Purchasing Nonprofit Software: A Fundraiser’s Guide

Your nonprofit has plenty to keep track of. From organizing donor profiles to implementing fundraising strategies to attending conferences, your mind must be scrambling to remember everything!

Don’t bear the whole load yourself. Use software to help you out!

Whether your organization is just starting or is established with a large following, every nonprofit can benefit from some type of nonprofit software.

But as you probably know, the process of deciding on the right software can slow you down. With so many different features and prices, how do you pick a place to start?

Don’t worry. We’ve put together a list of our top 6 nonprofit software providers to help you narrow down your search:

  1. Salsa Labs

  2. @Pay

  3. Qgiv

  4. BidPal

  5. DipJar

  6. CiviCRM

 

Let’s lift some of the weight off your back and dive in!

nonprofit software

1. Salsa Labs

Overview

Salsa Labs’ nonprofit software is all encompassing as they offer donor management, digital marketing, online fundraising, online advocacy, and peer-to-peer solutions! They’re dedicated to helping you strengthen donor relationships while you grow and further your cause.

With automated gift acknowledgments and mobile-friendly forms, your professionalism will never be doubted. To create a unified and professional brand for your nonprofit, you can start by improving your online fundraising strategies with Salsa’s tools or mobilizing movements by starting petitions with their advocacy techniques. Salsa will help you capitalize on your donors’ preferences while unifying your branding for an overall improvement on your organization’s behalf.

Why We Love It

Imagine being able to grow your donor base and keep track of each donor profile. With Salsa’s digital marketing software, you can! It helps you use your donor data to deliver the right message at the right time to the right donor. With Salsa, your communication skills will be the best they’ve ever been. Plus, you can track your communication efforts easily with their dashboard analytics!

 

nonprofit software2. @Pay

Overview

@Pay’s online donation software specializes in all things digital, innovative, and lucrative. They’ve simplified the donation process by implementing a two-click payment service. Their mobile-friendly online forms are a breeze—your supporters will simply select their preferred donation amount and confirm their contribution via email.

And it works the same way for their text giving program! @Pay focuses on making sure you get paid as fast as possible while connecting with donors on their favorite devices. Even their QuickPay email buttons are just a two-click process!

Why We Love It

The best part? You don’t have to be a tech guru to effectively use their services because they’re that easy to use! You’ll barely have to explain the donation process to your donors.

@Pay knows that if your donors are happy, you’re happy (and so are your donations!), so they’ve made every aspect of their services user-friendly.

Pricing

@Pay even offers a free plan! @PayBasic is $0 year with a 2.9% and 30¢ fee per transaction. With their basic plan, you’ll have access to an online donation page, recurring gift options, transaction and donor data, and unlimited admin access and accounts!

If you’d like something a little more comprehensive, @Pay Premium is $399 a year with a 2.5% and 30¢ fee per transaction. Their premium plan includes all @Pay Basic features plus unlimited online donation pages, text-to-give, QuickPay buttons, and an event thermometer!

 

nonprofit software

3. Qgiv

Overview

Qgiv’s nonprofit software focuses on online fundraising and peer-to-peer fundraising. They help make everything easier on you like a nonprofit software should! It’s easy to start and just as easily adapts to your growing needs.

In addition to your nonprofit, Qgiv is focused on your donors, too! You can customize your donation pages to make a gorgeous web page that inspires giving and makes the donation process simple, easy, and quick.

You’ll be able to recreate that gorgeous look on your peer-to-peer web page too, with their drag and drop interface, customizable branding, and a plethora of widgets.

Why We Love It

Everything is unlimited. Yup, you read that correctly. There are no limits on their online giving software, which means you’ll get unlimited donation forms, unlimited simple events, unlimited user, and unlimited training.

Their unlimited live support includes phone and email support, and don’t forget their online articles, videos, and webinars are all here to help, too! Plus, you get unlimited users for your software no matter what.

Pricing

You can use Qgiv’s services for free! Qgiv Start is $0 a month with a 3.95% and 30¢ fee per transaction. Grow, their next and most popular plan is $49 a month with a 3.95% and 30¢ fee per transaction. Third and most in-depth, their Engage plan is $199 a month with a 3.95% and 30¢ fee per transaction.

