Best Fundraising Software Of 2024

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Why We Picked Raiser's Edge NXT

Raiser's Edge NXT has received a mixed bag of user reviews over the past year. Many users appreciate its comprehensive suite of features, particularly its robust reporting capabilities and constituent relationship management tools. The ability to generate custom reports, track donor interactions, and manage fundraising campaigns efficiently are frequently cited as strengths. However, users often express frustration with the software's complexity and steep learning curve. Navigating the interface and mastering its functionalities can be challenging, especially for new users or those transitioning from simpler systems. Compared to competitors like Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud and Blackbaud CRM, Raiser's Edge NXT offers deeper functionality specifically tailored to fundraising needs, but at the cost of a more intricate user experience.

A key differentiating factor for Raiser's Edge NXT is its integration with other Blackbaud products, creating a seamless ecosystem for managing various aspects of nonprofit operations. This integration is particularly beneficial for organizations already invested in the Blackbaud suite, streamlining data flow and enhancing efficiency. However, this can also be a drawback for organizations seeking a standalone fundraising solution or those using competing software. The cost of Raiser's Edge NXT is another consideration, as it tends to be more expensive than some alternatives. Despite its complexities, Raiser's Edge NXT remains a popular choice for established nonprofits with complex fundraising needs and the resources to invest in training and implementation. Its comprehensive features and scalability make it well-suited for organizations seeking a powerful solution to manage their donor relationships and fundraising efforts effectively.

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Pros & Cons

Comprehensive Fundraising Tools: Raiser's Edge NXT provides a wide array of features that cater to various fundraising needs, such as donor management, grant tracking, online giving, and event management. This comprehensive suite of tools allows organizations to streamline their fundraising operations and improve efficiency.
Customizable Reporting: The platform offers robust reporting capabilities, enabling users to generate customized reports that provide insights into fundraising performance, donor behavior, and campaign effectiveness. These reports help organizations make data-driven decisions and track progress towards fundraising goals.
Cloud-Based Accessibility: Raiser's Edge NXT is a cloud-based solution, which means users can access the platform from anywhere with an internet connection. This accessibility allows for greater flexibility and collaboration among fundraising teams, regardless of location.
Integration with Microsoft Products: The software integrates seamlessly with Microsoft products such as Outlook and Office 365, which enhances user productivity and streamlines workflows. This integration allows for easy data sharing and communication between different platforms.

Steep Learning Curve: Many users report Raiser's Edge NXT as quite complex and challenging to learn, especially for those transitioning from other fundraising platforms or with limited technical expertise. The interface can feel overwhelming due to its extensive features and functionalities, leading to a prolonged onboarding process and potential frustration for new users.
Customization Challenges: While Raiser's Edge NXT offers customization options, some users find them to be rigid and limited, particularly regarding reporting and data visualization. Users often express the desire for more flexibility in tailoring the software to their specific needs and workflows, which can hinder efficiency and data analysis.
Cost Considerations: Raiser's Edge NXT's pricing structure can be a significant factor for some non-profit organizations, especially smaller ones with limited budgets. The subscription-based model and additional fees for certain features or modules may pose financial challenges and require careful budget planning.

Key Features

Detailed Analytics: Make the right business decisions using robust analytics that offer smart recommendations such as soon-to-be-lapsed donors, most promising prospects, suggested ask amounts and more.
Reports and Metrics: Detailed reports about campaign performance show which type of content works best for contacts. Gain insights through metrics on diverse programming, events, members and volunteers, and maximize programming. Track donor retention and acquisition through dashboards.
Automation: Automate processes such as online donations, pledges and payment through a website, eliminating manual efforts.
Performance Management: Manage and track performance of individuals as well as teams, monitor recent touch points and manage portfolios using role-based work centers.

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DonorPerfect

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^$99

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Why We Picked DonorPerfect

DonorPerfect is a comprehensive fundraising solution, helping nonprofits nurture donor relationships and manage common tasks like donations and emails. The system is pretty easy to use and learn, and has a helpful support team. Users also note its robust reporting and customization features as central benefits. However, it suffers from certain technical glitches, and the email and duplicate management functionalities need improvement. Overall, it’s a good fit for nonprofits who’re in search of a robust donor management platform.

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Pros & Cons

Customer Support: According to 96% of reviewers who talk about this aspect, the support team is interactive, helpful, always available to respond and open to implementing user suggestions.
Ease of Use: The system is quite easy to navigate as observed by 98% of reviewers referencing this aspect.
Donor Management: Every user talking about this feature mentions it maintains complete donor profiles and tracks interactions.
Reporting: According to 61% of reviewers referencing this feature, it’s easy, versatile, helps make predictions and produces any dataset imaginable.
Easy to Learn: Knowledge base videos and webinars help in learning the platform, as observed by 81% of reviewers.
Customization: It’s easy to customize how and what to see in donor records, according to 85% of reviewers who mention this feature.

Email: More than 62% of reviewers referencing this feature observed it’s a bit outdated, customizing templates is difficult and setting up email reminders is tricky.
Technical Glitches: All users referencing this aspect noted certain issues — closing too soon during inactivity, inability to go directly to the contact screen from the search results and more.
Duplicate Management: Finding duplicate accounts requires regular maintenance and it needs a better duplicate removal tool, as noted by every user talking about this element.
Price: Although many reviewers find it affordable, according to 55% of users the pricing for add-ons could be more public and less expensive.

Key Features

Mobility: Process one-time and recurring gifts, accept payments quickly, analyze fundraising data using configurable reports, create and update records, and more while on the go. Connect with donors easily by accessing contact information, spotting them in nearby locations and viewing upcoming appointments.
Email Marketing: Integration with Constant Contact ensures seamless communication and email marketing. Design, personalize and optimize emails using easy templates, update the system with automatic sync, report on campaigns and store unlimited history metrics. Phone, email and chat support is available from Constant Contact.
Auction Management: Boost revenue via auctions, with tools for setting the bidding method and timeline, printing a catalog, and sending outbid text alerts. Track and combine donations, gather data from bid sheets, and manage guests and donations efficiently. Leaderboards help showcase sponsors and items and sell tickets.
Automated Workflows: Save time on communications by automating task assignment, data updates, emails and staff alerts. Automation rules prompt different actions such as email notifications, field updates and pop-up messages. Also, create as many SmartActions and specific triggers as needed using custom filters.
Account Integration: Manage financial statements, expenses and non-donor revenue using the installed or cloud-based features of QuickBooks. Capabilities include multiple account transactions, gift mapping to income and bank accounts, permission control, data file import, data customization and journal entries.
Dynamic Screen: Reduce data clutter by organizing donor records with SmartScreens. Automated actions include renaming field prompts, setting custom tab orders, marking required fields, hiding sections and fields, and more. It’s also possible to configure triggers based on preferences.
Crowdfunding: Run effective fundraising campaigns using templates, customizable key fields and progress measures. Quick setup, customizability, integration options and organization style controls help manage the entire process efficiently.
Batch Entry 2.0: Optimize data entry and minimize mistakes by confirming batch validity before posting. Prebuilt templates, editing for codes and unlimited batches are supported.
Screen Designer: Configure screens by creating required fields, and customizing and simplifying workflows. Capabilities include editing field names and positions, hiding fields from donor records, modifying the tab order of screens, and more.
Constituent Tracking: Nurture relationships with donors via phone calls, reminders and events, and target them with specific messages. Gather contact details, primary and secondary addresses, photo, pledge detail and history. Check status as a major donor, monthly donor, and volunteer.
Email and Letter Personalization Send branded gift receipts that are populated with selected donor and gift data. Syncing data with emails and letters ensures every communication is personalized.
Donor Targeting and Filtering: Analyze campaign success rates and segment donor groups using filters. It’s possible to control user access, make mass updates to specific records, fine-tune search results, set alerts, display desired calculations in records and more.
Integrations: Support growth goals via integrations and partnerships across industries such as finance, accounting, auctions, online fundraising, advocacy, volunteer management, e-commerce and more.

