Are you a fundraising group who would like to improve your chances of raising more funds? Or are you a donor who is looking for the best fundraising software for nonprofits and the best fundraising software for your organization? Are you a business owner who is looking for fundraising software programs?
Learning fundraising software is critical for almost any nonprofit group or organization. How do you go about it? Where should you start? What’s the best software to use? I am highly involved in two local community-based volunteer groups and have been to many, many training sessions where I learned how to use fundraising software. It’s a pretty big deal in my neck of the woods, so I’ve been in a good position to keep up with all the latest fundraising softwa re developments thanks to these groups. Let me tell you what I’ve learned using fundraising software from experience…
Donorbox
Overview:
Donorbox is a powerful online donation platform that uses state-of-the-art technology to help nonprofits maximize donations. Their software is simple to set up and can be integrated into your nonprofit website. They make it easy for nonprofits to promote fundraising campaigns and secure recurring donations from supporters.
Features we love:
- The simple setup means that nonprofits can start boosting donations in 15 minutes.
- Donorbox uses powerful security technology to keep nonprofits and donors safe. This includes fraud detection, SSL/TLS encryption, and tokenization of financial information.
- Nonprofits can set up custom donation amounts and add a description to show how they’ll spend them. This helps donors see the impact of their giving.
- Donation pages are mobile-friendly and are easy to customize to reflect branding. It’s simple for nonprofits to embed donation pages into their nonprofit website. They can also be set up as a popup widget.
- Donors have full control over their recurring donations. They can sign in anytime to edit their recurring plan, for example.
- With Text-to-give functionality, donors can easily donate from their mobile phone directly. It is easy, fast & flexible to set up.
- Donorbox integrates with the Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack. This helps nonprofits easily analyze donor data and manage donor relationships.
- Donorbox also integrates with Zapier and MailChimp. This makes it effortless for nonprofits to unify their fundraising and admin activities.
- Nonprofits can accept donations through their Facebook page.
- Donorbox partners with Double the Donation to maximize employee contributions.
- Nonprofits can accept donations in various ways, including PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and ACH and SEPA bank transfers.
- Nonprofits can accept donations in 20+ currencies, including USD, GBP, EUR, AUD, and CAD.
- Goal meters can inspire more donations.
- Nonprofits can ask their supporters to cover payment processing fees to maximize donations.
- Donorbox is compatible with CMS systems, including WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, and Weebly.
Pricing:
Donorbox has no upfront costs.
Donorbox charges a platform fee of 1.5% for that month’s donations. This is lower than its competitors.
It also has low payment processing fees:
- 0.8% and $0.30 per transaction for ACH bank payments (capped at a maximum of $5 per transaction)
- 2.9% and $0.30 per transaction for PayPal payments
- 2.9% and $0.30 per transaction for Stripe payments
Note: PayPal and Stripe both offer nonprofit discount fees. PayPal’s discounted rate is 2.2% + $0.30 per transaction. Nonprofits need to sign up to be eligible for these rates.
Our verdict:
Donorbox is a quick and easy way to boost your nonprofit’s fundraising efforts, particularly if you’re accepting recurring donations or multiple currencies.
The donor-friendly checkout process can encourage supporters to set up recurring donations.
Many small to medium nonprofits will be able to start using Donorbox for free. Donorbox charges a small platform fee of 1.5% for the entire month’s donations. Donorbox also has a good range of integration partners and makes it simple to manage donors.
Qgiv
Overview:
Qgiv can be a good all-around option for securing donations. Nonprofits can create customized donation pages and use mobile giving and peer-to-peer fundraising.
Features we love:
- Nonprofits can customize donation pages in line with their branding.
- Nonprofits can customize donation receipts to show the impact of donations. This can let people see the value of their contribution as soon as they’ve donated.
- It’s easy to move to a different package as your organization grows and you want to access new features.
- Donation pages are mobile-friendly. This is great for supporters who donate through their smartphone.
- There is an option to invest in a handheld kiosk to accept on-site donations. This allows your organization to gather donations and take event registrations, for example.
Pricing:
The Start version of the platform has no contracts or monthly fees but only has minimal features. Nonprofits pay a transaction fee of 3.95% and $0.30 on all donations received through the platform.
There’s no upfront cost unless you choose a package option.
If nonprofits need more features, there are packages with monthly or quarterly billing. These start from $10 per month and can reach $399 per month for advanced features.
Nonprofits can add other products for an extra fee. This can allow nonprofits to scale up if the organization grows and needs extra support.
Our verdict:
Qgiv can be a good choice for growing nonprofits that want flexibility. If peer-to-peer fundraising is your future goal, the Qgiv platform can be a good choice for this too. This platform has a higher processing fee than many of its competitors.
NeonCRM
Overview:
NeonCRM offers cloud-based CRM software for nonprofits of all sizes. It can be a good platform for growing nonprofits who want to engage with donors, manage memberships and organize events.
