Best CRM for Non Profits | Top 10 Reviewed and Compared for 2023

The best CRM for nonprofits will help you better manage your service touchpoints and effectively streamline internal workflows. With the best CRM software, you’ll be fully equipped to automate and simplify activities like fundraising campaigns, online donations, and volunteer management, along with maintaining an extensive donor database.

Finding the best CRM for your non-profit can be difficult, given the number of choices. We’ve researched and found the best CRM software for nonprofits based on criteria like price, integrations, ease of handling, customer support, and free trials. Read on to learn how industry leaders like Salesforce, Pipedrive, and Zoho CRM can help you.

Best CRM for Nonprofit Organizations | Top 10 Shortlist

Salesforce stands a mile ahead of others as the best CRM app for nonprofit organizations, owing to how easy it is to use, its professional customer support, unmatched lead tracking, and effective donor management. Here’s how it competes against others on the list:

1. Salesforce — Overall, the Best CRM for Non Profits | Try it Now with the 14-Day Free Trial.
2. Pipedrive — The Best CRM Software for Non Profits Converting One-Time & Potential Donors into Regular Ones | Put it to the Test with the 14-Day Free Trial.
3. Zoho CRM — The Best Non-Profit CRM for Donor Database & Volunteer Management | Test it Free for 15-Days.
4. Monday Sales CRM — Best Free CRM Software for Nonprofits with Clean Donor Profiles | Try the Free Plan Before Committing.
5. Zendesk Sell — The Best Non-Profit Software for Optimising Donor Interactions and Fundraising Campaigns | Offers a Generous 30-Day Free Trial.
6. HubSpot — Top Donor Management Software with Excellent Fundraising Tools & Donor-tracking.
7. Freshsales — Great Free CRM Software for Non-Profits to Create Personalized Donation Processes.
8. Maximizer CRM — Leading CRM for Nonprofits for Detailed Reports on Donor Interactions.
9. Less Annoying CRM — A Popular Beginner-Friendly CRM App for Better Managing your Team.
10. Oracle NetSuite — Quality Non-Profit CRM App for Comprehensive Data on Each Donor.

Best CRM for Non Profits | Top 10 Reviewed

Let’s now dig into the details of the top 10 CRM for nonprofits, including their best features, pros, and cons, so that you have all the necessary information to make a sound decision.

1. Salesforce — Overall, the Best CRM for Non Profits in 2023

Salesforce is the best CRM software for companies that want expert help to grow their non-profit organization.

It helps simplify the grant-seeking process by letting you create the proposal and manage the responses from the same platform. It also gives you actionable insights into your proposal’s performance and the prospect’s interest level so that you decide when to keep pushing or give up.

Besides being the best CRM software for automotive businesses, Salesforce is also an all-in-hub for managing your new and recurring donors. To simplify donor management, it offers smart filters where you can search for donors quickly based on their interest level.

For example, if you want to filter all dead donor leads and only search for the ones that responded to your last email, you can use the lead management settings to do so instantly.

Another feature that makes Salesforce a commendable CRM platform is lead routing. Finding quality leads ready to contribute to a noble cause isn’t enough — you must find the right person to give them a walkthrough of the process and help them complete the transaction.

For example, if your target audience consists of young adults and senior citizens, you can automatically route their queries to team members who’ll be best suited to handle them.

The more your leads bond with your team, the higher the chances of conversion.

Pricing

Salesforce starts at just $25/user/month with its Essentials plan, which comes with case management, service console apps, telephony integration, and more.

For premium features like service contracts and entitlements and web services API, upgrade to a premium plan such as the Enterprise or the Unlimited plan.

Try the market’s leading CRM risk-free for 14 days now to see if it’s the right one for you — without risking a cent.

2. Pipedrive — The Best CRM Software for Non Profits Converting One-Time & Potential Donors into Regular Ones

Pipedrive is unlike any other CRM platform in that its software is developed by people with experience in sales & donor outreach — they know what you need.

One of the unique features of Pipedrive is personalized messages. To help you convert one-time donors into repeat donors, Pipedrive lets you send follow-up emails that are automatically personalized for each donor based on their recent activities.

