Choosing the Best Donor Database for Your Nonprofit: HubSpot vs. Classy

Ninety percent of nonprofits collect donor data, but only 5% actually use that data to guide their decisions. That gap represents an enormous missed opportunity, especially when the pressure is on to do more with less. You’ve got donors to retain, new supporters to win over, and a team juggling a dozen priorities, often on a shoestring budget. A donor database—when it’s working for you—can help bridge that gap and transform your data into results.

That’s because the right donor management system doesn’t just hold names and numbers. It helps you understand who your donors are, how they give, and what messages move them. It automates your thank-you emails and follow-ups. It surfaces insights you might have missed. And it frees up your staff (or, let’s be real, sometimes your two-person fundraising team) to spend more time building relationships and less time cleaning spreadsheets.

Why are donor databases so useful? Because strategically segmented email lists and thoughtful automated follow-ups pay off. Data shows that 84% of donors are more likely to give again when they’re kept in the loop with impact updates, and marketers that use CRM data for segmentation and personalization see vastly more revenue from their email campaigns (as much as 760% more, according to one study, which is a shocker of a figure).

However, not all donor databases are created equal, and choosing the right one isn’t always straightforward. You’re weighing cost, usability, integrations, and how well it fits your team’s needs. Two platforms many nonprofits consider are HubSpot and Classy (now called GoFundMe Pro). Both have strong reputations and nonprofit-friendly features, but they’re built with different priorities in mind. In this blog, we’ll compare them head-to-head to help you choose the one that will make the most of your data—and your team’s time.

What Is a Donor Database and Why Do Nonprofits Need One?

A donor database is the central hub where all your donor information lives. Think of it as your nonprofit’s CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system tailored specifically to fundraising and relationship-building. It’s where you track who gave what, when they gave it, how often they engage with your content, and whether they’re due for a thank-you note (or a gentle nudge, as the case may be).

At its core, a donor database supports your broader fundraising strategy by organizing data in a way that helps you make smarter decisions, personalize outreach, and deepen relationships with supporters. Here are the benefits.

• Centralized donor information: No more hunting through spreadsheets, emails, and sticky notes. A donor database keeps contact info, giving history, event attendance, and engagement data all in one place.
• Streamlined donor communications and outreach: From welcome emails to renewal reminders, automation tools let you stay in touch without burning out your staff. Personalization features help you speak to each new donor like a human, not a line on a spreadsheet.
• Improved donor engagement and retention strategies: With the right data at your fingertips, you can spot patterns, identify lapsed donors, and craft campaigns that keep supporters coming back. (Remember that statistic from earlier? Eighty-four percent of donors are more likely to give again when they feel connected to your work.)
• Enhanced reporting, metrics, and insights: Donor databases help you track KPIs like donor retention rate, average gift size, and donor lifetime value. These insights make your campaigns more strategic and more successful.

Whether running a year-end giving campaign or planning a gala, your database should be where you turn to first.

Key Features to Look for in a Donor Database

Every database is different. Some are built for scrappy small nonprofits, others for enterprise-level operations, and a few try to be everything to everyone (with varying degrees of success).

Regardless of your size or structure, there are a few non-negotiables you should look for when choosing a system that will support your fundraising and donor stewardship goals. Here’s what a great donor database should include.

• Donor profiles with detailed contact information: At the very least, you’ll need a central record for each donor that includes their name, email, giving history, event attendance, and personal notes. The more context you have, the better you can tailor your outreach.
• Segmentation for targeted donor outreach: Whether you’re talking to monthly givers, major donors, or folks who haven’t opened an email in six months, segmentation lets you speak directly to different audiences so that the messages they receive are reasonably tailored to their level of engagement.
• Email marketing tools and templates: Built-in email functionality—ideally with automation—makes sending welcome messages, campaign updates, and donation appeals easy. Templates are a bonus (especially when short on time or design help).
• Integration with other tools you already use: Look for platforms that play nicely with your existing tech stack—think QuickBooks, Mailchimp, Eventbrite, or whatever your preferred fundraising software or platform. Integrations save your team hours of manual data entry (and prevent accidental errors).
• Reporting dashboards and custom reports: You need to know what’s working and what’s not. Dashboards and reporting tools help you track donation trends, segment performance, donor retention, and more—all in real time.
• Workflow automation: Automation is a massive time-saver. Schedule follow-ups, automate thank-you emails, and trigger next steps based on donor actions to keep things moving behind the scenes.
• Scalability and real-time updates: Your nonprofit might be small now, but you’re thinking big. Choose a system that can grow with you, with real-time syncing and flexible tools that support your current needs and future goals.

