The 7 Best CRM for Nonprofits
Every donor, regardless of how many you have in your database or how few you have left, is essential to the nonprofit's success.
But nurturing new donors to be long-term supporters of your organisation is easier said than done.
Running a non-profit also means having a proper system in place to keep your donors, volunteers, beneficiaries, and board members on board and happy, all while building strong relationships with them to reach your organisation's goals.
That's where customer relationship management (CRM) tools come into the picture.
CRMs can assist you with marketing and outreach, data analysis through reporting, and maintaining organisation and communication with your volunteers and donors.
Basically, these CRM tools are like your trusty sidekick, supporting your non-profit by keeping you organised, connected, engaged, and informed so you can focus on making a difference.
We have compiled a list of CRMs for your nonprofit organisation that we tested ourselves, considering different factors like accessibility, features, support, integrability, and user reviews.
Rundown
- Best free CRM for non profits: HubSpot, “HubSpot CRM is a free and easy-to-use CRM that helps you to streamline your operations by helping you manage donor management to email marketing, fundraising campaign tracking, and volunteer management.”
- Best CRM for donor management: Salesforce, “Salesforce CRM helps to create personalised engagement plans and track donor movements. It enables organisations to generate new groups of potential donors, manage gifts, and maintain comprehensive donor profiles.”
- Best CRM for Contact and lead management: Bitrix24, “ Bitrix24 CRM is a comprehensive solution to effectively manage and nurture your contacts and leads. It has tools for contact management, lead generation, product catalog management, quote and invoice creation, email marketing, and workflow automation.”
- Best customisable AI-powered CRM for non-profits: Zoho CRM, “It is an AI-powered CRM tool that helps you customise the CRM according to your needs. It has customisable options, from custom fields and modules to workflow automation and approval processes.”
- All-in-one CRM for non profits: Giveffect, “It is an all-in-one CRM that combines fundraising, volunteer management, and program data under one platform. It also has a volunteer management software that integrates with the CRM.”
- Best CRM for Campaign Management: PipeDrive, “It provides a visual sales pipeline that gives a clear and intuitive overview of your campaign progress. It has tools for prospecting and donor engagement.”
- Best for Donations Management: ClickUp, “ClickUp is an easy-to-use CRM that helps you efficiently manage your donor information, track donations, and generate reports for analysis and decision-making.”
How We Found the Best CRMs for Nonprofits
Choosing the Best CRMs for non profits requires extensive research and evaluation.
We carefully looked at many different platforms and evaluated them based on certain criteria to find the most reliable and effective ones.
In this list, there are different CRMs for different use cases, like; some are for donor management, email marketing, campaign management, etc.
We have curated this list following the following criteria:
- Platform utilisation: We went beyond the reviews and personally tried the platforms firsthand to comprehensively understand their features, functionalities, and user experience.
- Functionality: We assessed the range of features and capabilities offered by each CRM, ensuring they align with the specific needs of nonprofits. This includes tools for managing donors, volunteers, events, communication, and reporting.
- Ease of Use: Nonprofit staff members may have varying levels of technological expertise, so we considered how user-friendly and intuitive each CRM is, ensuring that adopting the software wouldn't be a significant hurdle.
- Integration: Many nonprofits rely on multiple systems and platforms, so we evaluated how well each CRM can integrate with other software solutions commonly used in the nonprofit sector, such as fundraising platforms, email marketing tools, and payment processors.
- Customisation: Nonprofits have specific requirements and workflows that may differ from other industries. We looked at the level of customisation and flexibility each CRM offers, ensuring that it can adapt to the unique needs of different nonprofit organisations.
- Cost: We assessed the affordability and value for money of each CRM, taking into account both the initial investment and ongoing subscription or licensing fees. We also considered whether the CRM offers any discounts or special pricing for nonprofit organisations.
Recommended CRMs for Nonprofits
Best free CRM for Nonprofits
HubSpot CRM
If you are facing difficulties managing your donors, tracking events, and running effective campaigns, then HubSpot is worth checking out.
It is a free and easy-to-use CRM for nonprofits that helps you to optimise your operations and engagement.
