FAQs: Nonprofits + HubSpot

Core Questions About HubSpot for Nonprofits

What is HubSpot, and why is it a good fit for nonprofits?

HubSpot is a CRM platform designed to manage relationships and engagement at scale. For nonprofits, that means tracking donors, members, volunteers, and program participants in one place, with automation, reporting, and integrations layered in on top of that.

Many organizations think it’s just for marketing, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. That’s a relic of the company’s early focus on inbound marketing. But since its founding it has evolved into a multi-hub operational engine for organizations of all sizes. The development of HubSpot’s custom objects, advanced automation, and enterprise-grade reporting makes it clear that HubSpot is a tool that’s not just about filling the funnel anymore. It’s about managing every relationship (think donors, members, volunteers, partners, and more) in one connected system.

How do nonprofits use HubSpot differently from for-profits?

We often hear the assumption that nonprofits have simpler operations than their for-profit peers: smaller budgets, fewer moving parts, simpler workflows, you name it. We’ve worked in the sector for years and can confidently say that we’ve seen the opposite. Nonprofits juggle as much complexity or more as big for-profit companies: multiple donor/membership programs, in-kind gifts, recurring giving, event fundraising, volunteers, grant cycles, stewardship pipelines, regulatory compliance, data integrations, global operations, and more.

Think about it: for-profit CRMs are built around sales cycles, conversion funnels, lead scoring. They might be called something else, but nonprofits have those, too. And in addition they have donor loyalty, impact reporting, pledge tracking, volunteer engagement, and mission fulfillment.

The tools look different at times; instead of “leads” you have “prospects & donors”; instead of “deals closing” you have “asks & pledges fulfilled”; instead of simple marketing automations it’s workflows that trigger stewardship, pledge follow-ups, grant reporting, and cross-program communications. In the end, nonprofits and for-profits are solving similar problems (how to engage people, keep relationships strong, and measure impact). That’s exactly what HubSpot delivers.

So in the end, it’s not the mechanics of CRM use that is different. It’s the lens. Nonprofits are using the exact same CRM tools as their for-profit counterparts, but with a different vocabulary and a different set of goals. In the for-profit world companies are tracking revenue. Nonprofits? That might be donor lifetime value. A for-profit sales team looks at pipeline velocity, while on the nonprofit side it’s development teams focused on stewardship and retention. HubSpot gives both sides the same foundation to use.

All of this is why you can hear the Nonprofit Tech Shop team shouting from the rooftops that nonprofits really aren’t “less than” or somehow fundamentally different from for-profits in how they use technology. They deserve (and can fully leverage!) the same best-in-class tools. The difference is that nonprofits need to be understood on their own terms, with their own vocabulary and priorities, and not squeezed into a for-profit mold.

What HubSpot features are most valuable for donor management and fundraising?

Fundraising tools for nonprofits are a dime a dozen. Classy or Donorbox for online giving, Eventbrite for events, Mailchimp for newsletters, Bloomerang for donor tracking. Each of them does the job, and generally pretty well. But the issue is that none of them talk to each other without a lot of manual work. And you see the results when you realize that a donor who gave through a campaign platform didn’t show up on the list for your year-end appeal. Or when people who attend your events aren’t recognized in your stewardship pipelines. Or when a donation logged in one system doesn’t trigger a thank you in another.

What nonprofits love about HubSpot is that it pulls all of this into one place:

• Custom properties & records: track gifts, pledges, membership status, or volunteer involvement on the same contact record.
• Pipelines: major donor cultivation or recurring gifts are managed the exact same way sales teams manage opportunities (with stages, forecasts, and reminders).
• Automation: workflows to instantly send acknowledgments, trigger renewal asks, or alert staff when a donor hits a milestone.
• Marketing + fundraising integration: email campaigns, landing pages, and forms flow straight into donor records without staff time exporting, importing, and juggling other tools.
• Dashboards: donor retention, lifetime value, and campaign ROI are all visible in real time.

So instead of bolting on single-purpose tool after single-purpose tool to create your own organizational Frankenstein of a donor management system, HubSpot becomes your single source of truth and your operational brain. It integrates with those systems when you need them, but it keeps your donor data, communications, and reporting centralized in one place.

Can HubSpot replace a donor management system (DMS) or fundraising-specific CRM?

