🧠 Mem for Nonprofits
Drowning in scattered notes, forgotten meeting takeaways, and grant research buried in folders you'll never find again? Mem uses AI to automatically organize your team's knowledge—no folders, no tags, no manual filing required. Just capture information naturally, and Mem surfaces exactly what you need when you need it. Stop managing files and start finding answers.
What It Does
Ever spend 20 minutes searching for that perfect grant research you know you saved somewhere? Or forget the critical insight from last month's board meeting because it's buried in a notebook? Your nonprofit has valuable institutional knowledge scattered across emails, meeting notes, Slack messages, and Google Docs—but when you need it, you can't find it.
Mem solves the organizational knowledge problem with AI that does the filing for you. Instead of creating folders and choosing tags, you simply capture notes, meeting takeaways, donor conversations, research findings, and ideas. Mem's AI automatically understands what each piece of information is about, connects related notes together, and surfaces relevant knowledge when you're working on something similar.
Think of Mem as a second brain for your nonprofit—one that never forgets, automatically organizes, and can find any piece of information in seconds through conversational search. Ask "What did we learn from last year's fundraising campaign?" and Mem pulls up every relevant note, email, and conversation, even if you never tagged or organized them.
Best For
Organization Size
Small to mid-sized nonprofits (2-20 staff members) where knowledge sharing is critical but complex folder structures and wikis are overkill. Best for lean teams who need simple knowledge capture without dedicated knowledge management staff.
Best Use Cases
- Teams capturing meeting notes, donor conversations, and program insights that need to be searchable later
- Grant writers researching multiple funders and tracking requirements across applications
- Organizations building institutional knowledge but struggling with folder sprawl and lost information
- Nonprofits where staff frequently asks "didn't we already figure this out?" but can't find the answer
- Teams consolidating information from email, calendars, Slack, and documents into one searchable place
- Organizations experiencing turnover who need to preserve departing staff knowledge
Ideal For
Executive Directors, Development Directors, Grant Writers, Program Managers, and any team members who capture and reference information regularly. Perfect for knowledge workers who hate organizing files but need to find things later.
Key Features for Nonprofits
AI Auto-Organization
Never file notes manually again
Mem's AI automatically understands what each note is about and how it relates to other information. No folders, no tags, no manual organization—just capture and let AI handle the rest.
- Saves 40% of time vs manual folder organization
- Collections auto-group related notes without manual tagging
- Zero maintenance—AI keeps everything organized as you add notes
Smart Contextual Search
Find anything in seconds, not minutes
Search by concept, not just keywords. Mem understands context and meaning, so asking "donor retention strategies" finds notes even if they never used those exact words. Reduces search time by 66% vs traditional search.
- Semantic search understands meaning, not just exact matches
- MemX suggests relevant notes as you type new content
- Advanced filters help narrow results by date, type, or context
Mem Chat (AI Assistant)
Ask questions, get instant answers
Instead of searching manually, ask Mem questions in plain language. "What's our policy on volunteer background checks?" or "What did donors say about our spring campaign?" Mem scans all your notes and responds with relevant information.
- Conversational interface feels like asking a colleague
- Synthesizes insights across multiple notes automatically
- Saves time re-reading old notes to find specific details
Related Notes Discovery
Uncover connections you didn't know existed
Mem automatically identifies related notes and surfaces them when relevant. Working on a grant proposal? Mem shows similar past proposals, funder research, and program data—even if you forgot they existed.
- AI identifies thematic connections between notes
- Prevents reinventing the wheel—surfaces existing solutions
- Helps new staff discover organizational knowledge quickly
Connected Integrations
Consolidate information from everywhere
Automatically capture emails, calendar events, Slack messages, and documents as Mem notes. Connect to Gmail, Google Calendar, Notion, Evernote, and 8,000+ apps via Zapier to centralize knowledge.
- Email integration captures important messages as notes
- Calendar sync stores meeting takeaways automatically
- Zapier enables custom workflows with nonprofit tools
Team Collaboration
Build a shared organizational brain
Mem Teams allows your entire nonprofit to contribute to and search a shared knowledge base. Real-time syncing ensures everyone has access to the latest information, while personal contexts keep individual notes private when needed.
- Shared workspace for team knowledge, private space for individual notes
- Real-time sync keeps everyone updated
- Onboard new staff faster with searchable institutional knowledge
How This Tool Uses AI
Mem isn't just "AI-powered" as a marketing buzzword—AI is fundamental to how it works. Here's what's actually AI-driven vs. standard features, so you know what you're getting.
