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    🔎 Glean for Nonprofits

    Enterprise AI search and knowledge management platform that helps large nonprofits find information instantly across all their applications, with AI-powered assistance and autonomous agents that respect permissions and security.

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    What Glean Does

    Glean solves one of the most persistent productivity challenges in modern organizations: finding information scattered across dozens of applications. In large nonprofits, knowledge lives in Slack conversations, Google Docs, SharePoint folders, Salesforce records, Jira tickets, Confluence wikis, email threads, and countless other tools. When staff spend 20% of their time searching for information they know exists but can't locate, that's time not spent serving your mission.

    Glean creates a unified search experience across your entire technology stack. Instead of searching in Slack, then Google Drive, then SharePoint, then your CRM, you search once in Glean. The platform uses AI to understand natural language queries, learns from your organization's terminology and acronyms, and surfaces the most relevant results based on your role, team, and recent work patterns. It's like having Google, but exclusively for your organization's internal knowledge.

    Beyond search, Glean offers an AI Assistant that can answer questions, summarize documents, generate content, and complete multi-step research tasks by pulling information from across your connected apps. The platform also supports building autonomous AI agents that can automate complex workflows—like gathering program data from multiple systems to prepare board reports, or researching donor giving patterns across your CRM, email, and event platforms.

    Glean's enterprise-grade security ensures that users only see information they're already authorized to access in the source applications. If someone doesn't have permission to view a confidential strategic planning document in SharePoint, they won't see it in Glean search results either. This permissions-aware approach makes Glean suitable for large nonprofits handling sensitive donor data, healthcare information, or confidential program details.

    Best For

    Organization Size

    • Large nonprofits (100+ staff)
    • Universities and colleges
    • Healthcare systems
    • Major foundations
    • Multi-site organizations

    Use Cases

    • Knowledge scattered across 10+ apps
    • Onboarding new staff quickly
    • Cross-department collaboration
    • Institutional knowledge retention
    • Research and data analysis

    Key Roles

    • IT Directors
    • Knowledge Managers
    • Operations Directors
    • Executive leadership
    • All staff seeking information

    Important Note for Smaller Nonprofits

    Glean's enterprise pricing and complexity make it most appropriate for large organizations with substantial IT budgets. Small-to-mid-sized nonprofits (under 50 staff) would likely find better value and easier implementation with alternatives like Algolia's nonprofit program, Guru, or the search capabilities included in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace.

    Key Features for Nonprofits

    Unified Cross-Platform Search

    Search once to find information across 100+ connected applications

    Glean connects with Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace, SharePoint, Salesforce, Zendesk, Jira, Confluence, GitHub, Notion, Asana, and dozens more. Instead of remembering which app contains the information you need, you search in one place and Glean looks everywhere. The platform learns your organization's terminology, acronyms, and internal project names to understand queries the way your team actually talks.

    • Natural language search understands questions like "What's our donor retention strategy?" or "Where's the 2024 annual report?"
    • Results ranked by relevance, recency, and your personal work patterns
    • Search filters for file type, date range, author, and source application
    • Semantic search understands intent, not just keywords

    Glean Assistant

    AI assistant that answers questions and generates content using your organization's knowledge

    Beyond finding documents, Glean Assistant can answer questions by synthesizing information from multiple sources, summarize long documents or email threads, draft content based on your organization's style and previous examples, and conduct multi-step research across connected apps. It's like having a research assistant who has read everything in your organization and can pull it together on demand.

    • Ask questions and get answers with citations to source documents
    • Generate first drafts of reports, emails, or policy documents based on existing materials
    • Summarize meeting notes, project updates, or lengthy email chains
    • Compare documents or approaches to identify differences and best practices

    Autonomous AI Agents

    Build custom AI agents that automate complex workflows across multiple systems

    Glean Agents take autonomous action based on your prompts. You can build agents that monitor specific topics and alert you to important updates, gather data from multiple systems to prepare reports, route incoming requests to appropriate team members, or assist with onboarding by answering common questions. Agents work continuously in the background, following the rules and permissions you set.

