No matter how big or small your nonprofit is, fundraising usually comes with challenges.
From raising money to collecting and protecting your donors’ private information, there are a lot of things to keep track of. On top of that, you also have to worry about hitting your fundraising targets and making sure your team isn’t being stretched too thin.
Software that’s been developed specifically for raising money can help you and your organization with a variety of tasks that can seem overwhelming and time consuming on their own. In particular, tools like this can streamline the way that you collect money and donor information, reach out to your community, manage existing donor relationships, host fundraising events, and more.
But how do you know what fundraising platform will work best for your nonprofit?
In this article, we’ll cover the five best fundraising software for nonprofits, including why we like them, how each of them makes collecting donations easier, and things to consider with each platform. Read on to learn more about our top software picks.
Prefer to skip the reading and learn about creating a custom fundraising app? Get in touch and let us help!
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What is fundraising software?
Fundraising software is an online tool that supports nonprofit organizations in raising money and collecting donations securely and effectively.
Platforms can also help with the management of specific fundraising campaigns or tasks, donor information and relationships, and document control.
How can fundraising software make collecting and managing donations easier?
Fundraising software is designed to help nonprofit organizations manage and streamline their fundraising efforts.
These software solutions offer various features and functionalities to assist nonprofits in planning, executing, and tracking their fundraising campaigns. In particular, this type of tool can help with donor management and online donations.
Improve retention with donor management
Software for fundraising can help track donor information, providing organizations with contribution histories and the ability to manage communications.
This is important because it allows nonprofits to understand their donors better. In turn, this lets you tailor your interactors, helping you build stronger relationships and optimize your fundraising efforts.
Tracking donation history also allows nonprofits to effectively:
Express gratitude
Provide impact reports
Share updates
This can help you show your donors how their contributions have made a difference. By doing so, you can improve retention, encourage ongoing support, and ultimately strengthen your bond with those who contribute to your cause.
Increase donations with online processing
Online donation processing provides a convenient and accessible way for individuals to donate.
In particular, people from all over the world can give money to your cause when they have access to a secure online platform. And having this type of contribution method available can also help you engage with individuals who’d rather donate digitally.
Online donations also open up various giving opportunities like:
Recurring donations
One-time gifts
Tribute donations
Crowdfunding campaigns
Peer-to-peer fundraising
And more
This flexibility allows donors to choose the giving method that suits their preferences and circumstances, leading to increased participation and overall contributions.
Offering the ability to donate online can also streamline administrative tasks for nonprofits, turning them into automated processes. For example:
Issuing receipts and acknowledgments
Updating donor records
Tracking donation data
This helps reduce your team’s manual effort and minimizes potential errors, allowing your nonprofit to allocate more time and resources to other mission-critical activities.
Top 5 fundraising software for nonprofits
Finding a nonprofit fundraising software that fits your organization can feel like an overwhelming task. Even more so when you add it to your never-ending to-list that you have on the go for your next fundraising event.
With these five software options for nonprofits, we share what we like, how it can help with your donation process, and things for you to consider before making the jump.
Software 1: Classy
Classy offers a fundraising solution that focuses on optimizing the donor experience in order to encourage giving and support for nonprofit fundraisers.
Why we like it:
Easy to use
Great donor experience
Has everything you might need
How it makes managing donations easier:
Individuals can pay with multiple payment options
Contributions can be made in the donor’s currency
Things to consider:
Unclear pricing model with a base price that may add up
Lower-end versions are not extremely useful
Higher editions are very pricey, between $500 and $1, 500 (USD) per month
Charged per transaction on top of merchant card fee
Not a complete system
Sync functionality to many CRMs is buggy
Software 2: DonorPerfect
DonorPerfect is a Canadian nonprofit CRM software that’s been around for the last 35 years, helping organizations with their fundraising efforts.
Why we like it:
Easy to use
Customizable screens and reporting
Data collection that’s relevant to user
View of donor activity available
Good customer service
How it makes managing donations easier:
Helps process and manage donations
Track donors and their information
Keeps everything all in one place
Things to consider:
Can be quite pricey
Software 3: Funraise
Offering a collection of fundraising tools for nonprofits, Funraise looks to help make it easier for organizations to raise more money.
Why we like it:
Can create sites for campaign-specific fundraising
Good CRM with key donor information
Multiple payment options
Good value for money
How it makes managing donations easier:
Smoothly integrates websites and other systems
Things to consider:
No donor portal available
Individuals cannot manually pull their receipts or update their info without the mobile app
Sites can be tricky to setup right for mobile and desktop
Software 4: Bloomerang + Kindful
Originally two separate products, Bloomerang and Kindful are now one and the same, since Bloomerang acquired Kindful in 2021.
Kindful initially specialized in powerful integrations, which has now been integrated with Bloomerang’s donor retention capabilities and engagement insights.
