8 Best CRMs Software for Nonprofits Organizations in 2024

The best CRM for Nonprofits

CRM is a functional tool for managing relationships with customers and partners. With the help of useful CRM tools, it is possible to build an effective dialogue with the buyer. This assumes that the main goals of the company's activity are to satisfy customer needs, ensure sales and increase marketing efficiency. However, in addition to improving sales, CRM significantly increases the level of communication with customers and processes all information about them, so it can be useful not only for businesses, but also for nonprofits. 

Among the important features of CRM, it is necessary to highlight - a client card (with data about companies-persons, history of all requests and transactions), integration with telephony, the ability to listen to calls inside CRM, the option of a calendar and a task book.

In our list of CRM systems, you will find a wide range of software for every taste.

Non-profit organizations are the most frequent users of grant management software, especially in areas such as the arts, which rely heavily on grants for support. Often these are groups seeking grants that use software to speed up the application process.

CRM for nonprofits is designed to aid organizations in managing donor information and relationships, simplifying fundraising processes, monitoring volunteer work, and automating communication to enhance engagement and generate more donations. It also comes with reporting and analytical features to support data-driven decision-making.

[Related Article: CRM Software for Nonprofits]

What is a Nonprofit CRM?

The Customer Relationship Management Software for Nonprofits allows you to optimize your work by tracking the activity of your sponsors, events and volunteers. Track the performance of your marketing activities and evaluate your fundraising potential with a variety of workflows and automations.

An automatic system, into which data is entered about each donor or client, helps relieve staff and streamline information. For example, you can find out from which pages a donation was made, segment the audience by channels of attraction and the method of transferring funds.

The entire history of interaction is stored here, correspondence and call recording are systematized. You can add the number of tasks - generate documents according to a template, create reports, warn about deadlines.

For the non-profit industry, including charities, outreach programs, community organizations, and political movements, CRM is incredibly useful. First of all, you turn your CRM marketing tools into fundraising.

Nonprofit CRM helps you create campaigns, spread the word, reach potential donors, organize donations and gifts, and engage your audience with your organization's message and branding.

For the non-profit industry, this can handle lead journeys, trigger events like email tracking or appointment reminders, track email or social media open and click rates, and generate scheduled reports on key fundraising metrics.

Why Should You Use  Nonprofit CRM Software?

In what case will a CRM system become a good assistant, and who does not need it? With a small number of customers, automation is not always needed. For example, as long as an organization cooperates with a hundred people, there is no need for it. But the more people interact with a nonprofit organization, the harder it is to keep track of important details. Remember the date of the last payment, talk about new events, invite to the event…

CRM will become an indispensable assistant if there is a need to process a lot of messages, calls, letters on a daily basis, the work is long-term.

Modern CRM systems not only remember the history of interactions with all existing and potential customers. They will help reduce the number of routine tasks so that you and your employees have more time for development, live communication, and creativity. Thanks to CRM, it is possible to solve the main fundraising task - to lead the donor to constant donations.

CRM Software for not for profits simplifies the application process by offering form preparation, task automation, and verification assistance. These technologies are used by donors to track their allocated funds, monitor the performance of all grantees, and analyze success over time to determine if funding priorities need to be adjusted. From a project management point of view, such software helps users to control the necessary actions that occur at various stages of each grant application, from pre-award to award after award.

[Related Article: The Best Marketing Automation Software & Platform]

What are the Benefits of Using CRM for a Nonprofit?

Such clear and structured databases help streamline operations, streamline workflows, and generally make nonprofit's operations more efficient. Research shows that one of the main benefits of CRM is time savings.

The main task of CRM for non-profit organizations is to find and increase the base of people and companies who care, their interaction with those who need help. 

The main benefits of using CRM for a Nonprofit:

Tracking

CRM allows you to analyze information sources and track which communication channels are most effective. Follow grant deadlines, application requirements, and financial documents.

Search for information

You will be able to find out from which web resources or offline events the donation came from. Throughout the application life cycle, track the status of grant opportunities. Check for compliance with business rules and industry standards.

Data structuring

It will help to structure and provide information to sponsors about the funds spent. Create personalized quotes/offers and store them in a database for future use.

Conversion

CRM helps transform donors who have made one-time donations into those who make regular donations.

Segmentation

It will be easier to segment donors by channels of attraction and the way they donate. Track payments and invoices that have been paid and received.

Steps to Find and Implement Your Nonprofit CRM

Depending on the type of activity, each organization forms the tasks assigned to CRM and expected results. The implementation of CRM for non-profit organizations allows you to achieve the following goals:

• Increase in the number of donors and patrons;
• Growth in the number of new partners through the use of multiple communication channels;
• Improving the efficiency of staff work by automating routine processes;
• Integration of the necessary services for communication with the client base;
• Efficient online and offline events;
• Analysis of costs and profit from a charity event.