    • Create agents using natural language prompts (no coding required)
    • Automate routine research and data gathering tasks
    • Set up monitoring agents to track specific projects, donors, or topics
    • Deploy multiple agents across departments with centralized management

    Permissions-Aware Security

    Enterprise-grade security that respects existing access controls

    Glean only shows users information they already have permission to access in the source applications. If permissions change in SharePoint, Salesforce, or any connected system, Glean's search results update immediately to reflect the new access levels. This makes Glean suitable for organizations handling sensitive donor data, healthcare information, HR files, or confidential strategic documents.

    • Real-time permission synchronization across all connected apps
    • SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certified, HIPAA and GDPR compliant
    • FIPS 140-2 validated AES 256-bit encryption at rest, TLS 1.2+ in transit
    • Active Data & AI Governance scans for overshared sensitive data

    Personalized Knowledge Discovery

    AI learns from your role, team, and work patterns to surface relevant information

    Glean builds both an Enterprise Graph (understanding of your organization's structure, projects, and relationships) and a Personal Graph (understanding of each individual user's role, team, recent activities, and common search patterns). This means two people searching for "annual report" might see different results—the CFO sees financial reports, while the Communications Director sees published reports for donors.

    • Results personalized based on your team, recent projects, and frequent collaborators
    • Proactive suggestions for documents you might need based on context
    • Learns organization-specific terminology and acronyms over time
    • Identifies knowledge gaps and suggests related content for deeper understanding

    Canvas for Content Creation

    Collaborative workspace for creating content with AI assistance

    Glean's Canvas feature provides a dedicated workspace for drafting reports, proposals, or strategic documents with AI assistance. You can pull information from across your organization's apps, ask the AI to generate sections, and collaborate with team members—all in one place. It's particularly useful for board reports, grant proposals, or strategic planning documents that require synthesis of information from multiple sources.

    • Draft documents with AI that pulls from your organization's actual data and files
    • Insert data, charts, and insights from connected applications
    • Collaborate with team members in real-time on AI-assisted documents
    • Export finished content to your preferred format or system

    Real-World Nonprofit Use Case

    Consider a large health-focused nonprofit with 200+ staff spread across program delivery, research, advocacy, communications, development, and operations. Staff work in Google Workspace for documents, Slack for communication, Salesforce for donor management, Asana for project tracking, Confluence for program documentation, and SharePoint for institutional records. A new program officer joining the maternal health team needs to understand past initiatives, current priorities, and organizational context.

    Without Glean, onboarding involves dozens of links to different systems, repeated questions to colleagues, and weeks of gradual knowledge absorption. With Glean, the new hire searches "maternal health program history" and immediately finds program reports from Google Drive, discussion threads from Slack, donor proposals from Salesforce, project plans from Asana, and research documents from Confluence—all ranked by relevance and filtered to only show materials they have permission to access.

    When preparing a board presentation on program impact, the program officer asks Glean Assistant: "What are our key maternal health outcomes from the past two years?" The AI Assistant searches across program reports, evaluation documents, Salesforce records, and internal communications to synthesize a summary with citations to source materials. The officer reviews the summary, verifies the cited sources, and uses this as a foundation for their presentation—reducing research time from hours to minutes.

    The nonprofit also deploys a Glean Agent to monitor mentions of key health policy legislation across all internal communications and documents. When relevant policy updates appear in Slack, email, or meeting notes, the agent compiles them into a weekly digest for the advocacy team, ensuring no important developments get lost in the daily information flow.

    For this organization, Glean's value comes not just from saving individual staff members time, but from preventing institutional knowledge loss, accelerating cross-departmental collaboration, and ensuring that strategic decisions are informed by the full breadth of organizational experience—not just what happens to be in one team's immediate memory.

