Nonprofits face distinct challenges when it comes to managing relationships and driving engagement. Unlike for-profit businesses, nonprofits must balance limited budgets with the need to maintain strong donor relationships, manage volunteers, run programming, and track impact, often across dispersed teams. These unique demands require tools that go beyond traditional customer management.
Learn more about why HubSpot’s CRM platform has all the tools you need to grow better.
That’s where nonprofit-tailored CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems come into play. Designed to centralize data, streamline outreach, and automate administrative tasks, CRMs help nonprofit organizations better retain donors, personalize communications, and ultimately amplify their mission. According to a 2024 Nonprofit Digital Investments Report from NTEN, 14% of nonprofits spend their technology budget on software and licenses; the same report revealed that 40% of nonprofits include technology investments in their organization’s strategic plan.
In this article, I’ll break down the best CRMs specifically suited for nonprofits. You’ll find a side-by-side comparison table, a deep dive into key features (like donor management, grant tracking, and integrations), and a step-by-step guide for evaluating and implementing the right CRM for your organization.
Notably, HubSpot is one of the platforms trusted by real nonprofit organizations to drive engagement and scale their impact — and I’ll show you how.
What is a CRM for nonprofits?
A CRM for nonprofits is software that helps organizations manage and nurture relationships with donors, volunteers, members, and other key stakeholders. It centralizes contact information, tracks engagement history, and supports fundraising, outreach, and reporting efforts—all tailored to the mission-driven goals of nonprofit work.
Best CRM Software for Nonprofit Businesses
With so many CRM platforms on the market, it can be challenging for nonprofits to find a solution that fits their mission and budget. The best CRM software for nonprofit businesses offers tools for donor management, volunteer coordination, event tracking, and campaign reporting — all while being user-friendly and cost-effective.
Below, I’ve rounded up top CRM options tailored to the unique needs of nonprofits to help you make an informed choice. Take a look
Key HubSpot Features
Unified contact database: HubSpot’s CRM tracks every donor interaction in one centralized location, from first website visit tracked by HubSpot’s analytics to major gifts recorded in HubSpot’s deal pipelines, eliminating the data silos that often plague nonprofit organizations.
Automated email workflows: HubSpot’s workflow builder lets nonprofits set up donor welcome series, lapsed donor re-engagement campaigns, and event follow-ups that automatically based on specific actions within HubSpot, saving hours of manual outreach time.
Native payment integration: HubSpot connects directly with Stripe or PayPal to process donations within the HubSpot ecosystem, automatically updating donor records in HubSpot’s CRM and thank-you emails through HubSpot’s email tools without manual data entry.
Key Salesforce Features
Grant management module: Track multi-year grants with automated milestone reminders and compliance reporting.
Program impact tracking: Connect beneficiaries to programs and outcomes in real-time.
AppExchange integrations: Access nonprofit-specific apps for peer-to-peer fundraising or form submission platforms for complex application forms, all syncing seamlessly with your core database.
Salesforce Pricing
Power of Us Program: 10 free licenses
Additional Nonprofit Cloud Enterprise licenses: $60/user/month
Nonprofit Cloud (Unlimited Edition): $100/user/month
Nonprofit Cloud Agentforce 1: $325/user/month
Key Bloomerang Features
Retention dashboard: Visual analytics showing donor retention rates by segment.
Engagement timeline: See every interaction with a donor chronologically, from event attendance to email opens.
Wealth screening integration: Built-in connection to DonorSearch automatically identifies major gift prospects.
Bloomerang Pricing
Qgiv by Bloomerang: $40/month
Bloomerang CRM: $125/month
Bloomerang Volunteer: $119/month
Key DonorPerfect Features
Smart Ask AI: Predicts optimal donation amounts for each donor based on giving history and capacity.
Automated donor journeys: Design multi-step communication flows that adapt to donor behavior.
Built-in email marketing: Create, send, and track email campaigns without leaving the CRM, with automatic list segmentation based on giving patterns.
Keela Pricing
1,000 contacts: $134/month
1,001 to 2,500 contacts: $209/month
5,001 to 7,500 contacts: $329/month
7,500 to 10,000 contacts: $379/month
Key Little Green Light Features
Simplified gift entry: Batch gift entry and automated soft credits to make recording donations from fundraising events quick.
Constituent workflows: Create custom pipelines for volunteer recruitment, board nominations, or major gift cultivation.
Email integration via Mailchimp: Sync constituent data with Mailchimp for sophisticated email campaigns while maintaining gift history in LGL.
Little Green Light Pricing
2,500 contacts: $45/month
5,000 contacts: $60/month
10,000 contacts: $75/month
20,000 contacts: $90/month
Benefits of CRM Software for Nonprofits
Eliminate Donor Data Silos for Complete Relationship Visibility
Nonprofits often track donor information across disconnected spreadsheets, email platforms, and paper files, making it impossible to see a donor’s full engagement history. However, HubSpot’s unified CRM platform solves this by centralizing every interaction, from the first website visit to a significant gift, event attendance, and volunteer hours, in one searchable database.
HubSpot’s contact timeline feature means any staff member can instantly access a donor’s complete history before making a call, writing a grant report, or planning the next ask. Unlike fragmented systems from competing CRMs, HubSpot automatically connects website activity, email engagement, donation history, and event participation into comprehensive donor profiles that update as changes happen.
Automate Repetitive Tasks to Focus on Mission-Critical Work
Development teams waste countless hours on manual tasks like sending donation receipts, updating spreadsheets after events, and creating thank-you letters. HubSpot’s workflow automation eliminates these time-consuming processes by actions based on donor behavior — donation receipts send instantly through HubSpot’s email tools, donor records update automatically when someone registers for an event via HubSpot Forms, and personalized thank-you sequences launch based on gift size.
With HubSpot’s Marketing Hub, nonprofits can build complex automation sequences that previously required manual intervention.
5 Important Features for a Nonprofit CRM
Donor retention analytics and engagement scoring: Track retention rates by segment, identify lapsing donors, and monitor engagement trends over time. HubSpot’s custom dashboards and contact scoring features help nonprofits address the critical challenge of keeping donors engaged year after year. At the same time, its activity timeline shows every touchpoint — from email opens to donation history — to inform personalized outreach strategies.
Multi-channel fundraising integration: Seamlessly manage donations across websites, peer-to-peer campaigns, events, and text-to-give from one platform. HubSpot’s Forms tool captures donations from any channel. At the same time, its Workflows automatically route gifts to the correct campaign and update donor records in real-time, ensuring every gift from galas, Facebook fundraisers, or direct mail flows into unified contact records without manual entry.
Automated gift processing and acknowledgment: Instantly process donations, send tax receipts, and personalized thank-you messages based on gift size or campaign. HubSpot’s native Stripe and PayPal integrations and its Marketing Hub automation exemplify how nonprofits can acknowledge donors within minutes, not days, using personalized email sequences that adapt based on donation amount and donor history.
Grant and program management modules: Track multi-year grants, program outcomes, and beneficiary data to demonstrate impact to funders. Plus, HubSpot’s custom objects and properties allow organizations to build grant tracking systems. At the same time, its reporting tools automate compliance dashboards and connect program activities directly to funding sources — all without leaving the HubSpot ecosystem.
Financial system integration and reporting: Sync donation data with QuickBooks, generate IRS-compliant reports, and ensure the development and finance teams work from identical numbers. HubSpot’s Operations Hub and native integrations eliminate duplicate entry and reconciliation headaches that plague nonprofits during audit season, while its custom report builder maintains accurate financial records for board reporting.
