It’s the end of the year and budgets are thin. To lighten up your workload, and the impact on your annual budget, we have created a list of communications and marketing resources to help you get through the year-end rush.

Marketing & Communications

Buffer: Organize and schedule your social media posts and events using Buffer. For $15 a month ($180 a year), you can add up to eight social media accounts and schedule up to 100 posts. The service starts with a 7-day free trial.

Canva: Design presentations, graphics and more. This tool helps elevate your branding and marketing by providing an array of designs, layouts, graphics, photographs and formats to take your work to the next level, even if you don’t have graphic design experience. If you are looking to do more than design, invest in Canva Pro for $9.95 a month ($119.40 a year) to access different photos, fonts and formats, as well as a brand kit and priority support.

Copy Hackers: Looking for writing assistance? Copy Hackers offers resources and tutorials to improve your messaging and grow your brand. It also has a series of free video training courses and long list of articles with tips to expand the way you write about your organization.

Grammarly: Grammarly is here to help you better communicate with your audience, partners and clients. According to this company, “from grammar and spelling to style and tone, Grammarly helps you eliminate writing errors and find the perfect words to express yourself.” The software's free Microsoft Office version offers grammar suggestions in both Microsoft Word and Outlook emails. The premium version adds advanced punctuation, vocabulary enhancement suggestions and plagiarism detection, and is priced as low as $11.66 a month, if you decide to sign up for the annual plan.

Google Analytics: Monitoring your website's performance is crucial. Which pages get the most visits? Where are visitors leaving your site? This free tool shows historical and real-time traffic of your website, gathering analytics and insight on how to grow and improve your online experience.

HubSpot: This company offers free tools to organizations looking to grow their business. These free tools include forms, email marketing, ad management, live chats, reporting and dashboards. HubSpot also offers a free blog service.

Unsplash: In need of stock images? Well, Unsplash is the spot. Unsplash offers a variety of free high-resolution photos that are great to add to your blog or website.

Piktochart: In need of visual branding materials? Visit Piktochart, which allows you to design infographics, presentations, reports, flyers and posters customized to match your organization’s brand, aesthetic and feel. Piktochart is currently offering a special pricing plan for nonprofits on its Pro version.

Zoom: Sometimes it’s the weather, sometimes it’s an overbooked day, either way Zoom allows you to be present for your important meetings without having to be physically in the room. Talk to colleagues and clients via audio or video. The basic version of Zoom is free. The pro version is $14.99 a month and $179.88 for a full year.

Fundraising & Grants

Google for Nonprofits: Google for Nonprofits connects nonprofits to tools to run your organization such as G Suite, Google Ad Grants, the YouTube Nonprofit Program, Google Maps and Google donation tools.

The Fundraising Authority: Listen to Fundraising Authority Podcast to learn new tips, tools and strategies for fundraising from some of the top authors, consultant and leaders in fundraising. All episodes are designed to help you improve the way you raise money.

The Storytelling Non-profit: While the Storytelling Non-profit’s consulting services have a fee, they do offer some great free resources. Visit their resources pages to find information on topics like donor stewardship, communications planning, nonprofit newsletter tips, writing tips and more.

Education & Nonprofit Resource Support

LinkedIn Learning: LinkedIn now offers learning opportunities and tools – ranging from Excel and organizational training to access to Adobe and QuickBooks. LinkedIn Learning is a subscription-based service with individual and team plans. For a one month users have free access to:

• 16,000+ expert-led courses

• Cancel anytime, and the first month is free

• Earn a certificate when you complete a course

• Receive course recommendations tailored to you

• Use project files and quizzes to practice while you learn

• View courses anytime on your computer or phone

Minnesota Council of Nonprofits: The Minnesota Council of Nonprofits offers a resource section with an online library of nonprofit management best practices, tips and strategies. Learn about nonprofits and Minnesota’s nonprofit sector, as well as how to start a nonprofit in Minnesota, with this helpful resource.

Nonprofit Library: The Nonprofit Library provides you access to free educational resources for nonprofits from a group of seasoned nonprofit professionals. Membership is free of charge.

Nonprofit Quarterly: This resource is great for gauging what critical conversations are happening in the nonprofit sector, be it what movements to get involved in or how to best talk to your program officer. Nonprofit Quarterly is a subscription-based service. Sign up for their free daily newsletter to find out the latest in nonprofit news.

Propel Nonprofits: Propel Nonprofits provides emerging and seasoned organizations with a variety of helpful resources around governance, finance, fiscal sponsorship, social enterprise and strategy/planning.