We’re going to go out on a limb here.
And say that, as a nonprofit organization, you not only want to increase donations. But you also want to forge relationships with donors who truly support your cause.
*whispers* Are we close?
We want that for you, too! Because there is something so amazing about finding your tribe of people who genuinely care for your mission and want to leave the world better than they found it.
Believe it or not, one of the best ways to do that is by streamlining your donor data.
And nonprofit CRM tools help you do just that. We’ve rounded up some of the 7 best CRM software for nonprofits on the market right now to help you find the one that fits your organization!
But first … let’s answer a few important questions:
What is a Nonprofit CRM System?
A nonprofit CRM (customer relationship manager) software helps organizations better organize information about their donors. From building out ideal personas to help target the right kind of people, to tracking prospective donors throughout their journey to give, the right CRM tool can help you in so many ways!
Why Should You Care About Nonprofit CRM Software?
Nonprofit CRM software helps you better organize, manage, and understand your data when it comes to your donors.
Instead of getting caught up on time-sucking, repetitive tasks, you can streamline and automate those. Which means you can spend more time and effort on nurturing your prospective donors.
And instead of trying to cast a wide net for your campaigns to bring in any amount of gifts, you can use your data to pinpoint the kinds of people who are ready to give to your cause.
When you streamline these parts of your nonprofit, you can focus on giving your donors the best possible experience. Which, then, helps you retain monthly donors. That’s important because “in a single year, recurring donors give 42% more than one-time donors,” (WealthEngine).
But here’s the problem:
According to Philanthropy News Digest, “the rate among repeat donors was down 7.2%” in 2021.
So by using one of the best nonprofit CRM software available, you can create the meaningful relationships you want, not to mention the ones that help your organization grow.
What Should Your Nonprofit Look for in a CRM?
It’s not a secret that the top CRM software for nonprofits can help you drastically improve efficiency and productivity in your organization. But, it can only do that if your team selects the best option for your organization!
So what is it you and your nonprofit team should look for in a CRM? How do you choose the one that’ll be best for your needs?
First and foremost, you need to know that every nonprofit is different. That means that your organization’s needs may be different from others. Look inward, survey your team and what they can benefit from the most, and choose only what’s best for your nonprofit.
But more often than not, you’ll want to select a CRM tool that has some of these major features:
- Donor profiles. How detailed you need these to be (aka – how customizable you need them to be in your CRM) will depend on the information you collect from your supporters. But, often nonprofit CRM tools allow you to include important information like contact info, interests as it pertains to your mission, giving history, engagement history, and more!
- Customized dashboard. A great dashboard is like the “front desk” to your nonprofit CRM. It’ll show you an overview of relevant insights when it comes to your organization’s performance and fundraising goals.
- Integrations. We love technology (if you hadn’t noticed)! But manually inputting data from one software into another is time-consuming. And it defeats the purpose of adding tech to your organization. Integrations streamline your admin tasks. So finding a nonprofit CRM software that integrates with your other tools is a great idea.
- Data reports and analytics. You need to know what’s working for your supporters and what’s not. A CRM that can run reports is a key part of understanding what you can continue doing and what you need to fix.
What Optional Features to Look for in a Nonprofit CRM?
Like we mentioned, the nonprofit CRM you choose depends heavily on what you need from it!
Some organizations may need a heavier focus on built-in features, such as email marketing or grant management. Others might want to prioritize fundraising efforts.
The beauty of these powerful tools is that there are plenty of options no matter what features you’re looking for. Here are some optional ones to consider:
- Built-in online donation platform. You can create donation pages that align with your nonprofit branding with the right CRM tool. And when someone donates, their information auto–populates in your contact list.
- Built-in marketing tools. There are plenty of nonprofit CRMs that include marketing tools like built-in email software.
Built-in grant management. If your nonprofit heavily relies on funding from grants, then finding a CRM that incorporates grant management into it may be a gamechanger!
The Best CRM Software for Nonprofits: What Are the Top 7 Systems?
Over here at Nonprofit Apps, we’ve done some digging.
And we’ve rounded up some of the best CRM software for nonprofits so you don’t have to do research on every single platform out there.
