Donor management is key to growing your nonprofit organization’s bottom line, but what is donor management software, and how can it help improve your fundraising strategies?
Quality donor management software doesn’t just house donor data — it also allows your nonprofit organization to segment supporters effectively and optimize your communication, engagement, and major donor fundraising strategies.
That said, selecting the right system can be challenging. This donor management software buyer’s guide will cover the best software options, essential features to look for, and how to choose a system that best suits your nonprofit.
What is donor management?
Donor management is the ongoing process of cultivating and nurturing relationships with prospective donors and tracking those interactions. It typically involves using software or systems to store and analyze donor data, such as contact information, donation history, and preferences.
What is donor management software?
Also referred to as a donor database, donor management software is a tool that enables organizations to track the important information about their donors, volunteers, and other supporters in a centralized database.
This information is critical for getting the full picture of your donor acquisition base, which allows you to communicate with supporters effectively and retain their support long-term.
While some donor management software for nonprofits comes with additional features like automation and fundraising tools, the main purpose of every solution is to help you build stronger relationships using data.
Benefits of donor management software for nonprofits
By making it easy to manage your nonprofit’s most important data, donor management systems enable you to streamline crucial tasks.
Personalize donor communications
With access to detailed donor information like past donation amounts, involvement history, and charitable interests, you can easily personalize bulk outreach. For instance, an animal shelter could use a donor database to track pet ownership and tailor appeals accordingly.
Segmentation features also help you boost the relevance of your messages. This makes donors feel valued and engages them more deeply. Group donors by shared characteristics such as giving level or frequency in your database, then use your segments to improve audience targeting and tailor messages.
Build stronger donor relationships
With all your donor data in one place, donor management software enables you to better understand why donors give and tailor outreach accordingly to cultivate stronger relationships.
For example, you could see from your donor profiles that a group of donors regularly give in December. Then, you can send personalized end-of-year appeal letters to recognize their previous donations and encourage them to participate in the holiday giving season again.
Boost team efficiency
Compiling all of your data in one centralized location helps you break down data silos, making it easier and faster for team members to find the information they need.
Plus, you can leverage features like email automation, predictive analytics, and workflow automation to reduce manual tasks and save your staff valuable time and energy.
Track campaign trends
With donor management software, you can easily track the progress and trends of your fundraising campaigns. By setting specific goals and monitoring key metrics like donations received, donor acquisition, and average gift size, you can gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of your campaigns.
You can also use real-time dashboards to visualize your progress and forecast improvement areas. By tracking your giving campaign progress closely, you can ensure that you’re on track to meet your fundraising goals and achieve your organization’s mission.
Features to look for in donor database software
While there are many CRM systems available on the market today, nonprofits need to look for nonprofit-specific solutions. In particular, you should seek out solutions with a few essential CRM features that every robust donor database should have.
Secure data storage
Since the benefits of donor management software lie in the information it stores, focus on this core functionality first to ensure you can track and display the most important data for your nonprofit.
Don’t stop at which data a system can store — carefully evaluate how that information is stored. A good donor database will have an intuitive user interface that allows your staff to quickly find and enter the information they need.
Donor profiles
Comprehensive donor profiles are essential for guiding your supporter interactions and helping you measure your fundraising success. Look for features that allow you to customize donor tracking with useful information, such as:
- Contact information: Track and update supporters’ email addresses, mail addresses, phone numbers, and even social media profiles.
- Family units: Your system should allow you to track donations and activity by family as well as by individual.
- Demographics: Save information about supporters’ ages, locations, preferred pronouns, careers, and more.
- Giving and engagement data: Store data about the campaigns your supporters participate in, the events they attend, and even the fundraising emails they choose to read.
Custom fields
No system provides every field you need out of the box. Check that your donor management system can track all the unique information that is important to your organization by offering custom fields.
Evaluate your options by asking the following questions:
- Is there a limit to the number of custom fields you can create?
- What types of custom fields can you make?
- Can custom fields store text, dates, numbers, etc.?