Features we love:
- Features include relationship tracking, event registration, volunteer management, email marketing, grant management, and survey building tools.
- NeonCRM can integrate with various tools, including QuickBooks, MailChimp and Constant Contact.
- Some packages can support peer-to-peer fundraising.
- All packages have email marketing, reporting functionality and volunteer tracking.
- There is also the option for donors to log in and update their details.
Pricing:
There are package options to suit nonprofits of different sizes.
For small nonprofits who only need basic features, pricing starts at $50 per month. This rises to $200 per month for larger nonprofits with a wider range of needs.
A payment processing fee of 2.9% is deducted from all funds raised through the software. There is also a fee of $0.30 per transaction.
Our verdict:
The NeonCRM software can offer an all-around CRM platform for nonprofits. It can handle many of the key features that organizations may need as they grow.
Snowball
Snowball is an online fundraising platform that features streamlined donation pages, event management tools, fundraising thermometers, and more.
While providing an easy and innovative way to accept gifts, Snowball’s online donation software allows nonprofits to process donations faster—which means you get paid faster and can use the contributions more quickly!
Why This Free Fundraising Software Stands Out
Snowball’s Essential plan includes a comprehensive suite of tools, including an online donation page, recurring gifts, access to transaction and donor data, unlimited admin access, and effective online support. This means all of your fundraising tools will be in one place, so you can avoid the hassle of transferring data from one system to another!
Additional Details
Our Essential plan is completely free to start using, plus a standard processing fee of just 2.9% + 30¢ per donation. We do, however, give users the option of leaving a tip to support our free service!
If you decide later to upgrade your plan to include text-to-give software, the Snowball Premium plan is available as an inexpensive annual subscription. We’ll uncover all of the perks of our premium plan later in the article.
Bonfire
Bonfire’s free fundraising site specializes in customized and branded apparel, such as t-shirts, hoodies, and tank tops. When you sell your organization’s apparel with Bonfire, you’re given a fundraising page to promote your cause and sell as many items as possible.
Why This Free Fundraising Software Stands Out
Hosting a Bonfire campaign is a unique way to raise money for your organization and get new donors involved. What’s better than getting a gift in return for your generosity? When supporters purchase your merchandise, your organization gets the profit! But supporters aren’t limited to purchasing t-shirts to help your cause. They can provide additional donations unrelated to purchases.
Additional Details
Bonfire handles the finances by managing every step so you don’t have to worry about up-front costs and wasted inventory. The services are completely free— they simply deduct an 8% fee from donations made upon checkout. They’ll even ship your orders for a flat $5 shipping rate to anywhere in the U.S! Try out their pricing calculator for the most accurate estimate.
ShopRaise
ShopRaise is an online shopping platform that is totally free for your organization and your supporters to use. When your supporters download the ShopRaise mobile or web app, they can shop at their favorite retailers in support of your cause. Your organization can earn up to 10% of every transaction!
Why This Free Fundraising Software Stands Out
In addition to being free, using ShopRaise doesn’t require much investment of your staff’s time or resources to advertise the opportunity to your supporters. ShopRaise provides you with custom marketing materials to distribute.
Your supporters likely already shop at the retailers on the ShopRaise platform. Nationwide stores like Walmart, Petsmart, and Macy’s are on the app, meaning supporting your cause can be seamlessly integrated into your supporters’ daily lives. All they have to do is download the app and make their regular purchases. There’s no downside to signing up. This is as easy as fundraising gets!
Additional Details
When a ShopRaise user chooses your organization to support at the beginning of their ShopRaise app experience, the app rebrands to feature your organization’s name and logo. That means your brand appears on the users’ iPhone (or Android) home screens, plus your organization’s name pops up whenever they select a different store or proceed to checkout. These valuable branding opportunities are just one of the perks of using this effortless fundraising platform. Visit their page to get started with ShopRaise.
99Pledges
99Pledges is an effective peer-to-peer fundraising platform, perfect for fundraising events such as walk-a-thons, dance-a-thons, read-a-thons, or any similarly structured fundraiser. The online fundraising pages are easy for donors to share with their networks via email, text, and social media.
Why This Free Fundraising Software Stands Out
Each participant in your campaign receives a customizable donation page that’s ready to share— no technical set-up required! Your team can track your fundraising activity by increasing social shares and the total amount raised in donations.
Additional Details
99Pledges campaigns are free to run! Additionally, your organization keeps 90% of all donations made online via credit card and PayPal and 100% of all donations made via cash or check.
Conclusion:
You’re lucky. You’ve found the first fundraising software resource that can help you with your nonprofit Software for Fundraising Groups. There are a lot of things you need to consider before you get your fundraiser software. After all, this is the backbone of everything your organization does – whether it’s online or offline. Alright, so maybe that was a little dramatic but seriously, the software you choose does make a big difference to your organization in terms of time, resources and efficiency.