HubSpot for Nonprofits

HubSpot wasn’t originally built for nonprofits, but whatever it loses in specificity, it makes up for in adaptability and the sheer breadth of its functionality. As a powerful, enterprise-level CRM platform, HubSpot gives nonprofits access to the same sophisticated tools that major corporations use to manage relationships, automate communications, and analyze performance. With the right configuration, it can serve as your donor database, marketing engine, engagement tracker, and reporting system all in one. Its flexibility makes it a strong choice for organizations that want to consolidate their tools, work more efficiently, and grow strategically.

Key Features

HubSpot for Nonprofits stands out for its modular structure. Each “Hub” focuses on a different aspect of your operations, so you can build the system that fits your organization’s needs and scale up as you grow. Here’s how the main Hubs translate into nonprofit functionality.

• Marketing Hub: This is where your new donor acquisition strategies come to life. You can build email nurture sequences, create campaign landing pages, run social media ads, and optimize your content for search engines (SEO). The built-in segmentation and personalization tools ensure you send the right message to the right supporter at the right time.
• Sales Hub: Think of this as your donor relationship center. Track interactions with major donors, log calls and meetings, manage your pipeline of grant opportunities, and get real-time visibility into giving trends. It’s especially powerful for nonprofit organizations with a development team juggling multiple touchpoints.
• Service Hub: Engagement doesn’t stop after a donation. With Service Hub, you can set up ticketing systems, feedback surveys, and knowledge bases to create a more responsive and personalized donor experience. It’s great for building trust and loyalty over time.
• CMS Hub: If your website feels more like a bulletin board than a living, breathing tool, CMS Hub changes that. You can build or redesign your nonprofit website, manage blog content, create mobile-friendly donation forms, and track conversions—all in one place, without needing a developer on call.
• Operations Hub: This is the behind-the-scenes magic that keeps everything running smoothly. Operations Hub helps you clean up data, automate complex workflows, and sync HubSpot with tools like QuickBooks, Salesforce, Eventbrite, or virtually any app your team uses daily.

Together, these Hubs give you full visibility into your donor journey—from first click to lifelong champion—and let you manage it all from one central, intuitive platform.

Benefits

HubSpot’s biggest advantage for nonprofits is its all-in-one approach. Instead of juggling separate tools, you can manage everything—from outreach to analytics—under one roof. That means less manual work, fewer data silos, and a clearer picture of your donor relationships.

You can tailor campaigns to specific donor segments without reinventing the wheel every time. Its reporting tools give real-time insights into donor retention, campaign performance, and engagement trends, helping you make smarter, data-backed decisions.

And whether you’re a small team just getting organized or a national nonprofit with complex workflows, HubSpot scales with you. It’s user-friendly, flexible, and fully customizable.

Pricing and Discounts

HubSpot’s pricing reflects its enterprise-level capabilities—the Professional CRM Suite starts at $1,600/month, while the Enterprise Suite begins at $5,000/month. Eligible nonprofits can receive a 40% discount, which significantly lowers the barrier to entry. For many organizations, the value gained through automation, integrations, and long-term donor engagement makes the investment well worth it, especially when replacing multiple disconnected tools.

Classy for Nonprofits

Classy (now called GoFundMe Pro) is a fundraising platform built specifically for nonprofits, offering a suite of tools that focus on online donations, peer-to-peer campaigns, and donor engagement. It’s designed to help organizations create visually engaging, mobile-friendly donation pages, run compelling fundraising campaigns, and interact with supporters across multiple channels.

Classy prioritizes ease of use and visual storytelling, making it a favorite for nonprofits that want to launch effective digital fundraising efforts quickly, without needing deep technical skills or a custom tech stack.

Key Features

Classy shines when it comes to simplifying digital fundraising. Its tools are designed to help people launch polished, compelling online experiences without a web development or UX design background.

