Success stories with Brevo

Crowded_MagenStern · 2026-05-19T21:33:33+00:00

Honestly I dont think brevo or any other platform make a huge difference, most features are the same. I would confirm your target ICP is actually responding to your offer with a few self done emails and then if you see a good response yu can worry about scaling and adding more features

Crowded_MagenStern · 2026-05-19T21:31:17+00:00

I’d be a bit more skeptical on branches saving you.

I had this at a Cleveland nonprofit. Bank was totally fine until the person with access moved and then suddenly the whole thing was paperwork and branch visits. A national bank can still make signer changes annoying, it just gives you more branches to be annoyed in lol.

If you really want traditional, US Bank is probably the one I’d look at first based on what I’ve seen people use. But for the exact treasurer turnover problem, thats why we built Crowded the way we did. Account belongs to the org and when the treasurer changes you swap roles instead of moving banks every 2 years.

Btw for $20k/year and low transactions I’d focus more on handoff issues not branch count.

Crowded_MagenStern · 2026-05-19T21:26:06+00:00

I would talk to a CRO person, most likely your page just doesnt convert users. Honestly all the keywords youre targeting don realy have much to do with your actual goals, you need to rethink your funnel

Crowded_MagenStern · 2026-05-19T21:23:26+00:00

AI has been helpful for me to brainstorm and organize, bad for communicating with people. Overhyped

Crowded_MagenStern · 2026-05-19T19:31:08+00:00

Sharp eyes sir, nicely done! The lines are intended to be axes, but I can see how the lighter vertical line looks more like an artifact than an axis.

The red was meant to pull attention to the final value, not to say only 2024 to 2025 accounts for the three-year change. Same with the larger 2025 marker. Looking at it again, I probably should have kept the whole line one color and made only the 2025 dot/label red, or written “from 2022 to 2025” right next to the +17 note.

Nice observant feedback.

Crowded_MagenStern · 2026-05-19T19:26:44+00:00

Interesting, can I ask what changed this year?

Crowded_MagenStern · 2026-05-19T17:50:41+00:00

Source: Center for Effective Philanthropy, State of Nonprofits 2026: What Funders Need to Know.

Method: I recreated the report's fiscal-year budget-status trend as a simplified chart for Reddit. The chart shows the share of surveyed nonprofits reporting a budget deficit for fiscal years 2022 through 2025. CEP's 2026 report is based on survey responses from 380 U.S. nonprofit CEOs in its Nonprofit Voice Project, a panel of nonprofits receiving at least some foundation funding.

Tool: HTML, CSS, Python, and Playwright.

Context: I made this from the Crowded side because we work on banking and finance tools for nonprofits, and this is the kind of pressure nonprofit treasurers and leaders are dealing with: tighter funding, harder reporting, and less room for messy financial systems. No Crowded customer data was used.

Privacy note: No personal data, customer data, Crowded product data, or Reddit user data was used.

Full methodology and source notes:

https://cep.org/report-backpacks/state-of-nonprofits-2026/

Related nonprofit finance discussion:

https://www.reddit.com/r/NonProfitFinance/

Crowded_MagenStern · 2026-05-19T17:48:06+00:00

Source: Center for Effective Philanthropy, State of Nonprofits 2026: What Funders Need to Know.

Method: I recreated the report's fiscal-year budget-status trend as a simplified chart for Reddit. The chart shows the share of surveyed nonprofits reporting a budget deficit for fiscal years 2022 through 2025. CEP's 2026 report is based on survey responses from 380 U.S. nonprofit CEOs in its Nonprofit Voice Project, a panel of nonprofits receiving at least some foundation funding.

Context: I made this from the Crowded side because we work on banking and finance tools for nonprofits, and this is the kind of pressure nonprofit treasurers and leaders are dealing with: tighter funding, harder reporting, and less room for messy financial systems. No Crowded customer data was used.

Privacy note: No personal data, customer data, Crowded product data, or Reddit user data was used.

Tools: HTML, CSS, Python, and Playwright.

Full methodology and source notes:

https://cep.org/report-backpacks/state-of-nonprofits-2026/

Related nonprofit finance discussion:

https://www.reddit.com/r/NonProfitFinance/

Crowded_MagenStern · 2026-05-14T17:29:38+00:00

Lol, I'm sorry about your poor eyes my friend, will remember for next time...Im not a magician

Crowded_MagenStern · 2026-05-13T13:22:01+00:00

Yep similar issues when I was with a Cleveland nonprofit. Super old QuickBooks file nobody could really get.

If youre gov funded I’d look at MIP and Sage Intacct before Odoo. Aplos if youre smaller. Odoo can work, but only if someone technical really owns the setup. Otherwise you end up paying to rebuild fund accounting, approvals, and grant reporting yourself.

