The Best Nonprofit CRM Software for Fundraising in 2022: The Top 6 Options
To fundraise effectively, you need the right tools.
Customer relationship management (CRM) software is an essential technology for any nonprofit organisation.
It can help you manage your donors, keep track of donations, etc.
This blog post will discuss the six best CRM software options for fundraising in 2022.
Disclaimer: This article may contain affiliate links. These are for products I personally use and recommend, or their products my consulting clients have used and I’ve seen them achieve success with. If you use these links to buy something I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. For more information please read my Privacy Policy.
What is the best Nonprofit CRM software for fundraising?
The best CRM software for fundraising allows you to keep track of your donors and donations.
You can also use it to manage your volunteers, events, and campaigns.
Nonprofit CRM software can help you streamline your fundraising activities and make them more efficient.
You’ll want a nonprofit CRM software that lets you see which appeals motivated a donor’s gift and the channel they donated (direct mail, online, phone etc.).
It’s essential that your CRM integrates with your other online fundraising software, including your website and email sending platform.
My top picks are Donorbox, Virtuous and NationBuilder. They’re some of the best constituent relationship management systems available for charitable organisations looking to raise funds.
#1 Donorbox
Best all-around nonprofit CRM for small organisations with no setup fees.
Nonprofit CRM Features:
- Easy online donation form builder allows you to create your donation forms and embed them on your website in minutes.
- Recurring online donations and donor profiles allow your donors to log in and manage their recurring gifts empowering donors to upgrade their giving or change payment details.
- Advanced filters help you search your database, saving you time so you can focus on serving your community instead of managing donor data.
- MailChimp integration lets you keep your donor database and email list in sync, so you don’t have to worry about manual data entry every time a new donor gives a gift.
- Employer gift matching is available through e built-in double the donation integration. Using matching gifts to incentivise potential donors to give their first gift is a powerful fundraising strategy, made even easier by Donorbox’s Double the Donation integration.
- Zapier and API connection helps you plug your nonprofit CRM into hundreds of popular apps and online services.
Price:
My take:
Donorbox is the best nonprofit CRM option for smaller nonprofits like sporting clubs, local charities and churches.
Because you pay per transaction and there are no setup fees, it’s the perfect solution for smaller organisations with less reliable or seasonal cash flow.
A small monthly fee is charged to use the MailChimp and Zapier integrations, but this is optional and, even then, very, very cheap.
#2 Virtuous
Best nonprofit CRM for larger organisations based in the US.
Features:
- Donor management. Organise your fundraising efforts with a user-friendly dashboard that helps you build better relationships with individualised cultivation plans for each supporter. Stop collecting separate data and wrestling spreadsheets – get the actionable insights you need in one simple dashboard.
- Gift & pipeline management. You don’t need to waste time bouncing from platform to platform to get a comprehensive view of your donor engagement and gift history. Complete all of your necessary tasks, manage gift pipelines, nurture your donor connections at scale, and measure the ROI of your efforts in Virtuous.
- Insights and reports. In a single donor view, you may know whom to contact and what to discuss. Based on the donor’s gift history, social network actions, financial information, demographic data, and more, clever suggestions for the next best action are displayed.
- Project management and time tracking. Tie your donations to specific initiatives and follow up with contributors using impact notes that pertain to each initiative. Then tie the project donations to your fund accounting software.
- Volunteer management. Allows you to keep track of your volunteers and how many hours they have donated.
- Grant management. Keep on top of your grant application processes.
- Data segmentation and search. Enables you to slice and dice your data so you can speak to the right donor with the right message at the right time.
- Event management. Take the headache out of managing events with Virtuous’ built-in event management tool.
- Integrations and API. Keep all your fundraising and marketing apps in sync with Virtuous’ powerful integrations and API.
Pricing:
Virtuous’ Starter Plan begins at US$400/mo and is best suited for smaller nonprofits looking for an integrated solution that will enable them to keep all their data in one place.
The Starter Plan includes:
Platform and Enterprise pricing are also available for larger organisations.
- Up to 5 users and includes 1,000 supporter records
- Dedicated coach for onboarding
- 4 automation workflows
- Send up to 5,000 emails to your supporters each month
#3 Salesforce
Salesforce is one of the most widely used nonprofit CRM software options globally.
