Nonprofits, like all organizations, need effective tools to manage their relationships with stakeholders. With a powerful nonprofit CRM, managing donor information, streamlining communication, and fostering engagement all become much more straightforward.
There are numerous CRM platforms out there, but the best ones for nonprofits include intuitive tools designed for donor, volunteer, and membership management.
Keep reading to find out the top seven best CRM for nonprofits, their top features, and pricing.
What is a CRM for nonprofits?
Traditionally, CRM software helps companies manage client relationships. For nonprofits though, CRM software often helps them manage donor relationships, partners, and volunteers.
More specifically, the best CRMs for nonprofits track stakeholder interactions in a single platform, streamlining operations and enhancing collaboration among employees and volunteers.
Why your organization may need nonprofit CRM software
A CRM offers a unified view of contacts, making it easy to track every touchpoint with donors, manage fundraising efforts, and eliminate manual data entry. Centralizing all interactions in one place helps get a clear picture of your entire organization's activities.
Using a reliable and resourceful CRM tool also saves time on manual tasks, such as managing email fundraising campaigns and entering data. With a CRM like Streak, for instance, you can send personalized bulk emails directly from your inbox to multiple contacts simultaneously.
So, simply put, your organization needs nonprofit CRM software to store data easily, make it instantly accessible to everyone on the team, and save you precious time.
Still, there are other reasons why nonprofits benefit from using CRM software. Read on to learn about them.
4 benefits of CRM software for nonprofit teams
One of the greatest benefits of relying on a CRM as a nonprofit is the convenience of quickly accessing (and automatically storing) your donors' information. This way, collaborators, volunteers, and managers have vital information at their fingertips so they dedicate their time and effort to more complicated work that requires their full energy and attention.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Other benefits of CRM software for nonprofits include:
Streamlining donor management
A CRM acts as a perfect donor management system for many organizations. Most CRMs allow you to find stakeholders' information in seconds and access all interactions with them.
Many CRM solutions provide an interactive dashboard to access essential data, such as how much donors have given, when the emails were exchanged, and the content of meetings and phone calls. And the best part? Everyone on the team can access all donor's information, enhancing collaboration.
Promoting efficiency with task automation tools
Another way to enhance efficiency with a CRM tool is to automate tasks. You can significantly speed up tasks like capturing and organizing data, creating reports, identifying potential donors, and even sending out personalized donation requests.
Without the need for manual input, you save time and reduce the chances of making mistakes or inputting inaccurate data.
Increasing forecasting accuracy
Having all your data centralized in a CRM platform also enhances forecasting accuracy. The combination of a centralized database and analytical tools provides better data tracking, which leads to more accurate trend analysis.
In sum, CRM solutions provide comprehensive, data-driven insights based on stored information about your organization's interactions. The right CRMs will organize and carefully analyze this data, generating an accurate forecast of future donations and cash flow. This leads to more informed decision-making and better long-term planning.
Fostering better overall donor experience
Since CRM software stores so much donor information, it's easier to personalize communications with them. When you send highly tailored emails, for instance, donors feel unique and valued, which fosters a better overall experience and leads to long-lasting relationships.
Top 7 software tools for nonprofit customer relationship management
It's clear that nonprofits can benefit from using CRM solutions; now, it's time to choose the right one for you. We've curated the top seven nonprofit CRM tools so you can make an informed decision based on features and pricing.
1. Streak
Trusted by more than 750k users, Streak is a CRM that integrates directly with Gmail. It empowers entire nonprofit teams to manage and access donor information directly from their inboxes.
Pipelines, email tracking, and workflows are fully customizable, and there are various useful automation tools, especially for repetitive communication tasks.
It's easy to use and ideal for nonprofit Gmail users looking to streamline operations with a straightforward CRM solution.
Top Features
Mail merge: Send personalized emails to multiple contacts in your Streak pipeline or from a CSV file.
Email tracking: Get tracking information about when and where someone opens your email.
Customizable pipelines: Build your pipeline with ready-made templates to manage workflows, operations, and donors.
Integrations and automation: With 9,000+ native integrations, streamline all your processes in a single platform, or connect Streak with Zapier or Slack.
Device support: Available on desktop and mobile devices (iOS and Android).
Pricing
Free: $0 per user per month, includes basic resources like email tracking, snippets, and up to 50 daily mail merges.
Pro: $49 per user per month billed annually or $59 per user per month billed monthly. It's the best budget option for small organizations.
Pro+: $69 per user per month billed annually or $89 per user per month billed monthly. Includes advanced reports, along with integrations and automation.
Enterprise: $129 per user per month billed annually or $159 per user per month billed monthly. This is for large organizations that need data validation and priority customer support.
For more on Streak's pricing and packages, click here.
2. Salesforce
Salesforce, one of the most widely used CRMs, offers a nonprofit-specific solution called Nonprofit Cloud.
It provides several AI-powered tools to help organizations nurture stakeholder relationships and boost data-driven decisions to improve donor engagement efforts.
Top Features
Fundraising: Manage giving lifecycles, view each donor's profile holistically, and create segments.