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Neon CRM

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^$179

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Why We Picked Neon CRM

Neon CRM stands out for its robust reporting capabilities, allowing users to generate insightful reports on various fundraising metrics. This feature is particularly valuable for organizations that rely on data-driven decision-making. The software's ability to track donor interactions and giving history provides a comprehensive view of fundraising efforts, enabling organizations to identify trends and optimize strategies. Additionally, Neon CRM's customization options empower users to tailor the platform to their specific needs, ensuring a personalized experience. For instance, users can create custom fields to capture unique data points relevant to their organization.

Neon CRM is best suited for small to medium-sized nonprofit organizations seeking a comprehensive fundraising solution. Its user-friendly interface and intuitive design make it accessible to users with varying levels of technical expertise. The software's affordability and scalability further enhance its appeal for growing organizations. While Neon CRM offers a wide range of features, some users have noted that the learning curve can be steep, particularly for those new to donor management systems. Additionally, certain advanced features may require additional configuration or support. Compared to similar products like Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud and Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT, Neon CRM offers a more cost-effective solution with a focus on ease of use. However, it may lack some of the advanced customization and integration capabilities of its competitors.

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Pros & Cons

Customizable Interface: Neon CRM offers a high degree of flexibility, allowing users to tailor the interface to their specific workflows and preferences. This includes customizing data fields, reports, and dashboards to align with unique organizational needs.
Comprehensive Fundraising Tools: The platform provides a robust suite of features designed to streamline fundraising efforts. This includes online donation processing, event management, grant tracking, and donor communication tools, enabling nonprofits to manage all aspects of their fundraising activities efficiently.
Membership Management: Neon CRM simplifies membership management with features such as automated renewals, member directories, and communication tools. This allows organizations to effectively engage with their members and foster a sense of community.
Reporting and Analytics: The platform offers comprehensive reporting and analytics capabilities, providing valuable insights into fundraising performance, membership trends, and program effectiveness. This data empowers nonprofits to make data-driven decisions and optimize their operations.

Limited Customization: Neon CRM offers some configurability, but users express frustration with the lack of deep customization options, especially for complex workflows or unique data tracking needs. This can lead to workarounds and inefficiencies for nonprofits with specific requirements.
Reporting Challenges: While Neon CRM provides reporting tools, users often find them cumbersome and lacking in flexibility. Generating custom reports or extracting specific data insights can be difficult, hindering data-driven decision-making for nonprofits.
Usability Concerns: The user interface, while generally clean, is sometimes described as unintuitive and clunky, leading to a steeper learning curve for new users. Navigating through different modules and functionalities can feel disjointed, impacting user adoption and efficiency.
Integrations: Although Neon CRM offers some integrations with popular tools, users report limitations and challenges with connecting to their preferred applications or services. This can create data silos and hinder seamless workflows across different platforms.

Key Features

Accounts and Relationship Tracking: Create and maintain donor accounts, along with a history of contact, communication and transaction receipts. Relationships between individual accounts can be traced and tracked as a household, company or custom relationship for better communication, campaigning and event planning.
Activities and Notes Tracking: Keep record of all actions performed on fields including users, constituents, accounts, donations, pledges, events, memberships, communication and purchases to audit databases as well as track previous and current data states. Trace changes in data records and maintain priority tasks using the activity and notes tracking feature.
Volunteer Management: Accept, train, certify and manage volunteers. Once trained, volunteers can be assigned to different groups and projects, and the progress of the volunteer program can be measured regularly.
Grant Management: Track and manage research, apply to and receive grants, track statuses, and take the requisite steps to receive grants.
Constituent Login Portal: Exclusive members can access timesheets and custom web pages. Constituents can manage peer-to-peer fundraising, events and recurring transactions, upload required files and renew memberships.
Credit Card and Check Processing: NeonPay is a single-source, PCI-compliant tool to manage, authorize and capture payments from all major credit cards as well as eCheck and ACH. Make payments void, issue full or partial refunds and manage disputes.
Event Management: Manage all types of events, ranging from get-togethers, seminars and classes to conferences and fundraisers. Also enables dynamic event listing, conditional ticketing and attendee management.
Email Marketing: Segment members and customize communication per segment using in-built templates and graphics. Segmentation can also be used to create print mail and material that can be dispatched to physical addresses.
Online Web Forms and Surveys: Offers customizable, mobile-friendly and responsive web forms for events, surveys and donation collections. The forms can be branded and have support follow up communication.
Reports and Analytics: Tracks the performance and growth of the organization via statistical analysis. Access detailed reports on various features and aspects of the tool, such as mailing and communication, donors, memberships, donations, transactions and payments, events, campaigns, and more.

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Qgiv

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^$25

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Why We Picked Qgiv

Qgiv appears to be most suitable for small to medium-sized nonprofit organizations seeking an affordable and user-friendly fundraising solution. The platform's intuitive interface and comprehensive feature set make it easy for organizations with limited resources or technical expertise to manage their fundraising efforts effectively. Additionally, Qgiv's focus on customer support and its active user community provide valuable assistance and guidance to users, further enhancing its suitability for organizations that may require additional support.

One of the key strengths of Qgiv, as highlighted by users, is its exceptional customer support. Users consistently praise the responsiveness and helpfulness of the support team, noting that they receive prompt and effective assistance whenever needed. This level of support is particularly crucial for organizations that may not have dedicated IT staff or extensive technical knowledge. Furthermore, Qgiv distinguishes itself through its robust peer-to-peer fundraising capabilities. The platform provides tools and features that enable organizations to effectively engage supporters in fundraising efforts, fostering a sense of community and expanding their reach. This is particularly valuable for organizations that rely on grassroots fundraising and community involvement.

However, some users have mentioned that Qgiv's reporting features could be more comprehensive. While the platform offers basic reporting functionalities, users have expressed a desire for more advanced options and customization capabilities. This aspect is important for organizations that require in-depth data analysis and reporting to track their fundraising progress and make informed decisions. Additionally, while Qgiv offers a range of features, some users have noted that certain functionalities, such as event management, may not be as extensive or as robust as those offered by some competing platforms. This is a significant consideration for organizations that heavily rely on event-based fundraising and require advanced event management tools.

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Pros & Cons

Simple Donation Forms: Qgiv's forms are praised for their ease of use, allowing donors to quickly complete their contributions without unnecessary complexity. This streamlined approach helps to minimize abandoned donations and improve the overall donor experience.
Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Tools: The platform's peer-to-peer fundraising features empower organizations to leverage the networks of their supporters. This functionality allows individuals to create personal fundraising pages and reach out to their contacts, expanding the organization's reach and fundraising potential.
Event Management Capabilities: Qgiv simplifies event planning and execution with tools for managing registrations, ticketing, and attendee information. This comprehensive functionality streamlines the event process, allowing organizations to focus on creating a successful and engaging experience for attendees.
Variety of Donation Options: Qgiv accommodates diverse donor preferences by offering various donation methods, including credit/debit cards, ACH transfers, and digital wallets. This flexibility ensures that donors can contribute using their preferred payment method, enhancing convenience and accessibility.