Features:
- A single platform for fundraising. Nonprofit Cloud’s Fundraising Solutions feature a fundraising software that connects your social media channels and analyses donor behaviour. You can build a consistent experience for your staff and supporters all from one location by using this cloud-based solution.
- Advanced reporting tools. The software is based on artificial intelligence (AI) and brings nonprofits the same advantages that have caused such a stir in the business. Einstein for Nonprofits uses AI to power forecasting.
- Relationship management. Cloud Fundraising Solutions from Nonprofit Organisations help you keep track of your donors and customers. You can automate your strategies based on what you need. You can also segment your contributors.
- Donation and income management. Nonprofit Cloud helps you keep track of your donations. You can see how much money people have given and how much they have promised to give in the future. This way, your employees can focus on getting more money from major donors and people who have given before.
- Program management. Nonprofits can better assess and manage their operations with this cloud technology. Program Managers may more effectively recognise which initiatives or treatments are effective, modify services to better match program participants’ requirements, and quickly establish and launch new programs thanks to this cloud software.
Pricing:
If your nonprofit meets the requirements, you can join the Power of Us Program and get ten free subscriptions to Sales & Service Cloud Enterprise Edition. In addition, for nonprofits that only do transactions in US dollars, there is a special edition of Salesforce.org Elevate* that has no up-front costs and fees based on how much money is raised per transaction.
My take:
Salesforce is industry-standard CRM software, and its nonprofit offering is also very powerful. There can be a bit of a learning curve with Salesforce, and getting everything set up correctly for your organisation can take some work. But this is a good option for larger nonprofits who can work with a very flexible and customisable software package.
#4 NationBuilder
Best nonprofit CRM software for political campaigns.
Features:
- Supporter database. Create lists, filters, and tags in a database that can change based on each donor interaction.
- Learn what people care about most. Create an issue-based tagging system for your NationBuilder activity stream.
- Connect your field campaign to your database. Local election data and demographics can be accessed using election tools.
- Recruiter tracking. Followers are the lifeblood of any campaign, and as such, it’s critical to find out who is driving them. Follow these steps to discover new followers.
- Event registrations and RSVPs are available through simple online forms to help you get a crowd to your next campaign event.
- Permission sets. Make your control panel more user-friendly for different volunteers depending on their function.
- Volunteer management. Create user-friendly volunteer pages that people can use to organise on behalf of your campaign.
- Built-in payment processing means you can use NationBuilder’s payment processor, avoiding the need for a Stripe or PayPal account.
- Multi-channel advocacy through the use of the web, social media, email and SMS.
Price:
NationBuilder’s monthly subscriptions grow with your campaign. Plans start from US$29/mo and scale up to Enterprise level plans for large, national or statewide campaigns.
My take:
If you’re running a political campaign or building a movement of people who want to change the world, then NationBuilder is a great option. It’s a solid, all-in-one solution with most of the features any political campaign could want.
And with the built-in Zapier integration, you can easily connect NationBuilder to plenty of other apps and tools to build your tech stack.
What is CRM software for fundraising?
CRM software is a database that stores information about donors and prospects. This information can include contact information, giving history, and biographical data. CRM software also has tools to help with creating mailing lists, tracking donations, and managing volunteers.
For nonprofits, CRM software can be an invaluable tool for fundraising. It allows development staff to easily track and manage relationships with donors and potential donors. It can also help identify new prospects and assess how to approach them. As a result, CRM software can save time and increase efficiency in the fundraising process.
For any organisation that relies on fundraising, it’s essential to choose a CRM (customer relationship management) tool to meet your needs. A CRM software can help you keep track of your donors, their contact information, and their giving history. It can also help you manage your fundraising campaigns and track your progress towards your goals.
With so much at stake, it’s important to take the time to research your options and choose a CRM software that will work best for your organisation. When it comes to fundraising, the right CRM tool can make all the difference.
Conclusion
There are many great nonprofit CRM software options out there for nonprofits. The six featured in this blog post are just a few of the many that are available. When choosing a donor management system for your organisation, it’s important to consider your needs and budget.
Salesforce is a great option for larger organisations with more complex needs.
For smaller organisations or those just getting started with fundraising, Donorbox and NationBuilder may be better choices. Ultimately, the best nonprofit CRM for fundraising is the one that will work best for your specific organisation.
What do you think? Did we miss any essential features? Let us know in the comments below!
