A website builder, a donation tool, an events app, an email platform, a separate grants tool, and DocuSign. Each with its own contract, login, and onboarding — plus integrations you maintain forever.
Point tools look cheaper in year one. By year three, the integration maintenance, duplicate onboarding, and per-seat creep make the stack cost more — and it still doesn't talk to itself.
Bloomerang, Blackbaud, Classy, Givebutter, Salesforce — none put grant discovery, AI grant writing, and e-sign inside the same CRM as your donors. Koolay does.
EIN-matched grant discovery the moment you sign up — no manual prospecting.
An AI writer grounded in your mission, budgets, and past applications — plus a real pipeline.
Native e-sign for grant agreements, pledges, sponsor and board docs — against the record.
Otherwise you're paying for Instrumentl + a CRM + DocuSign — and stitching them together yourself.
Mid-market decisions are made by a committee. Koolay gives each of them what they evaluate on.
Individual giving, events, and grant funding reported together — with the total cost of one platform instead of several line items.
Donor LTV, a major-gift pipeline, campaigns and events, and a live grants pipeline — no exporting between tools.
The governance a $1M+ org's IT and finance teams require before a demo — not after.
Donor PII, payment data, and grant records held to the standard a mid-market board expects.
Your biggest fear switching platforms is losing years of giving history. So we run migration as a managed, de-risked project — with a dedicated implementation manager and a parallel run before you cut over.
Included in onboarding — not a surprise professional-services bill.
With NPSP frozen and Nonprofit Cloud requiring a full re-implementation, migrating away costs about the same as staying — so move to something that needs no consultant.
A quick read against the two incumbents a $1M+ nonprofit weighs most.
| What matters to a $1M+ buyer | Koolay | Blackbaud RE NXT | Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud |
|---|---|---|---|
| All-in-one, built as one system | Yes — native | Add-on modules | CRM + AppExchange |
| Turnkey — no implementation partner | Live in weeks | Paid implementation | SI + admin required |
| Grant discovery + AI writing built in | Yes | No | Separate tool |
| Native e-sign on the record | Yes | No | No |
| Website / CMS + fundraising unified | Yes | Bring your own | Bring your own |
| Transparent, published pricing | Yes | Quote & upsell | Per-seat, tiered |
| Migration included | Yes | Extra | Full re-build |
| No per-seat creep / lock-in | Flat | Per-user + 5–15%/yr | $100–$300/user/mo |
Honest caveat: for deep custom object models or orgs already standardized on Salesforce, the incumbents still win. Koolay targets the $1M–$25M org that finds them too heavy. · Full 8-platform matrix available as a PDF.
Not a feature dump — each tool earns its place with a result and the mechanism behind it.
LTV, segments, recurring giving, and auto tax receipts on one timeline.
Paid RSVP & ticketing that writes attendance to the donor record.
Public site, blog, and donation forms in the same system as the CRM.
Restricted vs unrestricted funds, auditor-ready, synced from the bank.
Email plus 25¢ postcards to 184K funders — from one contact list.
Unlimited branches with an HQ roll-up dashboard and shared governance.
Tasks, volunteers, and hours logged against programs and grants.
Applications, blind rubric scoring, and disbursement in one flow.
A 1.9M-grant database wired to an application manager — track, draft, and submit in one pipeline.
A staff calendar with bookable rooms that can't double-book — planning beside your public events.
Auto-surface employer matching at checkout (Double the Donation) so donors double their gift.
DocuSign-style e-signatures for grant agreements, pledges, and board docs — stored on the constituent.
Cancel anytime · 14-day Grow trial
Clear on what's included vs. add-on — no module tax, no per-user creep, no 5–15% annual hikes.
Already have a website — or under $1M and just want grant discovery? Start here.
Free grant discovery for smaller nonprofits — EIN-matched, no card required.
The complete grants workspace — discover, write with AI assistance, and win. Included in Impact & Enterprise.
The operating system for nonprofits — one connected system that gives mission-driven organizations everything they need to build their presence, raise funds, run programs, and grow their impact.
We started Koolay to solve the technology problem that holds nonprofits back. Too many are stuck with outdated websites, a dozen disconnected tools, and enterprise software priced for corporations — spending more time fighting their tech stack than serving their community.
So we built one platform that does it all: a professional website, donations, a donor CRM, scholarships, events and volunteers, grant tracking from prospect to award, project management, live bank sync, budgeting, and email — with AI in every layer so a lean team can work like a much bigger one.
We believe the smallest nonprofits shouldn't be priced out of good technology. That's why we build free solutions for organizations with little or no budget — starting with Grant Hub Lite, free grant discovery for nonprofits under $1M. We earn our living from the mid-market, and that model lets us give back to the long tail of small nonprofits while building a sustainable company.
Kerem brings a background spanning business strategy, growth, and the social-impact world. He has worked closely with mission-driven organizations and understands the funding pressures smaller nonprofits live with. He focuses on go-to-market, partnerships, and keeping the platform genuinely useful — and genuinely affordable.
Bulent has spent his career at the intersection of enterprise software and AI — shipping data-heavy platforms and turning messy operational problems into clean, scalable systems. He started Koolay after watching nonprofits get forced to choose between enterprise suites they couldn't afford and a patchwork of disconnected tools. He leads product and engineering.
Every feature starts with one question: does this help nonprofits serve their communities better?
14-day free trial, no credit card, and multilingual support — so every organization can go digital.
SSL, GDPR compliance, auto backups, and enterprise-grade infrastructure. Your data is safe with us.
Built with feedback from hundreds of nonprofits, charities, foundations, and faith organizations.
Smart tools that save time — AI content, donor insights, grant discovery, and auto-tagging.
Website, donations, CRM, grants, scholarships, events, volunteers, PM, bank sync, and budgets — no juggling ten tools.
Want a walkthrough of the platform, have a pricing or partnership question, or need support? Tell us where you are — one form reaches the right person.