Top 13 Free Resources for Small Businesses and Nonprofits

Managing a nonprofit or small business is a lot of work. Whether it’s locating grant funding, crowdfunding, assistance with accounting needs, marketing or internal organization issues. No matter what form it takes, entrepreneurs, small business owners and nonprofits can use all the help they can get!

So, when it’s available for free, that’s a real bonus! Fortunately, businesses and nonprofits can access free online resources to help them, though ultimately professional grant writing experience may be needed. But until you’re able to pay an expert to support your grant-seeking efforts, GrantWatch.com has provided a list of 13 free resources. All of these resources are free or at least offer a free basic plan with upgrades available for those willing to pay.

1. Mailerlite– You can use Mailerlite to send email reminders to your clients about your business and its products or services. It’s free for you if your mailing list is 1000 or less.

2. Google Keep– Google Keep is a task list and reminder tool. With Google Keep, you can capture notes, share them with others, and access them from your computer, phone or tablet.

3. Vidyard– Vidyard is a video marketing tool that nonprofits and businesses can use to host, publish and analyze marketing videos. It integrates with marketing tools like HubSpot, making it easier to add videos to emails, web pages and blog posts. 

4. Logaster– Logaster is a professional online logo maker and generator that also offers packages for the entire social branding of your business or nonprofit. It includes digital assets as well as physical assets like business cards and stationery.

5. Docracy – Docracy is an open collection of free legal documents that you can use as templates for your organization’s needs. Docracy offers several business-related documents and templates, such as real estate agreements, contracts for photographers, non-disclosure agreements, privacy policies, etc.

6. TechSoup– They help nonprofits by offering over 500 no-cost or discounted hardware and software products. In addition to donating tech resources and computer equipment, they offer several educational resources to help nonprofits get started online.

7. VolunteerSpot– When your business or nonprofit’s mission relies on volunteer help, you’ll need some way to plan, schedule and manage an entire group of supporters. This software makes the hassle of organizing volunteers a thing of the past.

8. Wufoo– Use Wufoo’s tools to create custom web forms (surveys, contact forms and payment processing) that you can use to collect data, payments and automate your workflows.

9. Hubspot– Hubspot is one of the best customer relationship management tools (CRM). The platform offers a ton of other features that are completely free. This includes client relationship tools, HubSpot’s learning center and a large selection of various marketing tools.

10. Grammarly– Grammarly is one of the most effective tools for improving your writing. This comes in handy in virtually all written communication, but is especially helpful when it comes time to write press releases. It will also make the emails you send clearer and more professional. The free version of Grammarly features a variety of aids, including an automated spell-checker, an AI-powered grammar checker and a punctuation changer (with suggestions!), as well as a tone-detection reporter.

11. Slack– Slack is a messaging service designed specifically for a workplace setting. This allows marketing teams to communicate with each other, along with channels for smaller groups to work on areas such as content and social media. 

12. Trello– Trello allows users to collaborate, manage projects and increase overall productivity by utilizing Trello ‘boards’ as product management tools! These boards are used to plan projects in your pipeline, have full visibility of what’s coming up next and use checklists to improve work quality. 

13. Pexels– Your nonprofit or business can use Pexels to get free access to stock images that you can utilize on your website to help enhance newsletters, theme-based designs and any other project or product in need of imagery.

With close to 8,000 grants currently available, GrantWatch.com is the leading grant listing directory. A MemberPlus+ subscription is required to view full grant details, including eligibility criteria and application information. For more information, you can also visit the GrantWatch FAQ page.