25 Best Software Solutions for Nonprofits
Technology has changed the way that nonprofits work, making it easier for them to recruit and track volunteers. There are a number of ways that nonprofits can use technology to improve their operations - allowing them to better focus and attain their mission and goals. Here are some of the best apps nonprofits can use to fundraise, market and manage volunteer and donor information.
Software for Recruiting and Scheduling Volunteers
If you are looking to recruit and manage volunteers, these apps provide a robust set of features to meet your organization’s needs.
- Galaxy Digital - Galaxy Digital offers a variety of features for nonprofits. The real benefit of this system is the event management application. With helpful tools such as volunteer check-in, skill-based volunteering, and scheduling tools, Galaxy Digital provides useful solutions for recruiting, organizing and managing volunteers. Whether the group needs a landing page, to collect donations, manage e-signing on waivers or run volunteer reports, this tool is geared to help.
- InitLive - InItLive is a volunteer scheduling app predominately focused on event management. Whether you need to brand a sign up for event staff or volunteers, InItLive provides helpful tools to accomplish that purpose. The site provides sign ups that are professional and brandable to create a look to match your needs.
The tool also works well for events and offers mobile check-in, communication features, and access to event-related documents. The app offers the ability to send automatic event notifications and track volunteer hours making it a great option for planning events.
- SignUpGenius - When it comes to organizing people, SignUpGenius is the leader. Build custom sign up forms for recruiting volunteers, planning events, coordinating fundraising events and more. The tool provides a variety of add-on features including custom questions, the ability to create a timeframe in which the sign up will open and close and the ease of collecting money in a secure way. The tool also offers the option to create branded sign ups with your organization’s logos, colors, and styles.
Enterprise subscribers can create a page for their organization to post related volunteer sign ups. Enterprise users can also track volunteer hours and reporting on sign ups. For those looking for an affordable and flexible solution, SignUpGenius proves to be a comprehensive option.
- Volgistics - This is a great tool for recruiting and matching volunteers to meet your organization’s needs. Volgistics is packed with features for volunteer management including screening, tracking, reporting and scheduling volunteers. Volunteers can submit applications, view opportunities or post hours on Volgistics. The software works for multiple site needs and offers a kiosk mode for check-ins. Organizers can also text and email volunteers and generate automatic shift reminders.
The tool is geared for managing volunteers and provides database functionality. With all the functionality, there is quite a learning curve. However, Volgistics provides helpful customer service to guide staff through the tool.
- VolunteerHub - VolunteerHub is a powerful and helpful tool for recruiting volunteers and organizing events. You can build out volunteer teams and even track various skillsets for volunteers. Additionally, the system is great for creating event registrations and tracking. Since the software is powerful, plan for a learning curve when onboarding your team. Additionally, the registration software can be somewhat expensive when compared to other apps.
Organize volunteers for a pet adoption event. View an Example
Software for Online Giving and Member Management
Looking to fundraise and manage records for donors and prospects? If so, we have a list of solid companies to help you make your selection.
- Bloomerang - Bloomerang helps nonprofits with fundraising and donor management. The software is priced well with several levels based upon the size of your donor base. The tool offers member management and fundraising features and a newsletter application for communicating with constituents and donors.
- Donor Perfect - This tool works as a growth hub for fundraising and member management. Donor Perfect was built around fundraising and provides nonprofits with related tools to meet that end. The app gives nonprofits the ability to automate gift acknowledgments, record keeping, and financial reporting. They also offer add-ons so that nonprofits can add the functionality they need as they grow or as challenges arise.
- Kindful - Kindful is designed with the aim to keep data management simple. Additionally, the tool integrates with several other applications to make member data easy to manage across multiple platforms. If you are looking for a heftier CRM system, this tool may not meet your needs. Still, their simplicity and targeted focus on helping nonprofits manage donor data and reporting make this a reasonable solution.
- Membership Toolkit - Whether you are a nonprofit or a booster club, Membership Toolkit is a helpful software for fundraising and membership management. The tool is easy to use and provides a place for hosting online fundraising, record keeping and member management. Additionally, they offer a message board feature where members can leave posts and communicate as a community.
- Neon CRM - Neon CRM provides a nicely packaged fundraising, event registration and member management tool. Additionally, the app will track volunteer hours and provide reporting. For larger organizations looking for more powerful tools, this might not cover all the needs. However, for donor management and fundraising, this is a good option.
- Salsa - This system provides a powerful option for nonprofits needing to fundraise and manage donors or members with a CRM platform. Salsa allows you to manage member info, interactions and groups. It also allows you to link relationships, making it easy to group members associated with a household or organization. You can also track member giving, activity and interactions. The CRM tool also provides a fundraising feature for easy engagement with your member list.
- Sumac - Need a fundraising and donation site that will match your branding and work on your website? Then Sumac might be a good option. Sumac offers a basic CRM tool for managing volunteers but also offers additional add-on features and tools for those needing more functionality. The program does not offer email and newsletter tools but can integrate with Mailchimp or Constant Contact.
