The 3 Automations Every Nonprofit Should Set Up First

Raise your hand if your CRM is technically “set up,” but everything still feels way too manual. Exporting CSVs like it's your side hustle. Reorganizing and hiding columns every time you need a single number. You get the picture.

Here’s the good news: you don’t need a new system. You just need the right five automations running in the background.

Instead of saving automations for your “someday” list, you can save hours, improve follow-up, and finally make your tech stack feel worth the investment. 

Let’s walk through the automations every nonprofit should set up first. Plus why they matter more than the fancy features you haven’t touched yet.

Automation #1: Fix your gift acknowledgment

Trust with donors starts the moment their gift goes through.

When you buy something online, you expect the receipt immediately. Not days later. (Imagine getting it after your new favorite sweater arrives.)

Donations work the same way. Donors want quick confirmation that their gift landed where it was supposed to land.

When receipts are delayed or handled manually, confidence slips just enough to matter. And yet many nonprofits still rely on manual receipts or monthly acknowledgment letters, simply because setting this up keeps getting bumped down the list.

That delay costs time—and chips away at donor confidence.

Why this matters now

This is one of the easiest automations to fix. And one of the fastest ways to signal professionalism, reliability, and care. Skipping it costs you trust and momentum. Fixing it takes an afternoon.

Before you move on to anything else, make sure your acknowledgment automation does the basics well:

• Donor names pull in correctly

• Gift amounts are accurate

• Restricted vs. unrestricted gifts are clear

• Recurring donors are acknowledged as such

• The “from” address is a real person

Setting this up removes a major mental load from your plate. And it often determines whether a donor feels confident moving forward or hesitates the next time you ask.

Automation #2: Set up the 1-Minute Thank-You

The idea sounds simple: send donors a short, personal thank-you.

The reality? 

You keep a mental list of people you want to email…

That list grows…

And eventually it becomes a source of low-grade guilt you avoid altogether.

That’s the real problem: not the effort, but the mental load.

Why this matters now

The longer those names sit unsent, the harder it feels to start. Momentum fades. Donors miss the moment. And what should’ve been a warm, easy touchpoint disappears.

The fix isn’t “be more disciplined.” It’s removing the friction.

Instead of starting from a blank screen, set up a system where personalized thank-you drafts are created for you automatically—then batch the human part once a week.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

One client had five donors give in a week.

Five thank-you drafts were waiting in her inbox.

She blocks 15 minutes every Friday, opens the drafts, and adds one personal line. Something like: 

• “Great to see you at our last event.”

• “Thanks for sharing that LinkedIn post.”

• “Hope your dog’s recovery is going well.”

That’s it.

Now donors get thanked every week—consistently—instead of “when things slow down.”

Resource: 1-Minute Thank You 

Automation #3: Show your monthly donors some love

Monthly donors are easy to overlook because they’re steady; their gifts show up quietly. Without a system in place, so does your follow-up.

A simple, automated monthly email fixes this without adding anything to your plate. The message doesn’t need to be long or polished. It just needs to land in an inbox—think of it as a quick stewardship touchpoint.

Some easy places to pull from:

• Your top-performing social posts, turned into short, bite-sized emails

• Your general newsletter. Grab one photo and a quick 2–3 sentence update.

The key is to keep these messages short and simple. 

Why this matters now

Consistency is what keeps recurring donors recurring. Regular touchpoints remind them why they signed up in the first place—without asking for more from your team each month.

A few upfront hours to gather your best content, one clean email workflow, and you’ve built a monthly donor stewardship system that runs quietly in the background. And if you’d rather not build it yourself, this is exactly the kind of workflow we help teams set up.

Case study stat…or CTA to demo call

The quick fix (that actually lasts)

Quick fixes only work when they’re built to last.

These three automations are simple to set up, easy to maintain, and powerful enough to change how your day-to-day work feels. They protect your time—and keep the human in fundraising.

Start here. Add more later. And if you want help making sure they run smoothly from day one, we’ve got you covered.