    Pricing

    Custom Enterprise Pricing

    Glean does not publish standard pricing. All pricing is custom and requires contacting their sales team for a quote. Based on third-party sources and typical enterprise search platforms, pricing is estimated at $50+ per user per month, with minimum user commitments typical for enterprise software.

    Pricing factors include: number of users, number of connected applications, data volume, support level, and whether you need professional services for implementation. Annual contracts are standard for enterprise deployments.

    What's Included

    • Glean Search across all connected applications
    • Glean Assistant for Q&A and content generation
    • Glean Agents for workflow automation
    • 100+ native application connectors
    • Enterprise-grade security and compliance (SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR)
    • Real-time permissions enforcement
    • APIs and SDKs for custom integrations
    • Admin controls and usage analytics

    Implementation Support

    Glean offers professional services for implementation, including data source configuration, permissions mapping, user training, and ongoing optimization. Implementation services are typically quoted separately from platform fees and vary based on organizational complexity and the number of systems being integrated.

    Free Trial

    Glean offers proof-of-concept deployments for qualified organizations. Contact their sales team to discuss trial options. Trials typically involve connecting a subset of your applications and rolling out to a pilot user group to evaluate effectiveness before committing to a full enterprise deployment.

    Note: Prices may be outdated or inaccurate.

    Nonprofit Discount & Special Offers

    No Advertised Nonprofit Discount

    As of February 2026, Glean does not advertise a specific nonprofit discount program on their website or through public channels. All pricing is custom and requires contacting their sales team for quotes.

    What to Ask When Requesting a Quote

    When reaching out to Glean's sales team, nonprofits should:

    • Explicitly mention your nonprofit status and ask about educational or social impact pricing, even if not publicly advertised
    • Provide your 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status or equivalent documentation upfront
    • Ask about flexible payment terms such as quarterly billing instead of annual upfront
    • Inquire about phased rollout options to start with a smaller user base and expand over time
    • Request waived or reduced implementation fees if your IT team can handle configuration

    Alternative Funding Approaches

    Given Glean's enterprise pricing, large nonprofits should consider:

    • Technology grants from foundations that fund infrastructure improvements
    • Board investment in operational efficiency tools that increase overall organizational productivity
    • Cost-benefit analysis showing time savings that justify the investment (e.g., saving 10 hours/week across 100 staff = 52,000 hours annually)
    • Partnerships with other nonprofits to negotiate volume pricing if your regional association or coalition could deploy collectively

    Learning Curve

    Beginner

    No prior experience needed

    Basic search proficiency in 15-30 minutes

    Intermediate

    Some technical understanding helpful

    Full feature adoption in 1-2 weeks

    Advanced

    Technical expertise required

    Agent building requires experimentation

    For End Users (Staff Members)

    Basic search functionality is immediately intuitive—if you can use Google, you can use Glean. Staff members can start searching and getting value within minutes of their first login. Advanced features like using the AI Assistant effectively or building custom agents require more experimentation and practice, typically 1-2 weeks of regular use to develop proficiency.

    Glean provides search tips, example queries, and suggested questions to help users learn effective search techniques. The platform also learns from user behavior, so search quality improves over time as more people use it.

    For Administrators

    IT administrators and knowledge managers will need to invest more significant time in setup and configuration. Initial implementation includes connecting data sources, configuring permissions, setting up SSO (single sign-on), and customizing the platform for your organization's structure. Glean's implementation team provides guidance, but expect 2-4 weeks for a full enterprise deployment.

    Ongoing administration involves monitoring usage analytics, refining search relevance, creating and managing agents, and troubleshooting integration issues. Organizations should designate a Glean administrator (or small team) to own the platform and drive adoption.

    Training Resources

    • Documentation and knowledge base with setup guides, best practices, and troubleshooting
    • Video tutorials for common tasks and advanced features
    • Live training sessions for new customers during implementation
    • Customer success manager for enterprise accounts
    • Community forums for peer support and feature discussions

    Integration & Compatibility

    Glean's value proposition depends entirely on its integration breadth. The platform connects with 100+ business applications via native connectors, push APIs for custom integration, and web history integration for unsupported tools.