What's Actually AI-Powered
🤖 Semantic Search & MemX Contextual Engine
Type of AI: Natural language processing (NLP) with semantic understanding and machine learning
What it does: Understands the meaning of your search query and note content, not just keyword matching. Searching for "donor retention" finds notes about "keeping supporters engaged" even if they never mention "retention." As you type new notes, MemX suggests related existing notes based on context.
How it learns: Analyzes the language patterns in your notes to understand concepts and relationships. Learns from your usage patterns—which notes you open together, which searches lead to useful results.
Practical impact: Reduces search time by 66% compared to traditional keyword search. You find notes you forgot existed because AI connects ideas you might not have linked manually.
🤖 Automatic Collections & Organization
Type of AI: Machine learning clustering algorithms and topic modeling
What it does: Analyzes note content and automatically groups related notes into Collections without you tagging or categorizing anything. For example, all your grant research notes might automatically cluster together, even if you never labeled them as such.
How it learns: Uses unsupervised learning to identify patterns and themes across your notes. Continuously refines groupings as you add more content—Collections become more accurate over time.
Practical impact: Saves 40% of time compared to manual folder management. No more "where should I save this?" decisions—AI handles organization automatically.
🤖 Related Notes Discovery
Type of AI: Similarity algorithms and relationship mapping
What it does: Automatically identifies connections between notes based on content similarity, shared concepts, and contextual relevance. Surfaces related notes you might not have thought to search for.
How it learns: Analyzes content to map semantic relationships. The more notes you have, the better AI gets at identifying meaningful connections vs. coincidental keyword overlap.
Practical impact: Prevents duplicating work by showing you existing notes on similar topics. New team members discover institutional knowledge without knowing what to search for.
🤖 Mem Chat (Conversational Knowledge Retrieval)
Type of AI: Large language model (LLM) with retrieval-augmented generation
What it does: Lets you ask questions in plain language and get synthesized answers from your knowledge base. Ask "What did board members say about program expansion?" and Mem scans relevant notes and summarizes key points.
How it learns: Uses your notes as a knowledge source to answer questions. Doesn't train on your data to improve the model—keeps your nonprofit information private while using it to generate responses.
Practical impact: Faster than reading through multiple notes manually. Synthesizes insights across documents you'd have to piece together yourself.
What's NOT AI (But Still Useful)
- 📝 Note-taking interface: Standard text editor, not AI-generated
- 🔗 Integrations: Standard API connections to Gmail, Calendar, Slack—not AI-powered
- 🗂️ Templates: Pre-designed note templates created by humans, not AI
- 👥 Team collaboration: Real-time syncing is standard technology, not AI
AI Transparency & Limitations
Data Requirements
- AI organization works best with at least 50-100 notes. With fewer notes, AI may not have enough patterns to identify meaningful connections.
- Search quality improves as your knowledge base grows—more content gives AI better context.
- New users may need 2-4 weeks of active usage before AI-powered features show significant value.
Human Oversight Still Required
- AI Collections are suggestions, not perfect categories—occasionally review to ensure groupings make sense.
- Mem Chat answers should be verified—AI synthesizes from your notes but may miss nuance or make errors.
- AI can't understand organizational context only humans know—add context in notes to help AI understand.
Data Privacy
- Your notes are NOT used to train Mem's AI models for other users—your nonprofit knowledge stays private.
- AI processing happens on Mem's secure servers; data is encrypted in transit and at rest.
- Full data export available—you can take your notes and leave at any time.
- Never store confidential donor PII or sensitive beneficiary data—use Mem for general organizational knowledge only.
When AI Adds Real Value vs. When It's Just Marketing
✅ Genuinely useful AI:
- • Automatic organization saves hours of manual filing and folder management
- • Semantic search finds notes you'd never think to search for using keywords
- • Related notes discovery surfaces knowledge you forgot you had
⚠️ AI that's nice but not essential:
- • Mem Chat is helpful but you could search manually and get similar results
- • Contextual suggestions (MemX) are convenient but not game-changing
❌ AI you don't need:
- • If you only have 20-30 notes total, AI organization is overkill—a simple folder works fine
- • If you're highly disciplined about manual filing, AI auto-organization may not save much time
Bottom Line: Mem's AI genuinely eliminates manual knowledge management work—automatic organization, semantic search, and relationship mapping are real time-savers. The AI isn't just window dressing; it's the core product. However, it's most valuable when you have substantial notes (100+) and struggle with traditional filing systems.
