9 Excellent Nonprofit CRM Alternatives

In the world of nonprofit organizations, cultivating strong relationships with supporters, donors, and volunteers is paramount. It’s the driving force behind their ability to make a positive impact on their communities and the causes they champion. To effectively manage and nurture these relationships, nonprofits often turn to CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems. CRM software serves as a centralized hub where valuable data related to contacts, donations, campaigns, and more can be stored, organized, and analyzed. 

CRM stands for customer relationship management. It is a strategy and a set of tools that help businesses and organizations manage their interactions with customers and potential customers. CRM software is a type of application that stores customer data, tracks customer behavior, automates marketing and sales processes, and provides insights and analytics. The best three in the business are: 

1. Best Overall for Nonprofit: CostaRica CRM
2. Best user-friendly Nonprofit CRM: Salsa CRM
3. Best Free CRM with Nonprofit Online Integration: Virtuous CRM

Now let’s delve into the Top 10 best CRM for Nonprofits.

1. CostaRica CRM

Costarica CRM, from localcrm.com, is a cloud-based CRM software designed for nonprofits of any size and sector. It helps you optimize your resources and build better relationships with your donors, volunteers, and beneficiaries.

With Costarica CRM, you can access contact management, email marketing, event management, fundraising management, grant management, and more. You can also integrate it with your favorite platforms such as WhatsApp, Landing Pages, and Catalogo de Productos o Servicios. Costarica CRM is ideal for nonprofits that want to simplify their work and maximize their impact with a flexible and affordable solution.

Here are some of the features:

• Affordable and Comprehensive
• Integration with payment gateways 
• Customization of workflows and fields according to your business model
• Lead generation and nurturing from multiple sources
• Provides free trial period
• Cloud-based CRM
• It offers a wide range of services and features

Rating: 

Pricing

CostaRica CRM offers various packages at different price points. You may contact info@CostaRicaCRM.com for more information about their services.

The best part about the pricing is that you only pay for how much you need.

Pros	Cons
A cloud-based solution,    hence, will not require any maintenance or installation. Affordable and suited for small and medium-sized enterprises. Features range from sales and marketing to project and inventory management. Simple and non-elusive UI.	Limited integration option with other tools, such as social media and e-commerce platforms.It can be challenging for document customization.

2. Salsa

Salsa CRM, is the best user-friendly fundraising CRM and constituent relationship management database. It helps you streamline your donor data, optimize your strategy, and personalize your outreach.

With this powerful CRM solution, organizations gain access to a wealth of capabilities, including detailed donor profiles, seamless donation tracking, direct mail fundraising tools, and robust reporting and analytics functionalities. Salsa CRM goes beyond the basics, providing nonprofits with the essential tools they need to optimize their operations and drive success.

Here are some of the features:

• Salsa Engage
• SmartEngagement Technology,
• Marketing automation
• Online donation forms
• Custom event pages

Rating: 3.9/5 (G2 Rating)

Pricing

There are no per-user costs, allowing you to provide access to unlimited staff members and volunteers. Starting at $349/month, Salsa CRM provides an affordable solution. 

Pros	Cons
Salsa CRM supports rich donor profiles, complete with custom fields.This CRM solution makes it easy to automate a variety of day-to-day processes.With Salsa CRM, users can build automated email marketing campaigns, manage their organization’s social media presence, and send text messages in one app.	Some users have reported that the software can be slow at times.The user interface can be difficult to navigate for some users.There is a learning curve associated with using the software.

3. Virtuous

Virtuous is designed to help nonprofit organizations increase generosity by serving all donors personally, no matter their gift size. Virtuous CRM provides tools to increase giving, cultivate relationships, and promote online giving via donations, lead, event, and volunteer pages.

With Virtuous CRM’s predictive analytics feature, you can score your donors based on their financial and social/relational data, discover the perfect questions to ask at the right time and ensure that you are interacting with them enough. 

Here are some of the features:

• Automatic notifications of donors that may lapse
• Contact and Gift Management
• Responsive fundraising platforms

Rating: 4.4/5 (G2 Rating)

Pricing

Virtuous CRM has two different plans: Standard at $300.00 per month and Professional at $600.00 per month. They also offer a custom plan based on the customer’s request.

Pros	Cons
The UI/UX Design of the software is modernIt has a Tagging functionUsers can customize the pre-existing reports within Virtuous.	The software does not have a scheduled reporting feature yet.Users cannot edit system labels for now.

