Welcome to the Best Value series, a Business-Software.com exclusive about the software solutions that give you the most bang for your buck. We created this series in an effort to address one of the most common questions we receive from our Business-Software.com community members, “what software is the best value?” Browse the entire series in the Best Value series section of our blog.
Today we kick off a new series of blog posts designed to help Business-Software.com members out with a regularly occurring software inquiry — “What’s the best-value software product for my segment?” We conceived the series both as a spin-off of our No-Cost Office sequence about free software and as an aid for our community members, who consistently inquire about which software systems offer the most comprehensive set of tools at a reasonable price.
We’re commencing our spin-off series with the best-value nonprofit management software, to accompany our week of content built around the needs of our nonprofit readers. If you’d like to begin by learning how we define “best value,” check out our introductory post on the Best Value series. Otherwise, let’s get started!
The Trials and Tribulations of Nonprofit Organizations
Nonprofit organizations have very particular software needs — they require a solution that can manage monetary contributions, track and engage with donors and streamline campaign efforts. Sure, many not-for-profits try to get by with traditional CRM or accounting solutions, but frankly these more general solutions simply can’t provide all of the benefits a nonprofit should gain by implementing a software program.
The good news: Software solutions designed to meet these unique financial and constituent management demands do exist. The bad news: Many nonprofit organizations, particularly those new to the scene, operate on incredibly tight budgets and simply can’t afford the nonprofit management platforms that might be considered best on market. The cost-versus-quality dilemma is exactly what we sought to address, so we set out to find the nonprofit-specific software solution with the best balance of quality features and reasonable pricing.
Must-Have Nonprofit Software Features
When assessing the selected nonprofit solutions, we grouped all relevant features into overarching categories that represented all of the main components of nonprofit management systems. This included donor tracking and sorting abilities, reporting functionality, campaign management, fundraising tools and constituent relationship and move management. We also looked at integration capabilities, scalability, customer support, mobile access and other standout features not available on other platforms.
Cost, of course, was the other crucial component of the equation. For many not-for-profits, shelling out a bunch of money on a customizable system just isn’t realistic, and we wanted to acknowledge that by comparing starting price points and various software editions.
The Finalists
Using the results from our multi-step evaluation process, the Business-Software.com team trimmed down our list of solutions to 3 finalists:
- DonorPerfect Fundraising – With a fully featured fundraising suite and a variety of fundraising features, DonorPerfect is a great option for organizations who crowdsource regularly and seek improved visibility of their campaign efforts.
- DonorSnap Donor Management – Developed by a nonprofit who couldn’t find an existing solution that met their needs, DonorSnap is a simple yet all-inclusive system with 42 features and tools, unlimited users and cost-efficient plans.
- Little Green Light Donor Management CRM – Another platform with unlimited user functionality, Little Green Light contains a number of noteworthy fundraising and donor management components, as well as useful integrations with services such as MailChimp, Constant Contact, Wufoo and PayPal.
Each of our finalists offers an extensive range of capabilities at a fraction of the price of some of their competitors, making them appealing to businesses in need of an economical software solution. Here’s a chart that summarizes our findings with each category of features ranked as meeting or exceeding expectations:
Yet one of these specialized solutions for nonprofits stands out from the rest, according to our readers.
And the Best-Value Nonprofit Is…
The results are in — you voted Little Green Light Donor Management CRM as your favorite nonprofit solution with just the right balance of functionality and affordability.
In addition to its impressive suite of nonprofit-specific tools, the simplistic layout of Little Green Light makes it an attractive software for a range of nonprofits including those seeking an uncomplicated platform and easy-to-understand data presentation. The LGL team also ensures that you’ll be satisfied with their platform by offering phone and email support at no additional cost. All in all, Little Green Light Donor Management CRM empowers not-for-profits to take control of their fundraising and donor management efforts without draining their financial resources.
Want to tell us about your favorite software programs? Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn and be on the lookout for our next Best Value polls!
Check out all of our Nonprofit Week content in the Nonprofit section of our blog!