After all, donations and charity work are often intertwined with emotions. Only a powerful, personalized message can leave a lasting impact and make the donor participate in all the upcoming campaigns.

The best part about Pipedrive is it gives you a holistic view of all your contacts and the deals linked to them in one place. This helps you easily identify your:

All in just a glance. With a single click, you can scroll through your entire history with a specific donor in case you ever need to go back and extract data from a previous deal.

Worried about the pain of importing all your data from another CRM platform or spreadsheets to Pipedrive? Don’t be. Pipedrive lets you automatically import or export tons of data at once and even categorizes them for you.

Plus, if there are any duplicate data, it’ll automatically merge them to save space.

Pricing

Pipedrive will cost you a mere $9.90/user/month for its Essential plan. With this plan, you’ll get lead and deal management, customizable pipelines, lead inbox, deal rotting, and much more.

However, the Essential plan gives only 3,000 open deals and 30 custom field limits. To get a higher number of these, plus additional features such as:

And plenty more, we recommend signing up for a premium plan, preferably the Professional plan. With the 14-day free trial, you can try Pipedrive risk-free and see if it’s worth your time and money.

3. Zoho CRM — The Best Nonprofit CRM for Donor Database & Volunteer Management

Zoho CRM is best known for its terrific automation features. With most of the daily mundane tasks running on autopilot, you’ll be able to focus better on strategizing your next move.

For example, its Email Parser automatically logs every piece of information your donors share in the emails to your donor database, be it their name, age, location, and problem.

Everything gets automatically added to your records so that you don’t have to waste time entering these details manually. Needless to say that with Zoho, you can effectively manage multiple donation processes through different pipelines in one place.

For example, if you have one pipeline tracking the journey of new donors and another managing retargeting old donors, you can manage them simultaneously without compromising either’s efficiency.

This way, you won’t have to go through the hassle of juggling multiple platforms or wait for one pipeline to end before beginning one — get more done in a shorter time.

Zoho CRM also lets you maintain an omnichannel presence across social media, websites, email, and SMS integrations to reach out to as many potential donors as possible. Conversely, a multi-channel presence also makes it easier for your donors to get in touch with you with their queries.

To further simplify the donation process, Zoho integrates with reliable payment gateways such as Paypal or Google Checkout so that your donors can support your cause before they change their minds.

Pricing

Zoho CRM’s Standard plan will cost you only $14/user/month and tags along with features such as predefined reports & dashboards, email templates, and custom fields — suitable for a small to mid-sized business.

If you’d like to experience Zoho CRM at its highest potential, with functionalities such as:

And other premium security, marketing automation, and product customization features, bump your plan up to the Enterprise or Ultimate plan. Is Zoho CRM the one for you? Find out with the 15-day free trial. No risk. No hassle.

4. Monday Sales CRM — Best Free CRM Software for Nonprofits with Clean Donor Profiles

Monday.com is an all-in-one business management platform with a free forever plan. Whether you need help with marketing, finances, or CRM, it covers everything.

Under its CRM solution, it provides a comprehensive dashboard that gives you an overview of your top donors, their current stage, and priority level based on expected donations. This helps your team prioritize important donors and close as many as possible quickly.

The best part is you can customize this entire view. Add as many donation stages as you want, or experiment with the number of columns or label colors — whatever works best for you and creates a harmonious overview.

To fine-tune interactions with your donors, Monday.com allows you to send personalized emails without actually spending time writing them. Here’s how it works:

This way, each of your emails gets a personal touch, and you can connect better with your donors.

Speaking of Monday’s email features, it notifies you as soon as someone opens or engages with your donors, helping you follow up on time. What’s more, it’ll also update the conversion probability so that you always have the latest numbers in hand.

Whether you use Outlook or Gmail, integrate both with Monday.com and have all your emails logged automatically.

Pricing

If you’re a solopreneur or a small business, Monday.com’s free forever plan that allows up to 2 users and 1,000 contacts will be perfect for you.