Before choosing a specific CRM solution, it is necessary to determine why the organization needs it and what tasks it should perform. For non-profit organizations, we recommend using online CRM, as this solution is cheaper to implement and easy to use. If these steps are not given sufficient attention, the wrong choice of CRM can be made.

Consider implementing CRM as an investment in the future of your organization. It costs money, but automating the fund’s processes and systemic work of data means free time for employees, clear analytics and qualitative changes in the amount of donations, and the freed up resource can be directed to the development of new tools for interacting with beneficiaries.

Things to Consider Before Buying a CRM:

1. User access control.
2. Software packages versus standalone software.
3. Possibility of integration.
4. How to deploy this CRM.
5. Software cost.
6. A set of standard features.
   [Related Article: How to Transform CRM Implementation into Processes and Strategy Upgrade]

What Should You Look for in a Nonprofit CRM?

Even if your team only handles a few grant applications each year, investing in good software today will allow you to plan for future growth and ensure your staff has the tools they need to apply for even more grants in the future.

Whatever CRM you choose, it must meet the basic criteria:

• have a personal data operator license;
• securely store data;
• be a cloud service to be able to access data at any time - from a business trip, vacation, frоm anywhere where there is Internet;
• ensure the efficiency of technical support.

However, while non-profit organizations may have complex needs, software should still be simple and easy to use without complicating things, and be as comprehensive as possible.

8 Best CRMs for Nonprofits

We'll take a look at the 8 best nonprofit CRMs, their prices and features, and what each CRM for nonprofits is best suited for.

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is a platform that allows you to automate marketing, design complex processes, and at the same time grow your base of happy customers and increase conversions. The service helps to create email campaigns by offering email templates. It is a powerful email marketing tool full of robust features. ActiveCampaign offers hundreds of integrations, but you'll need to upgrade for better data integration, custom domains, and potential donor scoring.

Pros

• Sending newsletters.
• Marketing automation.
• Built-in integrations with external services.
• Advanced segmentation and targeting.
• Drag & drop support.
• Track contacts on the site and in applications.
• dynamic content.
• Social media monitoring.
• Free letter templates.
• SMS marketing.

Cons

• Some features are slow, such as inserting multiple images.
• There are not many templates to choose from here.

Pricing

• Lite (from $15/month)
•  Plus (from $70/month)
•  Professional (from $159/month) 
• Enterprise (from $279/month)

Apptivo CRM

Apptivo is a well-known cloud-based customer relationship management platform. This, something like Google Drive, is a set of integrated applications. Overall, however, Apptivo's applications are well designed and intuitive to use, even for users who have never worked with a CRM platform before. This means that depending on your sector, you may end up using completely different Apptivo apps and services. In general, the flexibility of the Apptivo platform is most appreciated by users in niche industries.

Pros

• Excellent customer support.
• Easy to use CRM.
• Customizable.
• Dynamic characteristics.
• The starting plan is quite effective.

Cons

• Not all apps are intuitive enough.
• Feature mismatch between mobile and desktop.

Pricing

• Lite (from $8/month)
• Premium (from $12/month)
• Ultimate (from $20/month) 
• Enterprise (contact vendor)

Salesforce

Salesforce is a cloud platform, there is a lot of interesting things here in addition to the CRM part. Salesforce allows you to create and deploy individual solutions, automate business processes, and integrate with external applications.

Salesforce offers a whole set of products: Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, e-Commerce Cloud, Heroku, Integration, Community Cloud, Einstein Analytics and others.

Salesforce, as a company, is a partner of various representatives of the IT world and, accordingly, they offer ready-made integration solutions, advanced services to meet the requirements of end customers, and many other opportunities. Among them are Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon.

Pros

• Customizable and powerful CRM
• Unlimited scalability
• Seamless integrations (including third party integrations)
• Excellent customer tracking
• Effective Email Marketing Tools
• Good customer support

Cons

• Time consuming and expensive installation
• Expensive and suitable for large companies

Pricing

• Essentials (from $25/month)
• Professional (from $75/month)
• Enterprise (from $150/month) 
• Unlimited (from $300/month) 

Neon CRM

Neon CRM is a cloud-based tool for non-profit organizations. It helps organize the base of sponsors, involve them in the activities of the company, manage membership and track the employment of volunteers. Using the service, you can create your own fundraising website at no additional cost. 

The platform was created for non-profit organizations, regardless of their size and direction of work: from helping sick children to protecting human rights. The software aims to help such companies grow a caring community around them, make it easier to raise money and prepare events for sponsors. The service assumes only paid use.