Program management: Centralize program information and track performance with real-time reporting and tools for enrollment, attendance, and volunteer management.
Outcome management: Define desired outcomes, create indicators to measure progress, set targets, and assess results.
Pricing
Nonprofit Cloud - Enterprise: $60 per user per month, billed annually.
Nonprofit Cloud - Unlimited: $100 per user per month, billed annually. Includes everything in the Enterprise plan, plus more storage and 24/7 toll-free support.
3. DonorPerfect
DonorPerfect is a fundraising hub where nonprofits can collaboratively manage donors.
Its database is deeply customizable and lets you manage fundraising campaigns and keep track of donor and donation data.
Top Features
Fundraising management: Manage unlimited data, merge donor data into thank-you emails, and track gifts and pledges.
Donor reporting and analysis: Track donors, discover trends, and get comprehensive donation summaries and analysis.
Campaign management: Oversee campaigns and track results, send targeted mailings, monitor deadlines, and organize special events.
Donation management: Integrate credit card and bank draft processing, manage recurring or one-time gifts, automate acknowledgments, set pledge reminders, and track memberships.
Pricing
Pricing varies by each organization’s fundraising goals. Request a quote by filling out a form, and a representative will provide a personalized plan that matches your needs.
4. CharityEngine
CharityEngine is a CRM that centralizes all donor data on a single platform.
As an all-in-one nonprofit CRM, CharityEngine lets organizations manage donors, sustainers, and members, see all donor interactions in a 360º view, and track payment processing.
Top Features
Direct mail: Segment and personalize email lists.
Email marketing: Launch, manage, and track mass email campaigns.
Donation forms: Create personalized landing pages and forms for payment processing.
Major gifts: Set up automated emails to thank donors promptly.
Reporting and analytics: Get valuable insights from your data analytics shown in clean dashboards.
Volunteer coordination: Recruit, engage with, and retain volunteers to help you enhance your fundraising appeals.
Pricing
CharityEngine offers different pricing for growing and enterprise nonprofits. To receive a custom quote, book a demo.
5. Springboard
Springboard is built for Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud, catering to enterprise nonprofits. It helps organizations engage with supporters and increase retention through fundraising and advocacy campaigns.
Using Salesforce-powered insights, Springboard combines fundraising and marketing into a fully Salesforce-fluent tool.
Top Features
Personalized experience: Customize the donor experience with Salesforce data tracking, tailored forms, and targeted communications.
Springboard Payments: Increase donations and recurring gifts with a built-in upsell option.
Analytics: Better understand donor behavior and habits with insightful analytics.
Pricing
Springboard's pricing model consists of a single monthly platform fee based on each organization's needs. To get the exact price, you need to book a demo.
6. HubSpot CRM
HubSpot is a free CRM with tools to manage contacts and marketing campaigns.
It has nonprofit-friendly onboarding, integrates with over 1,000 third-party apps, and helps organizations scale personalized engagement with supporters.
Top Features
Pipeline management: Track each donor's journey and see real-time updates on an easy-to-read dashboard.
Email template builder: Create email templates and share them with your team.
Email tracking: Track open, link, click-through, and attachment download rates.
Productivity detailed reports: Get detailed reports and insights on productivity and individual performance to identify growth opportunities.
Pricing
HubSpot is free for up to two users, but there are pricing options for larger teams with more advanced features.
7. Neon One CRM
Neon One is a CRM for small-to-midsized nonprofits. It offers tools to manage fundraising campaigns, donor communications, events, and volunteers.
Top Features
Supporter management:Build and nurture relationships with donors and supporters.
Website management: Create and manage your nonprofit's website without the need for design or coding knowledge.
Peer-to-peer fundraising: Support peer-to-peer, DIY, and community giving.
Events and ticketing: Manage event creation, ticketing, and promotion.
Pricing
Essentials: Starts at $99 per month with essential tools for fundraising database management.
Impact: Starts at $209 per month and includes tools to automate operations, manage volunteers, and integrate with other apps.
Empower: Starts at $409 per month and features premium support services.
Choosing the right CRM for your nonprofit
With so many CRM options available, choosing the right one for your nonprofit can feel overwhelming. Focus on tools that best match your organization’s needs for donor outreach, email marketing, and event management, and go from there.
Be sure to also consider which features would be most helpful to streamline your operations according to your fundraising, event, and supporter management needs.
Some of the essential features you should look for in a nonprofit CRM are:
Email and marketing tools
Donor management capabilities
Third-party app integrations
Reporting and analytics
Streamline your fundraising efforts with Streak
Streak is CRM software built specifically for Gmail users, and it's perfect for managing donor interactions and information right from your inbox.
With Streak, you can keep track of important email marketing metrics to gain valuable insights and improve your fundraising efforts.
Plus, Streak automatically stores stakeholder data, which makes it easy to create and manage personalized workflows. These workflows are shown in neatly organized dashboards so everyone on the team has a clear view of all ongoing operations.
Try Streak for free for 14 days and see how it helps you streamline your nonprofit's operations and improve your fundraising efforts. It only takes 30 seconds to get started.