Limited Customization: Users frequently express frustration with the lack of flexibility in customizing donation forms, event pages, and email templates to align with specific branding or campaign requirements.
Reporting Challenges: Generating comprehensive and insightful reports can be cumbersome, often requiring manual data manipulation or exporting to external tools for further analysis.
Integrations: While Qgiv offers some integrations, users often find the selection limited, particularly for marketing automation and CRM systems, hindering streamlined workflows.
Customer Support: Response times and issue resolution can be inconsistent, leaving users feeling unsupported when encountering technical difficulties or seeking guidance.

Key Features

Donation Forms: Invite new supporters and engage existing ones with mobile-friendly forms. Infuse distinct brand details, display images and donation amounts, and edit text through design modules. Customize documents, confirmations, receipts, summaries and more. Offers embedding and multistep or single-step form layouts.
Event Management: Streamline the fundraising process through flexible and easy-to-implement tools.
- Registration: Drive outreach by providing multiple registration options, including packages for individuals, families and VIPs. Offer discounts and promo codes. Facilitate online and offline sign-ups through a virtual terminal.
- Data Transfer: Run coordinated events through automated data export to donor management tools, emails and CRMs. Remove redundancy by copying annual events and processing registration details and reports in real time.
- Donor Engagement: Boost support through personalized communications, virtual invitations, social sharing and simplified donation options.
Reporting: Monitor income generation, compare campaigns, observe donor activities, access valuable insights and more through extensive reports.
- Custom Reports: Quickly pull specific reports through saved filters, with options to add, remove and reposition fields.
- Intelligent Data Analysis: Measure campaign efficacy by leveraging advanced statistics to track new, existing or lapsed donors, retention rate, lifetime value and one-off and recurring donors.
- Donor Summaries: Provide donors with comprehensive summaries of their donations and registrations via email.
- Dashboard: Gain valuable, real-time insights on campaigns’ effectiveness and donation modes, total contributions and activities.
Campaign Thermometer: Visualize a campaign’s progress via a live thermometer, embeddable on web pages.
GiftAssist: Allows donors to skip processing fees, ensuring more of the gift amount goes directly to the organization.
Recurring Giving: Guarantee stable revenue streams by asking one-off donors to convert into recurring ones and offering installment plans.
Fundraising Hub: Simplify fundraising by linking donations and registration forms to one page, displaying event progress.
Mobile-Optimized Bidding: Donors can create a list of preferred auction items, set bid limits, bid with a swipe or QR code, receive notifications and view purchased products through the mobile app. Offers app check-ins and saved payment methods for faster processing.
Kiosk: Collect donations at events, meetings, spirit nights and more via handheld kiosks that accept credit and debit card payments.

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Bloomerang

Start Price

^$125

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Why We Picked Bloomerang

Bloomerang is a cloud-based solution for small and growing nonprofits that helps organizations view donor records, track the best time to contact each donor and measure donor engagement levels to improve outreach. Strengths include reporting, seamless integration, ease of use and automation. Users also praised the customer support. Some reviewers noted that extracting data isn’t very easy and that survey questions need more customization. However, the system allows unlimited users and is a good product to consider.

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Pros & Cons

Reporting: 66% of the users who mentioned reporting said it was very robust and saved a lot of time.
Automation: The platform’s automation eliminates manual tasks, making functionality easier according to 60% of reviews about automation.
Ease of Use: 75% of users who refer to this feature mentioned the software is easy to use and adapt to, even without strong technical know-how.
Integration: 60% of reviews referencing this feature suggested that the platform is easy to operate due to integration with commonly used applications.
Customer Service: 100% of users mentioning this aspect said that they loved the chat support and that the support team helped them understand the product.

Task Management: The platform restricts exporting, generation of data and other functional tasks, with 60% of users who mention this feature observing that data extraction could be simpler.
Customization: 70% of the users who reviewed customization noted that the platform restricts customization of questions for donors, making it difficult to build strategies.

Key Features

Online Giving: Maximizes giving, provides strong security and keeps processing fees low. Integrates customizable with any website, supports multiple campaigns, automatically pulls in data captured in donor forms and is customizable.
Email Marketing: Reach the right constituents with the right content from within the platform — no need to integrate with a third-party application like Constant Contact. Features include a user-friendly editor, mobile-responsive format, scheduling, templates, segmenting filters, analytics, receipts and delivery validation.
Integrations: Connect Bloomerang to best-of-breed solutions that provide wealth screening, data stewardship, fund accounting, social fundraising, donation processing, IT assistance and website packages. However, the integrations aren’t as extensive as competitors such as Donor Perfect and Kindful.
Engagement Meter: Shows how engaged contacts are to facilitate pursuing the best opportunities. Compiles information by measuring things like donation frequency, email opens and clicks, website visits, event attendance, donation amounts and social media interactions.
Social Listening: Assists with effective Twitter engagement by providing a hub for monitoring interactions with an account, choosing hashtags and finding new connections.
Reports: Understand organizational health and donor base with built-in reports that can be used as-is or customized for greater precision. Drag-and-drop tools and filters make reports easy to manage.
Surveys: Encourages long-term relationships with constituents and identifies areas of improvement. The surveys, which focus on existing, lapsed and new donors, are science-based, drawing on the research of Dr. Sargeant.
Grant Tracking: Custom fields, reports, relationship tracking and task management make it easier to secure funding.
Volunteer Management: Simplifies the process of managing volunteers with the ability to record any necessary information as well as keep track of which donors have volunteered and which volunteers have donated.
Data Import: Simplifies uploading of data from a spreadsheet and can retain information like notes and interactions.

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Salsa Engage

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^$349

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Why We Picked Salsa Engage

Salsa Engage appears to be most suitable for small to medium-sized nonprofit organizations seeking an all-in-one solution for managing supporter engagement. The platform's user-friendly interface and comprehensive feature set make it accessible to users with varying levels of technical expertise, while its scalability allows it to grow alongside an organization's needs. Additionally, Salsa Engage's focus on advocacy and its integration with Salsa CRM make it a valuable tool for nonprofits that rely on grassroots mobilization and constituent relationship management.

Salsa Engage stands out from its competitors due to its robust advocacy tools, which empower organizations to mobilize supporters and drive social change. Users appreciate the platform's ability to facilitate online petitions, targeted actions, and legislative tracking, enabling them to effectively engage with policymakers and advance their missions. For instance, one user highlighted the ease of creating advocacy campaigns and generating reports to track progress. However, some users noted that the platform's email marketing features could be enhanced with more advanced automation capabilities, such as triggered emails based on specific supporter actions.

While Salsa Engage receives praise for its comprehensive functionality, some users mention that the platform's interface can feel overwhelming initially due to the abundance of features. The learning curve, however, is often outweighed by the platform's extensive capabilities and the availability of helpful resources, such as training materials and customer support. Users consistently commend Salsa Engage's customer support team for their responsiveness and willingness to assist with any challenges. In comparison to similar products, Salsa Engage offers a more extensive range of features, particularly in the areas of advocacy and online fundraising, making it a suitable choice for organizations seeking a holistic solution for supporter engagement.

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Pros & Cons

Customizable Forms: Salsa Engage allows users to create donation forms tailored to specific campaigns or events, with options to add custom fields and branding. This level of customization helps organizations collect the data they need while maintaining a consistent brand experience.
Email Marketing Tools: The platform provides robust email marketing features, enabling users to design, send, and track email campaigns to engage with their audience. This includes features like A/B testing and segmentation, allowing for targeted and effective communication.
Donor Management: Salsa Engage offers tools to manage donor information, track donations, and generate reports. This helps organizations gain insights into their fundraising efforts and build stronger relationships with their supporters.
Integrations: The software integrates with various other platforms, such as CRM and payment processing systems. This streamlines workflows and ensures data consistency across different systems.

