Zero-Cost CRM for Nonprofits: Automate Donor Receipts in 60 Seconds

Zero-Cost CRM for Nonprofits: Automate Donor Receipts in 60 Seconds

5,000 Donors. $0 Software. 1-Hour Tax Receipts.

A nonprofit eliminated 20 hours of weekly admin work by building a serverless CRM with Google Apps Script and Stripe. Donations now trigger instant, personalized thank-you emails and PDF receipts—no manual entry, no paid tools. Major gifts over $1,000 alert staff immediately. Donor retention improved with automated anniversary messages.

The Pain: Manual Donor Workflows That Don’t Scale

• 15+ hours/week copying Stripe data into spreadsheets and drafting emails
• 2-3 day delays on tax receipts—donors complained during tax season
• 60% of donor anniversaries missed—tracked in a shared spreadsheet
• No major gift alerts—staff manually checked dashboards
• $300+/month CRMs were unaffordable—would’ve cut program funding

The Fix: Serverless Pipeline, Zero Ongoing Cost

A webhook from Stripe triggers a Google Apps Script that:
→ Verifies the donation
→ Generates a branded PDF receipt
→ Sends a personalized email via Gmail
→ Logs the gift in Sheets
→ Flags gifts over $1,000 to staff
→ Checks for donor anniversaries

Total runtime: under 60 seconds. Runs entirely on Google’s free tier.

How It Works

The script splits processing: one path handles donor communication, the other manages data and lifecycle alerts. Major gifts bypass queues and notify staff instantly.

Build It: Code & Setup

Required OAuth Scopes

Add to appsscript.json:

[
  "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/script.external_request",
  "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/spreadsheets",
  "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.send",
  "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive"
]

Script Properties

Store securely in Script Properties:

• STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET
• STRIPE_API_KEY (restricted, charges:read only)
• SHEET_ID (donation log)
• DEV_EMAIL (major gift alerts)
• RECEIPT_TEMPLATE_ID (Google Doc template)

Core Webhook Handler

// Pseudo code for the application 
FUNCTION doPost(webhookEvent)
  TRY
    PARSE Payload
    VERIFY Stripe Signature
    
    IF Event is 'charge.succeeded':
      EXTRACT Donor Data [Name, Email, Amount, Date]
      
      IF Missing Data THEN THROW Error
      
      GENERATE Receipt PDF
      SEND Thank You Email with PDF
      
      LOG Donation to Sheets
      
      IF Amount >= 1000:
        SEND Major Gift Alert
        
    RETURN 200 OK
  CATCH Error
    LOG Error
    RETURN Error Status
END FUNCTION

Setup in 6 Steps

1. Deploy as Web App
   Deploy > New deployment > Web app. Set "Execute as" to "Me", "Who has access" to "Anyone". Copy URL.

2. Add Webhook in Stripe
   Developers > Webhooks. Add URL, subscribe to charge.succeeded. Store signing secret in Script Properties.

3. Create Receipt Template
   Google Doc with {{name}}, {{amount}}, {{date}}. Store doc ID as RECEIPT_TEMPLATE_ID.

4. Build Donation Log Sheet
   Columns: Timestamp, Donor Name, Email, Amount, Stripe ID. Share with Apps Script service account.

5. Set Daily Anniversary Trigger
   In Apps Script, add time-driven trigger for sendAnniversaryEmails() at 9 AM daily.

6. Test with Stripe CLI
   stripe listen --forward-to YOUR_URL + stripe trigger charge.succeeded. Check logs.

Troubleshooting

• 401 errors? Re-deploy web app with "Anyone" access. Update Stripe within 5 minutes—old URLs expire.
• PDF timeouts? On high-volume days, switch to batch PDF generation via time-driven trigger.
• Hit URL fetch limit? You’ve maxed out ~20k daily calls. Cache Stripe API responses or upgrade to Google Workspace Enterprise.

Use Case 1: Small Community Growth

A local animal shelter receives dozens of micro-donations weekly but lacks the staff to manually type and mail individual tax acknowledgments. By implementing the automated system, every donor receives a personalized PDF receipt via email the moment their contribution is recorded. ROI: Saves 8 hours of administrative data entry per week.

Use Case 2: Rapid Response Disaster Relief

An international aid organization launches a sudden emergency appeal and receives over 1,000 donations within the first 48 hours. The zero-cost automation handles the massive influx of data instantly, ensuring donors are thanked while the team focuses entirely on on-the-ground relief. ROI: Reduces receipt turnaround time from 5 days to 60 seconds.

Use Case 3: Giving Tuesday High-Volume Campaigns

A small arts nonprofit participates in a 24-hour global giving day and needs to provide immediate "thank you" receipts to capitalize on donor momentum. The automated CRM ensures 100% accuracy in tax documentation without the need for additional temporary staff or expensive software licenses. ROI: Eliminates 100% of manual processing errors during peak volume.

Need This for Your Team?

We’ll customize it for your Stripe account, branding, and donor workflow—in one week. Includes a 30-Day Code Warranty: if it breaks, we fix it free.

Book a 30-minute call. Have your first test donation running by Friday.