The CRM provides a centralised database where you can store and access donor information, enabling you better to understand their preferences, history, and engagement levels.
It has a "Deals" feature that allows you to manage your donors and donations effectively. You can customise each deal with fields to include important information such as donor contact details, donation amounts, and notes.
You can also set up event registrations, track attendance, and automate event-related communications. This streamlines your event management process, saves time, and helps ensure a successful and well-organised event.
The best things about HubSpot CRM are:
- Specialised deal-tracking capabilities
- Comprehensive prospect tracking functionality
- Ability to store data for up to 100,000 contacts
- Seamless integration with email accounts
- An extensive deal-tracking too
- Includes valuable marketing tools
- Integration options with over 900 different tools
- It also helps you to plan, execute, and track the effectiveness of your campaigns.
Furthermore, HubSpot provides a 40% discount for eligible nonprofits and offers a user-friendly onboarding process for you.
Best CRM for donor management
Salesforce
As a non-profit, you may face the challenge of efficiently managing donor information, tracking donations, and analysing donor behavior.
Salesforce is a highly configurable CRM for nonprofits that can adapt to your specific needs and workflows.
You can create custom fields that capture the donor information relevant to your organisation, ensuring that you have all the necessary data at your fingertips.
This customisation feature enables you to track donations accurately and efficiently, reducing manual efforts and saving valuable time.
Salesforce is primarily designed to manage and analyse data, including sales figures and marketing trends. It also provides features for mass email and text message communications.
Moreover, Salesforce provides automation capabilities too. You can set up processes and workflows that automate donation tracking, eliminating the need for manual entry and reducing the risk of errors.
This streamlined approach ensures that your data is always up-to-date and accurate.
The best things about Salesforce are:
- Lead filtering capabilities with intelligent filters
- Automated lead routing functionality
- Dedicated support for personalised assistance
- User-friendly interface and dashboard
- Accurate analytics and comprehensive reporting
- High level of customisation to align with your needs
Salesforce integrates seamlessly with various third-party applications commonly used by non-profits, such as fundraising platforms, marketing automation tools, and finance systems.
This integration capability streamlines data management processes and ensures that donor information is easily accessible and up-to-date across all systems.
It is also highly scalable, making it suitable for non-profits of all sizes, from small grassroots organisations to large international charities.
Best CRM for Contact and lead management
Bitrix24
As a non-profit organisation, if you face challenges in managing your contacts, leads, and collaboration effectively and need a CRM for it, then Bitrix24 is worth checking out.
It has features for contact management, telemarketing, and reporting. Bitrix24 ensures that you can efficiently handle your donor and supporter interactions.
You can store all donor information, donation history, and communication logs in one place, simplifying the process of managing your donor relationships.
The CRM platform also offers a clear overview of each lead's progress, ensuring that no follow-up or opportunity is missed. This streamlined approach increases your conversion rates and maximises your fundraising efforts.
After installation, you can utilise this software to effectively manage various aspects, including:
- Handling contacts and their information
- Managing leads and tracking their progress
- Organising and maintaining a product catalog
- Generating quotes and invoices
- Conducting email marketing campaigns
- Automating workflow processes
Furthermore, this software offers features that promote collaboration and organisation within the organisation, such as:
- An activity stream that aids in organising volunteers
- Integration with social networks for seamless communication
- Group chats and instant messenger for discussing projects and updates.
It is also a helpful tool for volunteers when it comes to organising events. It allows them to easily share files and facilitates transparent communication, ensuring that every conversation and update is recorded in a communication stream.
This feature enables all participants to stay informed and engaged throughout the event planning process.
Best customisable AI-powered CRM for Nonprofits
Zoho CRM
As a non-profit, you may encounter a common challenge of efficient donor management, fundraising, and volunteer tracking.
Zoho CRM is an AI powered CRM that utilises advanced AI technology to provide valuable insights and predictive analytics. With AI-powered features such as lead scoring, sentiment analysis, and intelligent forecasting, it helps you to make data-driven decisions, identify the most promising prospects, and optimise your fundraising efforts..
Zoho CRM has specialised features for grant and donation management, event management, and membership tracking.