Yes - and in fact, we like to say that we can bend HubSpot to the will of any organization. Really, it’s that flexible. But the reality is that out of the box, HubSpot is not a donor database. Replacing your donor management system with HubSpot requires the right configuration. And that is exactly where our expertise lies - at Nonprofit Tech Shop, we built custom properties, pipelines, and integrations that make HubSpot handle donations, pledges, memberships, events, and stewardship just as well (and often better) than traditional fundraising CRMs.

The payoff of using such a flexible platform is huge. Imagine your donor management system running on the same foundation as your marketing, your events, and your outreach. The same workflows that welcome a new prospect can trigger a thank-you letter for a donation or a reminder for a recurring gift. Your membership renewals can now flow directly into the same reporting dashboards that show email engagement and campaign ROI. Integrations tie in ticketing, finance, or advocacy systems so that donor data doesn’t just sit in a silo. Or, when it makes sense, we build those functions directly into HubSpot itself. (We’ve done it for ticketing, we’ve done it for advocacy!) The point is, if the data and workflows belong in the CRM, HubSpot can be bent to handle it.

That flexibility is why nonprofits love HubSpot and why they look to it to replace legacy systems like Blackbaud, Tessitura, Salesforce NPSP, or DonorPerfect. HubSpot allows these organizations modern automation, unified reporting, and a user-friendly interface…plus the long-term advantage of having every touchpoint on a single platform.

How do nonprofits manage major donors and pledge commitments in HubSpot?

We design custom pipelines that reflect how real development teams cultivate their donors. For most, it’s something like: identification → qualification → ask → stewardship, but like anything in HubSpot - these flows can be heavily customized. Pledges can be tracked as multi-year deals, tied to donor records, with automated reminders and reporting. For capital campaigns and large gifts, HubSpot provides transparency across teams so no relationship falls through the cracks.

Cost, Implementation & Adoption

How much does HubSpot cost for nonprofits, and what discounts are available?

Eligible nonprofits receive a 40% discount on HubSpot’s Professional and Enterprise tiers. Plenty of nonprofits start with the free CRM to get a feel for the tool and then scale into Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, and Operations Hub as the flexibility of the software becomes apparent. Once it's clear that HubSpot makes many of an organization's other tools redundant and that it can knit whatever is left together to feed into a singular CRM, the choice becomes pretty clear. And software-wise, like most CRMs of its kind, HubSpot cost depends on contact volume, user seats, and the level of automation and reporting you need.

How much does it cost to implement HubSpot for a nonprofit?

Implementation of a system that is going to be so central to your operations is not a “plug and play” scenario. Yes, there are plenty of HubSpot partners who do light onboarding & implementation: perhaps setting up your portal, configuring defaults, running a training or two, and making a few email templates or sequences. That’s a great fit for nonprofits that want the basics covered, and organizations can often find that service for $5,000 or less.

That’s not usually why people come to us. We’re typically brought in when a nonprofit needs more complex implementation and customization. Often it’s moving off a legacy system like Tessitura, DonorPerfect, or Constant Contact, migrating years of donor data, standing up new fundraising pipelines, integrating outside tools, or even rebuilding a website on HubSpot CMS alongside the CRM rollout. These aren’t “out-of-the-box” jobs. They require serious consulting and data modeling, and generally custom properties, coded workflows, and integrations that go well beyond a starter setup.

That’s why when we talk about “implementation,” we’re really talking about custom projects. A basic migration or implementation with us usually starts around $10,000, with larger multi-system projects scaling from there. If you only need straightforward onboarding and basic implementation, we’re happy to point you to trusted partners who specialize in that. But if your use case is complex (and in our experience, most nonprofits’ use cases are), that’s where we shine.

How do you migrate donor data into HubSpot without losing giving history?

This question comes up all the time - and it’s understandable. We routinely work with teams that have been collecting gifts, pledges, event attendance, and supporter notes for decades. Nine times out of ten, their first concern is: we cannot lose our giving history.

So our entire process is built around preserving every detail. We start with consulting workshops where we map out your current systems (that might be DonorPerfect, Raisers Edge NXT, Salesforce NPSP, or custom databases) and we align with your team on where that data should live in HubSpot. From there, our solution engineering team takes over to develop a robust data architecture plan. This is where we create a field-by-field mapping to show exactly how donations, recurring gifts, pledges, in-kind contributions, memberships, events, and communications history will flow into HubSpot.

The migration itself is run in small batch phases so that we can validate that your data is landing in the right place (with the right formatting, linked to the right records, etc.) We also spend a lot of time accounting for edge cases like recurring donation schedules, soft credits, tribute gifts, membership renewals, volunteer activity, or legacy notes that need to be preserved for stewardship. Many of our migrations involve multiple systems, and when that is the case we unify records across platforms to avoid duplication and ensure a single source of truth in HubSpot.