Real-World Nonprofit Use Case
A regional environmental nonprofit with 8 staff members was drowning in scattered information. Grant research lived in Google Docs, donor conversations were in email threads, program ideas existed in meeting notes across three different systems, and the development director's departure meant losing years of institutional knowledge.
The executive director introduced Mem with a simple ask: "Whenever you have a meeting, capture key takeaways here. When you research a funder, add your notes. When a donor tells you something important, write it down in Mem." No training on folder structures, no complicated rules—just capture information.
Within three months, the team had captured 300+ notes spanning grant applications, donor preferences, program ideas, vendor contacts, board feedback, and policy decisions. When writing their next major grant proposal, the grants manager used Mem Chat to ask "What environmental education programs have we run successfully?" and "What did the Greenfield Foundation prioritize in past conversations?" Mem surfaced relevant notes from across two years of interactions, including details the new development director never knew existed.
Result: Grant proposal preparation time dropped from 12 hours of research and synthesis to 4 hours—Mem did the knowledge retrieval automatically. The team stopped asking "didn't we already solve this?" and started finding answers in seconds. When onboarding new staff, Mem became the unofficial knowledge repository, dramatically reducing the "I wish I knew that sooner" moments.
Pricing
Free Tier
Test before committing
- 25 notes per month
- 25 Mem Chat messages per month
- Basic AI search and organization
Good for: Testing Mem to see if it fits your workflow. 25 notes/month fills quickly with active usage—most nonprofits will outgrow this within weeks.
Mem Pro - $12/month per user
Full individual access
- Unlimited notes and chat messages
- Unlimited deep searches
- Collections (AI auto-organization)
- Templates for recurring workflows
- Connected emails (Gmail, Outlook integration)
- API access for custom integrations
- Dark mode
Good for: Individual nonprofit staff members who capture and reference notes frequently. Affordable enough for small nonprofits to provide to key knowledge workers.
Mem Teams - Custom Pricing
Shared organizational knowledge base
- All Mem Pro features
- Group billing for team licenses
- Priority support
- Dedicated success manager
- Service level agreements (SLAs)
- Shared workspace + individual private spaces
Good for: Nonprofits (5-20 staff) building shared organizational knowledge. Contact [email protected] for team pricing.
Note: Prices may be outdated or inaccurate.
💰 Nonprofit Pricing
Mem offers discounts for nonprofit organizations, though the exact percentage isn't publicly disclosed.
How to Access Nonprofit Pricing:
- Contact Mem directly at [email protected]
- Mention you're a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
- Be prepared to provide verification (501(c)(3) determination letter)
- Inquire about nonprofit discount for Pro or Teams plans
Who Qualifies:
- Registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations
- Educational institutions (Mem also offers academic discounts)
- Students (separate student discount available)
Note: Nonprofit discounts are not automatically applied during signup. You must contact Mem directly to request nonprofit pricing and provide verification.
Learning Curve
Mem is one of the easiest knowledge management tools to adopt. If you can type notes, you can use Mem effectively.
Time to First Value
- Initial setup: 15-30 minutes (create account, install mobile app, connect email/calendar)
- First meaningful use: Immediate—capture your first note and see how search works
- AI value: 2-4 weeks of regular usage (need 50-100 notes for AI to identify meaningful patterns)
- Full proficiency: 1-2 hours of active use
Technical Requirements
- No technical skills required—interface is simpler than Microsoft Word
- No coding or complex configuration
- Biggest learning curve: trusting AI to organize things instead of doing it yourself
Support Available
- Help documentation and knowledge base
- Email support for all users
- Priority support and dedicated success manager (Teams plan)
- Active user community for tips and best practices
Quick Win: Your First 30 Minutes
Want to see if Mem is right for your nonprofit? Try this simple experiment:
- Sign up for free account (5 minutes)
- Capture 10 different notes: meeting takeaways, donor thoughts, grant ideas, program notes (15 minutes)
- Try searching for concepts (not exact keywords) to see if Mem finds relevant notes (5 minutes)
- Ask Mem Chat a question about your notes (5 minutes)
What you'll learn: Whether AI-powered search and organization fits your workflow better than traditional folders. Most users know within 30 minutes if Mem feels natural or forced.