However, for a fairly profitable small business or a large corporation that needs automation and speed, we recommend Monday.com’s Basic CRM plan. For just $10/seat/month, you’ll get unlimited:

Feel like the already-mentioned plans don’t cover your needs well? Subscribe to Monday.com’s Enterprise plan that asks you about all your needs and then quotes you a custom price accordingly.

Put Monday.com to the test for a full two weeks to determine if it matches your needs.

5. Zendesk Sell — The Best Non Profit Software for Optimising Donor Interactions and Fundraising Campaigns

Zendesk Sell is best known for optimizing your donor interactions and accelerating the donation cycle so that you can close more leads at a time.

For example, you’ll get a pre-built dashboard that comes with essential performance analysis metrics such as the:

And more. Having all these essential numbers in one place and updated in real-time makes it easier for you to make informed decisions.

For faster donor communication, Zendesk Sell also lets you integrate your email account and schedule bulk emails to go out on a specified date.

Plus, you get unlimited email templates, which save you the trouble of writing every email from scratch. With Zendesk Sell, emailing thousands of leads takes only a few minutes.

Besides all this, unlike most popular CRM solutions, Zendesk Sell has its own calling and texting feature, and each call made through this platform is automatically logged and recorded.

With this all-in-one communication platform, all your donor interactions will be in one place so that you can track the entire conversation and ensure that your team adheres to the organization’s guidelines.

The recorded conversations also give you an insight into how well your team handles each donor. Plus, you can always listen to their approach and give them tips to increase the probability of getting a donor to contribute.

Pricing

Zendesk Sell starts at a reasonable $49/agent/month with its Suite Team plan that comes with an industry-leading ticketing system, a unified agent workspace, up to 50 AI-powered automated answers, 1,000+ apps and integrations, and a lot more.

Need premium features such as SLA management, customizable and shareable dashboards, and up to 500 AI-powered automated answers? Get a premium Zendesk Sell plan.

Try Zendesk Sell risk-free today with the lengthy 30-day free trial.

6. HubSpot — Top Donor Management Software with Excellent Fundraising Tools & Donor-tracking

HubSpot has already partnered with more than 4,000 non-profit organizations to help bring positive change in the world. What makes HubSpot different is if your organization qualifies for its non-profit CRM service, you get an additional 40% discount on all its plans.

In addition, HubSpot also lets you manage a team as big as 1,000 members. Plus, you can store unlimited data for about 1,000,000 contacts.

This means you can store the complete transaction and interaction history of all your donors and go back to them any time you want. This’ll allow you to dig up evidence to resolve conflicts in the future or simply use the data to chart your growth over time.

Besides this, to help you prioritize important donors, HubSpot offers a unique deal-tracking feature. With this, you can check the donation amount tied up with each stage of the process.

Deal tracking will also inform your team when a potential donor opens their emails or visits your website, helping them figure out the perfect time to contact them.

In addition to tracking donors, you can also track prospects with HubSpot’s Prospect Tracking feature, which tells you who’s visiting your site but not contacting you. You can log their information and use it to target them during your next campaign.

Pricing

HubSpot CRM has one of the best free forever plans in the whole CRM industry, with features such as a shared inbox, help desk automation, custom surveys, and more.

If you’re a fairly large business with growing needs, you might be contemplating getting a paid HubSpot plan. In that case, allow us to recommend the Starter pack at just $45/month (billed annually).

Here, you’ll benefit from ad management, email reply tracking, 5,000 email templates, and support for up to 5 currencies. Unsure? Be sure to try HubSpot’s free plan and demo before committing.

7. Freshsales — Great Free CRM Software for Non Profits to Create Personalized Donation Processes

Freshsales is a popular CRM platform for two reasons — it boasts a generous free forever plan and personalized donation processes.

Under the free plan, you get basic features such as:

On top of that, you also get 24/5 instant customer support that’ll guide you through the setup, meaning not having a dedicated tech team won’t bite you at all.

Just like Zendesk Sell, Freshsales, too, has its own integrated calling and texting system. No need to invest in a separate business phone system — you can manage all forms of communication from the same platform and within the same plan.

Besides this, one of our favorite things about Freshsales is how it advises you on the next best step, even if you don’t have a dedicated account manager.

