When it comes to all the different fundraising software, platforms, and other systems you have to choose from in the nonprofit space, the possibilities can be quite overwhelming. Performing even a basic search on fundraising or donor software provides an intimidatingly long list that feels impossible to choose from.
Part of this overwhelm can be laid at the feet of innovation: people are constantly coming up with new ways to make nonprofit work more efficient and accessible. In theory, this is great! More money to more causes that need it. In practice, however, it can lead to a whole lot of overwhelm and decision fatigue.
We’re going to break it down into manageable bites, comparing 11 of our top picks for fundraising and donation software options for nonprofits. Here’s a quick preview:
Peer-to-Peer & Crowdfunding Platforms
Both peer-to-peer and crowdfunding work by collecting a lot of smaller donations from a ton of donors rather than relying on large donations from one or two “big fish” supporters. These can be great options for smaller ventures looking to just get on their feet!
Fundly
Fundly is a crowdfunding software solution that ranks particularly well on the affordability front compared to other nonprofit software options. It has no raise requirements or startup fees, but platform use does carry a fee of 4.9% plus a 2.9% credit card processing fee, with an additional $.30 per transaction.
Its built-in social sharing features are definitely a useful tool for crowdfunding campaigns. However, its reporting feature is not the most intuitive and the learning curve for implementation can be steep.
Ogiv
Qgiv’s basic starter option is technically free at $0 per month, but they do have a fee of $0.30 and 3.95% per transaction. From there, you can add additional packages which do have monthly price points ranging from $15 all the way to $399 for the Everything package. The Standard Features include event pages and registrations, customizable donation forms, landing pages, a dashboard and reports, donor accounts, matching gift capabilities, and much more.
Though it starts quite small in the pricing field, many fundraising organizations find themselves needing more than the “free” option offers. The prices tend to be a bit much for budgets to handle and its cost-prohibitive nature is the biggest detractor for this donor platform.
Donor Management & Fundraising Software
Blackbaud
Blackbaud offers a lot of products to facilitate a large variety of functions on this stage. As a cloud-based donation management platform, Blackbaud helps businesses automate processes related to payment actions and tracks donor activities. This system handles event management, online donations, donor database, donation tracking, mobile giving, payment processing, online forms, and email marketing.
Though it isn’t as low cost as some other fundraising software options, it is a system that can handle a lot from its users, offering versatility and the ability to grow. If you need a very robust system, it’s worth considering.
Bonterra Tech
Bonterra Tech is a recent venture in the fundraising software space that is bringing together a number of other platforms: CyberGrants®, EveryAction™, Network for Good®, and Social Solutions® and their respective entities. Due to the varied nature of its contributing companies, Bonterra offers a customizable, all-in-one experience for a variety of organizational needs.
The jury’s still out on this new, combined effort, but in theory this would work particularly well for companies that need help with a variety of different functions and want to personalize their services accordingly.
DonorPerfect
DonorPerfect is a little easier on the budget than Blackbaud and is consistently touted as a user-friendly fundraising software that anyone can use. It is an effective means to manage donations, your contacts, receipting, reporting, email, and fundraising initiatives. With a good mix of CRM capabilities and a track record of functionality, it is a well-rounded option for a lot of fundraising needs. The downside is that it doesn’t have as many integrations.
As of yet, DonorPerfect doesn’t integrate with either MailChimp or Zapier, and though there are many add-ons to improve its overall offerings, they come at additional costs. The other big consideration is the level of reporting you are looking for. If you need something beyond the basics, DonorPerfect might not be the right fit for your needs. Blackbaud still outperforms in the reporting category.
Little Green Light
For smaller nonprofits, Little Green Light may be a good fit to fulfill your needs. It integrates with Zapier, QuickBooks Online, Constant Contact, MailChimp, Mandrill, Wufoo, Formstack, Stripe, PayPal, ProPay, Wealth Engine, DonorSearch, Fundraising Report Card, and SmartyStreets.
This fundraising software can help establish workflows, including retrieving donor information, adding donations, event attendance records, and mail campaign creation. The big detractor for this platform is its inability to handle larger organizations.
Kindful
Kindful’s ability to support larger nonprofits as well as its list of integrations are definitely points in its favor. Not only does it integrate well with QuickBooks, but it also heralds an impressive list of others including PayPal, Mailchimp, Square, Eventbrite, Qgiv, DonorSearch, and HubSpot.
NeonCRM
NeonCRM is another customer relationship management software that can support organizations of all sizes with a lot of very useful functions. Their donor management system not only tracks donor data, it also features automatic activities and reminders for each prospect.
With both online and offline donation addition capabilities with a complete history of all past donations, NeonCRM offers a highly recommended and robust donor management platform at fairly reasonable rates. It does come in a little higher than Little Green Light on the pricing front, but if your organization needs larger supports, it’s a better option.
Network for Good
Network for Good’s software organizes and manages your donor data, including contacts and fundraising events. With this marketing feature, you can personalize content, view campaigns, and analyze data.
This platform also offers fundraising services in the form of coaches. You can choose from a list of professionals depending on your organization’s size and project scope.
Fundraising Software for Gift Matching
Several software options offer matching gift capabilities, but if you are looking for a software addition specifically designed for this purpose, it may behoove you to look into the following options.
Double the Donation and 360MatchPro
Double the Donation is specifically designed to increase fundraising from corporate giving programs. It allows you to have the widget directly on the donation page for easy use. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always communicate well with its platform partners but may be worth considering to push your organization’s fundraising up another notch.
360MatchPro is a product of Double the Donation that allows you to automatically collect matching gift eligibility from donors using email domains, within donation forms, on confirmation screens, or by email.
This list is not even close to exhaustive, and it’s still a lot of systems to consider. For an even more in-depth look at a even more tools for you nonprofit, check out softwareadvice.com’s list of nonprofit fundraising software options. It offers a lot of background into each option as well as customer reviews.
Choosing the systems to support your organization is an important undertaking, and there are certainly a lot of considerations. In essence, it depends on several factors: the size of your organization and supporting team, your level of technical comfortability, and the needs your systems need to fulfill. Each of these will affect the types of software needs you have, and your ability to implement them.
Need some help setting up your fundraising software? Or just some one-on-one advice to figure out what systems best fit your organization’s needs? KSR can help. Contact us today to find out how we can set your organization up for success.
