Attracting and retaining donors is at the heart of charities’ fundraising operations.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is vital to this. These systems have evolved in recent years to significantly help charities better manage their relationships with donors.

This includes gaining a greater insight into what appeals to supporters and how they like to be contacted. CRM software also better manages fundraising campaigns through swift and accurate impact reporting.

Such systems also take the strain out of communication by helping to schedule and target marketing to meet supporters’ needs.

Through the efficiencies CRM software brings, charities can reduce their churn rates of donors and supporters.

Using CRM software is especially vital during the Covid-19 pandemic and income losses, where the need to keep hold of existing supporters and find new donors is paramount.

Here we look at ten of the best CRM systems to help charities.

Salesforce.org Nonprofit Cloud

Salesforce is among the biggest CRM systems providers globally and a strong option for large charities looking for a wide range of features. It is customisable, which means charities can adapt its use.



Salesforce also offers a range of integration tools and apps as well as online training. In addition, it has a range of features to help organisations adapt to Covid-19, including global daily tracker.

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BlackbaudCRM

Cloud-based CRM system is another suited to large charities due to a wide range of features as well as a non-profit focus design. This allows charities to collate a range of data to analyse and ensure donors are being effectively communicated with. For a small charity the wealth of features may be unnecessary.

Among charities to use Blackbaud’s services are Crisis, the National Trust and Young Minds. Unfortunately, all were caught up in a ransomware attack to affect the provider earlier this year. This is where criminals removed data in exchange for a ransom for its safe return. Blackbaud paid the ransom and offered assurances that the cyber attackers did not access client’s financial details.

CiviCRM

This free open source CRM system is specifically designed for the non-profit sector and offers a wide range of features to manage donor information. Extras include different layouts for different teams, data visualisation, volunteer management as well as mobile phone text messaging.



As an open source piece of software, CiviCRM can be tailored to each charity’s needs. In addition, there is an online community to offer support for charities looking for more of a bespoke way of managing their donor relationships.

But while free, charities may need to spend money on a CRM developer to tailor this software to their needs.

Microsoft Dynamics 365

As part of the Microsoft family of products this CRM system can be integrated with other products from the software firm, such as Office 365 and Outlook. It will also have an intuitive, familiar feel for those who already use Microsoft products. Support may be needed to tailor this software to each charity’s specific requirements. Among support from this system is Dynamics 365 Customer Insights, which involves analysis and can help charities personalise relationships with donors.

Donor Perfect

Among features of this web-based CRM system is to automate email marketing. It is aimed at small to medium sized charities and comes with a range of customisable options. Pricing is dependent on how many records a charity has, ranging from £79 a month for 1,000 records to £649 for 75,000 records.



Areas of supporter management Donor Perfect can support include annual campaigns, grants, events, volunteers, major donors as well as direct mail and online giving. Analysis of fundraising is also available.

Donorfy

Donorfy is another cloud based CRM system that is useful for small to medium sized charities.

Features include integration with online fundraising platforms such as JustGiving, as well as communication tools such as Mailchimp.

It can also link up with Facebook and Instagram Giving Tools as well as payment providers Stripe and GoCardless.

It is not too complex for small charities to learn to use with an intuitive design. There is a free plan as well as monthly payment plans, based on the number of records a charity has.

ThankQ

Software firm Access has developed the cloud based ThankQ CRM tool to manage fundraising, events and membership details. According to Access more than 10,000 fundraising professionals use ThankQ.



Features include segmenting supporters by tracking interactions, conversations, demographics and interests. It also offers direct debit processing as well as integration with other products and databases.

Charitylog

More than 750 charities use Charitylog’s cloud based CRM system for managing their donor relationships. It is an adaptable system to allow charities to tailor it to their needs and is compliant with data regulations.

Optional features include creating rotas for support staff, invoices and collaboration support for remote working and charities with multiple bases.

HubSpot

Hubspot offers charity specific software that combines a range of CRM functions such as managing direct mail, producing email newsletters and printing advertising. It aims to increase charities’ online presence, connect with supporters, donors and volunteers and engage them online. HubSpot also looks to retain donors through personalising communications with them.

Salsa CRM

Features of Salsa’s donor management software including managing fundraising, communications and data around potential donors. It also offers charities analytics and can produce reports on campaign performance. As with many CRM systems Salsa can help personalise communication with donors to ensure they are engaged and content is relevant to them.

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