Why Essentials First Switched from Donorbox to Infāque

Essentials First (formerly Kits for Peace) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Bellevue, Washington, with locations across Redmond, Kent, and Seattle. Their mission is direct and urgent: empowering dignity by providing equitable access to essential hygiene supplies and culturally appropriate food assistance.

It's a cause most people never think about — because most have never had to. As Essentials First puts it plainly: you can't buy soap with an EBT card. Hygiene essentials like soap, shampoo, detergent, razors, and menstrual supplies can't be purchased with SNAP/EBT or WIC funds, leaving 1 in 10 people in Washington State without reliable access to the basics of staying clean and healthy.

To fund this work, Essentials First relies on a committed base of donors — many of them recurring givers making meaningful contributions. They needed a fundraising platform that respected every dollar and stood behind them when it mattered. They weren't getting that from their previous provider.

Essentials First had been running its fundraising on Donorbox. Two problems grew impossible to ignore.

The fees didn't fit their donors. — With an average donation around $100 and a strong base of recurring supporters, Essentials First was giving up more than they should have on every gift. Donorbox's platform fees — and the reality that a full CRM sat behind a separate paid add-on — meant the true cost of the stack kept climbing as they grew.

The support was impersonal. — When something needed attention, there was no one to call — just a queue. For an organization running time-sensitive campaigns across multiple locations, waiting on generic support wasn't good enough.

Essentials First migrated to Infāque, and the difference showed up in the two places that mattered most: cost and service.

Lower, simpler cost. — On a typical $100 donation, Essentials First now pays roughly 1% in platform fees — meaningfully less than they were paying on Donorbox. And rather than paying separately for a CRM, email, events, and receipting, everything is included in one monthly subscription. For an organization built on recurring, mid-sized gifts, the economics finally worked in their favor.

A team that picks up — even on a weekend. — Shortly after migrating, Essentials First was preparing to launch their Fall Fundraising Gala, with a $125,000 goal. They needed to set up the campaign, build a mechanism to collect pledges, and display a live fund meter during the event. The Infāque team jumped on a call with them over the weekend and configured everything — pledges, live meter, and campaign — ready for launch. Not a ticket. Not a queue. A person, on a Saturday, getting it done.

• ~1% platform fee on a typical $100 donation — a meaningful reduction from Donorbox, with more of every gift going to the mission
• One subscription, all features included — CRM, email, events, and automated IRS receipting, with no separate add-ons to buy
• Hands-on, rapid support — direct access to a real person, with responses in minutes rather than days
• Fall Fundraising Gala fully configured for launch — campaign, pledge collection, and live fund meter set up ahead of their October 24 event toward a $125,000 goal