• User-friendly donation form builder: Creating branded, mobile-optimized donation pages is fast and intuitive with Classy’s platform. You can customize forms to match your organization’s voice and branding, and optimize them for recurring giving, donor-covered fees, and more.
• Peer-to-peer fundraising tools: Classy makes it easy to tap into the power of your community. Supporters can set up their own fundraising pages and rally donations on your behalf, expanding your reach without stretching your internal resources.
• Event management features: Whether you’re planning a virtual gala or an in-person 5K, Classy helps you manage RSVPs, sell tickets, and track attendee engagement all within the same platform.
• Customizable templates: From donation forms to full fundraising campaign pages, Classy offers a variety of plug-and-play templates that save your team time while still looking professional and on-brand.

Benefits

Classy’s biggest strength is its simplicity. Its focus on peer-to-peer fundraising and event management makes it especially effective for community-driven organizations seeking to mobilize their supporters. With customizable templates and a clean, intuitive interface, Classy helps organizations create a polished-looking product.

Plus, Classy tends to hit the ground running because it’s purpose-built for fundraising. You can get donation pages, events, and campaigns up and live fast, without sacrificing quality or user experience.

Pricing and Plans

Classy offers pricing tiers that scale with your nonprofit organization’s size and fundraising needs. For smaller nonprofits—those with less than $1 million in annual revenue—the Essentials Plan comes with no subscription fee, making it an accessible option for lean teams looking to launch effective campaigns without a significant upfront investment.

For larger organizations, the Enterprise Plan includes more advanced features like premium integrations, enhanced analytics, dedicated account support, and deeper customization. It’s built for nonprofits that need robust reporting, CRM connections, and the ability to run more complex, multi-channel fundraising efforts.

While Classy doesn’t publish full pricing details publicly, requesting a quote tailored to your nonprofit’s size and goals is best.

Addressing Nonprofit Pain Points: A Detailed Comparison of HubSpot vs. Classy

Both HubSpot and Classy are powerful, but they solve different problems and shine in different areas. Here’s how they stack up side by side.

Functionality

• HubSpot is a full-service CRM platform designed to centralize your marketing, communications, donor management, and data in one place. It’s ideal for nonprofits that want to streamline everything from email campaigns to internal workflows.
• Classy, on the other hand, is laser-focused on online fundraising. It excels at donation forms, peer-to-peer fundraising, and event management.

Pricing

• HubSpot comes with a higher upfront cost—$1,600/month for the Professional Suite—but offers a 40% discount for nonprofits.
• Classy is more accessible to smaller nonprofits, especially with its Essentials Plan, which has no subscription fee for organizations under $1M in annual revenue. Its pricing can scale with your fundraising volume and feature needs.

Integrations

• HubSpot boasts a wide array of integrations, connecting with tools like QuickBooks, Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Salesforce, Zoom, and many more. Its flexibility makes it a solid central hub for nonprofits with an existing tech stack.
• Classy focuses on native features designed specifically for fundraising and donor engagement. Its event tools, donation tracking, and built-in analytics are optimized for nonprofit campaign performance out of the box.

User-Friendliness

Both platforms are user-friendly, but in different ways. Classy is simpler to learn and quicker to deploy, especially for campaign-based teams. HubSpot has a steeper learning curve, but offers more depth and control for nonprofits ready to invest in customization and long-term growth.

Ideal Use Cases

• Choose HubSpot if your organization needs an all-in-one solution for managing donors, running campaigns, analyzing engagement, and automating workflows. It’s best for growth-oriented nonprofits looking for enterprise-level CRM functionality.
• Choose Classy if your focus is on running effective fundraising campaigns, peer-to-peer events, and donor acquisition through sleek donation forms and supporter engagement tools.

Choosing the Right Donor Database for Your Nonprofit

Choosing the right donor database is a major strategic decision for your organization. As a Gold HubSpot partner, Big Sea has helped nonprofit and for-profit organizations alike harness the full power of HubSpot’s platform. We’ve worked with universities, museums, national environmental organizations, and regional charities to help them set up and optimize robust hubs that maximize their outreach and effectiveness.

Whether you’re just getting started or looking to take your current setup to the next level, our team knows how to translate HubSpot’s tools into real-world success for your nonprofit. From custom CRM implementations to automated workflows and targeted donor journeys, we’ll help you get the most out of every feature—and every fundraising effort.

Ready to see what HubSpot can do for your nonprofit? Let’s talk.