{"id":15449,"date":"2026-11-06T14:18:41","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T14:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/symplify.com\/?p=15449"},"modified":"2026-11-06T14:18:41","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T14:18:41","slug":"best-nonprofit-marketing-automation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/symplify.com\/fr\/blog\/best-nonprofit-marketing-automation\/","title":{"rendered":"The 10 best marketing automation platforms for nonprofits in 2027"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-flex-container has-pattern-background has-mask-background nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:1144px;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:0px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:20px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-order-medium:0;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-order-small:0;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-column-has-shadow fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><!-- The 10 best marketing automation platforms for nonprofits in 2027. Paste into a WordPress Custom HTML block or Avada Code Block. -->\n<style>\n  \/* Beige panel. Stays inside its own block, so nothing below it is affected.\n     For edge-to-edge beige, set the background on the Avada CONTAINER instead\n     and delete the background line below. *\/\n  .sy-bg { background: #f9c576; padding: 64px 24px; overflow: hidden; }\n  .sy-post { font-family: 'Century Gothic', 'Gill Sans', 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; color: #262626; max-width: 1040px; margin: 0 auto; }\n  .sy-post h2 { font-size: 26px !important; line-height: 1.25 !important; margin: 40px 0 14px !important; }\n  .sy-post strong, .sy-post b { font-weight: 700 !important; -webkit-text-stroke: 0.4px currentColor; }\n  .sy-post a { color: #125b71 !important; font-weight: 700 !important; text-decoration: underline !important; text-decoration-color: #125b71 !important; text-decoration-thickness: 2px !important; text-underline-offset: 3px !important; }\n  .sy-post a:hover { color: #262626 !important; text-decoration-color: #262626 !important; }\n  .sy-cta { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: center; gap: 16px 24px; margin-top: 28px; }\n  .sy-post a.sy-btn { background: #fff; color: #262626 !important; border: 1px solid #262626; border-radius: 10px; padding: 16px 40px; font-size: 18px; text-decoration: none !important; box-shadow: 2px 2px 5px rgba(0,0,0,0.5); display: inline-block; }\n  .sy-post a.sy-btn:hover { background: #262626; color: #fff !important; }\n  .sy-glance { margin: 1.5rem 0 2.5rem; background: #fff; border: 1px solid #C8C8C8; border-radius: 12px; overflow: hidden; }\n  .sy-glance table { width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 15px; margin: 0; }\n  .sy-glance th { background: #262626; color: #fff; text-align: left; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700 !important; -webkit-text-stroke: 0.3px currentColor; letter-spacing: 1px; text-transform: uppercase; padding: 14px 18px; border: 0; }\n  .sy-glance td { padding: 14px 18px; border: 0; border-top: 1px solid #EDE7D7; vertical-align: middle; color: #595959; }\n  .sy-glance td:first-child { width: 48px; color: #8A8A8A; }\n  .sy-glance td:nth-child(2) { font-weight: 700 !important; -webkit-text-stroke: 0.4px currentColor; color: #262626; white-space: nowrap; }\n  .sy-glance tr.sy-us td { background: rgba(249,197,118,0.15); color: #262626; }\n  @media (max-width: 640px) {\n    .sy-glance thead { display: none; }\n    .sy-glance table, .sy-glance tbody, .sy-glance tr, .sy-glance td { display: block; }\n    .sy-glance tr { padding: 14px 16px; border-top: 1px solid #EDE7D7; }\n    .sy-glance tbody tr:first-child { border-top: 0; }\n    .sy-glance tr.sy-us { background: rgba(249,197,118,0.15); }\n    .sy-glance td, .sy-glance tr.sy-us td { padding: 0; border: 0; background: none; width: auto; }\n    .sy-glance td:first-child, .sy-glance td:nth-child(2) { display: inline; }\n    .sy-glance td:first-child::after { content: \". \"; }\n    .sy-glance td:nth-child(3) { font-size: 13px; color: #8A8A8A; margin: 2px 0 4px; }\n  }\n<\/style>\n\n<div class=\"sy-bg\">\n<div class=\"sy-post\">\n\n<p><em>Full disclosure: this list is written by Symplify. Every other platform is judged on what it does well for fundraisers, so the \"best for\" notes should help you find your own match.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Quick answer:<\/strong> The best marketing automation platform for a nonprofit or NGO depends on how much your team wants to do itself. Symplify and Engaging Networks are built around supporter communication and online giving. Virtuous and Bloomerang add automation to a fundraising CRM, while Salesforce, HubSpot, Dotdigital and Rule are strong generalists. Mailchimp and MailerLite suit smaller teams on a tight budget.<\/p>\n\n<p>A donor database tells you who gave what. Marketing automation decides what each supporter hears from you next: the welcome after a first gift, the nudge from one-off to monthly giving, the thank-you that arrives when it still means something, and the message that brings a lapsed donor back. For fundraising teams that are usually small and stretched, that's where most of the time goes, and where automation saves the most.