Forms & other operations
Airtable
Airtable is the structured-list workhorse: part spreadsheet, part database. Nonprofits use it for program rosters, in-kind inventories, volunteer lists, and grant-deadline trackers. The free plan carries most small shops, and paid plans run about $20 per seat per month billed annually.
Who it fits
Any shop drowning in one-off spreadsheets. Airtable gives those lists structure: linked records, filtered views for different staff, and intake forms that feed rows directly. Grassroots teams often pay for it before they pay for anything donor-facing, which is a reasonable order of operations.
Pricing
| Plan | Per seat / month (annual) |
|---|---|
| Free | $0 |
| Team | ~$20 |
The free tier’s limits (records per base, editors) are generous enough that many small organizations never hit them.
How it compares
monday.com is the workflow-shaped alternative, better for projects with owners and due dates; Airtable is better for data-shaped work. Jotform feeds both with intake forms. The rule that keeps all three useful: anything about a donor belongs in your donor CRM, not a side base, because side databases are where gift history gets lost.
Bottom line
Airtable has no publisher affiliate program, so this site earns nothing recommending it. It’s here because small shops really do run on it, and because starting free with one messy spreadsheet converted to a real base is the fastest way to see whether it sticks.
Strengths
- Spreadsheet-easy with database structure underneath
- The free tier genuinely carries most small shops
- Forms, views, and linked records replace a pile of one-off spreadsheets
Limitations
- Per-seat pricing climbs once several staff need edit access
- Not a donor CRM; gift history doesn't belong here
- Big bases get slow and need occasional cleanup