For example, it uses AI to give insights into your donors and informs you if they’re more likely to contribute or go in vain. Then, its AI-powered bot, Freddy, will give you tips on the next course of action to boost the probability of closing that particular donation.

Even if you’re a small organization without a donor relationship expert, Freddy will help you connect with your leads better. With that said, Freddy is an all-rounder.

In addition to donation insights, it can also handle your leads’ initial queries before connecting them to you. Plus, it’ll tell you which of the donors can be added to the final forecast so that you always know where your expected donation stands.

Pricing

Freshsales, like HubSpot, has a free forever plan. With this plan, you’ll get contact & account management, 24/5 support, a mobile app for on-the-go usage, and more.

You’ll notice that the free plan doesn’t contain Freddy — Freshsales’s much-acclaimed bot. For Freddy and other powerful tools such as:

And much more, get Freshsales’s Growth plan at just $15/user/month. Is Freshsales CRM your cup of tea? Find out today with the generous 21-day free trial. No risk of losing any money. No hassle.

8. Maximizer CRM — Leading CRM for Nonprofits for Detailed Reports on Donor Interactions

Maximizer CRM is a platform specially designed for leaders to understand and train their teams better.

It lets you track individual team members’ activities and performance to see who could use a little help. With a clear view of their individual effectiveness, you easily coach and watch them progress simultaneously.

This ensures that your team is constantly growing, adopting better techniques, and staying ahead of the competition. Along with helping you land new donors, Maximizer will also give you a hand in retaining existing ones by providing impressive customer service.

For example, its unique customer health analysis tool will track your interaction with your donors and their engagement level and notify you if you risk losing one of them. Early heads-up will help you take the necessary steps to renew your relationship before it’s too late.

To further increase your retention rate, Maximizer CRM studies your existing donor base and creates detailed reports on their purchase history, related purchases, and buying patterns.

Its ultimate goal is to help you understand your donors — what attracts and drives them away, and more importantly, what they want from your organization. The better you cater to their needs, the more likely they’ll stay.

Pricing

Maximizer CRM has two plans on offer, and you’ll get the best bang for your buck with the Base Edition plan priced at $55/user/month.

While both Maximizer CRM plans offer 10,000 contacts and a 100GB database size, the Sales Leader Edition plan also allows you to track and monitor your sales teams in a Kanban Board, plus deliver detailed insights into your company’s productivity and revenue with data visualizations.

Although Maximizer CRM doesn’t come with a free trial, its live demo will show you how the tool works in real-time so that you judge whether or not to buy it. Book a demo today.

9. Less Annoying CRM — A Popular Beginner-Friendly CRM App for Better Managing your Team

Less Annoying CRM is simply perfect for beginners. As the name suggests, it believes in keeping everything simple, whether it be the features or the interface.

What we love the most about Less Annoying CRM is that it gives you a great deal of customization flexibility, even if you have zero coding knowledge.

You can change the number of fields or labels each section of your dashboard has and add new custom fields for your contacts — no code required. Creating a personalized workspace ensures that your team can find their way around the tool conveniently.

The only thing we didn’t like about Less Annoying CRM is that adding extra team members comes at an additional price. But on the brighter side, each user gets their own login and password to minimize the risk of unauthorized logins.

Along with that, you can also customize their view. For example, if it’s a new recruit, you can limit their view only to the donors they’re associated with. On the other hand, if it’s a senior-level manager, you can give them a holistic view of the entire department.

Pricing

Less Annoying CRM is the most straightforwardly priced CRM software. It offers just a single plan at $15/user/month with no hidden fees or contracts whatsoever.

The best part? You get a generous 30-day free trial to decide risk-free whether to commit to it long-term or not. Try it today.

10. Oracle NetSuite — Quality CRM App for Comprehensive Data on Each Donor

Oracle NetSuite CRM lets you manage your interactions with donors and stakeholders from one place.

Everyone on your team gets access to updated donor data whenever they want. These reports consist of basic information such as name, contact, location, and subject, along with a detailed history of your communication.

In fact, each donor profile contains all the emails, faxes, and attachments you sent them. This not only serves as evidence to resolve future conflicts but also helps you pick up the conversation from where you left off.

