Yet, for many organizations, the critical need for data integration can quickly turn into a nightmarish experience, marked by hidden costs, convoluted processes, and tools that simply aren’t built for the unique challenges nonprofits face.
In a world filled with integration platforms promising seamless connectivity, it’s essential to peel back the layers and recognize why many of these solutions fall flat, especially for nonprofits striving to maximize their impact.
If you’re wondering why we’re saying integration can turn into a nightmare for nonprofits on a platform where we sell integration, let me be frank (and possibly a bit haughty) — I think we’ve earned it.
SyncApps has been an iPaaS leader for nearly two decades. During all this time, we’ve made it our mission to make integration affordable for everyone, nonprofits especially.
When we first got started, integration (iPaaS) was reserved for enterprises with deep pockets (We’ve written more about this in our manifesto).
So we offered (we still do!) lifetime discounts for nonprofits, on top of the affordable prices. My biggest point of pride after all these years is that the industry followed suit: there are now more affordable integration platforms than ever.
However, some of these affordable prices are just a game of smoke and mirrors.
Picture this: you’re a nonprofit manager, excitedly scrolling through options for integrating your donor management system with your email marketing tool. You come across a platform that promises an incredibly low monthly fee. Your heart races — finally, an affordable solution!
But before you hit that subscribe button, let’s take a closer look at what that price tag might really mean.
The integration industry has mastered the art of the bait-and-switch. Many tools advertise attractive introductory rates, designed to lure in unsuspecting organizations.
These low initial costs can be enticing for nonprofits operating on tight budgets. But like a mirage in the desert, the reality often comes crashing down once you start scaling your operations.
For example, a platform might charge $20 per month for basic integrations.
Sounds great, right?
However, as your organization grows and you start adding more data connections, features, or advanced capabilities, you quickly discover that every additional integration comes with an eye-watering surcharge. Before you know it, your $20 plan has morphed into a $200 plan — or worse, $2,000 — because those “affordable” extras add up faster than toppings at a fro-yo shop.
Take Zapier, for example. While Zapier is often hailed as the go-to solution for integrations across various sectors, its pricing structure can quickly become a thorn in the side of nonprofits.
The free tier offers only a limited number of Zaps (their term for integrations) and lacks essential features. As you start needing more connections, you’re inevitably pushed into a paid plan.
The costs can escalate rapidly as you reach for those coveted premium integrations — adding a staggering $300 to your monthly expenses.
Another example is Make, formerly Integromat. Like Zapier, it markets itself as a user-friendly integration platform, but nonprofits often find themselves lost in a maze of complex functionalities that require a steep learning curve.
Though it promises affordable plans, the reality is that many nonprofits find themselves entangled in a web of added costs for features like advanced workflows, data handling, and error management.
The result?
Nonprofits are left shelling out significantly more than their initial budgeting had allowed, leaving them to grapple with the irony that their attempt to save money has led to further financial strain.
Note: no shade on Make or Zapier. Both of them have excellent use cases and I know better than anyone that SyncApps isn’t a perfect platform either. Still, when it comes to pricing, the entire industry could use a bit more transparency.
In an era where technology should facilitate, the integration landscape often complicates. Nonprofits require tools that are not just affordable but also accessible and aligned with their operational realities.
Unfortunately, many integration platforms miss the mark entirely, focusing more on features than on usability and clarity.
Let’s be honest: most nonprofit staff members didn’t sign up for an IT degree. They’re passionate individuals dedicated to serving their communities, not tech wizards.
However, the reality is that many integration platforms demand a level of technical proficiency that is simply out of reach for the average nonprofit worker.
Platforms like MuleSoft or Dell Boomi have powerful capabilities, but the complexity can be overwhelming. For a nonprofit with a small team, investing time in training on a convoluted integration tool detracts from valuable time spent on mission-critical tasks.
These platforms often come with steep learning curves, requiring extensive documentation and training that can feel more like a burden than a benefit.
Moreover, many mainstream integration tools were not designed with nonprofits in mind. They tend to cater to businesses that need to handle massive volumes of transactions, sophisticated workflows, and complex data structures.
Unfortunately, this leaves nonprofits high and dry when it comes to essential features tailored to their specific needs.
For instance, tools like Workato may offer automation capabilities that sound appealing on the surface. Still, they often lack features specific to nonprofit operations, such as donor management integration, customizable fundraising campaigns, or compliance tracking for donations.
This oversight leaves nonprofits to either compromise on critical functionality or spend additional resources on integrating other tools to fill the gaps.
This is the main reason why we’re so focused on constantly improving our Salesforce NPSP/NPC integrations. We’re the preferred integration platform for nonprofits and we want to keep it that way. So the nonprofit lifetime discount will always be available and so will our nonprofit-specific integrations.
As nonprofits grow, their needs inevitably evolve. But many integration solutions fail to accommodate this evolution. Organizations may find themselves trapped in rigid frameworks that do not allow for customization or scaling without incurring steep costs.
For example, a small nonprofit might start with a basic integration to connect their email platform to their donor database. However, as they grow and wish to add new tools or enhance their workflows, they discover that the integration platform can’t adapt without significant effort or expense.