Fundraising tools
The best donor management software comes equipped with plenty of additional fundraising tools alongside data storage. Look for full-suite donor engagement solutions that include features like:
- Fundraising forms and payment processing
- Offline donation processing
- Donor history that includes both online and offline giving
- Giving analytics that help you determine calculated “next suggested gift” amounts
- Omni-channel marketing tools with automated workflows
Reporting and analytics
The information you store in your CRM is only as good as your ability to view and analyze that data. Intuitive reports and dashboards help you develop an accurate picture of donor retention as well as organization- and campaign-level progress. Ensure your software has:
- Fundraising analytics that you can use to determine what works and what doesn’t.
- Prioritization tools that allow you to indicate important tasks.
- Custom reporting you can leverage to identify useful insights for improving your fundraising and donor stewardship programs.
Integrations
While your donor management software serves as the foundation of your nonprofit’s toolset, most organizations need additional tools to manage email campaigns, handle events, launch advocacy campaigns, and so much more.
Since your nonprofit likely has additional software already, check that your chosen donor database can easily integrate with each of your important tools to ensure all of your software can work together seamlessly.
Top 9 donor management platform options
There are many options to choose from when it comes to donor management solutions. Here’s a look at nine of the best donor management software options for nonprofits.
1. Bonterra
Bonterra Engagement is a full suite of donor management and fundraising solutions. It provides growing nonprofits with robust communication and event management tools to engage donors while offering a unified CRM platform with best-in-class data analytics features.
Our donor management software does more than just securely house your most important data — it also allows you to automate communications, process donations, manage grants, and more. Handle everything you need, all in one place.
With over 16,000 nonprofits in our network and $3.5 billion in donations made through our software, Bonterra Engagement is the #1 software to track charitable donations, enabling nonprofits to make the greatest impact possible.
Best for: All-in-one donation and fundraising solution
Price: Personalized pricing with no per user fees
Features:
- Comprehensive, customizable donor profiles to track all your most important donor data
- Predictive analytics to optimize donor segmentation and targeting
- The ability to create personalized email, text, video, and direct mail appeals
- Donation forms designed to enable donors to give with a single click
- Multi-channel communication and marketing automation tools
- Moves management action plans for cultivating major giving prospects
- Professional fundraising coaches who are available for growing nonprofits to help you make the most of your donor management software and improve fundraising strategies
2. Raiser’s Edge NXT
Raiser’s Edge NXT is a fundraising-focused CRM offered by Blackbaud. While not as robust as other options and limited in its integrations, Raiser’s Edge still provides a range of fundraising tools.
Best for: Nonprofits looking for suggested ask amounts
Price: Customized for each organization
Features:
- End-to-end gift management simplifies your workflow, from initial entry to online processing.
- AI-driven suggested ask amounts help maximize donor contributions.
- Optimized donation forms increase online donations.
- Custom analytics align with your organization’s unique objectives.
3. Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud
Originally designed for for-profit companies to manage sales processes, Salesforce now offers multiple solutions tailored to nonprofit organizations. Nonprofit Cloud, the latest iteration, offers a range of features for large and enterprise-level nonprofits, including fundraising, program management, and case management.
Best for: Enterprise nonprofits with complex operational needs
Price: Starts at $60 per user per month
Features:
- AI-powered personalization for enhanced customer experiences
- Customer satisfaction tracking and improvement to identify areas for enhancement
- Automated marketing tasks and streamlined workflows to save time and resources
4. Givebutter
Givebutter is a basic CRM for nonprofits with limited budgets. It offers tools to help growing nonprofits, from spreadsheets and disorganized processes to their first centralized donor database. However, Givebutter offers limited scalability and reporting features.
Best for: Nonprofits with little to no software budget
Price: “Optional tips” or percentage-based platform fee
Features:
- Identify and manage complex donor relationships within household groups.
- Capture and store essential donor details, such as t-shirt size or dietary preferences, with custom fields.
- Automate receipt generation for donations and ticket sales and simplify the process of resending receipts or issuing refunds.
5. Double the Donation
Double the Donation, a provider of matching gift information and search tools for the nonprofit sector, integrates with select donor management systems. This tool offers features to earn, track, and increase donations from corporate matching gifts.
Best for: Increasing donations through matching gifts
Price: Small Plan starts at $999/year
Features:
- Allow donors to submit match requests from your online donation system.