*PLEASE NOTE: Our list of the best CRM software for nonprofits is based on extensive research on the tools on the market as of 2022. We have combed through each of these tools’ websites, and we’ve dug through user reports to find helpful information.
This list is also not in any particular order. It’s just a roundup of the top nonprofit CRM tools available at the moment based on our own individual research.
We do not receive any compensation for these products at Nonprofit-Apps. We are solely giving you this information to help you find the best CRM software for your nonprofit organization.
However, some of these CRM tools are contributors to our sister sites, Nonprofit Library and CharityHowTo.*
Nonprofit CRM Software #1: Bloomerang
Pricing: Their baseline plan starts at $99.00/month with plans based on contacts.
Bloomerang believes when you streamline your daily admin tasks, you can spend more of your time and effort on moving your mission forward.
And that’s what they’ve set out to help you do with their nonprofit CRM tool! They pride themselves on their simple-to-use dashboard that’s still robust enough to offer magnified insights into your donors.
Plus, they’ve brought nonprofit experts on board to build the entire CRM software. It’s built by nonprofit experts, for nonprofit experts.
Top Features of This Software:
Some of the top features of this nonprofit CRM software include:
- Visual representation of individual donor interactions
- Interactive dashboard to see your donor retention rate, incoming donations by time period, access recent reports, and more
- Social media monitoring
- Donor engagement surveys
- Email design with already-created templates and analytics
- Letters and mailing designs ready for print
Drawbacks of This Software:
- Some users reported there needs to be more customizable dashboards, reports, and templates for emails and letters
- There is not an event management integration for this tool, yet
This Nonprofit Software is Best For:
Based on reviews and the Bloomerang website, their nonprofit CRM system is best for small organizations or ones just starting out.
It’s a simple-to-use platform, but if you’re part of a larger organization or you’ve used multiple CRM tools in the past, this one may be too simplistic for your needs.
View the FREE Bloomerang Demo at Nonprofit Library Here!
Nonprofit CRM Software #2: Virtuous
Pricing: To learn more about Virtuous’ responsive pricing, check out their pricing page for more information. Starter pricing begins at $400/ month.
Virtuous is much more than a CRM. It gives your nonprofit the CRM, fundraising, marketing, and volunteer management tools needed to create a more responsive and personalized donor experience and grow generosity.
Through the power of responsive fundraising, Virtuous’ mission is to enable your organization to move the needle on global generosity by streamlining your team’s work, eliminating tedious back-office tasks by leveraging modern, automation tools, and focusing on donor relationships that matter most.
With a mission committed to moving the needle on global generosity, Virtuous is a CRM provider dedicated to helping nonprofits better connect and inspire their supporters. With Virtuous, organizations see:
- 12% increase in donor retention
- 10% increase in average gift size
- 20% decrease in administrative time
Top Features of This Software:
Some of the top features of this nonprofit CRM software include:
- Surface disengaged donors before they lapse
- Save admin time by auto-assigning tasks
- Engage donors with personalized emails, SMS, direct mail appeals, and more
- Discover high-potential donors using wealth data and demographic information
- Identify your best prospects using predictive analytics and scoring
- Use giving patterns or donor passions to segment donors for campaigns
- Tie gift types back to a specific contact for a holistic giving history
- Create custom and mobile-friendly donation forms
- Capture reporting on grant awards, yearly fundraising goals, campaign summaries, and more
- Quickly build sequences, welcome emails, and donor journeys using templates
Drawbacks of This Software:
Some users reported there needs to be more customizable dashboards, reports, and templates for emails and letters
This Nonprofit Software is Best For:
Virtuous is the only responsive fundraising platform that’s suitable for all sizes and types of organizations – from two-person teams to enterprise-level organizations.
Built with fundraisers in mind, Virtuous offers robust tools to help scale your fundraising, marketing, and volunteer efforts that build trust and grow impact with your supporters.
Additionally, with a diverse partner directory – from technology partners to consultants to implementation partners – users can easily connect their existing tech stack to Virtuous CRM for a holistic picture of their supporters. No need to import and export endless CSV files that dirty up your data!
Discover how customers who select Virtuous have seen an increase in connections with donors, raise more money, and move the needle on generosity.