By centralising all these activities within the system, Zoho CRM streamlines processes, enhances efficiency, and helps you to better manage your relationships with donors, volunteers, and stakeholders.
The best things about Zoho CRM are:
- Enables you to establish a consistent presence across multiple channels such as social media, websites, email, and SMS integrations. This allows you to effectively reach out to a wide range of potential donors, maximising your outreach efforts.
- It integrates with reliable payment gateways such as Paypal or Google Checkout.
- It has good automation features like Email Parser that can capture and store all the information your donors share in their emails directly into your donor database. This includes important details like their name, age, location, and the specific issues they are facing.
All-in-one CRM for Nonprofits
Giveffect
If you are looking for an all-in-one CRM for nonprofits, then Giveffect is worth checking out.
By consolidating 10 different systems into one platform, Giveffect eliminates the need for manual data transfers and ensures that all your data is seamlessly integrated and up to date.
Giveffect provides a 360-degree view of your constituents, giving you valuable insights into donor histories, event participation, and wealth indicators.
This comprehensive view enables you to tailor your outreach efforts, improve donor stewardship, and optimise your fundraising campaigns.
The best things about Giveffect are:
- Volunteer Coordination: With a single click, you can easily track the overlap between your donors and volunteers, enabling you to develop a well-informed conversion strategy.
- Engage More Supporters Across All Channels: You can track, nurture, and communicate with your supporters all in a single platform, simplifying your workflow and allowing you to focus on the things that truly matter.
- Automate your data entry and streamline the process of generating tax receipts.
- Features like batch scanning of paper checks, one-click remote eDeposits, and automated workflows simplify your administrative tasks.
- Stay organised and efficient with built-in task management capabilities.
Moreover, Giveffect fosters collaboration and communication within your organisation by breaking down silos between departments.
By providing a centralised platform for tracking donor relationships, volunteer activities, marketing initiatives, and more, Giveffect enhances transparency and coordination across teams.
Best CRM for Campaign Management
PipeDrive
If you need a CRM for campaign management, then PipeDrive is worth checking out.
PipeDrive is an easy-to-use CRM that simplifies the process of managing donors, members, and volunteers through a single platform.
By centralising these operations, PipeDrive streamlines your processes and provides a holistic view of your campaigns.
PipeDrive helps you convert one-time donors into repeat donors by allowing you to send personalised follow-up emails based on each donor's recent activities.
You can also automate repetitive tasks like sending out email campaigns, follow-ups, and reminders.
The best things about PipeDrive are:
- Enables synchronisation of emails and calendars
- Provides a bulk editing feature to save time
- Offers mobile apps that enhance productivity
- Includes a customisable lead generation chatbot
Additionally,, PipeDrive's reporting and analytics capabilities help you to track progress, measure outcomes, and showcase impact to donors and stakeholders.
This helps you to improve accountability, make data-driven decisions, and optimise your fundraising and campaign management strategies.
Best for Donations Management
ClickUp
As a non-profit organisation, you may face the challenge of effectively managing your donations and streamlining operations to maximise impact.
ClickUp efficiently organises your donation management process by providing an intuitive interface and customisable features. You can easily create and manage tasks, workflows, and projects specific to your donation needs.
This lets you stay organised, track progress, and allocate resources effectively.
ClickUp also offers seamless integration with popular fundraising platforms and payment gateways, eliminating the need for manual data entry and ensuring that all donor information is synchronised and accessible.
You can easily connect your fundraising efforts with your donation management system, saving time and reducing the chance of errors.
The best things about ClickUp are:
- The Calendar view provides an easy-to-use interface for scheduling volunteer tasks, ensuring your volunteer activities are well-organised and coordinated.
- ClickUp's Time Tracking feature allows you to monitor and record volunteer hours accurately, helping you keep track of the time and effort contributed by your dedicated volunteers.
- Its Reporting capabilities allow you to evaluate the impact of your programs accurately
- It has a centralised donor data management that ensures that all essential information is stored in one central location.
Additionally, ClickUp's advanced analytics and reporting capabilities help you to make data-driven decisions.