- Fundly - Fundly helps you easily raise money online. With no raise requirements or start-up fees, the online crowdfunding platform simplifies giving campaigns. Whether you’re organizing a campaign for a specific cause at your organization or recurring needs, Fundly makes it easy to engage your community through crowdfunding.
Software for Nonprofit Marketing and Communication
While some softwares include communication tools for nonprofits, these tools are proven software solutions that have provided communication and marketing for nonprofit organizations.
- ConstantContact - ConstantContact is a great option for nonprofits looking for a powerful email newsletter tool at an affordable price. While there is no free option for this program, plans start at an affordable rate and increase for audiences larger than 500 contacts. The software also provides reporting to give you insights into campaign performance. They also have customizable templates with unlimited emails.
- Canva - For those who don’t have a graphic designer on staff, Canva offers an easy solution to create graphics for all your marketing and promotion needs. Canva lets you select from their library of stock images and you can even customize and modify the graphic for your purposes. This way, you can add text to overlay on the image. You instantly become your own creative team without having to hire a photographer and graphic designer to get the job done. It’s simple and you save money.
- Hootsuite - If you are managing multiple social media platforms, Hootsuite is a great option. The software syncs with Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and more – allowing your organization to post and manage various platforms from one account. You can schedule posts in advance to streamline your social media campaigns. If you are a small nonprofit on a budget, it’s helpful to know they provide a free version that is a little harder to find.
- Mailchimp - Mailchimp is a popular option for anyone looking to build newsletters for communicating with volunteers, donors and prospects. The tool allows you to create visually appealing emails with easy to use features. They provide reporting to track the performance of email newsletters and email campaigns.
- Smore - Smore is another newsletter application allowing you to communicate with your audiences and provide them with visually appealing emails. If you have a fairly large audience, Smore is a more affordable option and they have special pricing for nonprofits.
- Unsplash - When a nonprofit needs a stock image to communicate a story or concept, Unsplash is a great tool. While there are a number of quality paid stock photo sites, this is a free tool for nonprofits already operating on a tight budget
- SurveyMonkey - Marketing starts with knowing your audience. With SurveyMonkey, you can easily poll your people (from donors to those you serve) to make sure you’re reaching them in the right ways. You can sign up for free and work up to premium levels depending on your needs.
Offer time slots for volunteer training sessions with a sign up. View an Example
All-In-One Solutions
If you are a larger nonprofit with the budget and need for an all-in-one software solution, these options will give you the features you need for fundraising, CRM, marketing and much more.
- Better Impact - If you are looking for an overall volunteer management system, Better Impact is a great choice. They offer a volunteer portal where volunteers can create profiles and view opportunities. Nonprofits can search their profile database based on various fields and labels for identifying and grouping volunteers and donors. The tool is also helpful for managing donor giving.
Nonprofits can create a page for collecting donations from a group. The system is a bit dated but provides the tools nonprofits need to get the job done. Better Impact offers communication tools and a variety of features that are helpful for managing donors and volunteers.
- Blackbaud - If you are looking for the top of the line solution that provides all the essential tools for nonprofits, Blackbaud is it. Yet, top of the line also means the top of the price spectrum. It means a complex system that does a lot but comes with a steep learning curve, staff training requirements, and/or expensive consultants. For large nonprofits that have the funds and need deep insights and capability out of a software, this is a solid choice.
- Lumaverse for Nonprofits - Lumaverse for Nonprofits is ideal if you’re looking to organize volunteer, member, event, and fundraising information in one place but don’t have a team dedicated to information housekeeping. Lumaverse keeps all your constituent information organized so you can send out group-specific emails and reminders, identify patterns among different groups, focus on what’s working and change what’s not working, and create insightful reports easily and regularly. For teams who want to use data to drive better results and higher ROI, Lumaverse is a strong solution.
- EveryAction - EveryAction is a popular and well-rated nonprofit volunteer management solution. The tool is user-friendly while still providing a nice array of features that are helpful for nonprofits. This is a full-service app – providing donor management and fundraising tools in a unified solution. From event management to communication, this tool provides an array of options to help you get the job done. They also offer reporting and visualizations for assessing the data. The tool also provides a CRM element for recording volunteer information, profiles, notes and more.
- GiveEffect - This is another well-liked software solution that provides a variety of applications that meet the needs of a nonprofit. GiveEffect is loved by many who find it powerful and yet easy to use. Since GiveEffect has a lot of features, it will also be more expensive than less robust solutions. It is designed to be an all-in-one software solution for nonprofits and offer tools from member management to website hosting to online giving.
In a complex world, using and managing technology is crucial for any organization. Work smarter and not harder by selecting the tools your nonprofit needs from this list of helpful software solutions.
Steven Borders is a marketing strategist at SignUpGenius and a marketing technology expert.
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