    Communication & Collaboration

    • Slack, Microsoft Teams
    • Gmail, Outlook, Exchange
    • Zoom, Google Meet
    • Confluence, Notion, Coda

    File Storage & Documents

    • Google Drive, Google Workspace
    • Microsoft SharePoint, OneDrive
    • Dropbox, Box
    • Quip, Smartsheet

    CRM & Customer Support

    • Salesforce, HubSpot
    • Zendesk, Freshdesk
    • ServiceNow, Jira Service Desk
    • Intercom, Front

    Project Management & Development

    • Jira, Asana, Monday.com
    • GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket
    • Trello, ClickUp
    • Linear, Shortcut

    Data Portability

    Glean indexes content from connected applications but does not store the original files. It maintains an index with metadata, permissions, and content excerpts for search purposes. If you stop using Glean, your source data remains in the original applications (Salesforce, Google Drive, etc.) completely unchanged. You lose the unified search capability, but no data is lost or held hostage.

    Glean provides data export options for usage analytics, search logs, and custom agent configurations to help with migration or analysis. However, the primary value of Glean is the search experience itself, not data storage—so "portability" is less of a concern than with tools that store your content.

    Technical Requirements

    • Web-based platform accessible from any modern browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari)
    • No software installation required for end users
    • Admin access to connected applications required for initial integration setup
    • SSO integration via SAML, OAuth, or OIDC for seamless authentication
    • API access for custom integrations with proprietary systems

    Custom Integrations

    For nonprofits using specialized systems (custom-built databases, legacy CRMs, proprietary program management tools), Glean offers APIs and SDKs to build custom connectors. This requires development resources but enables comprehensive coverage of your technology ecosystem. Glean's professional services team can assist with complex custom integrations.

    Honest Assessment: Pros & Cons

    Strengths

    • Comprehensive Integration Breadth

      100+ native connectors cover virtually every business application used by large nonprofits, creating genuinely unified search across your entire tech stack.

    • Enterprise-Grade Security

      Permissions-aware search, real-time access control synchronization, and comprehensive compliance certifications (SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR) make Glean suitable for sensitive nonprofit data.

    • AI That Learns Your Organization

      Unlike generic AI tools, Glean's Enterprise Graph and Personal Graph understand your organization's terminology, structure, and relationships—making results genuinely relevant to context.

    • Beyond Search: Assistant and Agents

      The platform goes beyond finding documents to answering questions, generating content, and automating workflows—providing compounding value as your team learns advanced features.

    • Strong Customer Satisfaction

      G2 rating of 4.8/5 and Gartner Peer Insights Customers' Choice recognition indicate high user satisfaction among enterprise customers.

    • Intuitive End-User Experience

      Basic search functionality is immediately accessible—if staff can use Google, they can use Glean—reducing training overhead and driving rapid adoption.

    Limitations

    • Enterprise Pricing Excludes Most Nonprofits

      Estimated $50+ per user/month makes Glean prohibitively expensive for small-to-mid-sized nonprofits. Without a nonprofit discount program, only large organizations with substantial IT budgets can justify the cost.

    • No Public Pricing Transparency

      Requiring sales contact for quotes creates friction and prevents budget planning without investing time in demos and negotiations.

    • Complex Implementation

      Full deployment requires 2-4 weeks, IT expertise, and potentially professional services fees—a significant lift for nonprofits with limited technical capacity.

    • ROI Depends on Scale

      Value proposition is strongest for organizations with 100+ users and complex knowledge management needs. Smaller teams may not see sufficient time savings to justify the investment.

    • Effectiveness Depends on Data Quality

      Glean can only find information that's actually documented in your connected systems. Organizations with poor documentation practices or verbal institutional knowledge won't magically become searchable.

    • Advanced Features Require Learning Investment

      While basic search is intuitive, getting full value from AI Assistant and Agents requires experimentation and training—organizations must commit to driving adoption beyond passive search.