4. Kindful

Kindful CRM helps you build deeper relationships with your donors and keeps you from wasting time on administrative tasks. It was acquired by Bloomerang in 2021. It has a smart dashboard that allows you to access donor management, online giving, reporting, email marketing, and other services. There are also integrations with various popular tools and platforms if the intuitive web-based interface isn’t enough.

Kindful’s data-driven donor engagement helps you effectively nurture and retain your donors. Using this functionality, you can also create personalized journeys, track every interaction, measure donor loyalty and retention rate, and get a complete view of your donors and donations from a single screen.

Here are some of the features:

• Flexible API
• Donation pages and forms
• Peer-to-peer and crowdfunding campaign management
• Tracking and reporting too

Rating: 4.4/5 (G2 Rating)

Pricing

Kindful CRM is a nonprofit CRM that offers a variety of features to help organizations manage their donors and fundraising efforts. The cost of Kindful starts at $100/month, billed annually. The pricing model is based on the number of contacts you have. Kindful CRM has six pricing editions ranging from $119 to $699 per month depending on the number of contacts you have.

Pros	Cons
It is easy to use and has a user-friendly interface.They offer a variety of features to help organizations manage their donors and fundraising efforts.They have excellent customer support.	CRM can be expensive for small nonprofits.Some users have reported that Kindful CRM can be slow at times.

5. Wild Apricot

Wild Apricot is a membership management software package that lets nonprofit associations and clubs keep tabs on their members, bill them for dues and events, and keep them informed. 

Wild Apricot boasts that it can help nonprofits attract, engage, and retain members in 5 ways. Firstly, it helps organizations find out why people join purpose-driven organizations. Secondly, it emphasizes benefits during onboarding. Thirdly, it helps win back dormant members. Fourthly, it provides online opportunities to connect. Lastly, it helps organizations find out why people left.

Here are some of the features:

• Drag-and-drop website builder
• Financial reporting tools.
• Digital tip jar for your websites
• Donation button with goals

Rating: 3.9/5 (G2 Rating)

Pricing

Wild Apricot CRM offers a 60-day free trial, after which it is priced as follows: Personal at $48/month for up to 100 contacts, Group at $60/month for up to 250 contacts, Community at $110/month for up to 500 contacts, Professional at $190/month for up to 2,000 contacts and Network at $350/month for up to 5,000 contacts.

Pros	Cons
User-friendly interface and ease of use.Greater customization freedom in areas like website design and membership form creation.Conveniently gathers all your marketing needs in one single place.Great mobile support	If you’re looking for more advanced features, you may need to look elsewhere.The software is not as flexible as other CRMs.

6. NeonCRM

NeonCRM is a cloud-based software suite designed specifically for nonprofit organizations. As a cloud-based software suite, it provides a comprehensive set of features that make managing donor data and fundraising campaigns more efficient than ever before. With NeonCRM, nonprofits can streamline their operations and achieve better results in less time.

Another key feature of NeonCRM is its volunteer management tools. Nonprofits can use these tools to manage their volunteers and track their hours. This can help nonprofits keep track of volunteer activity and ensure that volunteers are being utilized effectively.

Here are some of the features:

• Information tracking
• Manage for fundraisers  
• Create online forms 
• iPhone App.
• Membership and association management.
• Event management

Rating: 4.3/5 (G2 Rating)

Pricing

The pricing is based on the number of contacts you have. The cost of Neon CRM starts at $50/month for up to 1,000 contacts. The pricing model is based on the number of contacts you have. Neon CRM has four pricing editions ranging from $50 to $200 per month depending on the number of contacts you have. All plans include all Neon CRM features and unlimited users.

Pros	Cons
Neon CRM is easy to use and has a user-friendly interface.Neon CRM offers a variety of features to help organizations manage their donors and fundraising efforts.Neon CRM has excellent customer support.	Some users have reported that Neon CRM can be slow at times.Neon CRM can be expensive for small nonprofits.

7. Donor Perfect

DonorPerfect is a comprehensive fundraising solution that provides nonprofits with everything they need to grow. It helps manage donations, contacts, receipting, reporting, email, and fundraising initiatives from a single system. DonorPerfect is suitable for all nonprofits and is a complete fundraising hub that coordinates development and donor engagement efforts with features and tools built for collaboration. 