To keep your existing donors happy, NetSuite also automates case management processes. For example, if an existing donor has any query or concern, they can submit the case online instead of waiting for your team to accept it manually.

Next, they’ll be given the live status of the case so that they can follow up only when necessary instead of constantly asking for status updates.

If you’re not ready to invest in an expensive option — understandably so, Netsuite’s Suite Donation plan under its Social Impact division offers non-profit solutions with zero activation and recurring charges.

You might not get the above-mentioned features, but you’ll be given a basic dashboard and donation management tool. Along with that, NetSuite will also help you with:

The best part? All these features will be available to you at a heavily discounted price.

Pricing

Oracle NetSuite curates a custom plan for every user to give them exactly what they need. The subscription starts at $99, but the total price is arrived at by adding the following:

To judge whether Oracle NetSuite is for you, try the product tour. You can contact NetSuite’s team, design your own plan, and get a custom quote.

Best Software for Nonprofits | Top CRMs Compared

Here’s a quick way to thoroughly compare the best CRMs for non profits. The table below highlights only the most critical differences between our top picks to help you easily pinpoint the ones best suited to your needs:

The Key Benefits of CRMs for Nonprofit Organizations | Why You Need One

Here’s how CRM can help nonprofit entities reduce frustration and concentrate more on their mission:

Organize Events 

You can use the CRM tool to organize events that span several sessions, days, and places. To help manage events, most CRMs let you create personal spaces on your dashboard, plus:

And more, including graph-based reports for insight into the progress of your event.

Centralize Data 

With a CRM platform, you don’t have to look for email threads and activity reports in different locations; everything you need is in one place. After logging into your CRM, checking emails, campaigns, and contact information take only a few seconds.

Furthermore, data is protected, and anyone with a login can access the same data in real time, knowing it’s up to date and correct.

Understand Your Audience

A CRM monitors and logs the actions of your audiences. They’ll provide a complete overview of your target audience’s behaviors by monitoring your contacts’ activities, such as the events they’ve attended or the most recent volunteering program they joined.

This data will enable you to develop a relationship-building plan tailored to your distinct audience groups.

Save Time

By automating repeating tasks, nonprofits can save time using a CRM.

For example, you could program ‘thank-you’ emails to be sent automatically after receiving a donation. That’ll help your nonprofit staff to focus on tasks essential to reaching their goals, such as marketing, fundraising, and overseeing volunteers and your board.

Besides helping to nurture long-lasting donor relationships, automating tasks can also increase accuracy and efficiency.

Improve Team Collaboration

CRM software enables you to manage jobs and ongoing projects across your organization.

For example, you can assign tasks to one another, make notes, and create reminders. By making information available to everyone in real-time, you can save time on planning and more time crafting exciting campaigns.

Ultimately, it’ll make your business more disciplined, efficient, and streamlined.

How We Selected the Best CRM Software for Nonprofits

Wondering how we zeroed in on the best CRM tools for nonprofits? Here are the things we considered:

Features

We reviewed typical CRM platform features like:

In addition to specialized nonprofit aspects, we consider the general functionality essential for all CRM systems. This includes multiple CRM integration choices, a mobile app, and analytics and reporting features.

Usability

We examined usability in terms of the expertise needed to set up an account, integrate with external or internal services, and the skills required mainly to use specialized nonprofit features.

We also evaluated the overall usability of the system’s UI to ensure that our top picks were a good choice for all users.

Cost

In compiling our list of the top 10 nonprofit CRMs, we ensured to include a variety of solutions suitable for various needs and budgets.

Here we considered the availability of free plans and included CRMs that offer various flexible pricing options and the option between paying monthly or saving money by paying annually.

On top of this, we also looked at the expenses of integrations and built-in features with nonprofit solutions.

Customer Support

As with all organizations, there are bound to be some problems, and when they happen, you need to know you have assistance.

Support and assistance are evaluated based on customer service hours and the availability of help by line chat, phone, and email. Besides ensuring our top 10 provided solid customer support, we also reviewed their online resources.

Non Profit CRM FAQs