If none of those are enough, Qgiv offers an Impact team that’s perfect for high-volume organizations. Give them a call to get a quote.

Like Qgiv Start’s price? Are you looking for more fundraising providers at a similar cost? Check out @Pay’s list of Top Free Fundraising Software Providers.

nonprofit software

4. BidPal

Overview

Bidpal revolves around event and auction fundraising software. They know that organizing a fundraising event is difficult even if you’re a fundraising veteran, which why their software handles your event from start to finish. From event management to ticketing to registration and checkout to payments to reporting and analytics, you’re covered.

BidPal’s software offers an easy-to-use event website that will help with your brand awareness, event promotion, and social media integration. You can share both your Facebook and Twitter feeds on your site while giving your donors the opportunities to share their donations and involvement.

Why We Love It

Their mobile bidding app! Need we say more? Your bidders won’t have to run back and forth from item to item during a silent auction to keep up with their bids. Instead, they can view items, place bids, and make donations from their favorite pocket-sized device. This way, you’ll have more time to mingle with your guests, strengthening your relationships.

But updating bids isn’t all their auction software does. It’ll manage your auction item procurement, help you sell auction tickets, email receipts to bidders, and provide you with post-event analytics.

Pricing

BidPal’s fundraising software is $1,195 annually and comes with unlimited access!

Your package’s features will include a web-based planner, donor and solicitor management, ticketing and sponsorship sales, online stores, event websites, online auctions, and social media integration, just to name a few. Mobile bidding plan quotes are available upon request.

 

nonprofit software

5. MailChimp

Overview

MailChimp is an email marketing software. The MailChimp campaign builder will help you create a beautiful email campaign to spread your nonprofit’s message and update your supporters.

And of course, you can automate your marketing! You’ll be able to properly market your organization on social media sites and through welcome emails to new supporters. Plus, their reports will show you just how well you’re promoting your organization and how well your organization is doing by using their services to connect with their donors.

Why We Love It

Their analytics adapt to your organization! With their interactive graphs, you can track your performance by determining just how many emails were delivered or bounced, opened, and interacted with. MailChimp tracks your donors’ engagement and receptiveness like no other!

Pricing

Their New Business plan is free and includes plenty of their features, like the campaign builder and marketing automation.

More expensive plans like Growing Business or Pro Marketer are listed at $10 and $199 a month, respectively, and include features like unlimited sending, predicted demographics, comparative reports, and multivariate testing.

nonprofit software

6. CiviCRM

Overview

CiviCRM offers nonprofits an open source constituent relationship management solution that’s also fully customizable and expandable.They focus on easy-to-use software features that can be used on any platform or device.

This comprehensive software includes features like contact management, accounting integration, case management, event management, email marketing, advocacy campaigns, peer-to-peer fundraising, and reports.

Plus, CiviCRM is completely customizable and configurable. You can use an additional programmer to get exactly what you need from the software.

Why We Love It

You can automatically store all your data for every donor profile in one central location to keep your records clean and in order.

And speaking of contacts, you can integrate the software you use to produce content for your donors with CiviCRM, too! Whether you use Drupal, WordPress or Joomla, you can use your two favorite software seamlessly and in conjunction to make your life easier and more organized.

Pricing

CiviCRM is totally free! You can start using their services as fast as you can download the program. But don’t forget, donations are encouraged and appreciated seeing as that’s how the project is funded, so donating will only make the product better for you!

 

Now that we’ve listed our top providers in efforts to help your search, you should be all ready to decide on the perfect nonprofit software provider for you!

If you’re still looking for more providers, check out @Pay’s list of 9 Nonprofit Software Solutions.

nonprofit software

Nick Small

With specialties in content strategy and creation, social media engagement and digital marketing optimization, Nick brings a depth of experience in nonprofit marketing. He’s also helped hundreds of nonprofits with their online presence to improve donor retention and attract new audiences, and he still has time for a good glass of whiskey, round of golf or new adventure.

July 27, 2017

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