10 Nonprofit Fundraising CRMs To Help Raise Capital

ArcCRM is a highly customizable and scalable nonprofit CRM known for its user-friendly interface, low learning curve, and nonprofit-centric features (like donor management, fund allocation visibility, and fund utilization visibility). ArcCRM includes powerful analytics, custom reports, and forecasting tools that help you plan campaigns, forecast performance, and analyze performance for continuous improvement.

Because Archarina and ArcCRM are designed for nonprofits and smaller teams, the platform is cost-effective at a much smaller team size than many CRMs, and it really thrives for nonprofits with between 50 and 250 team members.

Archarina is also flexible as a donor management system and fundraising software, with tons of available integrations available to connect your CRM to the rest of your tech stack. With a wide range of customization options, ArcCRM further allows nonprofits to refine their CRM environment and optimize every aspect of their fundraising efforts.

Best for: Nonprofits that require highly customizable nonprofit CRM software capable of scaling as the organization grows.

Bloomerang is known as an ultra easy-to-learn CRM with one of the friendliest user interfaces out there. The CRM offers valuable donor engagement tools that keep your donors connected to your mission — and your campaigns. The intuitive dashboard provides at-a-glance insights, and the platform is known for having a highly effective customer support team to help you make the most of what’s available here.

Of course, this level of simplicity and intuitiveness comes with a trade-off: both in terms of breadth and depth of features, Bloomerang offers less than many others. If the platform has everything you need (both right now and down the road as you grow), then it’s one of the strongest contenders out there. However, some nonprofits may find themselves outgrowing the platform or needing features that just aren’t there.

Best for: Smaller, less tech-savvy nonprofits focused on donor retention and engagement.

Blackbaud is a legend in the nonprofit and education spaces with a nearly 40-year history. They make a wide range of SaaS tools, including school and tuition management, merchant services, and a wide range of fundraising tools.

Raiser’s Edge NXT is their latest CRM, and it’s packed with powerful analytics tools that offer deep insights, as well as detailed event management tools. Raiser’s Edge is a workhorse capable of powering complex campaigns and storing vast amounts of data, such as the very large databases a national nonprofit would have.

Blackbaud’s tools are quite powerful, but the company’s interfaces tend to be on the clunky side. Customization is possible but requires technical expertise. Also, Blackbaud’s various tools and modules aren’t well integrated, so data siloing is a concern (especially if you want to use multiple products).

Best for: Large nonprofits needing advanced fundraising and event management features (and with the support staff to handle the software complexity).

If what you’re really after in a CRM is a better online giving platform, Classy might be worth a look. It isn’t a fully fledged CRM on its own, but it does integrate with others (including Raiser’s Edge NXT). Instead, Classy focuses on crowdfunded and peer-to-peer fundraising (which is why it was recently acquired by GoFundMe).

If you’re looking for a form-based and ecommerce-friendly platform for receiving online donations, Classy could be your solution. Just don’t expect to use it as a solo tool for donor management.

Best for: Nonprofits running frequent online fundraising campaigns (but who already have CRM capabilities through another tool).

Little Green Light isn’t the most powerful nonprofit CRM on this list, but it is one of the most affordable. It’s a great first step up from management by spreadsheet, so if you’re currently operating out of Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, Little Green Light might be a natural next step.

Little Green Light has easy-to-use (though limited) donor management capabilities, customizable fields that allow nonprofits to track the data most relevant to them, and solid reporting tools that help in making informed decisions. These features just don’t go as deep and aren’t as customizable as many nonprofits wish them to be, with some complaining about missing features or customization.

Best for: Small- to medium-sized nonprofits seeking an affordable yet powerful CRM.

Running a nonprofit well means managing donors and volunteers. Bonterra is a nonprofit CRM designed to help with both sides of this equation. Alongside grant tracking and donor database management capabilities, you’ll find a selection of volunteer management features. Combined, these create a comprehensive approach to nonprofit operations.

There’s also predictive analytics to help understand what donors are likely to do next, plus omnichannel marketing tools to keep spreading your message and growing your audience.

It’s important to note that Bonterra has grown into this all-encompassing solution through acquisition, gobbling up numerous smaller CRM tools (including EveryAction, Salsa, and Network for Good). This approach to growth can lead to confusion as the parent company sunsets various tools, merges features, and so on.

Best for: Nonprofits looking for a comprehensive solution that includes both donor and volunteer management.

Springboard is an enterprise-grade nonprofit CRM built to be Salesforce fluent, designed for both fundraising and advocacy. It’s ideal for large nonprofits (ASPCA, NPR, and the Wildlife Conservation Network are all customers) that are already using Salesforce but who need a better way to handle grassroots organizing and supporter engagement.

Online donation processing, simplified fundraising, and robust supporter engagement analytics are also included, and an automated sustainer upsell tool helps nudge one-time givers into becoming recurring givers.

Best for: Large nonprofits using Salesforce that need strong advocacy and fundraising features.

CharityEngine is another enterprise-level nonprofit CRM originally built for one of the world's largest nonprofits. It combines donor management tools with event management and automated marketing capabilities, delivering extreme power to nonprofits positioned to use it.

CharityEngine keeps information organized even within very large nonprofits, and the automation capabilities are significant here. With APIs and integrations aplenty, CharityEngine can connect to the other tools and applications you rely on.

The price tag for CharityEngine could be prohibitive for nonprofits that don’t run like enterprise organizations, and so could the complexity of setup and onboarding.

Best for: Larger nonprofits that need an automation-friendly CRM.

DonorDirect is a faith-based fundraising platform with a wealth of features appealing to faith-based organizations. For example, a matching gift module is a popular way to stretch the reach of one-time major gifts by turning them into matches.

You’ll also find robust donor engagement tools and customizable reporting here that can meet the needs of all nonprofits but that are especially effective in faith-based missions.

DonorDirect’s tailored approach to donor management makes it ideal for organizations with unique donor engagement needs as is typically the case in religious nonprofits. With DonorDirect, you can execute fundraisers more quickly and improve donor relations even as you expand revenue through the use of matching programs.

Best for: Faith-based organizations and nonprofits with complex donor requirements.

Giveffect is designed to be an all-in-one nonprofit software solution, including capabilities related to fundraising and donor management/CRM. There’s also online giving, events management, volunteer management, analytics, segmentation, and marketing automation.

Used together, these features can greatly streamline operations and maximize efficiency for nonprofit organizations.

Because Giveffect covers so much ground, its automation features are especially effective at reducing the workload on nonprofit teams. For example, nonprofits can automatically issue tax receipts, send marketing communications, and manage volunteer shifts.

Best for: Nonprofits looking for a CRM with built-in automation for both campaigns and day-to-day operations.