5 min read
If you're not using up-to-date donor management software in your nonprofit organization, you're at risk of falling behind with respect to fundraising efforts, donation tracking, and operational resource allocation.
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Key Takeaways
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Getting the best donation management software solution isn't just about keeping up with the nonprofit next door; it's also about unlocking your nonprofit's potential, expanding your impact, and learning the best ways to run your nonprofit, using historical data and financial intelligence.
What Donor Management Software Can Do for Your Nonprofit Organization
Depending on the type, or types, of donor management software you choose to use, your organization will enjoy several benefits.
Streamlined Giving
Donor management software can significantly improve your nonprofit's fundraising efforts by taking advantage of different fundraising channels. The right software can help you maximize fundraising options, making it simple for donors to give through options like crowdfunding, peer-to-peer funding, mobile giving, and online donation pages.
Automated Donation Management
With streamlined giving, you can more easily track and allocate donations.
Fundraising Campaign and Event Management
You'll be able to better facilitate events and each fundraising campaign, using data collection and analytics, in addition to metric tracking and simplified report pulling.
Customer Relationship Management for Donors
Use software to create and maintain your relationship with donors. A good donor management software will automatically collect information about your supporters, keep track of their engagement, and create segmented groups of supporters by different categories.
Using donor management software, you can even automate donor communication, such as thank you emails, announcements, news, and invitations.
8 Things to Look for in a Software Solution
It's difficult to find a single software solution that has everything your organization needs to put together a thorough donor management program. To get the most out of their donor management software systems, most nonprofit organizations use multiple applications.
Don't know where to start? We suggest using the following criteria to narrow down your search.
- Choose a platform that can scale easily with your nonprofit organization.
- Make sure you're getting value and useful features for your money.
- Choose user-friendly software that your employees will want to use.
- Consider whether the company provides ongoing technical support.
- Does the software integrate with your nonprofit accounting software, like QuickBooks?
- Will the software integrate with your website and/or social media pages?
- Does it provide a secure platform that will protect the private information of your nonprofit and donors?
- Will the software's features be redundant in your organization or improve efficiency and introduce new possibilities?
Our Top Six Donor Management Software Picks
1. NeonCRM
Although most nonprofits wind up using more than one application for donor management, NeonCRM is one that can stand alone, especially when paired with QuickBooks. NeonCRM claims they can provide nonprofit organizations a net yearly savings of $3,045 by bringing all website, donor management, and customer response management under a single provider.
Their flexible software features are designed to be easily scalable and focus on helping raise money and increasing donations, saving time, and creating a bigger impact by helping nonprofits increase capacity with a database focused on people, rather than transactions. They also offer three pricing plans, which are based on the number of account records and modules included.
2. DonorPerfect
DonorPerfect's core system is designed to be easily expandable with their Growth Tracks features. These include flexible plans that are intended to meet your organization's specific needs and budget, as you grow. With this software, you can optimize online fundraising, operational efficiency, constituent engagement, fundraising events, and insights on donor data.
In addition to donation processing, receipting, and tracking, the system also provides email marketing, diverse options for giving, event registration features, and volunteer recruiting and management capabilities. Plus, DonorPerfect integrations well with QuickBooks and a list of additional partners to ensure all your software can work together.
3. Salesforce.org
Based in the cloud, Salesforce.org aims to help nonprofits do more good with features that include supporter engagement tracking and data, revenue stream management, augmented intelligence and enhanced productivity, grant management, email marketing, mobile marketing, and social media engagement. The software also helps you automate your donor lifecycle and case management. Salesforce.org users also have access to over 1,700 partner apps with pre-integrated solutions for marketing, events management, volunteer management, and fundraising.
4. Blackbaud eTapestry
Blackbaud offers a robust solution for cloud-based fundraising, donor management, and outreach for non-profits. The software includes a complete nonprofit accounting solution that also integrates with QuickBooks (via manual IIF import). An automated tool from Sidekick Solutions simplifies QuickBooks integration. Blackbaud generally isn't touted as the best option for small nonprofits with limited resources, but it's a wonderful option for larger organizations, such as schools, that have more sophisticated fundraising programs.
5. Kindful
Kindful was designed to help nonprofits spend less time on donor management and databases and more time focused on their missions. In a nutshell, its approachable, intuitive user interface features seamless integrations with a variety applications. The software offers an extensive, comprehensive features list and is designed to save people who work in nonprofits time, while providing valuable, actionable insights into the stories which an organization's data tells.
6. Network for Good
Formerly called Donor Path, this fundraising software for nonprofits is now offered by Network for Good. This software solution makes users more productive with a simplified list of features that help a nonprofit with donor management, targeting, retention, and engagement. Network for Good does not currently feature a QuickBooks integration, but they do have one in development. Network for Good's most unique feature is that it supports less-experienced nonprofits on lower budgets with coaching and support that's available from a seasoned fundraising expert.
Make the Most of Donor Management Software with QuickBooks and Management Accounting
Donor management software doesn't come with a one-size-fits-all solution. It's best to look at your organization's needs, determine the donor management software features that would be most useful to you, and then do your best to select options which are easily integrated with QuickBooks.
The ability to use QuickBooks in addition to your donor management software will give you the ability to truly unlock your nonprofit organization's full potential.
With the superior financial reporting power of QuickBooks, especially when used in conjunction with compatible applications, you'll be able to improve every aspect of your organization — financial, operational, and otherwise.
If you'd like to set up a powerful back office, complete with management accounting capabilities, designed to help your nonprofit make an even bigger difference, we welcome you to schedule a consultation with GrowthForce today.