DonorPerfect is an excellent solution for nonprofits looking to streamline their fundraising efforts. With its comprehensive set of features and tools built for collaboration, it can help nonprofits grow their donor base and raise more money.

Here are some of the features:

• Unlimited data tracking
• Customized thank-you letters
• Quickly manage every gift and pledge
• Reports on grants, campaigns and events
• Integrated online forms
• Monthly giving program

Rating: 4.4/5 (G2 Rating)

Pricing

DonorPerfect is a fundraising software that has four pricing editions: Lite, Express, Essentials, and Premier, ranging from $99 to $499 per month. There are no setup fees and unlimited users for all editions.

Pros	Cons
A lot of customization options to tweak the system to your organization’s specific set-up and needs.It is intuitive and even someone without experience in databases can use it for the basics.It has seamless integration with Constant Contact	Some users have reported that the software can be slow at times.The user interface can be outdated and not as user-friendly as other software.

8. Bloomerang

Based in Indianapolis, Indiana, Bloomerang is an IT services and consulting company specializing in empowering nonprofits. Their mission is to provide intuitive technology and dedicated support to create a seamless giving experience and drive fundraising success.

Based in Indianapolis, Indiana, Bloomerang is an IT services and consulting company specializing in empowering nonprofits. Their mission is to provide intuitive technology and dedicated support to create a seamless giving experience and drive fundraising success.

Here are some of the features:

• Filter-based reporting.
• Engagement meter and timeline.
• Acknowledgements.
• Customizable.
• Development timeline.
• Zapier-enabled automations

Rating: 4.7/5 (G2 Rating)

Pricing

If your organization raises under $250k a year, you can start with $79/month. For over 60,000 records, you will need to contact them to get a custom plan.

Pros	Cons
The reporting interface is very clean and intuitive.The engagement index is helpful, along with the donor retention meter.The overall record interface is clean, easy to read and easy on the eyes.	It is not possible to see a list of recent transactions/donations.Bloomerang forms are functional, but not necessarily pretty.If your organization is seeking to optimize donor web experience for a large and varied audience, Bloomerang may be less fitting.

9. Salesforce.org

Salesforce.org is a social impact center of Salesforce. It provides nonprofits, educational institutions and philanthropic organizations with free or discounted access to Salesforce technology, grants, volunteering and learning resources.

Nonprofit Cloud is a complete set of nonprofit technology solutions that Salesforce.org built to connect your nonprofit with the people who care about your cause. It helps you manage your fundraising, marketing, program delivery, grantmaking and operations in one integrated platform.

Here are some of the features:

• Customizable donor database
• Personalized reports and dashboards
• Efficient communication between teams
• Program management and tracking
• Pre-built email templates and personalized emails
• Discounts and free trial

Rating: 4.3/5 (G2 Rating)

Pricing

The pricing of Salesforce CRM depends on the solution and edition you choose, and it ranges from $25 USD/user/month to $300 USD/user/month for Sales Cloud and Service Cloud, and $1,250 USD/month/account for Marketing Cloud Account Engagement.

Pros	Cons
It is cost-effective, as it is leveraged for nonprofits. The Salesforce donor database is entirely customizable, so nonprofits can easily add custom fields, objects, relationships, and other elements to the Salesforce CRM platform.Salesforce allows nonprofits to communicate efficiently between teams by providing a single platform for all their data sources.	It is a complex platform that requires training and expertise to use effectively.While Salesforce offers discounts for nonprofits, the cost of implementation can still be high.While Salesforce is customizable, there are some limitations to what nonprofits can do with the platform.

What is Nonprofit CRM?

Nonprofit CRM is a database where you store all your donor data, donations, donation date, your donors’ personal or professional information, communication details, and more. CRMs are a vital part of building donor relationships. Nonprofit CRM can also help you grow income, market and engage your community, deliver powerful programs, build relationships with funders and partners, and power your teams with a unified view and actionable insights. Nonprofit CRM can be tailored to your specific needs and goals.

How can CRM be used in Nonprofit CRM?

Nonprofit CRM organizes and stores data about the contacts, preferences, trends, and communication of the nonprofit’s target market. It can also help nonprofits with marketing, payments, and finding new donors.

A CRM for nonprofits should make it easy to do the following:

• Track donors and receive, process and record donations.
• Manage and communicate with volunteers – who also may be essential donors.

What are the advantages of CRM for Nonprofit CRM?