Limited Customization: Users frequently express frustration with the constraints placed on customizing email templates and donation pages, often citing the inability to achieve the precise look and feel desired for their campaigns.
Reporting Challenges: Generating specific reports or extracting particular data points can be cumbersome, leading to inefficiencies in data analysis and decision-making.
Learning Curve: The platform's interface, while comprehensive, can feel overwhelming to new users due to its multitude of features and functionalities, resulting in a steep learning curve.
Integrations: Salsa Engage's compatibility with external applications and services can be limited, potentially hindering seamless workflows and data synchronization with other essential tools.

Key Features

Multi-Channel Advocacy: Reach supporters via online petitions, targeted actions and integrated digital communication modules. Create a comprehensive strategy and deploy key communication channels when required. Supporters can contact legislators via click-to-call, email messaging and tweet-a-rep functionalities. Provides updated federal, state and local target lists.
Fundraising Management: Create customizable, engaging fundraising forms from built-in templates. Streamline efforts using tools like text-to-initiate, machine learning, integrated payment processing and formula-driven smart ask.
Digital Marketing: Deliver targeted messages based on supporters’ actions through automated email series. Use the visual email designer tool to create personalized content. Segment contributors according to pre-defined criteria to send broadcast text messages.
Peer-to-Peer Events:
- Organize engaging digital and in-person events.
- Create and customize team pages via the content editor module.
- Generate event pages, configure details like dates, goals and campaign types, and preview them on desktop, mobile and tablets before launch.
- Track pageview metrics, discover top teams and fundraisers and gain insights into average gift size through real-time visual dashboards.
Mobile App: Available for free on iOS and Android. Allows fundraisers and team captains to track progress and donations. Fundraisers can also use native mobile apps like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to reach out to friends and family for contributions.
Salsa CRM Integration:
- Manage supporters with detailed donor profiles that capture all interactions like activity timelines, notes, touches and other custom fields.
- Gain a comprehensive view of fundraising campaigns with online and offline gift management.
- Get actionable insights on engagement level, donor retention, revenue trends and opportunities via customizable dashboards and built-in alerts.
- Leverage AI to calculate ask amounts.
Salesforce Integration: Configure Salesforce integration based on organization-specific requirements. Use smart content matching to identify duplicate records.
Email Marketing:
- Deliver engaging, personalized content to donors by setting targeted email series. Test and compare different email versions through A/B testing.
- Segment customers into groups and lists based on variables like donation size, recurring giving and campaign type.
- Prioritize important donor activity by creating trigger notifications.
Dashboard and Analytics: Track donations, event registration progress, active recipients, social media engagement levels, new subscribers, top-performing emails and more. Analyze content effectiveness by viewing open, click-through and conversion rates, and compare them against industry standards.

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GiveSmart

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^$1,195

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Why We Picked GiveSmart

GiveSmart appears to be most suitable for small to medium-sized nonprofit organizations seeking an all-in-one fundraising solution. The platform's user-friendly interface and comprehensive feature set make it accessible to organizations with limited technical expertise or resources. GiveSmart's scalability allows it to grow alongside an organization's needs, making it a viable long-term solution. Additionally, the platform's focus on donor engagement and data-driven insights can empower organizations to cultivate stronger relationships with their supporters and optimize their fundraising strategies.

Reviewers frequently highlight GiveSmart's user-friendly interface and intuitive design as a key strength. The platform's ease of use allows users with varying levels of technical proficiency to navigate and manage fundraising campaigns effectively. GiveSmart's comprehensive feature set, encompassing online giving, event management, donor management, and reporting tools, eliminates the need for multiple disparate systems, streamlining operations and reducing administrative burdens. This all-in-one approach simplifies the fundraising process and enhances efficiency for organizations.

While GiveSmart receives praise for its user-friendliness and comprehensive features, some users note areas for improvement. Occasional technical glitches and limitations in customization options have been reported. Additionally, the platform's pricing structure, which is based on a percentage of funds raised, may present challenges for organizations with tight budgets or those seeking more predictable costs. These factors are important considerations for organizations evaluating GiveSmart as a potential fundraising solution.

GiveSmart distinguishes itself from competitors through its emphasis on donor engagement and data-driven insights. The platform provides tools to personalize communications, track donor interactions, and analyze giving patterns. These features enable organizations to cultivate stronger relationships with their supporters and make data-informed decisions to optimize fundraising efforts. For instance, GiveSmart's robust reporting capabilities allow organizations to track the effectiveness of campaigns, identify trends, and measure progress towards fundraising goals. This data-driven approach empowers organizations to refine their strategies and maximize their impact.

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Pros & Cons

Streamlined Donation Process: GiveSmart simplifies the donation experience for both one-time and recurring gifts, leading to increased donor participation and higher revenue generation. This user-friendly approach reduces friction in the giving process, encouraging more people to contribute to the cause.
Robust Event Management Tools: The platform offers comprehensive event management features, including ticketing, guest management, and auction tools. This allows nonprofits to efficiently plan and execute successful fundraising events, from small intimate gatherings to large-scale galas.
Real-Time Data and Reporting: GiveSmart provides real-time data and reporting capabilities, empowering organizations to track progress, measure campaign effectiveness, and make data-driven decisions. This level of insight helps optimize fundraising strategies and maximize impact.
Mobile-Friendly Interface: GiveSmart's mobile-friendly interface ensures accessibility and convenience for donors and administrators alike. Users can easily engage with the platform and manage their activities from their smartphones or tablets, enhancing overall user experience and engagement.

Steep Learning Curve: GiveSmart's interface can be overwhelming for new users due to its extensive features and functionalities. Navigating through the various options and settings may require significant time investment and training, posing challenges for organizations with limited technical expertise or volunteer staff.
Customization Limitations: While GiveSmart offers some degree of customization, users have reported limitations in tailoring the platform to their specific branding and event needs. This can be a drawback for organizations seeking a highly personalized experience for their donors and supporters.
Pricing Structure: GiveSmart's pricing model, which often involves a percentage of funds raised in addition to subscription fees, can be a concern for smaller nonprofits or those with tight budgets. The costs can accumulate quickly, impacting the overall fundraising efficiency.

Key Features

Bidding Management: Send auction links via text so that supporters can browse and bid with a single click from anywhere and on any device. Manage auctions, track items and donors, process bids, and communicate with guests from a unified dashboard. Bidders can receive outbid notifications and self-checkout on any items won.
Silent Auction: Host online silent auctions for existing and new donors. Leverage the item management module to procure and document items, letting donors submit images and descriptions directly through the website. Manage commodities, tax details, packages and bidding activities with an auction catalog. Admins can track campaign performance, access real-time insights, glean financial data and download revenue streams from the dashboard.
Team Fundraising: Acquire new donors and engage existing ones by allowing supporters to create and share their campaigns for art competitions, sports events, marathons and more.
- Custom Pages: Create personalized pages by adding titles, goals, images, videos and content.
- Leaderboard: Compare, monitor, rank and share individual fundraisers’ performance with real-time updates.
- Social Sharing: Promote campaigns by sharing pages via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and emails.
Fundraising Management: Run multiple campaigns, manage annual fundraisers and facilitate online giving.
- Recurring Donations: Build a consistent income source through recurring giving, automatically initiating periodic withdrawals.
- Text-to-Donate: Dedicate specific keywords to different campaigns and receive donations via text.
- Organization Hub: Access and manage campaign data in a centralized hub, allowing admins to clone seasonal events for quick and efficient campaigns.
- Goal Meter: Displays campaign progress to keep supporters excited.
Ticketing: Streamline ticketing processes by leveraging organized guest lists, information on unplanned guests, sales tracking, automatic donor registration, safe information storage and more through an intuitive ticket portal. Secure payment processes by including add-ons like valet parking, mulligans and raffle tickets post-purchase. Attendees can also purchase sponsorships, VIP packages and golf foursomes.
Receipts: Optimize communications through automated tax receipts, donation letters and thank you notes, available via text or email. Provide auction, donor and ticket receipts post-purchase.
Salesforce Integration: Gain a comprehensive view of donor activities, potential opportunities and more by syncing with Salesforce. Ensures secure transmission of data, including contacts, campaigns and payments.