This limitation forces them to either stick with outdated practices or face the daunting task of migrating to an entirely new platform, risking data loss and creating chaos in their operations.
It’s essential to recognize that the nonprofit sector operates under distinct circumstances. Nonprofits are driven by mission and impact, not profit margins.
However, the integration industry often operates with a corporate mindset, focusing on volume and profitability rather than the unique challenges faced by nonprofit organizations.
Many integration providers do not fully grasp the day-to-day realities of nonprofit work. They may build platforms that offer sophisticated capabilities but fail to consider how these tools fit into the workflows of organizations that rely heavily on volunteers, have limited tech resources, and operate on shoestring budgets.
For nonprofits, integration has to meet three BIG criteria:
To be fair to our peers in the iPaaS industry, this is a tough combo to nail and it often leads to profit loss.
If you ask me, there are so few integration platforms that deliver all three of these asks because the iPaaS industry has it backward: if you think about profit maximization, you’re already at odds with nonprofits — that’s not how they operate.
So you’re very likely to charge for support, kill it altogether, or keep it and create such a complex integration platform that no one can figure it out without help.
None of these is ideal for nonprofits. Even if support is free, it still takes time to reach out to them and figure out your issue — and nonprofits are strapped for time.
In all honesty, it took us ages to figure this out too.
But when we did, everything changed; it was one of those epiphanies where you almost see a lightbulb over your head.
This is why SyncApps is one of the very few integration platforms for nonprofits that has 24/7 human support, completely free, and on all plans, even for free trialers.
No, it’s not easy. Yes, we could be making more if we killed this offer.
But it’s the only way to properly serve nonprofits.
You’ve got your CRM/donor management system, email marketing, and social media accounts all working toward the same goal, but getting them to talk to each other can feel like a Herculean task.
Our clients told us they were wasting upwards of 10 hours per month on manual data migration and trying to figure out reporting from cross-platform data. Not right.
Trying to piece together a functioning integration setup can resemble a jigsaw puzzle missing half its pieces. You’ve got your CRM data in one corner, email lists in another, and your fundraising events scattered across various platforms.
Your vision of a cohesive system evaporates as you wrestle with broken integrations that fail to sync properly.
Consider the case of a small nonprofit trying to integrate Mailchimp with Salesforce NPSP/NPC. You may start with an optimistic approach, hoping for seamless syncing of donor data and email campaigns.
However, when the integration fails to import the latest donations or update contact information, you’re left scrambling. The time spent troubleshooting and reaching out to support teams adds up, detracting from the very mission you set out to serve.
This is how we onboarded most of our nonprofit clients. They came screaming after trying to get other platforms to work.
And this is why we have pre-built automations — so you can be up and running with a few clicks and zero lines of code. On SyncApps, it takes less than 30 minutes to set up your integration (on average).
So, how can the integration landscape better serve the nonprofit sector? It’s clear that the current state of affairs isn’t cutting it. The time has come for a paradigm shift that prioritizes the unique needs of nonprofits and offers solutions that empower rather than frustrate.
Integration providers must begin to develop tools that are explicitly designed for nonprofit organizations. This means understanding the challenges nonprofits face, such as fluctuating budgets, limited staffing resources, and diverse donor bases.
The focus should shift from merely offering features to creating a user experience that is intuitive, straightforward, and adaptable.
Providers should collaborate with nonprofits to gain insights into their workflows and operational challenges, allowing them to create solutions that address these needs effectively.
This is not a canned piece of advice. We know it works because it’s how we operate.
At SyncApps, we’re in permanent contact with nonprofits and nonprofit consultants to see how we can serve them better. All our interactions start with ONE question: “how can we help?”
This constant contact with them is responsible for most of our features. They tell us what they need, we implement it. Right now, the SyncApps platform is 70% made of features that were requested by a client.
The integration industry must also commit to transparency in pricing. Nonprofits deserve clear, upfront pricing structures that avoid hidden fees and surprise costs.
Providing a tiered pricing model that aligns with the unique budgets of nonprofits can help ensure that organizations don’t find themselves in a precarious financial position as they grow.
I must mention real scalability here again. If you have a free plan that’s highly limited, a second tier that barely moves the needle, and then outrageously expensive tiers, this is not transparent pricing.
This is pushing your clients into paying more than the solution is worth.
The nonprofit sector deserves better than the integration nightmares currently plaguing its operations. As organizations strive to amplify their impact, they shouldn’t have to grapple with convoluted processes, hidden costs, and platforms that don’t understand their unique needs.
It’s time for the integration industry to wake up and recognize that nonprofits are not just small businesses — they are vital components of our communities, dedicated to making the world a better place.
Before you throw the first stone: I know that SyncApps is not the perfect platform, either. We fully understand and accept that it will always be a work in progress.
As the needs of nonprofits change, we strive to meet them and, as often as possible, even anticipate them.
The one thing that will never change at SyncApps is our unwavering commitment to nonprofits and their important missions. Don’t believe me? Try our platform for free and book a call with us during your free trial so we can get you up and running as fast as possible.