Some of the advantages of CRM for Nonprofit CRM are:

• It helps retain, recruit, and empower staff by improving productivity, and providing training opportunities.
• It helps centralize and organize information in one place, making it easier to access, update, and manage data across different teams and departments.
• It helps segment and understand the audience by tracking their activities, preferences, interests, and behaviors, and providing insights for personalized communication and engagement strategies.
• It helps manage and grow donors by connecting with them through various channels, providing relevant information, making timely and appropriate asks, and tracking incoming funds and pledges.
• It helps integrate seamlessly with existing systems and tools, such as Office 365, PowerBI, Excel, etc., eliminating the need to switch between applications and enhancing efficiency.

What are the disadvantages of CRM for Nonprofit CRM?

Some of the disadvantages of CRM for Nonprofit CRM are:

• It can be costly to implement and maintain, depending on the features, customization, and support required. It can also increase the overall expenses of the organization and may not be suitable for small or low-budget nonprofits.
• It can be complex and challenging to use, especially for staff who are not familiar with or comfortable with technology. It may require extensive training and change management to ensure adoption and usage.
• It can pose security and privacy risks, especially if the data is stored in the cloud or shared with third-party vendors. It may require compliance with various regulations and standards to protect the data from unauthorized access or misuse.

What CRM practices should Nonprofit CRM avoid?

Some CRM practices that nonprofits should avoid are:

• Failing to Embrace a CRM Solution: Using spreadsheets or no system at all to keep track of your supporters and donation activity. This can lead to data loss, errors, duplication, and inefficiency.
• Neglecting Regular Data Cleanup: Not cleaning up your CRM data regularly. This can result in inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated information that can affect your communication, fundraising, analysis, and reputation.
• Overlooking Customization Options: Not customizing your CRM to fit their needs and preferences. This can limit your ability to collect relevant data, segment your supporters, automate tasks, and integrate with other tools.
• Underutilizing Data Insights: Not using your CRM to understand their supporters. This can prevent you from personalizing your outreach efforts, tailoring your fundraising strategies, and improving your engagement.

What is the role of CRM for Nonprofit use?

The role of CRM for nonprofit use is to help organizations manage their relationships with their donors and other supporters. A nonprofit CRM can help nonprofits with:

• Tracking and storing data on their contacts, such as contact information, preferences, trends, and communication.
• Marketing and communication, such as segmenting supporters by issue and interest areas, personalizing outreach efforts, and managing subscriptions.
• Fundraising and payments, such as creating donation forms, processing payments, sending receipts, and finding new donors.
• Program management, such as tracking the impact of their programs, managing grants, and reporting on outcomes.
• Workflow automation, such as automating routine tasks, integrating with other tools, and saving time and resources.

How much does a Nonprofit CRM software cost?

The cost of a Nonprofit CRM software can vary depending on various factors, such as the number of users, the features, the customization, and the support required. Nonprofit CRM software ranges in price from $9 per month to $499 per month. 

What are the things to consider in a Nonprofit CRM software?

Some of the things to consider in a nonprofit CRM software are:

• Your needs and goals. You should identify what you want to achieve with a CRM software, such as improving donor retention, increasing fundraising, managing programs, or automating tasks.
• Your budget and resources. You should consider how much you can afford to invest in a CRM software, both upfront and ongoing, as well as how much time and staff you have to implement and maintain it.
• Your data and processes. You should evaluate your current data quality, quantity, and format, as well as your existing workflows and procedures, and how they can be improved or integrated with a CRM software.
• Your features and functionality. You should look for a CRM software that offers features and functionality that match your needs and goals, such as data management, communication tools, fundraising tools, workflow automation, and more.
• Your integration and customization. You should check if the CRM software can integrate with other tools and platforms that you use, such as email marketing, payment processing, social media, etc., and if it can be customized to fit your preferences and requirements.

Does a non profit need a CRM?

 A non-profit may need a CRM for various reasons, such as:

• To centralize and organize information in one place, making it easier to access, update, and manage data across different teams and departments.
• To segment and understand the audience by tracking their activities, preferences, interests, and behaviors, and providing insights for personalized communication and engagement strategies.
• To manage and grow donors by connecting with them through various channels, providing relevant information, making timely and appropriate asks, and tracking incoming funds and pledges.

A CRM can help a non-profit deliver a better giving experience, increase donor retention and loyalty, raise more funds, and create lasting change