Pros

• Service for the work of non-profit organizations
• Fundraising
• Volunteer management
• Organization of events

Cons

• Customer support could be improved
• Few integrations with various business services and IP telephony services.

Pricing

• Essentials (from $99/month)
• Impact (from $199/month)
• Empower (from $399/month) 
  Learn more

Slate

The software can be used to collect and process documents, manage applicant communications, calculate financial aid, and keep track of grades. It also facilitated alumni relationships, so you can keep ties to the university strong and endowments flowing. Contact Management You can connect with students across SMS, email, voice, print, and social media--all from a single platform. There's no more time wasted toggling between tools, plus all your student data is integrated into one platform for accurate, detailed student profiles.

Pros

• Simple user interface
• Flexible settings
• Suitable for companies of all sizes
• Allows you to remove unnecessary and add what you need, save the history of customer relations

Cons

• Some users note weak analytics
• Lack of a document designer

Pricing

Price starts from 29.95 $ per month.

Learn more

Fundly CRM

Fundly CRM is a donor management system that serves all factions or non-profits, clubs, charities. Designed with efficiency in mind, it's a web application that helps every non-profit organization make the most of ideas, communications, and connections that drive action.

The CRM also includes important features such as event management, custom web pages, reporting capabilities, task and interaction capabilities, membership management and ease of communication, etc. In addition, the platform also offers integration with various platforms, including Facebook, which allows faucets to broadcast their message campaign to their supporters. Overall, this is one of the best donor management programs out there.

Pros

• Building a contact form
• Automated database
• Ease of use
• Effective communication with clients

Cons

• Might be slow
• Sometimes crashes happen
• Doesn't have a trial version

Pricing

• Easy Launch (from $55/month)
• Easy Start (from $110/month)
• Easy Grow (from $220/month) 
• Easy Go (from $360/month) 
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Teamgate

It is a cloud-based intelligent CRM system for small and medium teams. With a simple yet playful interface, Teamgate is a great tool for everyone. The intelligent aspect of the system gives the worker the most up-to-date reports and insights. Advice at every stage not only keeps you up to date on the donation process, but also helps you develop specific skills that every nonprofit worker needs. Teamgate contains all the necessary tools you might need, from lead capture to sophisticated reporting and forecasting.

Pros

• Simple user interface
• Autocomplete feature
• Intelligent filtering function
• Identifies improvements

Cons

Mobile app could use more features

Pricing

• STARTER (from $9 per user/month )
• PROFESSIONAL (from $26 per user/month)
• ENTERPRISE (from $65 per user/month) 
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DonorPerfect

DonorPerfect is a donor management and fundraising platform that partners with charities and nonprofits to help them spread the word and raise more money for their cause. Popular features include a single database to manage your constituents, which helps streamline donor data management. CRM DonorPerfect is highly customizable. There is advanced batch writing to add and edit multiple contacts at the same time. You can automate gift and donor entries, and accept payments that are one-time, recurring, and online payments.

Pros

• Suitable for organizations of all sizes and budgets
• You get an unlimited number of users even on the most affordable package
• Good level of advice and training
• User-Friendly Interface
• It has Free Setup

Cons

There are a lot of great tools here, but for some, this can mean function overloading.

Pricing

• Lite (from $99/month)
• Express (from $179/month)
• Essentials (from $299/month)
• Premier (from $799/month)
• Enterprise (from $799/month) 
  Learn more

Final Thoughts

CRM for nonprofits will help more people take a step forward in the development of charitable causes and events. These nonprofit management tools are designed to streamline operations, improve donor management, and enhance fundraising efforts. With so many options available, it's important to carefully consider the unique needs of your organization before making a decision.

Each CRM system has its own set of features, pricing plans, and integrations, allowing you to choose the one that best aligns with your goals. Whether you're a small non-profit just getting started or a larger organization with complex needs, there's a CRM solution that can help you achieve your objectives.

Before selecting a nonprofit cloud, it's essential to define the specific tasks and functions that it must perform. This will ensure that you choose a CRM system that caters to your organization's unique requirements. Consider factors such as donor management, event planning, volunteer coordination, and fundraising capabilities.

Once you have a clear understanding of your needs, take the time to thoroughly evaluate each CRM system's pros and cons. Consider factors such as ease of use, customization options, customer support, and integration capabilities. This will help you make an informed decision and select the right CRM system for your non-profit.

Remember, the right CRM system can be a powerful tool in advancing your charitable causes and events. By investing in the right technology, you can streamline your operations, improve donor relationships, and maximize your fundraising efforts. Take the time to research and evaluate your options to find the perfect fit for your organization.

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