How One Nonprofit Used SproutTable to Transform Their Fundraising Strategy

If you’ve ever planned a major event like a gala, you know how exhausting it can be. Now imagine doing it while raising a child with medical complexities and running a small nonprofit. 

That’s the reality for Parent Empowerment Network (PEN), a community-based nonprofit that supports and educates caregivers of children with complex medical needs.

In 2024, they hosted their first-ever fundraising gala. It was a massive success, bringing in over $60,000 through ticket sales, auction items, sponsorships, and donations.

But when it came time to plan their 2025 gala, they faced a familiar nonprofit dilemma: where was all their donor data?

It took hours to find the data spread across multiple Google Drive documents, an old email attachment, and a ticket sales platform. The momentum they’d built from a successful event was quickly giving way to overwhelm.

Luckily, SproutTable would help them get back on track.

What Is SproutTable?

SproutTable is Sprout Fundraising & Consulting’s streamlined donor database solution, built specifically for small nonprofits with fewer than 300 individual donors. Unlike complex CRM systems, SproutTable is a pre-built Airtable template that allows you to organize donor data, track gifts, automate thank-yous, and easily generate reports all from one place.

Instead of managing multiple spreadsheets or investing in expensive software, nonprofits can simply upload their donation history and let SproutTable’s built-in formulas and automations take care of the rest.

Launching in August 2025, SproutTable will come with everything a small team needs to get started, including pre-built tables and automations, step-by-step training videos, and a comprehensive guidebook to orient your board and staff.

The Power of Centralized Donor Data

PEN began working with us in 2024 to lead a comprehensive rebrand of the organization, develop a podcast strategy, and create a strategic plan. But post-gala, they quickly realized that what they needed most was a centralized system for tracking and acting on their fundraising data.

That’s when we introduced them to SproutTable.

While their team focused on prepping for their 2025 fundraising gala, we began building out their donor database. We gathered contact lists from multiple sources and merged them into one organized, searchable system. Sponsors, ticket buyers, donors, and auction participants were now easy to find in a single location.

We also tagged each contribution by its source, whether it came from sponsorship, ticket sales, auction bids, or direct donations. This eliminated guesswork and helped the PEN team see exactly where their revenue was coming from at a glance. By standardizing contact information, board members and staff could quickly pull accurate details without having to dig through files.

After the 2025 event, we uploaded the new transaction data. In just a few hours, PEN had a fully updated donor database that spanned 3 years of giving history, 2 years of event performance, and a clear list of warm prospects to engage as they worked toward their year-end fundraising goals.

Co-founder Emily said it best: “I can’t believe how fast I was able to send thank-yous this year. We had everything we needed in one place. SproutTable made our follow-up so much smoother.”

Turning Data into Strategy

With their historical data and most recent event results in one place, PEN was finally ready to move from reactive to proactive fundraising.

Their goal was to raise an additional $20,000 by year-end. Because all their donor data was now centralized, we could easily identify lapsed donors and create a thoughtful outreach plan. We helped them re-engage past sponsors whose interest had already been established and who were likely to say yes again. And we flagged highly-engaged event attendees, including top auction bidders and major-ticket buyers, who had already shown strong support and could be invited to deepen their involvement.

With this data in hand, we also turned our attention to their monthly giving program, which PEN had launched the year prior. By filtering their new SproutTable database for one-time donors who had contributed less than $100, we created a list of people well-suited to join their monthly giving program. 

This approach not only helps close the $20,000 gap, but also lays the groundwork for greater financial stability.

To ensure their system worked seamlessly going forward, we linked PEN’s online donation platform directly to SproutTable using Zapier. Now, every time a new donation comes in, it’s automatically added to the database and triggers the appropriate follow-up workflows without manual entry, ensuring timely stewardship and organized donor records.

SproutTable is the Donor Database Solution for Small Nonprofits

SproutTable gave PEN the ability to build a sustainable fundraising strategy for the future.

If your nonprofit is still managing donor information using spreadsheets and email threads, you’re in good company. But there’s also a better way. With the right tools, even the smallest teams can raise much more by opting for an efficient, donor-forward system.

SproutTable opens up a new world of possibilities for small nonprofits doing big work on limited budgets.

We’re currently in beta and launching in August 2025. If you'd like to be among the first to try SproutTable, join the waitlist below. You’ll receive early access, exclusive trainings, and bonus resources designed to help you simplify your systems and put your donors first.