternatives guide for what’s available.

Best for: Nonprofits that need brand credibility for donor-facing emails and are already familiar with the Mailchimp interface, particularly those with small lists under 1,000 contacts.

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Constant Contact

Constant Contact offers a structured nonprofit discount program: 20% off with a six-month prepay, or 30% off with a 12-month prepay. Both apply to Standard plans and above. Through TechSoup, eligible US nonprofits can access a 50% discount — one of the deepest discounts available across any major platform.

The Lite plan starts at $12/month for 500 contacts. The Standard plan (required for automation and more advanced segmentation) starts at $35/month. At the 30% nonprofit discount, Standard comes to around $24.50/month for a small list.

Where it falls short: Constant Contact has no free plan — there’s a 60-day trial, but after that you pay. The Lite plan, which is the most affordable entry point, doesn’t qualify for the nonprofit discount structure (though TechSoup’s 50% offer may apply). Constant Contact’s email editor and automation features trail MailerLite and Brevo at similar price points. It’s a platform that’s held its audience through familiarity more than feature leadership.

Best for: Established nonprofits already using Constant Contact, particularly those that can access the TechSoup discount and want event management features (Constant Contact has stronger event tools than most).

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GetResponse

GetResponse offers the deepest formal nonprofit discount: 50% off, valid for 24 months, for qualifying organizations. The program covers their full feature set including webinar hosting, which makes it genuinely useful for virtual fundraising events, donor information sessions, and volunteer training — use cases that most email platforms simply don’t address.

To apply, send your nonprofit documentation (including 501(c)(3) or equivalent) to nonprofit@getresponse.com. There’s one catch: GetResponse requires you to display their logo on your organization’s website within four weeks of approval, or the discount is removed.

Where it falls short: The logo requirement is a real consideration — some nonprofits have brand standards that make this awkward, particularly if they’re affiliated with a larger organization or foundation. The discount is also time-limited to 24 months, after which you return to standard pricing. GetResponse’s interface is more complex than MailerLite, and smaller teams may find the learning curve steeper than expected.

Best for: Nonprofits that run regular virtual events (webinars, online fundraisers, online volunteer orientations) and want a single platform for email and live event hosting. The 50% discount makes it one of the most affordable full-featured options available.

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Head-to-Head: MailerLite vs Brevo

These two are the strongest choices for nonprofits on a tight budget. MailerLite wins on nonprofit pricing (30% discount, more email features) while Brevo wins on contact storage flexibility.

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How to Choose

Start with your contact count. If you have under 500 contacts, MailerLite’s free plan covers you with automation included. If you have a large database of supporters that you email infrequently (a few times per year), Brevo’s unlimited-contact free plan is the smarter starting point.

Match the discount to your timeline. GetResponse’s 50% discount is the most valuable on paper, but it expires after 24 months. MailerLite’s 30% discount is permanent as long as you maintain your account. If you’re planning five-plus years ahead, a smaller permanent discount may be worth more than a larger time-limited one.

CRM requirements matter. If you need to track donors, segment by giving history, or manage grant relationships, HubSpot’s free plan gives you a real CRM alongside email. Bolt-on solutions and spreadsheet workarounds get painful quickly.

Donor communication is different from e-commerce email. Unlike retail, your audience opted in because they believe in your mission — not because they want promotions. Open rates for nonprofit emails typically run 5–10 percentage points higher than industry averages. This means deliverability and simple, text-forward templates matter more than visual design tools or product recommendation features. Prioritize platforms with strong deliverability records. See our email deliverability guide for what to look for.

For a broader look at affordable tools and how pricing scales, see our email marketing pricing comparison and best free email marketing tools guides.

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The Bottom Line

No single platform is right for every nonprofit. MailerLite is the best default choice for most small organizations: the pricing is transparent, the 30% discount is permanent, and the platform is accessible to non-technical teams. Brevo makes sense if your contact list is large but your sending frequency is low. GetResponse is worth the application process if you run webinars or virtual events regularly.

Mailchimp’s brand recognition no longer justifies its pricing for most nonprofits — the free plan has been gutted, and the 15% discount trails the competition significantly.

Whatever you choose, the platform matters less than what you send. Donor updates, impact reports, and stories about the people you serve consistently outperform generic appeals. Get the content right and any of these tools will do the job.

Sources

1. MailerLite — Official Website — accessed 2026-05-09
2. Brevo (Sendinblue) — Official Website — accessed 2026-05-09
3. HubSpot Email Marketing — Official Website — accessed 2026-05-09
4. Mailchimp — Official Website — accessed 2026-05-09
5. Constant Contact — Official Website — accessed 2026-05-09
6. GetResponse — Official Website — accessed 2026-05-09