<\/p>\n\n<p>The platforms below fall into three groups: engagement platforms built for supporter communication, fundraising CRMs with automation built in, and general-purpose marketing tools that serve nonprofits and NGOs among many other sectors. Most of them sit next to a donor database, so check early how well each one connects to yours.<\/p>\n\n<h2>How we chose<\/h2>\n\n<p>We looked at how each platform handles the work supporter care and digital fundraising teams do every day: welcome journeys, converting one-off givers into regular donors, reactivating lapsed supporters, testing appeals and donation pages, and handling consent. We also considered how independent review sites describe each tool. The ranking leans towards platforms that let small teams run multi-channel journeys without developers. A charity that mainly sends a monthly newsletter will reasonably rank them in a different order.<\/p>\n\n<h2>At a glance<\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"sy-glance\">\n  <table>\n    <thead><tr><th>Rank<\/th><th>Platform<\/th><th>Type<\/th><th>Best for<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>\n    <tbody>\n      <tr class=\"sy-us\"><td>1<\/td><td>Symplify<\/td><td>Engagement platform<\/td><td>Fundraising teams growing regular giving and reducing lapsed donors across every channel<\/td><\/tr>\n      <tr><td>2<\/td><td>Engaging Networks<\/td><td>Engagement platform<\/td><td>Charities running advocacy and online fundraising side by side<\/td><\/tr>\n      <tr><td>3<\/td><td>Salesforce Marketing Cloud<\/td><td>General-purpose<\/td><td>Large organisations already on Salesforce<\/td><\/tr>\n      <tr><td>4<\/td><td>HubSpot<\/td><td>General-purpose<\/td><td>Marketing-led nonprofits that want CRM and automation in one place<\/td><\/tr>\n      <tr><td>5<\/td><td>Dotdigital<\/td><td>General-purpose<\/td><td>Charities that want cross-channel campaigns without heavy set-up<\/td><\/tr>\n      <tr><td>6<\/td><td>Virtuous<\/td><td>Fundraising CRM with automation<\/td><td>Mid-sized and large nonprofits personalising stewardship at scale<\/td><\/tr>\n      <tr><td>7<\/td><td>Bloomerang<\/td><td>Fundraising CRM with automation<\/td><td>Small and mid-sized nonprofits focused on donor retention<\/td><\/tr>\n      <tr><td>8<\/td><td>Rule<\/td><td>General-purpose<\/td><td>Nordic organisations that want simple email and SMS automation<\/td><\/tr>\n      <tr><td>9<\/td><td>Mailchimp<\/td><td>Email marketing<\/td><td>Small teams that want a familiar email tool<\/td><\/tr>\n      <tr><td>10<\/td><td>MailerLite<\/td><td>Email marketing<\/td><td>Very small charities on a tight budget<\/td><\/tr>\n    <\/tbody>\n  <\/table>\n<\/div>\n\n<h2>1. Symplify<\/h2>\n<p>Symplify is a Stockholm-based <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/symplify.com\/ngo-marketing-automation\/\">marketing automation platform for NGOs<\/a>, built around how donors give, lapse and return, used by organisations such as WWF, Cancerfonden and the Salvation Army. Fundraising teams build their own journeys, from a welcome after the first gift and second-donation asks to upgrades from one-off to monthly giving, lapsed-donor win-backs and legacy giving. It's quick to get up and running, and simple enough to manage without IT or paid consultants.<\/p>\n<p>Teams can also build journeys that start when donors begin to drift, such as unopened emails or longer gaps between gifts, or when a recurring donation fails. Every channel sits in one platform, including postal mail and outbound voice alongside email, SMS and push, which matters when your donors range from monthly givers in their twenties to major donors in their seventies. Servers, data centres and company entities are all based in Sweden, so donor data stays in the EU.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best for:<\/strong> fundraising teams that want to grow regular giving and reduce lapsed donors across every channel, with donor data kept in Sweden.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Worth knowing:<\/strong> testing donation pages and sign-up forms is available as an add-on, through Symplify Conversion.<\/p>\n\n<h2>2. Engaging Networks<\/h2>\n<p>Engaging Networks is a digital engagement platform that combines online fundraising and advocacy campaigns in one system, with email automation that lets supporters move from signing a petition to giving. Amnesty International and Refuge are among its users, and it connects to external CRMs such as Salesforce.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best for:<\/strong> charities that run campaigning and online fundraising side by side.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Worth knowing:<\/strong> its strength is digital campaigns, so channels such as print or voice need other tools.<\/p>\n\n<h2>3. Salesforce Marketing Cloud<\/h2>\n<p>Marketing Cloud is Salesforce's automation suite, with mature email tools and journey building. For nonprofits, its main appeal is that it connects to Salesforce's nonprofit database, so supporter data and communication sit in one ecosystem. Eligible nonprofits also get 10 free Nonprofit Cloud licences through the Power of Us programme.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best for:<\/strong> large organisations already standardised on Salesforce.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Worth knowing:<\/strong> set-up usually involves consultants, and the free licences cover the database, not the marketing tools.