Thinking about starting a fundraising or crowdfunding campaign? Peer Giving and Charity Express have produced an up–to-date guide full of tools in key areas of operations that they trust, recommend and use themselves to help keep down costs, bring money in, and save time with fundraising campaigns.

They start with 5 guidelines:

1. Think Big Picture.  Saving money in the short term may cost you in the long run.  When investing in websites, social media, or great design, it’s easy to see the costs.  But it’s much harder to see the cost of NOT investing in them.
2. Start with Data/Information.  You are better off sending the right communication at the right time with a few less frills than having a great looking piece go to the wrong people.
3. Look for Integrations.  Integrations help you cut down on time, enhance the programs they integrate with, and create more seamless workflows.  Make sure you know which tools work well with others and which ones don’t before you start incorporating them into your operations.
4. Think About the Humans.  A great tool that does not or will not get used properly is not a great tool.  Understand who is on your team, their individual roles and how they will use and interact with the tool.  Think on that when making a decision about which tools to use.
5. Doing It All…At Once.  If you try to do everything all at once you’ll have a hard time doing it well and it likely won’t last.  Prioritize the strategies and corresponding tools, determine a realistic course of action, and start there.  You can add on as you go.

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They then provide reviews on the various tools you may employ to conduct your fundraising campaign. As you can see from their tips, it is vital to understand the tools you are choosing.

Customer Relationship Management: Reviews on DonorPerfect, eTapestry by Blackbaud, GiftWorks and SalesForce.

Email: Reviews on Campaign Monitor, Constant Contact, MailChimp, and Vertical Response.

Social Media Management: Reviews on Buffer, Crowdbooster, Hootsuite, Postline, and Tweetback.

Project Management: Reviews on Asana, Basecamp, Google Apps, Harvest, and Trello.

Analytics: Reviews on Google Analytics, KISSMetriccs, and Mixpanel.

Visual Design: Reviews on 99 Design, Animoto, Issuu, Piktochart, and Prezi.

Odds & Ends: Reviews on Dropbox, Evernote, Join.me, ShortStack, Survey Monkey, and Wufoo.

As well as the summary of tools nonprofits can use to increase their impact, the guide provides a list of sites, blogs and people who can help you learn more about what is best and right for you and your organization. 

Access this great resource on the Peer Giving website.