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MobileCause

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Why We Picked MobileCause

MobileCause is a software platform that helps organizations manage their fundraising efforts. It offers a variety of features, including online donation collection, event management, and donor management. MobileCause has been praised by users for its ease of use, its comprehensive feature set, and its affordable pricing. However, some users have reported that the platform can be difficult to customize and that its customer support is not always responsive.

MobileCause stands out from competitors like DonorPerfect and Bonterra with its focus on mobile giving and its user-friendly interface. The platform makes it easy for organizations to collect donations through text messages, which can be a convenient option for donors. MobileCause also offers a variety of features that are specifically designed for mobile fundraising, such as mobile-optimized donation pages and text-to-give campaigns. However, some users have found that MobileCause's customization options are limited compared to other platforms. Additionally, some users have reported that customer support can be slow to respond to inquiries.

Overall, MobileCause is a good choice for organizations that are looking for an easy-to-use fundraising platform with a strong focus on mobile giving. However, organizations that require a high degree of customization or that need responsive customer support may want to consider other options. It is important to note that software capabilities and user experiences can change over time, so it's always a good idea to check the latest reviews and information before making a decision.

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Pros & Cons

Streamlined Donation Process: MobileCause simplifies giving with text-to-give, QR codes, and Apple Pay, making it easy for donors to contribute quickly.
Customizable Fundraising Pages: The platform allows for branded donation pages and event microsites, ensuring a cohesive and professional look for fundraising campaigns.
Effective Communication Tools: MobileCause facilitates donor engagement through features like peer-to-peer fundraising, crowdfunding, and event management, fostering connections and encouraging participation.

Limited Customization: MobileCause's customization options for donation pages and forms might not meet the needs of organizations with specific branding requirements or complex donation structures.
Learning Curve: The platform's interface and features can have a steep learning curve, especially for users who are new to online fundraising or have limited technical experience. This can lead to frustration and a longer onboarding process.
Customer Support: Some users have reported challenges with MobileCause's customer support, including slow response times and difficulty resolving technical issues. This can be a significant drawback for organizations that rely on prompt and efficient support.

Key Features

Online Giving: Facilitate swift donations, sign-ups and recurring gifts from any device, and ensure secure data storage with PCI level 1 compliance.
- Text-to-Donate: For donations from mobile devices, provides guests with a link to the donation page after they text a unique keyword to a 5-digit shortcode.
- Forms: Create customizable and shareable mobile-friendly forms to collect crucial donor contact info like name, phone, address and email.
- Event Page: Increase campaign awareness and consolidate information through event pages. Create or edit the pages without needing any code. Leverage the built-in social sharing and Livestream modules to optimize promotional efforts.
- Social Giving: Use social media to enhance campaigns by embedding forms on Facebook and hosting live broadcasts.
- Customizable Confirmation Pages: Personalize the donation confirmation page by adding elements like thank you images, CTAs, options for subscribing to a mailing list, and links to social media.
- Recurring Giving: Encourage recurring giving through intelligent pop-ups. Automatically suggests a recurring total based on the contribution made and prompts when the gift is less than a specific amount.
Fundraising Management: Streamline events with quick check-ins, automated receipts and a well-rounded communication strategy. Dedicated experts help build elaborate fundraisers by handling set-up, promotions, support and other needs.
- Tickets and Check-in: Create customizable and printable e-tickets with QR codes to accelerate check-ins. Relay guest details, revenue generation, and ticket orders and availability in real time.
- Card on File: Get donors’ credit card details when they check-in and facilitate giving throughout the event with a numeric code.
- Live Thermometer: Display donations and donor names in real time, recognize significant contributions and infuse animations to keep things interesting.
- Sponsorships: Reduce revenue dependency on tickets and donations by providing sponsorship opportunities. Set a cap on exclusive sponsorships, create extensive forms, monitor sign-ups, process payments and add the sponsor’s logo to the website.
- Livestream: Broadcast live events on Facebook, Youtube and Vimeo with options to view them via URLs even after they’ve ended.
- Event Enrollment: Track and store RSVPs and registrations with one form, and customize them to include exclusive requests and important guest details.
Crowdfunding: Diversify the donor base by allowing supporters to share campaigns within their networks. Individual fundraisers can create personalized pages, adding images, videos, CTAs and campaign goals. Provides a unique keyword to all fundraisers, allowing donors to share them via Facebook, Twitter, text and email.
Mobile Messaging: Share campaign updates, promote events, ask for contributions and send out automated donation reminders through text messaging. Volunteers can sign-up, subscribe, fill out surveys and more via text.
Integrations: Easily transfer data through CRM integrations such as Salesforce, Bloomerang, DonorPerfect, Kindful, Blackbaud eTapestry and more.
Dashboard and Analytics: Analyze data at multiple touchpoints, track conversion rates and uncover hidden insights through the interactive dashboard. Provides on-demand reporting and monitoring to augment performance and interactions.

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Little Green Light

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Why We Picked Little Green Light

Little Green Light is most suitable for small to medium-sized nonprofit organizations seeking a comprehensive and user-friendly fundraising and donor management solution. The software's affordability, coupled with its robust features, makes it an attractive option for organizations with limited budgets and resources. Additionally, Little Green Light's emphasis on customer support and its active user community provide valuable assistance and guidance to users, ensuring a smooth and successful experience. The software's scalability allows it to grow alongside an organization, making it a long-term investment that can adapt to evolving needs.

Users frequently highlight Little Green Light's exceptional customer support as a key differentiator. The company's responsive and knowledgeable support team is readily available to assist users with any questions or issues they may encounter. This level of support is particularly beneficial for organizations with limited technical expertise or those transitioning from other donor management systems. Users also appreciate Little Green Light's active user community, which provides a platform for sharing best practices, troubleshooting problems, and connecting with other nonprofit professionals.

While Little Green Light offers a wide range of features, some users note that the software's reporting capabilities could be more extensive. Users desire more advanced reporting options and customization features to gain deeper insights into their data. Additionally, some users mention that the software's interface, while generally user-friendly, could benefit from a more modern and intuitive design. Despite these minor drawbacks, Little Green Light remains a popular choice among nonprofits due to its affordability, comprehensive features, and exceptional customer support.

Little Green Light stands out from its competitors by offering a unique combination of affordability, comprehensive features, and exceptional customer support. Compared to other donor management systems, Little Green Light provides a more cost-effective solution without compromising on essential features. The software includes tools for managing donations, tracking donors, creating reports, and automating tasks, all within an intuitive and user-friendly interface. This balance of affordability and functionality makes Little Green Light an attractive option for organizations seeking a comprehensive yet budget-friendly solution.