Learn more about Virtuous and the power of responsive fundraising on their upcoming FREE NonprofitLibrary Demo:
Nonprofit CRM Software #3: Keela
Pricing: Keela’s pricing is based on the number of contacts your organization plans to store in the system. Pricing starts at $99 USD per month for a basic plan of 1000 contacts or less. To learn more about Keela’s pricing, click here.
Keela also offers a free plan for nonprofits that have less than 250 contacts.
Imagine a tool designed by fundraisers, for fundraisers – that’s Keela. It’s a unified platform where all your stakeholders are neatly organized and easily reachable. Not only does it boost your fundraising campaigns, but it also provides deep donor insights to strategize your next big push.
Acting as your personal fundraising assistant, Keela manages projects, drives impactful email campaigns, and reports crucial metrics, freeing you up to build donor relationships. The result? Keela users typically see a 42% drop in admin time and up to a 46% revenue boost in the first year.
Top Features of This Software:
Some of the top features of this nonprofit CRM software include:
- Built-in email communications tools that have an average email open rate of 42% (17% higher than the industry standard)
- AI-powered donation forms that combine wealth indicators, giving history, and demographic information to provide a custom suggested donation amount to every donor
- Automated donor-journeys that can be customized based on the parameters you choose, so that you can engage with every donor without lifting a finger
- Powerful and easy-to-comprehend reporting tools that allow you to accurately report on your metrics and track progress
- Integrations with other common nonprofit platforms so that you can get a holistic view of your stakeholders all within Keela
- Peer-to-peer fundraising tools to empower your supporters to fundraise on your behalf
Drawbacks of This Software:
- Keela is intended for nonprofits that bring in the majority of their revenue through fundraising, meaning it’s not the best fit for organizations that rely on grants
This Nonprofit Software is Best For:
Keela is a great choice for nonprofits of all shapes and sizes! Organizations that bring in the majority of their revenue through fundraising, whether it be major gifts, events, annual giving, or any other revenue stream, will find that Keela is easy to use and allows them to use more technologically advanced features (such as AI) to increase revenue.
Nonprofits that are seeking to better understand what makes their donors tick while having access to the right tools to support both donor retention and donor acquisition should consider Keela as an option.
Nonprofit CRM Software #4: EveryAction
Pricing: Contact an EveryAction representative for pricing
With over 18,000 nonprofit organizations using EveryAction, it’s a no-brainer this is included as one of the best CRM software for nonprofits!
EveryAction is an all-inclusive platform so you don’t have to worry about integrating other databases or third-party apps.
From donor development to digital marketing, to managing volunteer teams, EveryAction does it all.
Features of This Software:
- An all-inclusive platform that eliminates the need for third-party apps and integrations
- Access to EveryAction’s sustainer-optimized donation forms to increase recurring donations
- Customization for email marketing, events, and fundraising to boost brand strategy
- In-suite drag-and-drop (like Mailchimp) email design platform
Drawbacks of This Software:
- Some users reported it can feel overwhelming when you’re first starting out. There are lots of tutorials to watch to understand the nonprofit CRM system.
- You’ll have to manually move your data and spreadsheets between the individual tools within the platform to take advantage of the entire CRM system
This Nonprofit Software is Best For:
From the EveryAction website, this nonprofit CRM software is great for nonprofit organizations of all sizes.
And based on user reports of this CRM tool, that rings true! Many users are reporting excellent results for organizations with 10 people up to organizations with 5,000+ people!
Nonprofit CRM Software #5: NeonCRM
Pricing: Baseline plans start at $99.00/month. You’ll need to fill out a form with your organization’s information for more pricing info.
NeonCRM is another cloud-based CRM that serves nonprofit organizations of all sizes. It allows you to manage donors, events, and members. Plus, you can handle tasks like email marketing and payment processing. This system gives everything you could think of!
One of the top features of this nonprofit CRM system is the ability to follow each donor through their online and offline donations. Plus, you can accept donations from several different touchpoints. Whether it’s web forms, emails, membership renewals, or event actions, this platform truly gets your nonprofit growing.