Integration & Compatibility
Connects With
Calendar & Scheduling
- Google Calendar (create notes from events)
- Microsoft Outlook Calendar
Email & Communication
- Gmail (capture emails as notes)
- Microsoft Outlook email
- Slack (save messages to Mem)
Documents & Files
- Google Drive (auto-create notes from new files)
- Dropbox
- Microsoft OneNote (sync notes)
- Notion (import database items)
- Evernote (migrate notes)
Task & Project Management
- Todoist (create notes from tasks)
- TickTick
- Microsoft To Do
- Trello
8,000+ Apps via Zapier
While Mem doesn't have direct integrations with nonprofit CRMs like Salesforce, Bloomerang, or DonorPerfect, you can connect these tools using Zapier workflows.
Example workflow: Automatically create a Mem note whenever a new major donor is added to your CRM, or when a grant application status changes.
Platform Availability
- Web: Works in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge (primary interface)
- Mobile: iOS app (iPhone, iPad) and Android app for on-the-go note capture
- Desktop: No dedicated desktop app (use web browser)
Data Portability
- Full export of notes and content available
- API access (Pro tier and above) for custom integrations
- AI-generated connections and Collections don't export (vendor lock-in consideration)
- Switching to another platform means rebuilding AI organization from scratch
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Genuinely eliminates manual organization: AI auto-filing saves hours per week vs. manual folder management
- Exceptional search quality: Semantic search finds notes you'd never discover with keyword search alone
- Minimal learning curve: Simpler than Notion, Evernote, or traditional wikis—no training required
- Affordable for nonprofits: $12/month Pro tier is accessible; nonprofit discounts available
- Related notes discovery: Surfaces forgotten knowledge and prevents reinventing solutions
- Clean, distraction-free interface: Focuses on capturing and finding information without clutter
- Good integration ecosystem: Connects to email, calendars, documents via Zapier
Cons
- Free tier too limited: 25 notes/month fills quickly—most nonprofits need paid plans immediately
- Not a full project management tool: No tasks, deadlines, Gantt charts—Notion or Asana better for structured projects
- No direct nonprofit CRM integrations: Requires Zapier workarounds to connect with Salesforce, Bloomerang, etc.
- AI needs critical mass: Value doesn't show until you have 50-100 notes; early adopters may not see benefits immediately
- Smaller community than Notion/Obsidian: Fewer templates, plugins, and third-party resources
- Vendor lock-in risk: AI connections don't export—switching platforms means losing AI-built relationships
- May be overkill for tiny teams: If you have under 50 notes total, Google Docs may be simpler
Alternatives to Consider
If Mem doesn't feel like the right fit, consider these alternatives:
Notion
All-in-one workspace for notes, databases, and project management
More comprehensive than Mem—includes databases, kanban boards, wikis, and project tracking. Better for structured projects and workflows, but requires manual organization (no AI auto-filing). Steeper learning curve.
Choose Notion if: You need project management features alongside knowledge management and don't mind manual organization. Choose Mem if: You want automatic organization and just need to capture and find notes quickly.
Obsidian
Local-first, markdown-based knowledge management with powerful linking
Free and open-source, with files stored locally on your computer (better data control). Extensive plugin ecosystem and highly customizable, but no built-in AI organization. Requires manual linking and folder structure.
Choose Obsidian if: You want full control over your data, don't need AI features, and prefer free/open-source tools. Choose Mem if: You want AI to handle organization and prefer cloud-based access.
Google Docs + Google Drive
Free, familiar document storage with search
Completely free, already familiar to most teams, integrates seamlessly with Gmail and Calendar. However, requires manual folder organization, basic keyword search only (no semantic AI), and no automatic knowledge connections.
Choose Google Docs if: Budget is tight and you have under 100 total notes—simplicity outweighs AI benefits. Choose Mem if: You're drowning in scattered docs and need AI to organize and surface information automatically.
Why You Might Choose Mem Instead
Mem's AI-powered automatic organization, semantic search, and related notes discovery are unmatched by these alternatives. If manual filing feels like a time sink and you want knowledge to surface when you need it (not just when you remember to search for it), Mem's AI approach is worth the investment.
Getting Started
Your First 48 Hours with Mem
Step 1: Sign Up & Set Up Basics (15 minutes)
Create your free account at get.mem.ai. Connect your email (Gmail or Outlook) and calendar so Mem can automatically capture meeting notes and important emails.
Pro tip: Install the mobile app (iOS/Android) immediately—capturing notes on the go is where Mem shines.