    Alternatives to Consider

    Algolia (Nonprofit Program)

    AI-powered search with free nonprofit program—200K searches/month

    Algolia offers a comprehensive nonprofit program providing 200K searches/month for free (valued at $180/month). While focused on website/app search rather than enterprise knowledge management, it's an excellent alternative for nonprofits needing powerful search on a limited budget. Best for external-facing search (donor portals, resource libraries, event platforms) rather than internal knowledge management.

    Free nonprofit tierSub-50ms search

    Guru

    Knowledge management platform with AI-powered search—more affordable than Glean

    Guru provides AI-powered knowledge management with search across connected apps, browser extension for contextual suggestions, and collaborative knowledge base building. Pricing starts around $15-25 per user/month—significantly more accessible than Glean for mid-sized nonprofits. Focuses more on knowledge curation and sharing than pure search, making it ideal for organizations building internal wikis and best practice libraries.

    Mid-market pricingKnowledge curation focus

    Microsoft Search (Included in Microsoft 365)

    Enterprise search included with Microsoft 365—no additional cost

    If your nonprofit already uses Microsoft 365, Microsoft Search is included at no additional cost. It provides unified search across SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, Outlook, and other Microsoft apps with AI-powered relevance ranking. While less sophisticated than Glean's cross-platform capabilities and limited primarily to Microsoft ecosystem, it's a zero-cost option for nonprofits already invested in Microsoft tools. Google Workspace offers similar built-in search for Google-centric organizations.

    Included with M365Microsoft ecosystem

    Choosing Between Alternatives: If you're a large nonprofit (100+ staff) with complex multi-platform knowledge management needs and enterprise budget, Glean is worth evaluating. If you're mid-sized (25-100 staff), Guru offers similar knowledge management at friendlier pricing. If you're small (under 25 staff) or budget-constrained, start with search capabilities included in your existing productivity suite (Microsoft Search or Google Workspace search) and consider upgrading only when those become limiting.

    Getting Started with Glean

    1

    Assess Your Organization's Fit

    Determine if Glean matches your needs and budget

    Before requesting a demo, honestly evaluate whether your nonprofit fits Glean's enterprise profile. Consider: Do you have 100+ staff? Is knowledge scattered across 10+ applications? Do you have an IT budget that can accommodate $50+ per user/month? Is finding information a significant productivity bottleneck? If you answered "yes" to most of these, continue. If not, explore alternatives first.

    Review your current technology stack and identify which applications contain critical organizational knowledge. The more applications you use (and the more critical information lives in them), the stronger Glean's value proposition.

    2

    Request a Demo and Quote

    Contact Glean's sales team with your nonprofit context

    Visit glean.com and request a demo. When filling out the form, explicitly mention your nonprofit status, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt documentation, and inquire about educational or social impact pricing (even if not advertised). Be prepared to discuss:

    • Number of users (total staff count)
    • Applications you want to connect (Salesforce, Slack, Google Drive, etc.)
    • Primary use cases (onboarding, research, cross-department collaboration, etc.)
    • IT capacity for implementation (do you need professional services?)
    3

    Negotiate Proof-of-Concept Deployment

    Test with a pilot group before full commitment

    Request a proof-of-concept or pilot deployment with 25-50 users from diverse departments before committing to an enterprise-wide contract. This allows you to test search effectiveness, measure time savings, and assess user adoption in your actual environment. A successful pilot should demonstrate:

    • High user engagement (daily active users above 60-70%)
    • Measurable time savings (survey pilot users on hours saved per week)
    • Positive user feedback on search relevance and usefulness
    • Technical feasibility (integrations work, permissions are respected, performance is acceptable)

    Use pilot results to build an ROI case for full deployment. If the pilot doesn't demonstrate clear value, reconsider whether Glean is the right fit or if you need to address underlying knowledge management practices first.