Features of This Software:
- Donor management with a complete view of your supporters
- Fundraising & event management including event registrations
- Membership management including membership renewals
- Volunteer management
- Marketing and communications including automated emails
- Customized web forms
- Social fundraising
- e-Commerce options and integrations
- Quickbooks integration
- In-depth reports
- Deduplication capabilities to keep your lists streamlined
Drawbacks of This Software:
- While it seems like this software has it all, one thing is clearly missing. As of yet, Neon CRM does not offer online auction or silent auction integration.
- Some users have reported that the email marketing doesn’t work as well as some available integrations
This Nonprofit Software is Best For:
This is another nonprofit CRM software that’s best for all ranges and sizes of organizations.
However, if email marketing or online auctions are your bread and butter for your nonprofit, you may want to think about this option. Those are the two main cons of this CRM tool.
That being said, Neon CRM seems to be an all-inclusive powerhouse that gets the job done (and done well, according to the majority of users!). If you’re a fast-growing nonprofit, this is more than likely a wonderful option for you!
Nonprofit CRM Software #6: Salesforce for Nonprofits
Pricing: With the Power of Us Program, eligible nonprofits can receive Salesforce for nonprofits for free!
Salesforce for nonprofits is one of the most powerful, all-inclusive CRM tools available. It’s been known as the world’s leading CRM tool for business. And the creators realized that nonprofits could benefit from it, too!
So they re-imagined the tool to fit the unique needs of nonprofit organizations worldwide. Now? Over 40,000 nonprofits trust the CRM.
Features of This Software:
- Customizable, detailed donor profiles so you know exactly who’s supporting your nonprofit (perfect for determining your ideal donor!)
- Integrates with numerous nonprofit tech tools
- Fundraising capabilities
- Donor journey tracking and communication histories
- Has built-in features like email marketing, grant management, and volunteer management
- There’s plenty of support so you won’t feel like you’re thrown to the wolves when it comes to the system
Drawbacks of This Software:
- It’s a complex system, so there is a learning curve when it comes to using it to its fullest potential
This Nonprofit CRM Software is Best For:
Salesforce is an excellent choice for organizations that need something robust. Because it’s so intricate, many nonprofits tend to not get their money’s worth out of it.
If your organization:
- Has the need for all of its powerful intricacies and all-inclusive features,
- Has the time to devote to learning how to use the system and train teams to use the system
Then, we’d say it’s a great fit for your organization!
Nonprofit CRM Software #7: HubSpot
Pricing: HubSpot’s CRM software is free to use! Your nonprofit can pay for an upgraded tier with more features and support. If you choose to do that, your organization will get a 40% discount.
HubSpot is known as one of the best resources when it comes to marketing a business or a nonprofit!
But they also know that marketing and bringing in recurring donors also depend on an internal system. So naturally, they created an all-purpose CRM software that’s perfect for nonprofits.
Features of This Software:
- Supports unlimited users and up to 1 million contacts!
- Built-in email marketing platform and lead generation through sign-up forms and landing pages
- Clean, easy-to-use dashboard with insights overview
- Donor interaction tracking, whether it’s through an email, on social media, or on a call
- Detailed donor profiles including a communication timeline
Drawbacks of This Software:
- With the free tier, your only means of support is through community support and HubSpot Academy. For more service and tech support, you’ll have to upgrade.
- You can only collect donations by using a Stripe integration with the free plan
This Nonprofit CRM Software is Best For:
HubSpot is one of the best CRM software for small nonprofits or ones on a tight budget. Considering it’s free to use, any budget can manage using this tool! And if your organization is small or just starting out, you may not need advanced features yet.
Overall, the best CRM software for nonprofits depends on your organization. But finding one that fits your needs is so critical. Especially to maximize your engagement with your donors!
If you’re looking to streamline your daily nonprofit tasks, pull specific reports so you can better nurture your donors, and continue moving forward in your mission, then using one of these nonprofit CRM systems is going to be a game-changer!
Want more related to this? Check out these posts!
The 5 Most Valuable Nonprofit Digital Marketing and Fundraising Tools
The 5 Must-Have Technology for Nonprofits to Help You Grow Your Cause
The 8 Best Online Donation Platforms for Nonprofits to Boost Their Income
