Last updated: 2026-01-15

For most U.S. nonprofits, StreamYard’s browser‑based On‑Air webinars are the easiest default: simple for staff and donors, strong branding, and built‑in registration with automatic replays. If you need very specific discounts, extreme scale, or conference‑style events, tools like Zoom, Crowdcast, or Demio can make sense for that edge case.

Summary

• StreamYard On‑Air covers what most nonprofits actually need: easy registration, automatic recording, strong branding, and a no‑download attendee experience. (StreamYard)
• Verified nonprofits can get discounts from StreamYard, Crowdcast, and Zoom, which can meaningfully reduce costs. (StreamYard, Crowdcast, Zoom)
• Zoom is useful when you truly need massive town halls; Crowdcast and Demio lean more into conferences and marketing funnels, respectively.
• For engagement beyond basic chat, pairing your webinar with tools like Slido or Mentimeter keeps things simple while adding polls and Q&A depth.

What do nonprofits actually need from a webinar platform?

Most nonprofit webinar searches look fancy on the surface—"all‑in‑one," "next‑gen," "AI‑powered"—but the real needs are usually very down to earth:

• High‑quality, reliable audio and video
• A platform that staff and volunteers can learn quickly
• An easy, no‑download join experience for donors and community members
• Automatic recording and replays
• Clean branding so your organization—not the software—takes center stage
• Simple interactivity: chat, basic Q&A, maybe polls

StreamYard’s On‑Air webinars hit this list directly with a browser‑based experience, registration and email reminders, hosted watch pages, and on‑demand replays, all without requiring attendees to install anything. (StreamYard)

If your staff can run a Zoom call, they can usually run a StreamYard webinar after a short practice session, which matters a lot when you’re juggling programs, fundraising, and board meetings.

How does StreamYard On‑Air fit nonprofit workflows?

Think of StreamYard as two things in one: a production studio plus a webinar layer on top.

For production quality

Inside the studio, you can:

• Switch between speakers and screen shares
• Use overlays, lower thirds, and logos for custom branding
• Record with “creator‑style” options like multi‑track or local recording and use the built‑in teleprompter/notes for scripts

This lets you make a monthly donor town hall feel like a show, not just a call.

For the webinar experience

On‑Air adds what nonprofits usually expect from “webinar software”:

• Browser‑based watch page with no installs or accounts required for attendees
• Customizable registration form so you can collect names, emails, and relevant fields, plus registrant management and CSV export for your CRM (StreamYard)
• Automated confirmation and reminder emails (24 hours and 1 hour before), plus a post‑event email with the recording link when on‑demand is enabled
• Live chat around the webinar window that can open before and stay open after the event, with the ability to pull comments on screen
• An on‑demand replay toggle: turn replays on for a post‑event campaign, or switch them off later while still keeping a private recording in your library
• An embeddable player and chat you can drop onto your own site for a fully branded experience

For many nonprofits, this means you can:

1. Embed the webinar on your website’s “Events” page.
2. Capture registrations and pipe the CSV into your CRM or email platform.
3. Re‑use the recording for follow‑up campaigns without any extra steps.

You also get multistreaming to social if you want to simulcast a fundraiser or awareness event to Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and more, while still treating the On‑Air page as the “official” webinar home. (StreamYard)

Which webinar platforms currently offer nonprofit discounts?

If you’re a 501(c)(3), pricing matters just as much as features. Here’s what’s documented publicly:

• StreamYard: 10% discount on monthly and annual paid plans for eligible nonprofits, with basic verification (matching org email and tax‑exempt documentation). (StreamYard)
• Crowdcast: 20% off any plan for verified nonprofits, educators, and Patreon hosts after you submit proof of nonprofit status. (Crowdcast)
• Zoom: Through its Zoom Cares program, Zoom notes that nonprofits with operating budgets of $10M or less can receive a 50% discount on select products (you still need to confirm exactly which webinar products qualify). (Zoom)

Demio does not publicly advertise a formal nonprofit discount program in the same way, so you’d typically pay standard SaaS prices unless a custom deal is offered.