At the end of the day, this is often the single biggest, most pressure-filled task of any HubSpot migration. Donor lifetime value, retention analysis, and major gift forecasting all depend on complete, accurate historical data. Losing a decade of pledge history or donor interactions isn’t an option.

Integrations & Ecosystem

Can HubSpot integrate with donation tools like Classy, Donorbox, or Givebutter?

Yes. HubSpot’s marketplace and APIs make it possible to sync donation data so donor history lives in one place. We’ve built complex integrations that tie together Classy for campaigns, Stripe for payments, and HubSpot for stewardship. The key is eliminating duplicates and ensuring gifts match the right contact.

How do point tools integrate with HubSpot?

Point solutions trap data in silos. One tool for donations, another for events, another for email, another for ticketing. The tools are all probably doing their respective jobs, but if they’re not talking to each other or to a common platform that unites them, you end up with fragmented donor records, incomplete reporting, and gaps in stewardship.

This is where HubSpot’s integrations matter. With native or marketplace integrations, HubSpot becomes the brain of your organization. An event tool like Eventbrite can remain your go-to tool for registration, but the integration ensures every attendee record lives in HubSpot. A fundraising platform like Classy can still power your campaigns, but the integration pushes every donation into HubSpot tied to the right donor. The same goes for Fundraise Up, Donorbox, advocacy platforms, and more. HubSpot’s marketplace has thousands of integrations available right out of the box.

And if you’re looking at this from the cost perspective, the good news is that most native integrations can be enabled right out of the box, oftentimes without outside help. Marketplace integrations often have robust documentation that allows internal teams to get the integrations spun up themselves. And for organizations that want help getting the most out of them, the lift is still lighter than building something custom. Marketplace integrations mean most of the heavy lifting has already been done, which makes them almost always more cost-effective than starting from scratch.

When do nonprofits need custom HubSpot integrations?

The HubSpot marketplace is full of tools with native HubSpot integrations, and many nonprofits can run just fine using the prebuilt integrations available. But sometimes, an organization’s needs go beyond what’s out there in the marketplace.

That’s when custom integrations come in. We only build them when the marketplace doesn’t cover the use case, or when the available connector isn’t robust enough.

Can HubSpot integrate with Salesforce NPSP?

Yes, HubSpot offers a native Salesforce integration, and for nonprofits using Salesforce NPSP as their donor database, this native integration is generally a really good starting point to a totally connected system. The integration allows contacts, companies, deals, and activities to sync between the systems. And if your nonprofit is running straightforward campaigns, this can be enough.

What we often see, though, is that nonprofits run into limits with this integration. NPSP contains custom donor data like pledges, soft credits, and complex gift designations that don’t always map cleanly through the native integration. So many orgs we see will need additional configuration or a custom layer on top to ensure donor activity, gifts, and communications stay fully in sync.

To be clear, the HubSpot <> Salesforce native connector is strong. But for nonprofits with more complex pipelines, it might not be robust enough on its own.

Can HubSpot integrate with Tessitura?

No, not natively. Tessitura doesn’t have a marketplace integration with HubSpot, so nonprofits that use it for memberships and ticketing almost always need a custom build. We’ve built custom integrations for arts and culture orgs to connect Tessitura data into HubSpot so that ticket purchases, attendance, and memberships feed directly into donor records.

With that sort of custom integration between the two, more powerful stewardship is unlocked: automated follow-ups for first-time attendees, cross-promotion of events and campaigns, and dashboards that show how ticketing and membership activity translates into giving. Without integration, Tessitura data sits in a silo. With a custom integration, it drives stewardship workflows in HubSpot.

Can HubSpot integrate with Classy?

Yes. Classy has a native integration available in the HubSpot marketplace. For many nonprofits, it works well right out of the box: donations made through Classy flow into HubSpot, and donor records stay up to date.

When organizations have more complex needs, like syncing historical donations, handling tribute gifts, or pushing designations into custom fields, the native integration can leave a bit to be desired. So in those cases, we often extend the Classy integration with custom configuration or middleware to ensure that every gift from a Classy campaign lands in HubSpot tied to the right donor with the right context for stewardship.

Should we integrate Mailchimp with HubSpot?