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Pros & Cons

Customizable Interface: Users appreciate the ability to tailor the Little Green Light interface to their specific needs, including custom fields, filters, and reports. This flexibility allows organizations to track the data most relevant to their mission and workflows.
Comprehensive Donor Management: Little Green Light offers robust tools for managing donor information, including contact details, donation history, and communication preferences. The software facilitates segmentation and targeting, enabling personalized outreach and engagement strategies.
Grant Tracking and Management: Little Green Light simplifies the grant management process by providing tools for tracking deadlines, reporting requirements, and awarded funds. This feature streamlines grantseeking and stewardship activities for nonprofits.
Streamlined Donation Processing: The platform integrates with various payment processors, enabling secure and efficient online donation processing. Little Green Light also supports recurring donations, tribute gifts, and other giving options, enhancing fundraising efforts.

Limited Reporting Functionality: Users frequently express frustration with the reporting capabilities, finding them to lack the depth and flexibility needed for comprehensive data analysis. For instance, generating custom reports or performing complex data manipulation can be cumbersome.
Steep Learning Curve: The software's interface and workflows can be challenging for new users to grasp, leading to a prolonged onboarding process and potential inefficiencies. Mastering the intricacies of Little Green Light often requires significant time investment and training.
Integrations and Add-Ons: While Little Green Light offers some integrations, users often find the selection to be limited, especially compared to other fundraising platforms. This can hinder connectivity with essential tools and services, creating data silos and manual workarounds.

Key Features

Data Import and Export: Exhibits complete export capabilities and helps migrate data using a powerful import tool. Data can be grouped to send personalized messages and emails.
Customizable Dashboard: Provides quick access to information such as fundraising tools, alerts and more. Allows creation of new fields, hiding system fields and enables custom settings.
Constituent Management: Manages organizational supporters such as donors, volunteers and members. Track invites, attendees, donations and more, all from one place.
List Creation and Management: Allows saving information into lists for mailing, reports and more. Alumni Management offers class lists, search and reporting.
Built-in Custom Reporting: Extends report building functionalities with prebuilt or custom templates as needed. Offers data analytics with insight into opportunities, new donor prospects and more.
Fundraising and Volunteer Management: Tracks all fundraising activities, such as donations and gifts. Also handles volunteer interests and hours served.
Acknowledgment and Receipts: Produces thank you acknowledgments and receipts and track who receives them.

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Buyer's Guide

Fundraising Software Is All About Simplifying Fund Solicitation and Creating Efficient Campaigns

By Manogna Chandrika Matta, Technical Content Writer and Market Analyst at SelectHub

Fundraising BG Intro

Imagine you’re a supporter who decided it’s finally time to give to that nonprofit that keeps popping up on your feed. But, oh no! The donation page is clunky and asks for way too many details! And it even looks sketchy? What’s up with the funky color scheme that doesn’t match the rest of the website?

Fundraising software helps avoid such mistakes and makes website and donation pages effective. It makes it easy to run campaigns across various channels and enables nonprofits to monitor project performance, providing valuable donor insights in the process.

In this guide, we’ll go over what fundraising software is and the best fundraising solutions out there in the market. Next, we’ll go over its benefits and features and take a look at the industry’s latest trends. Finally, we’ll guide you in the software selection process to make your journey a little easier.

Executive Summary

Fundraising software helps nonprofits manage donors, streamline fundraising operations and improve visibility.
Key features include donor management, campaign management, payment processing, analytics and dashboards, event management, and donor profiles.
The latest industry trends are artificial intelligence, digital fundraising and video content.
Be sure to determine your requirements and must-have features before committing to a purchase.

What This Guide Covers:

What Is Fundraising Software?
Primary Benefits
Implementation Goals
Basic Features & Functionality
Advanced Features & Functionality
Deployment Methods
Current & Upcoming Trends
Software Comparison Strategy
Cost & Pricing Considerations
Questions To Ask Yourself
Questions To Ask Vendors
Next Steps
Product Comparisons
Additional Resources

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What Is Fundraising Software?

Fundraising software is a tool that enables nonprofits to manage and track contributions and donor data. It helps maximize campaign effectiveness and maintain strong donor relationships.

The system helps with activities like:

Reaching new supporters
Hosting fundraising events
Asking for recurring donations
Retaining donors
Measuring fundraising success
Reporting and analyzing trends

In a nutshell, fundraising software simplifies raising funds. Especially considering nonprofits have limited resources and time to spend, these solutions help make the best use of them.

You can centralize several processes and make giving convenient for all parties involved, including donors, managers and staff. The software helps boost online fundraising efforts and makes gathering funds easier, more intuitive and more efficient.

Create targeted fundraising campaigns that draw supporters in, build seamless donor experiences and follow through on communication with ease. The platform also enables you to take a multi-channel fundraising approach and optimize communication and collaboration.

Types

Nonprofit CRMs: Also known as donor management software, this solution helps track donor data and interactions. You can monitor aspects like communication history, billing, contributions and volunteer information.
Peer-to-peer fundraising tools: This system makes it easier to manage peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns. It lets you create a central donation form and enables supporters to build personalized giving pages, encouraging initiative and giving credibility to the campaign.
Text-to-give platforms: It enables donors to give to the causes they support via text using their mobile phones. All the donors have to do is send a specified code word to a designated phone number. The software then sends an automated reply providing further instructions and helps with payment processing.
Email marketing platforms: This platform helps charities leverage email marketing capabilities to encourage funds from supporters. It helps engage donors and assists in campaign creation, analytics, donation appeals and deliverability.
Online fundraising platforms: You can create branded, customized online donation pages and accept online payments. The platform can integrate with other solutions such as CRM systems, email providers and accounting software so you can take a well-rounded approach to fundraising.
Prospect research tools: These solutions come with wealth screening tools that let you determine an individual’s gifting capacity. You can identify major donors this way and put efforts into encouraging donations to your organization.
Crowdfunding tools: You can manage crowdfunding campaigns to solicit funds from a large number of people, typically through online platforms. The tools let you share the project on social media, building visibility and reach. Examples of popular crowdfunding platforms include GoFundMe, Crowdcube, Kickstarter and more.

Expert recommendations and analysis on the top Fundraising Software

Primary Benefits

Fundraising Benefits

Improve Reach and Visibility

With online fundraising software, you can reach donors from around the world and gain a vast and global donor base. Anyone with an internet connection can engage and donate to your nonprofit at any time. This helps increase your donor pool, so you don’t have to be limited to individuals in your local areas.

You can post on your website and social media handles regularly, enhancing engagement and interactions. Considering how social media plays such a crucial role in spreading information, you’d be missing out if you don’t harness it. Social media also provides a quick and easy way for donors to stay updated with your latest projects, reminding them of your presence.

Manage donors and prospects based on demographic details and donation patterns. With this information, you can classify givers and create targeted campaigns to increase your reach further. Creating donor profiles is another way to know which givers are worth pursuing and will give maximum returns.

Make Donating Easy

The key function of fundraising software is to manage donors easily and help them gift more. By providing online donation forms, you can allow supporters to give anywhere, anytime, improving convenience.

Fundraising solutions improve one of the crucial stages in the donor cultivation process — the decision phase. This is the stage in a donor’s journey where one decides whether to give or not. You can provide user-friendly tools to make this choice easier and assure them that it will only take a few minutes of their day, increasing the likelihood that they’ll give.

Build and give access to mobile-optimized web pages and tools to enable supporters to give from any device, be it a mobile phone, tablet or desktop. You can also enable donors to set up recurring donations so you don’t have to ask for gifts again and again.

Save Time

The system lets you automate repetitive, manual and redundant tasks, saving you hours of time and effort in the long run. Think about how long it would take to enter gifts if you had to do it manually. Now imagine a solution that does the task for you, automatically enters all the relevant information and works with accounting tools to get the job done.

Automation reduces costly errors and data duplication. It improves data accuracy, which leads to better insights and reporting. Your employees can focus on more important activities that require human intelligence and can personalize donor communications. This leads to deeper connections, ultimately creating a bigger impact on the community and organization.