This is one place where StreamYard stays practical: you get a documented discount, plus the ability to start on a free or low‑cost plan and only add webinar‑specific features when you’re ready, instead of jumping straight into a large enterprise contract.

How does StreamYard compare to Zoom for nonprofit webinars?

Zoom is everywhere, and for some nonprofits, it’s already the internal meeting tool. So when does Zoom make more sense, and when is StreamYard the simpler choice?

When Zoom is worth considering

Zoom Webinars can scale to very large audiences, with new single‑use licenses that support 10,000 to 1,000,000 attendees for major town halls or national campaign launches. (Zoom) If you truly expect tens of thousands of simultaneous viewers, and you have the budget and staff to coordinate a flagship event, Zoom’s scale plus its nonprofit discount can be attractive.

Where StreamYard is usually a better fit

For recurring donor updates, educational webinars, or partner briefings under roughly five to ten thousand viewers, the practical difference is less about scale and more about simplicity:

• Attendees join StreamYard webinars directly in the browser without a client download, which can reduce friction with older donors or community members on locked‑down devices. (StreamYard)
• You can run the exact same studio for webinars and for your public livestreams, which keeps training and workflow consistent for your team.
• Registration exports as CSV make it straightforward to update your CRM or email platform without adopting a new marketing stack.

Unless your board is asking for “millions of attendees,” many nonprofits find that StreamYard’s balance of ease, branding, and cost is more aligned with day‑to‑day community engagement.

How do Crowdcast and Demio stack up for nonprofits?

Crowdcast and Demio are solid browser‑based alternatives, but they optimize for slightly different use cases than most nonprofits need.

Crowdcast: multi‑session and monetization focus

Crowdcast leans into multi‑session events (like virtual conferences) built around a single link, with chat, Q&A, polls, and replay at the same URL. It also has built‑in Stripe ticketing with per‑transaction platform fees and a documented 20% nonprofit discount. (Crowdcast)

This can work well if you’re running a multi‑day summit or many ticketed workshops, but you’ll need to watch hour quotas, live‑attendee caps, and overage fees.

Demio: marketing automation and funnels

Demio’s Starter plan targets smaller teams with a single host and a 50‑attendee room, while higher tiers add automated and on‑demand webinars plus more advanced engagement analytics. (Demio) The free trial exposes Growth‑level features but is limited to 20 attendees and a 1‑hour session. (Demio)

Demio is attractive if your primary goal is refining a very tight marketing funnel with detailed source tracking. Many nonprofits, though, already have a CRM or email platform and mainly need a reliable, branded video layer—exactly the gap StreamYard fills.

How should nonprofits handle engagement, Q&A, and polls?

Most webinar platforms promise “robust engagement,” but for nonprofits the question is simpler: how do you get real participation without overcomplicating your setup?

StreamYard provides live chat around the webinar window, with the ability to feature attendee comments on screen. That, plus a clear host, is enough for many town halls and briefings.

If you want deeper interactivity—live Q&A management, anonymous questions, upvoting, word clouds, or quizzes—dedicated tools like Slido or Mentimeter often outperform built‑in webinar features. The neat part is that you can:

1. Run your main webinar in StreamYard (On‑Air watch page or embedded on your site).
2. Drop a Slido or Mentimeter link/QR code into the chat and on your slides.
3. Keep all the heavy lifting (video, recording, replays) in StreamYard while your engagement tool handles polls and Q&A.

This “pair a great video layer with a great interaction layer” approach usually produces a smoother experience than trying to force everything through a single, complex webinar suite.

What we recommend

• Start with StreamYard if you’re a U.S. nonprofit that wants reliable, branded webinars without a heavy learning curve or downloads.
• Apply for StreamYard’s nonprofit discount and use On‑Air registration plus CSV exports to keep your CRM and email lists up to date. (StreamYard)
• If you’re planning a rare, extremely large national broadcast, evaluate Zoom’s high‑capacity webinar options alongside your usual StreamYard setup.
• For conference‑style or heavily ticketed virtual events, briefly compare Crowdcast and Demio, but default to StreamYard plus specialized tools like Slido or Mentimeter unless you truly need their niche workflows.