Streamline Nonprofit Operations with ApproveThis and BetterUnite Automation

When Fundraising Meets Fast Decisions

Let’s cut to the chase: nonprofits and event-driven organizations don’t have time for approval bottlenecks. Between managing donors, launching campaigns, and tracking payments, waiting days for someone to sign off on a critical decision isn’t just annoying—it’s costly. That’s where pairing BetterUnite’s fundraising tools with ApproveThis’ approval automation creates something bigger than the sum of its parts. Think less chasing down executives for signatures and more focus on your actual mission.

What Each Tool Brings to the Table

BetterUnite handles the heavy lifting of donor management, event coordination, and campaign tracking. It’s where your team plans galas, tracks donations, and manages outreach. But when you need internal or external stakeholders to review campaign budgets, approve high-value donor agreements, or sign off on vendor contracts for events, things get messy. Email chains, missed Slack messages, and “I thought YOU approved this?” moments creep in.

ApproveThis cuts through that noise with structured approval workflows. Set up rules like “All campaigns over $10k require CFO review” or “New vendor contracts need legal + event director sign-off.” Better yet, ApproveThis integrates directly with BetterUnite via Zapier, meaning approvals trigger automatically based on what’s happening in BetterUnite. No manual data entry, no lost requests.

Why This Combo Works for Mid-Sized Orgs

Companies between 50-5,000 employees often juggle complex approval chains without enterprise-level budgets. Maybe your development team uses BetterUnite, but finance lives in spreadsheets, and your board members still prefer PDF attachments. ApproveThis acts as the glue: it pulls data from BetterUnite, routes it to the right people (inside or outside your organization), and logs every decision back where it belongs. Bonus: approvers don’t need a BetterUnite license. Send that $50k sponsorship proposal to a corporate partner’s CMO directly via email—they click “approve,” and BetterUnite auto-updates without them ever logging in.

Real-World Use Cases (Without the Fluff)

1. Campaign Launches That Don’t Require a Committee Meeting

Picture this: Your marketing team finalizes a new fundraising campaign in BetterUnite. Instead of Slack-bombing the executive team with “Can someone review this?,” Zapier automatically creates an ApproveThis request. The workflow routes to the development director (for goal alignment), CFO (for budget approval), and legal (for compliance checks). Each gets an email with campaign details and one-click approve/deny buttons. If the CFO is OOO, ApproveThis reassigns it to their deputy. Once all green lights are in, BetterUnite auto-publishes the campaign. No status meetings, no missed deadlines before Giving Tuesday.

2. Donor Agreements That Don’t Collect Dust

Major donors often want custom agreements—say, a $100k pledge tied to specific event sponsorships. Your team drafts the terms in BetterUnite. Zapier triggers an ApproveThis request that routes to the donor’s liaison (for relationship checks), your executive director (for strategic alignment), and the donor themselves. The donor gets a clean email to approve terms digitally, which logs directly into BetterUnite. No printing, no “We never got the PDF,” and no risk of someone forgetting to cc legal.

3. Expense Approvals That Actually Prevent Fraud

BetterUnite tracks event expenses, but let’s be real: spreadsheets don’t stop rogue spending. With ApproveThis, any expense entry over $1k (or whatever threshold you set) triggers a multi-step approval. The request auto-includes receipts uploaded to BetterUnite, historical budget data, and even calculates real-time budget impacts. Finance gets a clear audit trail, and approvers can’t claim they “didn’t see the receipts.”

Setting It Up Without the Headache

Here’s the good news: if you can use BetterUnite, you can set this up. No coding required. Connect BetterUnite to ApproveThis via Zapier in three steps:

1. Choose Your Trigger: Pick the BetterUnite event that matters—new campaign, donation received, contact added.
2. Map the Data: Tell Zapier which BetterUnite fields to pull into the approval request (e.g., campaign budget, donor contact info).
3. Set Approval Rules: Define who approves what. Add conditions like “If donation > $5k, require CFO approval.”

Once live, ApproveThis handles the rest: reminders, escalations, and syncing approvals back to BetterUnite. Your team keeps working in familiar tools; you just get fewer follow-up emails.

Features Your Team Will Actually Use

Beyond basic approvals, here’s where ApproveThis adds muscle:

• Email Approvals: Approvers don’t need another login. They reply to an email, and ApproveThis updates BetterUnite automatically.
• Vacation Delegation: No more “John’s out, so everything’s stuck.” ApproveThis auto-reassigns requests if someone’s OOO.
• Calculated Fields: Automatically flag requests that exceed budgets or violate policies before they reach approvers.

Who Benefits Most?

Development Teams: Stop guessing if leadership signed off on campaign messaging. Get clear, logged approvals tied directly to BetterUnite records.

Finance Teams: Replace invoice spreadsheets with automated rules. If a BetterUnite expense entry doesn’t have an approval ID, it doesn’t get paid.

Event Planners: Venue contracts, vendor bookings, sponsor agreements—route everything through ApproveThis without leaving BetterUnite’s event dashboard.

The Bottom Line

Nonprofits and event orgs lose hours weekly chasing approvals manually. Worse, unclear processes lead to compliance risks or donor frustration. By connecting BetterUnite to ApproveThis, you’re not just automating clicks—you’re creating accountability. Every decision is logged, every approval is auditable, and nothing slips through because someone missed an email.

What Now?

If your BetterUnite workflows involve more than two “Approved!” reply-all emails per week, it’s time to upgrade. ApproveThis isn’t another tool your team has to learn—it’s the missing layer that makes BetterUnite work smoother for everyone, from interns to board members.

Next steps: Register for ApproveThis, connect your BetterUnite account via Zapier, and set up your first approval workflow in under 20 minutes. Or, if you prefer a guided walkthrough, book a demo. Either way, you’ll wonder how you ever managed donor events without it.