There’s a two-part answer for this one. From a technical perspective, sure - HubSpot offers a native Mailchimp integration, and it works. In practice, though, integrating the two is usually unnecessary. That’s because HubSpot Marketing Hub already includes email marketing, segmentation, and automation. Maintaining two systems that do the same thing adds cost and complexity without much upside.

What we often see is organizations that have already invested in HubSpot wanting to migrate off of Mailchimp to consolidate their email marketing in HubSpot. The only time a Mailchimp integration makes sense is if you have a unique Mailchimp use case and aren’t ready to transition fully into Marketing Hub.

Should we integrate every tool into HubSpot?

If you’re using a number of tools and want HubSpot as your single source of truth, trying to integrate them all might sound like your dream state. But in practice, there are plenty of cases where integration really isn’t the best path forward. For example, for point tools you only use occasionally or that hold minimal data, a simple import/export might be more efficient than a permanent sync. For example, if you only use a volunteer tool for one annual event and don’t need it to power ongoing stewardship, it might not be worth building or maintaining an integration.

Comparisons & Competitors

How does HubSpot compare to Blackbaud (Raiser’s Edge/NXT)?

Blackbaud is built for nonprofits but is expensive and often clunky. HubSpot offers a modern UI, stronger automation, and better marketing tools at a lower cost (especially with the nonprofit discount). Many nonprofits switch for flexibility and usability.

Should nonprofits choose HubSpot or Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack?

Salesforce NPSP is highly customizable but you’re likely going to need significant admin resources and ongoing maintenance. HubSpot is easier to implement and manage, with a stronger marketing and automation core. For orgs without dedicated Salesforce admins, HubSpot is often the smarter choice.

On top of that, Salesforce is phasing out the Nonprofit Success Pack in favor of the Nonprofit Cloud (NPC). The transition process from NPSP is something that a lot of NPSP orgs are not looking forward to, since it means extracting, transforming, and loading your data into a brand new data model, plus adopting new features (person account model vs. household model). It’s all doable, to be sure, but deprecating NPSP certainly has more organizations pondering a switch to HubSpot.

Is HubSpot better than Bloomerang for small nonprofits?

It’s hard to assess one tool over another without knowing the specific use case. But in our experience, Bloomerang is lightweight and donor-focused and works well for small teams. Where we have seen limitations is when those teams need automation, advanced reporting, or cross-team collaboration. In that regard, HubSpot outpaces it. For that reason, we come across plenty of orgs who started with Bloomerang and switched to HubSpot once their complexity grew.

Why Work with Nonprofit Tech Shop

Why should a nonprofit work with an agency like Nonprofit Tech Shop for HubSpot?

There are a lot of excellent HubSpot partner agencies out there. But in the world of HubSpot partners, the vast majority of agencies focus on for-profit companies because that’s where the incentives are. The truth is that HubSpot offers nonprofits a significant discount (40%!) which is great for organizations, but it also means agencies earn less when working with nonprofit clients. For many partners, that makes nonprofits a “less attractive” fit.

We’ve never seen it that way. We’ve worked with nonprofits of every size and sector for over a decade. Museums, advocacy orgs,higher ed, healthcare, community-based, you name it. We built a dedicated team whose only focus is nonprofits, because that’s where their passion is. We enjoy working with impact organizations, and we believe in solving problems that are bigger than maximizing shareholder value.

rs. We know the tools in the nonprofit ecosystem, we know the players, and we’ve seen it all — from legacy systems like Blackbaud and Tessitura to emerging fundraising platforms like Fundraise Up and Givebutter.

Most importantly, we understand the nonprofit lens. If you work with a partner that only knows for-profits, they’ll try to squeeze you into a sales pipeline mold. We don’t. We know what donor stewardship looks like, what grant reporting requires, and how your board thinks about impact. Yes, our expertise is technical. But it’s also cultural. We’ve built Nonprofit Tech Shop so that nonprofits know they’re working with people who understand their world.

What types of nonprofits has Nonprofit Tech Shop helped implement and customize HubSpot?

We’ve worked with museums, advocacy orgs, higher ed, healthcare, membership associations, and community-based nonprofits. Each sector brings unique needs, and we’ve configured amazing HubSpot-centered solutions for them all.

Do you provide ongoing HubSpot support and optimization after implementation?

Yes. The majority of our clients rely on us long after go-live. But it’s not a necessity that you stick with us long-term. For those that do, we generally craft custom packages that have us handling some combination of ongoing support, training, enhancements, change management, and optimization as organizational strategies evolve.