3 Best Nonprofit Donor Management Software: Free to Premium
Donor management software enables nonprofits to manage their donor base effectively. It empowers them to compile, organize, analyze, and implement communication strategies to grow and sustain donor relationships.
For nonprofits, donors are the support for their activities. Smaller nonprofits may manage their activities using MS Office, but as donations increase, it is crucial to opt for professional software. Donor management software serves as a centralized database for tracking and analyzing donor information. This makes it easier to develop targeted fundraising strategies.
Nonprofit CRM Market size was valued at USD 4.25 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 7.35 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 7.98% from 2024 to 2031. Verified Market Research
This article serves as a handy guide for smaller nonprofits as we discuss about free and paid software here. Let us explore the following aspects:
- Why would you need donor management software?
- What should you consider when choosing a donor management software?
- How does donor management software improve fundraising?
- Donor management software: Free and Paid
Why would you need donor management software?
Time is invaluable to everyone. If you are:
- Spending hours on administrative tasks,
- Missing important follow-ups,
- Struggling to generate tax reports, and are
- Unable to track giving patterns,
Then, it is high time you considered donor management software.
What should you consider when choosing a donor management software?
Here is a questionnaire for you that gives an idea of what features you should look for.
What does your current sector use?
Before choosing a donor management software, conduct research to know what similar organizations used to benchmark features. This saves your time, too.
How many donors do you have and plan to have in a year?
Understand your current donors and estimate future growth. This helps you choose an appropriate software that is scalable and will not increase your pricing.
What kind of support and training does the software offer?
Live support, community forums, and tutorials ease your learning curve. Your team can use the software to its fullest potential.
What core functions do you need to perform using the software?
Prioritize your must-have features, such as donor tracking, automated emails, event management, and reporting.
What other software do you need to integrate?
Seamless integration reduces manual work. You should consider options for integrating payment gateways, accounting software, or email platforms.
How secure is the software?
Ensure that the software provides regular updates, complies with existing data protection laws, and offers access control and encryption.
Does the software fit into your annual budget?
Know the subscription costs, add-ons, and growth-related upgrades to balance your budget.
Moving forward, let’s see how you can improve fundraising by using donor management software.
How does donor management software improve fundraising?
A donor management software helps you in these aspects:
- Set you up for more targeted donation appeals
- Assist you in asking for donations in a strategic way
- Help you turn supporters into donors
- Track the success of previous campaigns
- Foster more and larger gifts
As your organization grows, the number of donors increases, and you will receive donations through multiple channels. You must generate tax receipts, report regularly, provide shared access to your team, and start running recurring donation platforms. Obviously, you need donor management software.
In a nutshell, donor management software isn’t just about getting things in the right place, but about scaling your impact. A suitable donor management software pays in the form of time saved and improved donor relationships.
Three donor management software: free and paid
You can always start with a free tool and shift to paid ones later on. Here is a list of both free and paid donor management software.
Donorbox: free and paid
Donorbox is a perfect starting point for new nonprofits, fundraisers seeking faster payment integration, such as Stripe and PayPal, and organizations that require donation forms. It's available in 11 languages and 44 currencies.
Donorbox is free to start, browser-based, and perfect for non-techs, too. The free plan enables you to start receiving donations in minutes, supports recurring gifts, and easily integrates with Salesforce CRM. If you want to unlock features like text-to-give or prioritizing support, then you should go for their paid plans.
Some of the best features offered by Donorbox include online giving, payment processing, gift matching, mobile giving, campaign management, grant management, e-mail marketing, receipt management, volunteer management, event management, contact management, and pledge management.
Donorbox can be used for animal welfare, arts and culture, education, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, journalism, healthcare, and politics.
Donorbox has three plans:
Standard: Free with a minimal platform fee
Pro Plan: $150/month. Offers a discount on yearly billing.
Premium Plan: You can book a demo and contact them for special features, support, and pricing.
GiveWP: free and paid add-ons
GiveWP is a WordPress donation plugin for WordPress websites, suitable for small to mid-sized organizations.
The features listed here come free. They include form grids, custom formatting, countdown timers, unlimited donation forms, pop-up donation forms, goal bars, donor profiles, donor walls, social sharing tools, Facebook pixel integration, and double the donation.
The features with a flat fee include fee recovery, recurring donations, annual tax receipts, donation design, tributes, currency switching, Google Analytics integration, additional form fields, and PDF receipts.
The base plugin is free, but if you want features like recurring giving, peer-to-peer fundraising, and PDF receipts, you should opt for the premium version.
AssoConnect: free and paid
AssoConnect is a nonprofit management software that saves organizations’ time on daily management. It is recommended for nonprofits, associations, federations, clubs, foundations, and churches.
Free version-Liberty provides basic functionalities. For advanced features, it offers various modules, such as Serenity, Professional, Communication, and Accounting, starting at €19 per month.
Some of the popular features include application management, communication management, dues management, email marketing, event management, member directory, member portal, membership renewals, payment processing, and registration management.
Takeaway note:
Several donor management software programs are available for managing donations for nonprofits, churches, charities, or NGO.
Stay in touch with your donors and make your fundraising efforts impactful by choosing a solution that empowers your organization to reach its full potential.
Look for a partner you can trust.