You can use mobile accessibility and work anywhere, anytime, from any device, helping you keep up with prospects and reply to them quickly. Robust fundraising solutions also provide features to set reminders so no donor message falls through the cracks and you give every supporter their due attention.

Centralize All Operations

Fundraising software keeps everything neat and organized as you optimize donor journeys. It provides a consolidated platform that keeps all donor data, communications history, accounts, billing and contribution information in one place. You can easily access this data and use it to design future fundraising campaigns and tailor your approach going forward.

The solution integrates with multiple platforms, apps and social media handles, allowing you to seamlessly track all data and conversations. Email marketing, a vital component of fundraising projects, is made easy with robust email capabilities and integrations with providers like Gmail and Outlook. Centralized operations further save time and improve data organization.

Optimize Reporting

You can identify trends and opportunities through data generated from donation summaries, constituent reporting and grant tracking. The in-depth reports help you check the status of campaigns, gifts and donors. You can also monitor aspects like:

Total amount raised
Fundraising goal progress
Most effective channels
Peak funding times
Campaign effectiveness

Leverage these insights to craft better campaigns and make informed decisions. You can share reports in various formats, such as PDF and CSV, enabling teams to access and view data in ways that are suitable for them. The system also lets you track key performance indicators and helps optimize analytics.

Raise More Money

You can use trend data to create fundraising strategies and ensure steady revenue flows. Hold events, silent auctions and campaigns, send fundraising emails and letters to donors, and choose unique fundraising ideas to raise money.

Along with managing fundraising efforts, you can improve communication and collaboration with volunteers and staff and assign them tasks. The software lets you track event details and helps increase the volume of donations received.

Fundraising systems also enable team members to share their knowledge. Previously, when there was staff turnover, an employee’s insights would leave with them. But now, thanks to robust nonprofit CRMs, staff can share their strategies with the whole organization so your nonprofit won’t struggle in the absence of key team members.

Expert recommendations and analysis on the top Fundraising Software

Implementation Goals

Improve Data Organization	Fundraising software provides a centralized and consolidated platform that enables you to access all the relevant data from a single place. This means your team doesn’t have to switch between platforms, risking data inaccuracies and wasting time in the process.
Increase Donor Retention	With all the necessary details in one place, you can map out your donor journeys better. You can use reporting and dashboards to visualize data and gain valuable insights from past donor data. The system lets you use this information to craft targeted and personalized future campaigns, retaining major and minor donors.
Free Up Staff Time	Fundraising solutions automate repetitive tasks, saving you time, effort and resources. Teams can instead focus on donor interactions to acquire new givers and retain existing ones. Freed-up time also prevents burnout, leading to better performance in the long run.
Segment Donors	By categorizing supporters, you can tailor your messaging and communication according to their needs and preferences. This will make donors feel heard and valued, ensuring increased satisfaction and a steady stream of funds.
Track Fundraising Progress	Monitoring project progress is key, and fundraising platforms help you do that. By keeping tabs on tasks, teams understand where they’re succeeding and where they’re falling short so they can optimize performance. The system also guides future projects for optimal use of budget and resources.

Expert recommendations and analysis on the top Fundraising Software

Key Features & Functionality

Donor Management	Serving as the backbone of any fundraising software, this helps you track donor details in a single place. These include donation history, preferences and engagement, ensuring more personalized relationships. You can optimize outreach, eliminate duplicate entries and record communications. Create segmented donor lists based on demographics to tailor interactions. You can also track engagement and various activities to build valuable donor relationships.
Campaign Management	This feature helps churches and nonprofits create fundraisers for different missions. You can implement, organize and monitor initiatives like crowdfunding, peer-to-peer fundraising or themed virtual events. Set fundraising goals, monitor progress and generate online donations by sharing fundraisers on social media channels. You can also allow donors to subscribe, send personalized emails and include stories, images and videos in campaigns to increase involvement.
Payment Processing	Quick and secure payment getaways boost donor trust and confidence. Many systems ensure they’re following compliance and authentication regulations. The platform lets you accept and record financial transactions through multiple payment methods like credit cards, PayPal and Venmo. Donors can pay membership and registration fees and contribute to funds using these avenues.
Analytics and Dashboards	Visualize large amounts of data in a digestible way using comprehensive charts, reports and dashboards. You can monitor donor behavior and campaign effectiveness with ease. Gain actionable insights into donor trends and conversion and retention rates at a single glance. The system lets you personalize and customize dashboards and reports, allowing you to measure key fundraising metrics in a way that suits your team.
Event Management	Manage event communication, auctions, ticket sales and registrations via various channels. This feature helps maintain logistics and coordinate volunteer efforts and schedules. You can manage tasks and activities related to campaign execution. Interact with event attendees pre- and post-event, making them feel valued and fostering stronger donor relationships.
Integrations	Most fundraising platforms integrate with major accounting, church management and financial software to import data and donations safely. They can also extend their functionality through integrations with CRM systems, email marketing platforms, social media channels and more.
Recurring Donations	Manage and accept daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual gifts, ensuring a stable revenue flow. This puts nonprofits at ease as they don’t have to reach out continuously to encourage donations. Givers can cancel and modify contributions and adjust donation amounts anytime, improving donor convenience.
Donor Profiles	Collect and store donor details like their name, job title, location, previous donations and how much they’ve donated so far. You can gain a comprehensive overview of all interactions. Use these profiles to build donor personas (similar to buying personas) to craft your fundraising strategies masterfully. Fundraising software allows you to segment and categorize donors based on behavior and preferences to customize communication.

Expert recommendations and analysis on the top Fundraising Software

Advanced Features & Functionality

Mobile App	iOS and Android fundraising apps let you manage invoices, add events, record payments, scan QR codes for event check-ins and verify registrations. Most systems include a text-to-give feature that simplifies donations for mobile donors. They also help givers determine the amount by prompting them, thereby encouraging more payments.
Automation	The solution automates repetitive activities and enables you to schedule communication, thank you and welcome emails, and social media posts, nurturing donor engagement. With more time on your hands, you can focus on tasks that require critical thinking and creativity and leave the manual ones to automation and AI.
Donation Pages and Buttons	A donation page is where givers can submit their gifts online. Create customized landing pages with your brand logo and color scheme and embed them on your website. You can also use donation buttons or call-to-action links to attract supporters. Integrate them on your site or social media platforms like Meta and Instagram, providing donors easy access from any device with an internet connection.
Membership Management	Drive engagement through member-exclusive content. Build online directories and embed event listings and application forms onto the website. Use secure cloud-based databases to update, search or share membership data with teammates. Members can renew or stop their membership at any point they want, enhancing flexibility and convenience.
Goal Meter	Systems equipped with this feature help visualize a fundraiser’s progress toward its goal. You can track incoming donations through a campaign thermometer, which can be embedded separately, included in donation forms or added to live events.

Expert recommendations and analysis on the top Fundraising Software

Deployment Methods

Fundraising software is available in both on-premise and cloud deployment. The cloud approach has become more popular over the past few years as it enables teams to manage funds over any device, provided they have an internet connection. Cloud deployment is also cheaper than on-site one and offers easier scalability and customizations.

With on-premise deployment, you need an IT team on board, which can be a costly affair to maintain. Getting on-site fundraising software makes sense if you’re a bigger organization with lots of information to handle. It also provides greater data safety; however, the cloud is not far behind in terms of security either.

Cloud deployment is helpful for small businesses as it allows them to add more complex features and scale up as the business grows. You don’t have to worry about bugs and errors as it’s on the vendor to fix them, which is not the case with on-site software. However, both types have their own merits and demerits and choosing the best one for you comes down to what your business is looking for.