- Integrations with fundraising tools, ensuring a quick, easy, and reliable implementation process.
- Automated matching gift forms and instruction emails delivered to donors.
6. DonorSearch
Prospect research tools like DonorSearch offer additional information on the giving history and capacity of your current and prospective donors to help cultivate major donor relationships. It features the ability to save information in your donor management system with appropriate ask amounts.
Best for: Cultivating donor relationships
Price: Varies based on plan and usage
Features:
- Donor profiles with information on wealth, giving history, and philanthropic interests
- Advanced search capabilities to help you identify potential major donors
- Data integration to easily export data and integrate with your CRM
7. Omatic Cloud
Omatic Cloud integration features simplified data entry and migration. This tool offers automated importing of key data into your donor database, improved data quality, and seamless connections between other apps with your CRM for streamlined data migration between systems.
Best for: Integrating data between systems
Price: Varies based on plan and usage
Features:
- Cleanse, standardize, and enrich data to improve its quality and usability.
- Connect various systems, including CRMs, fundraising platforms, and accounting software, to create a seamless data flow.
- Simplify the complex process of moving data between systems, ensuring accuracy and minimizing errors.
8. Fundraise Up
Fundraise Up is one of the best online fundraising platforms, featuring optimized campaign pages, streamlined donation forms, global fundraising tools, and more. When integrated with your donor database, this tool syncs gifts made on your Fundraise Up donation pages with your CRM for streamlined donation tracking.
Best for: Streamlined donation forms
Price: Quick Start and Enterprise plan options
Features:
- Create visually appealing and branded donation pages to match your organization’s branding and messaging.
- Track donor information, manage relationships, and send personalized thank-you messages.
- Optimize donation forms for mobile devices, making it easy for donors to give on the go.
9. Donate Stock
Looking to expand your donation options and engage more high-capacity donors? This integration offers easy stock giving by connecting with your donor management system. Donate Stock offers an intuitive, secure stock donation button for your existing online donation page.
Best for: Nonprofits looking to accept stock donations
Price: Varies based on plan and usage
Features:
- Safe and efficient transfer of stock donations, partnering with trusted brokerage firms.
- Integrates with your existing donor database to track stock donations and donor information.
- Adhere to IRS regulations and provide accurate tax receipts for donors.
Tips for choosing the right donor management software
Selecting new software can take time, especially if you are looking for something as central to your organization as nonprofit data management systems. Follow these steps for a thorough selection process:
- Evaluate your needs and timeline: Outline distinct goals, milestones, and tasks for the selection process. This will give you an idea of when you need to have your software selected.
- Identify your donor database requirements: These should include both unique requirements that other nonprofits may not have and the essential features we covered above.
- Determine your budget: This can help narrow down your list early in the process and save you money and time as you research prospective providers.
- Research options and request demos: Dive deeper into the websites and customer reviews of each of your options, then schedule live demos to see each platform in action and ask questions.
- Make your decision with input from leadership: Compile all the information you’ve gathered and discuss it with your nonprofit’s leadership team and board members.
Get started with donor management software
No matter which system you choose, your donor management software will be a powerful tool for your nonprofit’s growth. Using a donor management system that’s tailored to your organization’s needs will help you deepen relationships, boost engagement, improve efficiency, and increase your fundraising event results.
Evaluate your options thoroughly, and you’ll be ready to power your purpose in new ways with game-changing software. Ready to see the #1 donor management software in action?
FAQ
What is donor management?
Donor management is the process of organizing and utilizing donor information to build and maintain relationships, track donations, and optimize fundraising efforts. It typically involves using software or systems to store and analyze donor data.
What is a donor manager?
A donor manager oversees and manages an organization’s donor relationships and case management process. They are responsible for cultivating, stewarding, and growing donor support to achieve fundraising goals.
What’s the best donor management software for small nonprofits?
Bonterra is the best donor engagement platform because it offers a comprehensive suite of tools to help nonprofits build stronger relationships with their donors. Its features include:
- Donor profile management
- Fundraising tools
- Marketing automation
- Data analytics
- Platform integrations