<\/p>\n\n<h2>4. HubSpot<\/h2>\n<p>HubSpot combines a CRM with marketing automation, with strong workflows, email and landing pages, and free CRM tools to start on. Eligible nonprofits get 40% off Professional and Enterprise plans on an annual contract. Donations and pledges need connecting from your giving tools.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best for:<\/strong> marketing-led nonprofits that want CRM and automation in one place.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Worth knowing:<\/strong> the discount is currently only available to nonprofits in the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>\n\n<h2>5. Dotdigital<\/h2>\n<p>Dotdigital is a UK-based cross-channel marketing automation platform covering email, SMS, web and WhatsApp, used by charities such as Action for Children, Dementia UK and Pancreatic Cancer UK. Smaller UK charities can also get a lighter, discounted version through Charity Digital, which has partnered with Dotdigital for more than 20 years.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best for:<\/strong> charities that want cross-channel campaigns without heavy set-up.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Worth knowing:<\/strong> it's built for many sectors, retail especially, so check how well its data model fits donations and regular giving.<\/p>\n\n<h2>6. Virtuous<\/h2>\n<p>Virtuous calls itself a responsive fundraising platform, combining donor CRM, giving forms and marketing automation to personalise stewardship based on each donor's signals. It also offers an AI agent for major and mid-level gift officers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best for:<\/strong> mid-sized and large nonprofits that want automation and donor records in one platform.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Worth knowing:<\/strong> pricing is quote-based, and the platform is supported in English-speaking markets only.<\/p>\n\n<h2>7. Bloomerang<\/h2>\n<p>Bloomerang is a donor CRM built to help nonprofits retain their existing donors, with engagement scoring, retention analytics and Journey Automation for donor communication. It's sold as separate products for CRM, fundraising and volunteer management, or bundled as The Giving Platform. Reviewers often call its pricing reasonable for small nonprofits.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best for:<\/strong> small and mid-sized nonprofits focused on donor retention.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Worth knowing:<\/strong> its automation centres on email and donor follow-up rather than many channels.<\/p>\n\n<h2>8. Rule<\/h2>\n<p>Rule is a Stockholm-based platform for email, SMS and marketing automation, founded in 2007 and used by more than 3,500 companies. It's built and hosted in Sweden, covers email, SMS, RCS and social media, and its visual editor lets teams build automated flows, such as welcome messages, without being automation specialists. There's a free plan to start on.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best for:<\/strong> Swedish and Nordic organisations that want straightforward email and SMS automation, with data kept in Sweden.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Worth knowing:<\/strong> many of its integrations are built around e-commerce, so check how it handles donations and regular giving.<\/p>\n\n<h2>9. Mailchimp<\/h2>\n<p>Mailchimp is the email tool many nonprofits start with. Verified nonprofits get a 15% discount on paid plans, but automations beyond basic sequences require the Standard plan or above. Its free plan was cut back significantly in January 2026.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best for:<\/strong> small teams that want a familiar, easy email tool.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Worth knowing:<\/strong> pricing is based on contacts, so costs climb as your supporter list grows.<\/p>\n\n<h2>10. MailerLite<\/h2>\n<p>MailerLite is a simple email marketing tool with a clean, beginner-friendly interface, a free plan for up to 500 contacts and a 30% nonprofit discount on paid plans.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Best for:<\/strong> very small charities that mainly need newsletters and simple automations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Worth knowing:<\/strong> it's built for email, so multi-channel journeys and fundraising features are out of scope.<\/p>\n\n<h2>Questions to ask about pricing<\/h2>\n<p>Nonprofit discounts and free licences can make two platforms look closer in price than they are. These questions help you compare the real cost:<\/p>\n<ul>\n  <li>What's the pricing based on: contacts, donor records, users, messages, or a mix?<\/li>\n  <li>What happens to cost as your supporter base grows, or during a big appeal?<\/li>\n  <li>Which channels cost extra? SMS is the usual one to check.<\/li>\n  <li>What's included in onboarding, and what will you pay consultants or partners for?<\/li>\n  <li>How much support do you get with migration, and do you pay for two systems during the overlap?<\/li>\n  <li>Is there a nonprofit discount, and does it apply in your country?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2>Glossary<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Regular giving:<\/strong> recurring donations, usually monthly, and for many charities the most valuable income stream.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lapsed donor:<\/strong> a supporter who used to give but hasn't for a set period, often 12 or 18 months.