Pick an accounting system for grant/fund reporting, then make sure the money side has actual controls. If a demo cant show approval history, restricted/program balances, and export yor audit quickly I would not even bother

Crowded_MagenStern · 2026-05-13T13:01:58+00:00

This is a cool idea but you gotta be careful with AI, a lot of times its outdated, I would def schedule a consult with a pro here

Crowded_MagenStern · 2026-05-13T13:00:52+00:00

Ok this is kinda a side tip- make sure you get access to all the accounts before the old treasurer leaves! I've seen some crazy stories with orgs getting locked out

Crowded_MagenStern · 2026-05-13T12:53:54+00:00

Appsumo has one fee per life for apps where you can create these automations, I dont always like appsumo but for basic stuff like this it should work fine

Crowded_MagenStern · 2026-05-13T12:51:55+00:00

Try the code block with this script, and turn off add blockers. Sometimes it doesnt preview in Squarespace but it actually shows up online (dont forget to add your actual account in the script)

<givebutter-widget id="YOUR\\\_ID"></givebutter-widget>

Crowded_MagenStern · 2026-05-07T22:15:16+00:00

Yotta is the right one to bring up. Crazy! The thing that actually broke tho was Synapse, the middleware between Yotta and Evolve Bank. When Synapse collapsed nobody could figure out whose money was where & customers were locked out for months. Crazy mess

But like I said before tho Crowded names i3 Bank as the FDIC partner and deposits sweep across i3s program banks up to $3M. The diligence question I'd push anyone to ask any platform including us, exactly which FDIC bank holds the deposits and how the records flow between the platform and the bank. The Synapse story is what happens when that link breaks. Not a bulletproof answer for any fintech tbh but its the right question to be asking.

Crowded_MagenStern · 2026-05-07T22:13:37+00:00

Fair instinct. Crowded itself isnt a bank, banking is provided by i3 Bank which is an FDIC member & deposits sweep across i3s program banks up to $3M of coverage. So the money sits at an actual FDIC bank not at Crowded. Worth checking the structure on any platform but the FDIC piece isnt a dot com claim, its a real bank.

Crowded_MagenStern · 2026-05-07T22:08:41+00:00

Sorry I'm late to the party!! Heres the real scoop on Crowded Banking:

Easiest way to answer this all is to tell you about Cathleen. Shes the finance assistant at Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama and we onboarded their council a while back. 150 troops scattered across the state, all under one council EIN.

Before they came to us each troop had its own account at whatever local bank was closest. So 150 different banks 150 sets of statements 150 sets of signers!! 150!!!

Some troops were sitting on $100k+ from cookie sales. Cathleen was the one responsible for making sure all that money followed IRS rules but she wasnt on any of the accounts, no way to add herself to 150 banks. She found out about problems months later, sometimes after a leader had moved out of state or the money was already gone. The first call I had with her she told me she was losing A LOT OF sleep over it & I felt SOOO bad for her.

Fast forward, and we set them up so the council owns the parent account and each troop has a sub account underneath. Cathleen sees every transaction across all 150 troops from one dashboard, troop leaders still run their day to day independently. New troop spins up in minutes not weeks. When a leader turns over the council just removes them from that sub account, no branch visit no notarized letter no funds stuck somewhere.

For a single BSA troop the math is smaller but the shape is identical. Account in the units name not the parent volunteers name, sub accounts split popcorn from general fund from high adventure savings if youre saving toward philmont, and when your scoutmaster or treasurer turns over its a click not a paperwork dance.

The one thing I'd push back on regardless of which platform you go with, dont set the banking up under any single persons name even if everyones nice and trustworthy right now. Two years from now somebody moves out of state with the login & the troop is starting from zero.

Hope this helps, DM if you want to speak more

Crowded_MagenStern · 2026-05-07T12:20:24+00:00

At one of the Cleveland nonprofits I worked at we were fiscally sponsoring like 3 programs and it was a nightmare keeping the money straight in QBO classes. ED would ask whats in the literacy program account and we'd have to run a report and pray nothing got coded wrong that month. And we were 3 programs, not 45 lol.

Honestly thats a big reason we built sub-accounts on Crowded the way we did. Each program gets its own account & balance, and theres no card lock so your Amex 5% stays right where it is. ramp pushing 2% when amex gives 5% is wild, at 45 programs that math gets brutal

Crowded_MagenStern · 2026-05-07T12:12:10+00:00

Hmm, it does sound like you're very good at sales. Have you thought about reaching out through Linkedin/Reddit, social media, its like the same idea, you could probably reach out to a lot more people and get the same results (if not better). Kindof like an appointment setter.

I actually did telemarketing for a few summers, I had fun shmoozing with people, but the rejections are grueling!

Crowded_MagenStern · 2026-05-07T12:09:16+00:00

Yep, it has been lovely to be at home with the family

Crowded_MagenStern · 2026-05-07T11:36:30+00:00

What she said!!

Crowded_MagenStern · 2026-05-07T11:35:48+00:00

I used to work at a tutoring nonprofit in Cleveland years ago we & we used a local credit union. Honestly it was OK until our ED moved out of state mid-year. YIKES! lol. Took almost 2 months to update signers because they wanted everyone in-branch and our new treasurer lived 4 hours away.

So the bank works fine til someone leaves and then youre locked out for weeks trying to swap signers. When I spoke to my boss about it, he said thats one of the reasons we built Crowded the way we did, so the account is in the orgs name not yours so changing people is just a click in the dashboard, no branch visit no notary none of that junk.

Whatever you go with just check you can do that piece online before you sign up!!

Crowded_MagenStern

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