You can access the software through mobile apps, a subset of the cloud approach that primarily offers fundraising solutions via smartphones.

There’s also hybrid deployment that provides the advantages of both on-site and cloud software, giving you the best of both worlds.

Current & Upcoming Trends

Keeping up with fundraising trends is important as it helps you evolve with the industry and ensures you’re not lagging behind. Some trends to look out for in 2024 and beyond are:

Fundraising Trends

Artificial Intelligence

AI has made a big splash in the last year, and everyone’s been talking about it. AI tools like voice-based search and chatbots are rising in popularity, and fundraising software vendors have begun to offer them.

Today’s donors look for instant gratification, and chatbots can provide that by engaging with givers instantly so they don’t have to keep waiting. AI helps automate several tasks like solving queries, enabling donors to give online and managing data.

Advanced data analytics allow better donor segmentation, personalized communication and insights into donor behavior, all of which ultimately help create better campaigns.

Digital Fundraising

Another trend to look out for is how digital fundraising via various channels can benefit your nonprofit. Donors are adopting digital wallets due to the widespread use of smartphones, and fundraising solutions have been accepting flexible payment options to help givers as of late.

Mobile-optimized donation forms have also become important, as clunky interfaces frustrate supporters and hinder the donation process. Additionally, online fundraising campaigns, crowdfunding and hosting hybrid/virtual events have become popular.

Video Content

Love it or hate it, Tiktoks and reels are here to stay. And it’s in your best interest to harness them to boost your fundraising efforts. Short-form and long-form video content are visual mediums that help supporters build an emotional connection to the cause.

You can urge micro and macro influencers to promote your nonprofit on their platform. Reels and videos also have the potential to go viral and reach millions of people within a short time. Think about how the ALS ice bucket challenge went viral in the 2010s, for instance. By creating engaging content, your organization can also become popular and spread the word about your mission.

Expert recommendations and analysis on the top Fundraising Software

Software Comparison Strategy

While there’s no perfect one-stop solution that will serve all your business needs at once, you can make the best possible choice if you consider the following factors.

Preferred Features: Look at your current system and analyze where it’s lacking. What are the most common problems you face? Which features can help maximize productivity? Take your time to make a list of requirements. You can also check what your competitors have been using and for how long. Try finding out what aspects they like and which they don’t, and why to give you more clarity.

Budget: You need to be honest about your budget and how much you can afford to spend. Consider all variables like the number of users, hidden costs and maintenance fees.

Integrations: Take note of apps you use daily. Your ideal solutions should integrate with your preferred apps, enabling you to streamline communication.

Scalability and Customizations: What customizable features does the software offer? Does it come with any pre-built templates? What about scalability options? Investing in a scalable solution helps keep up with your company’s changing technical needs.

Automation: Which area do you need to automate? How much does your preferred system handle workflows and approval processes?

Vendor Support: Does your vendor provide hands-on customer support? Do they have 24/7 live chat? What do their onboarding and training processes look like? How do they ensure data security? How will they help you import existing data into the new software?

User Experience: Fundraising software that’s intuitive and easy to use is always a plus. It can save valuable time and money that would otherwise go into costly and time-consuming software training.

Cost & Pricing Considerations

When it comes to determining the budget for a new fundraising platform, there are a few factors to consider. These include the size of your organization, type of usage, the number of users you want to add and features you would leverage. Also, don’t forget to ask the vendor if they offer scalable pricing so that you can add or remove user licenses as and when needed.

The price of fundraising solutions starts as low as $9 and can go up to hundreds of dollars per month for cutting-edge technology. The most common way vendors bill is by charging per user per month. However, there are software providers who charge on a quarterly, half-yearly and annual basis. Some charge a one-time flat fee, but they’re becoming increasingly rare.

As a general rule, cloud solutions are cheaper than on-site ones. If you’re a small business or startup, you can also go for less advanced software versions that vendors provide free of cost. Some offer free trials and demos, helping you make an informed decision before committing to a purchase.

In addition, you should look for direct costs such as license, installation, data conversion, training and support, and indirect costs like essential system upgrades, consultation fees and IT staff charges. Be sure to check for any hidden fees or payment processing fees as well.

Questions To Ask Yourself

Asking questions is one of the best ways to make your purchase more foolproof and determine the software that fits your business. Here are a few suggestions to get started.

Ask yourself these questions to define your requirements:

What are our pain points, and which features will help solve them?
What apps do we use daily?
What do our competitors think of this software?
How many users do we have? Do they have any unique needs for the platform?
Which aspects do we need to automate, and which ones can we do by ourselves?

Fundraising Software Questions to Ask

Questions To Ask Vendors

Ask vendors the following questions to gain insight into the solution and software provider:

About the Software

Does the platform integrate with our existing systems?
How can the solution help us in managing donor data?
Is the software customizable? If yes, to what extent?
Does the software provide multiple payment options and enable donors to set up recurring payments?
How does the system facilitate communication and collaboration with staff, volunteers and donors?

About the Vendor

What kind of training and support do you offer?
How many years of expertise do you have in the industry?
How do you ensure data privacy and security?
What does the process of updates and software scalability look like?
What company sizes do you typically work with?

Expert recommendations and analysis on the top Fundraising Software

Next Steps

With robust tools and features like donor profiles, automation, campaign management, payment processing and analytics, fundraising software helps streamline operations. It enables nonprofits to maximize their gifts and manage volunteers and donors better.

A fundraising solution that fits your business needs is key to creating great campaigns, and we hope that this guide serves as a starting point for your software selection journey. If you’re still overwhelmed, check out our free comparison report to compare and analyze the capabilities of your top solutions. Good luck!

Product Comparisons

Additional Resources

About The Contributors

The following expert team members are responsible for creating, reviewing, and fact checking the accuracy of this content.

By Manogna Chandrika Matta

Technical Content Writer

Manogna Matta was a Technical Content Writer at SelectHub who delivered content for CRM, mental health, marketing and fundraising. An alum of the University of Hyderabad, Manogna did Communication and Psychology courses in her B.A. and M.A. She's also an avid coin collector and a fashion enthusiast. When not typing away on the keyboard, Manogna plays mother hen to her tiny birds, watches sitcoms and makes bad-quality dad jokes.

Technical Research By Joan Akash

Senior Analyst

Joan Akash, a Senior Research Analyst at SelectHub, holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management with a specialization in Marketing. Her expertise as a researcher and reviewer spans diverse software categories, including Project Management, Customer Relationship Management, Live Chat, and Help Desk. Beyond her professional pursuits, Joan is spiritually driven, with a passion for teaching children and a penchant for reading biblical blogs and crafting poetry.

Technical Review By Manan Roy

Principal Analyst

Manan is a native of Tezpur, Assam (India), who currently lives in Kolkata, West Bengal (India). At SelectHub, he works on categories like CRM, HR, PPM, BI, and EHR. He has a Bachelor of Technology in CSE from The Gandhi Institute of Engineering and Technology, a Master of Technology from The Institute of Engineering and Management IT, and an MBA in Finance from St. Xavier's College. He's published two research papers, one in a conference and the other in a journal, during his Master of Technology.

Edited By Pooja Verma

Content Editor

Pooja Verma is a Content Editor and Senior Market Analyst at SelectHub, who writes and edits content for endpoint security, legal, CRM, fundraising software, eCommerce, and mental health software. She earned a literature degree from Miranda House, DU and also holds Master’s in Journalism from Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication in India. In her free time, you can spot her reading a book or binge-watching the latest web series and movies.