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Donor retention rate:<\/strong> the share of last year's donors who gave again this year.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stewardship:<\/strong> thanking, updating and caring for donors between asks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gift Aid:<\/strong> a UK scheme that lets charities claim back basic-rate tax on donations from UK taxpayers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Peer-to-peer fundraising:<\/strong> supporters raising money from their own networks on your behalf, for example through a sponsored run.<\/p>\n\n<h2>FAQ<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Do we need a donor database as well as marketing automation?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Usually, yes. The donor database holds gifts, pledges and receipts, while marketing automation decides what each supporter receives and when. A few platforms on this list combine both, but most organisations connect the two, so the quality of that connection matters as much as either tool.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How long does implementation take?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Anything from a few weeks to many months. The biggest factors are how clean your existing supporter data is and how much the platform needs configuring, so ask each vendor when your first appeal or welcome journey could realistically go out.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Can we switch CRM without losing our donor history?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yes, in most cases. Gift history and consent records usually move across, while automations and reports are rebuilt. Plan the switch outside your busiest appeal season, so you're not migrating in the middle of a campaign.<\/p>\n\n<h2>Choosing the right one<\/h2>\n<p>The right platform depends on how your organisation talks to its supporters. A campaigning charity has a real reason to look at Engaging Networks, a large organisation already on Salesforce may want to stay in that ecosystem, and a small team sending a monthly newsletter may need nothing more than Mailchimp or MailerLite. If you want your fundraising team turning one-off givers into monthly donors and winning back lapsing supporters across every channel, without waiting on IT and with donor data kept in Sweden, we'd like to show you what Symplify can do.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sy-cta\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"sy-btn\" href=\"https:\/\/symplify.com\/book-a-demo\/\">Book a demo<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/symplify.com\/ngo-marketing-automation\/\">Explore Symplify for nonprofits<\/a><\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n{\n  \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n  \"@type\": \"FAQPage\",\n  \"mainEntity\": [\n    {\n      \"@type\": \"Question\",\n      \"name\": \"Do we need a donor database as well as marketing automation?\",\n      \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n        \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n        \"text\": \"Usually, yes. The donor database holds gifts, pledges and receipts, while marketing automation decides what each supporter receives and when. A few platforms on this list combine both, but most organisations connect the two, so the quality of that connection matters as much as either tool.\"\n      }\n    },\n    {\n      \"@type\": \"Question\",\n      \"name\": \"How long does implementation take?\",\n      \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n        \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n        \"text\": \"Anything from a few weeks to many months. The biggest factors are how clean your existing supporter data is and how much the platform needs configuring, so ask each vendor when your first appeal or welcome journey could realistically go out.\"\n      }\n    },\n    {\n      \"@type\": \"Question\",\n      \"name\": \"Can we switch CRM without losing our donor history?\",\n      \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n        \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n        \"text\": \"Yes, in most cases. Gift history and consent records usually move across, while automations and reports are rebuilt. Plan the switch outside your busiest appeal season, so you're not migrating in the middle of a campaign.\"\n      }\n    }\n  ]\n}\n<\/script>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15450,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/symplify.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/symplify.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/symplify.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symplify.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symplify.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15449"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/symplify.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15453,"href":"https:\/\/symplify.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15449\/revisions\/15453"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symplify.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/symplify.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symplify.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symplify.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}