4 Types of Nonprofit Software You Should Be Using for Your Organization

Nonprofits are always trying to make every dollar go further, but I see a lot of organizers missing out on one of the best ways to optimize their funds: software. The right software can help you do everything from gather and implement data on your donors and volunteers, to schedule and promote events faster and more effectively. If you’ve been wondering which nonprofit software you need for your organization, here are some of the first things you’ll need.

CRM Nonprofit Software

​Every business needs a system to help keep track of their prospects, and nonprofits are no different. You need to maintain a database of your donors so you know where they’re coming from and you can quickly and easily contact them any time you have a new nonprofit fundraising effort coming up, or just to keep in touch with them.

​Whichever CRM nonprofit software you end up using, make sure you can sync it to your calendar so you can automatically send updates to your donors every time you schedule a new event. That way, instead of writing and sending an email, you can use that time to focus on other tasks for your organization.

Social Media Scheduling Nonprofit Software

We all struggle to find the time to post on social media, which is why you need to use one of the available options for social media scheduling nonprofit software, many of which have a free option before they require you to pay (although the free options have limited capabilities).

Not only does social media scheduling nonprofit software allow you to do your social media in batches, it also enables you to get the most out of your social media efforts by scheduling those posts for the times when they’re most likely to be seen. Depending on the nonprofit software you choose to use for your social media scheduling, you can also get reports on the effectiveness of those posts to see how many views they’re getting, how much engagement, etc. That allows you to tweak your social media efforts as you go to make sure it’s driving the results you need for your nonprofit.

Nonprofit Accounting Software

Just because the money coming into your business is in the form of donations doesn’t mean you don’t need to track it. You need to know how much money is coming into your business, where that money is coming from, how much money you’re spending on your nonprofit, where that money is going, etc., so make sure you choose the right nonprofit accounting software.

Quickbooks is probably the most well-known accounting software, and while it does have a lot to offer, I prefer to use Square because I find it’s more intuitive and easier to use. That said, feel free to compare and contrast to see which one is the best fit for your nonprofit.

Volunteer Nonprofit Software

Your volunteers are one of your biggest assets, so be sure to track what they’re doing and when to make sure you’re getting the most out of that asset. You can enter them into your CRM nonprofit software and keep them separated from your donors, or you can use a separate software that’s dedicated to helping nonprofits manage their volunteers. Either way, it’s important to remember that you need to be proactive in reaching out to your volunteers just like you need to be proactive in reaching out to donors. You can use your volunteer nonprofit software to send your volunteers an email to get them on the schedule and encourage them to volunteer again if they haven’t been in for a while.

​Helping nonprofits implement the right technology into their organization is one of my strong suits. If you know you could be doing more with the right nonprofit software, but if you don’t know where to start, or you just don’t have the time to set it up yourself, schedule a FREE clarity call now so we can talk about your options