Why we like it:
Donor management is easy to use
Comprehensive tool with great dashboard views
Very user friendly on desktop and mobile
Easy to pull reports for status updates and financials
Quality customer service and training resources
Perhaps a good fit for medium-to-large nonprofits
How it makes managing donations easier:
Quick and easy to run reports and generate tax documents
Able to follow up with lapsed donors
Access to donation history
Things to consider:
Lack of customization options
Software 5: Custom Application / Web Project
Creating custom fundraising software allows you to build something that speaks to your organization's unique requirements and solves your specific challenges.
If building a completely customized software is not an option for your organization, you can also opt for a web project that helps you tailor an existing fundraising app or website to meet your needs.
Why we think custom is the best option:
Build a complete, tailor-made system
No percentage taken on top of merchant card fees
Sync to your CRM without issue
Donor portal available for individuals
Mobile and desktop set up to meet your needs
Intuitive to your unique workflows
Integrations with whatever you want
How it makes managing donations easier:
Custom software and customization to an existing application can help make managing your donations easier in a number of ways.
Some fun ideas for your custom platform or for integrations with a fundraising software include:
Campaign thermometers: Track the amount of donations your campaign has received through this well-known fundraising visual to help motivate more people to give.
Fundraiser leaderboards: Acknowledge the individuals who have donated large sums to help inspire others to match their donations.
Donation ticker: A widget that displays real-time updates on the total amount of donations received during a campaign.
Progress bar: A progress bar widget visually represents the progress made toward a fundraising goal to help encourage more donations.
Donor wall: Display the names, messages, or photos of donors who have made contributions to publicly recognize and acknowledge individuals.
Things to consider for a custom fundraising software:
It's important to note that creating custom fundraising software requires significant technical expertise, development resources, and ongoing maintenance and support.
Nonprofits considering this option should carefully evaluate their internal capabilities, budget, and timeline to determine if it is feasible and aligns with their overall organizational strategy.
So, when does it make sense to create your own fundraising software?
You have unique requirements:
Developing your own fundraising software allows you to tailor the solution to your unique requirements.
You can design and implement features and functionalities that align precisely with your fundraising strategies, donor management processes, and organizational workflows.
This level of customization can provide a more seamless and efficient experience for both your nonprofit and your donors.
If your nonprofit has highly specific or complex fundraising requirements, you may find that existing fundraising software solutions do not fully meet your needs.
You need to integrate with existing systems:
You may already have established systems and databases that you rely on for donor management, accounting, or other operational functions.
With a custom platform, you can create a simpler fundraising software that is closely tied to the already existing system, ensuring smooth data flow, consistency, and streamlined operations.
You want to make a long-term investment:
While developing custom software may involve higher upfront costs, it can potentially lead to long-term cost savings for nonprofits.
You can avoid ongoing subscription fees or licensing costs associated with commercial fundraising software.
It's important to consider that custom software development requires initial investment, ongoing maintenance, and potential updates or enhancements over time.
You need control and ownership:
Developing your own fundraising software gives your nonprofit full control and ownership over the system.
You can make changes, upgrades, and enhancements as needed without relying on external vendors or being subject to third-party software limitations.
You can control and own your data. This level of control can be advantageous for nonprofits that prefer to have complete autonomy and flexibility in managing their fundraising processes.
Things to consider for a custom nonprofit web project:
Most likely, it’ll be hard to compete with all the features that some of these off-the-shelf fundraising vendors offer. Instead, you could consider adding extra functionality to your existing fundraising software or website by integrating with it.
Nonprofits may choose to customize or integrate with fundraising software for several reasons, including efficiency, engagement or branding.
You need to improve your system’s efficiencies:
Integrating fundraising software with other systems, such as donor management or CRM systems, enables you to streamline your data management processes.
It allows for automatic synchronization of donor information, donation records, and other relevant data between different systems, eliminating the need for manual data entry and ensuring consistency across platforms.
It can also help to automate various processes like sending donation acknowledgments or generating receipts,
You want enhanced donor engagement:
Integration enables nonprofits to have a comprehensive view of their donors' interactions and activities.
You can access consolidated donor profiles, including donation history, communication preferences, event participation, and more.
This holistic view of donors allows you to personalize your interactions, tailor your communication strategies, and foster deeper engagement with your supporters.
You’re looking for a branded user experience:
Customization can help nonprofits maintain consistent branding and provide a cohesive user experience.
By customizing the look and feel of the fundraising software, you can create a user interface that reflects your unique brand personality.
This can enhance donor trust, engagement, and overall user satisfaction.
Why choose Bound State for your nonprofit fundraising software
When it comes to effectively raising money for your organization, a comprehensive nonprofit fundraising software is a must.
While there are many out-of-the-box software solutions, none of these tools offer you and your team the ability to create a custom app to meet your unique needs.
Our team loves helping nonprofits reach their goals. To learn more about building a custom fundraising software for your organization, click the button below to get in touch!