    4

    Plan Full Deployment and Change Management

    Prepare for enterprise rollout with training and adoption strategy

    If the pilot succeeds and budget is secured, plan a phased rollout. Designate a Glean administrator (or small team) to own the platform. Connect additional data sources systematically, starting with the most-used applications. Develop training materials (quick start guides, video tutorials, example queries) and conduct live training sessions for different departments.

    Drive adoption through:

    • Executive endorsement: Leadership should publicly use and endorse Glean
    • Champions program: Identify power users in each department to evangelize and support peers
    • Use case showcases: Share success stories of how teams saved time or solved problems with Glean
    • Gradual feature introduction: Start with basic search, then introduce Assistant and Agents once users are comfortable
    • Regular check-ins: Monitor usage analytics and survey users to identify barriers to adoption

    Important Implementation Consideration

    Glean's effectiveness depends on your organization having good documentation practices. If most of your institutional knowledge exists in people's heads rather than documented in connected systems, Glean won't magically make that knowledge searchable. Before deploying Glean, assess whether you need to improve documentation habits and knowledge capture processes first.

    Need Help Evaluating Enterprise Search Solutions?

    Choosing the right knowledge management platform requires understanding your organization's needs, comparing alternatives, and building a compelling ROI case. We help nonprofits make informed technology decisions.

    Strategic Technology Consulting

    We provide independent guidance on enterprise search platforms, knowledge management systems, and AI tools for nonprofits. Our services include needs assessment, vendor comparison, ROI modeling, implementation planning, and change management support.

    • Technology needs assessment and gap analysis
    • Vendor evaluation and feature comparison
    • ROI modeling and budget justification
    • Implementation project management
    • Change management and adoption strategy
    Schedule a ConsultationLearn About Our Services

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Does Glean offer nonprofit discounts?

    Glean does not currently advertise a specific nonprofit discount program. Pricing is custom and requires contacting their sales team. Third-party sources estimate pricing at $50+ per user/month. Nonprofits should inquire about educational or social impact pricing when requesting a quote, as many enterprise software companies offer special rates even if not publicly advertised.

    What size nonprofit is Glean best for?

    Glean is designed for enterprise-scale organizations with 100+ employees and complex knowledge management needs. It's most suitable for large nonprofits, universities, healthcare systems, or major foundations with budgets for enterprise software. Small-to-mid-sized nonprofits (under 50 staff) would likely find better value with more affordable alternatives like Algolia's nonprofit program, Guru, or Microsoft Search included with Microsoft 365.

    How does Glean protect sensitive information?

    Glean maintains strict permissions-aware security. Users only see information they already have permission to access in the source applications. If permissions change in the source system, Glean's results reflect those changes immediately. The platform maintains SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certifications, is HIPAA and GDPR compliant, and encrypts all data at rest with FIPS 140-2 validated AES 256-bit encryption and in transit with TLS 1.2+.

    What apps does Glean integrate with?

    Glean connects with 100+ business applications including Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace, Microsoft SharePoint, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Zendesk, Jira, Confluence, GitHub, Notion, Asana, and many more. The platform offers native connectors, push APIs for custom integration, and web history integration. This makes it suitable for nonprofits already invested in multiple productivity and collaboration tools.

    Can Glean replace our existing search solution?

    Glean is designed as an enterprise-wide search solution that can replace or augment existing search tools. However, the decision depends on your current setup, budget, and specific needs. If you're using basic search within individual apps (like Slack or SharePoint search), Glean provides a unified cross-platform experience. If you're already using an enterprise search platform, compare features, pricing, and integration depth before switching. Consider a proof-of-concept deployment to test effectiveness.

    How long does it take to implement Glean?

    Implementation time varies based on the number of applications being connected, data volume, and organizational complexity. Typical enterprise deployments take 2-4 weeks for initial setup and configuration, followed by a phased rollout to teams. Glean offers professional services and implementation support. Your team will need to map data sources, configure permissions, and train staff on effective search techniques and AI assistant usage.