Step 2: Capture Your First 20 Notes (1 hour)
Don't overthink it—just start capturing. Add notes from your last three meetings, recent donor conversations, grant research you're working on, and program ideas floating in your head. Write naturally; don't worry about formatting, folders, or tags.
Pro tip: Forward 5-10 important emails to Mem to see how email integration works. These become searchable notes automatically.
Step 3: Test AI Search & Mem Chat (30 minutes)
Search for concepts, not exact keywords. Try "fundraising ideas" even if your notes say "donor cultivation strategies." Use Mem Chat to ask questions like "What did we decide about volunteer training?" and see how AI synthesizes answers from your notes.
Pro tip: Notice how "Related Notes" appear at the bottom of each note—these are AI-identified connections you didn't create manually.
Step 4: Commit to Daily Capture (2 weeks)
For the next two weeks, capture at least one note per day. Meeting takeaways, donor insights, program observations, research findings—anything worth remembering later. The AI needs volume to identify patterns and surface connections.
Success metric: After 50-100 notes, search should feel faster than digging through emails or folders. If not, Mem may not be the right fit for your workflow.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
- Don't overthink organization: Trust the AI to organize. The hardest part for most users is resisting the urge to create manual folder structures.
- Don't judge too early: AI features need 50-100 notes to show real value. Give it 2-4 weeks before deciding if it works for you.
- Don't store sensitive data: Mem is for organizational knowledge, not confidential donor PII or sensitive beneficiary information.
- Don't expect it to replace your CRM: Mem is for knowledge capture, not donor management. Use it alongside your CRM, not instead of it.
🤝 Need Help with Implementation?
Setting up knowledge management systems can feel overwhelming, especially when your team is already stretched thin. If you'd like expert guidance implementing Mem for your nonprofit—from initial setup to team training to integration with your existing tools—we're here to help.
One Hundred Nights offers implementation support, including quick setup assistance, workflow design, and full-service onboarding. We'll help you build a knowledge base that actually gets used.
Contact Us to Learn MoreFrequently Asked Questions
Is Mem free for nonprofits?
Mem offers a limited free tier (25 notes and 25 chat messages per month) and provides discounts for nonprofit organizations, though the exact percentage isn't publicly disclosed. Contact Mem directly at [email protected] to inquire about nonprofit pricing. The Pro plan at $12/month is already affordable for small nonprofits, and the free tier can work for very light usage.
How is Mem different from Notion or Google Docs?
Unlike Notion or Google Docs which require manual organization into folders and databases, Mem uses AI to automatically organize everything for you. You capture information without worrying about where it goes—Mem's AI surfaces relevant notes when you need them. Think of it as a knowledge base that organizes itself. Notion is better for structured project management; Mem is better for quickly capturing and retrieving information without the organizational overhead.
Can Mem integrate with our existing nonprofit CRM?
Mem doesn't have direct native integrations with nonprofit CRMs like Salesforce or Bloomerang. However, it connects to 8,000+ apps through Zapier, allowing you to create custom workflows. For example, you could automatically create Mem notes from new Salesforce contacts or email interactions. Most nonprofits use Mem alongside their CRM, not as a replacement for it.
Is Mem secure enough for nonprofit data?
Mem is suitable for general organizational knowledge like meeting notes, grant research, and program documentation. However, never store confidential donor information, personally identifiable information (PII), or sensitive beneficiary data in Mem. Use it for knowledge that your team needs to share and search, not for secure data storage. For sensitive information, stick with your secure CRM or document management system.
Do I need technical skills to use Mem?
No technical skills required. If you can write an email, you can use Mem. The learning curve is minimal—most users are productive within 1-2 hours. The hardest part is trusting the AI to organize things for you instead of doing it yourself. There's no coding, complex setup, or technical configuration needed.
How many notes can our team store in Mem?
The free tier limits you to 25 notes per month. Mem Pro ($12/month per user) offers unlimited notes and chat messages. For teams, Mem Teams provides group billing and shared workspace with unlimited notes. Most nonprofits will need Pro or Teams plans for active use, as 25 notes fills up quickly when capturing meeting notes, research, and conversations.
What happens if we stop using Mem—can we export our data?
Yes, Mem provides data export capabilities. You can export your notes and content, ensuring you're not locked into the platform. However, AI-generated connections and smart features won't transfer to other platforms. Always maintain backups of critical organizational knowledge in multiple locations, not just in Mem.