The nonprofit accounting software should include invoice sending and spending tracking, as well as other essential accounting features. Nonprofit accounting features like donation receipts, restricted fund management, and Form 990 filings should be included. The best non-profit accounting software is here.
Best 5 Accounting Software for Nonprofits of 2024:
- Aplos: Online Nonprofit & Church Software
- FreshBooks
- Xero
- Zoho Books
- Realm: online church management software
Aplos Online Nonprofit & Church Software:
Fund accounting, donation tracking, online gift forms, financial and giving reports, and event registration are included in Aplos’ $49.50 per month Core plan, which also includes budgeting, A/P and A/R, recurring transactions, and pledge tracking. Its Advanced Accounting plan offers custom pricing, fund-specific budgeting, fixed asset tracking, income and expense allocation, and project-specific reporting. Please contact Aplos about its Enterprise plan, which is customized for each customer.
Aplos excels at CRM. This software lets you create donor profiles, communicate with them, and personalize engagement and retention strategies with targeted outreach tools. Donor management tools improve retention, tracking, and fundraising.
Aplos is ideal for nonprofits like churches that require targeted donor management to attract and retain donors.
Pros, Cons
- CRM software
- Giving statements and tracking donations
- Fundraising tools
- Secure donor portal
- Tools for managing donors
- No project- or campaign-specific budgeting or reporting in a lower-tiered plan
- Zero income and expense allocation in the lower-tiered plan.
- Pricey plans
FreshBooks
FreshBooks Lite plan costs $19 per month ($5.70 for the first four months with the promotion). Five-client invoices, unlimited expense tracking and estimates, credit card and bank transfer funding, and sales tax tracking are available. The second and third-tier plans cost $33 and $60 per month ($9.90 and $18 for the first four months under the promotion). They can bill 50 clients, automate expense tracking, set up recurring donations, track mobile mileage, customize emails, and track project profitability and accounts payable.
FreshBooks excels at tracking expenses and limited funding. Time-tracking tools show how long an employee takes to complete a project task. You can assign project funds to employees based on their project time. FreshBooks generates spending reports when you connect a bank account. Spending can be categorized in the software.
Who should use it?
FreshBooks can help nonprofits track restricted funds.
Pros, Cons
- 30-day free trial
- Affordable cost
- Tight fund management tools
- Many expense-tracking tools
- Not nonprofit-specific software.
- Team member addition costs an extra
- Unsuitable for large nonprofits
Xero
All Xero plans include reporting, payment acceptance, file storage, contact management, tax calculations, and bank account integration. Its $15 monthly plan ($1.50 for the first three months during the promotion) includes invoicing and quote tools, bill tracking for five bills, bank and Xero syncing, and 30-day cash flow snapshots. Its $42 and $78 plans ($4.20 and $7.80 monthly for the first three months during the promotion) include bulk transaction reconciliation, higher bill pay limits, project tracking, and analytics. Gusto payroll software costs $40 more.
Xero stands out with its customizable and detailed reporting tools. Real-time reporting, drag-and-drop customization, the input of your if-then statements and other formulas to compare and calculate scenarios, sharing reports, setting KPIs, and tracking categories or business areas are all available. Tracking categories lets you know if donor intent is being met by project funding.
Who should use it?
Consider Xero’s accounting software for nonprofits that need detailed project reports and the ability to compare actual reports to alternative scenarios for planning.
Pros, Cons
- 30-day free trial
- Unlimited clients and uses
- Reporting advanced
- Store and share files
- Invoices
- Professional quote-making tools
- Support for sales tax calculations is available 24/7 online and via live chat.
- Payroll tools cost $40 extra.
- First-tier plan with minimal bill tracking
- Zero analytics in lower-tier plans
- No nonprofit-specific features
- No. 990 filing advice
Zoho Books
One user can use Zoho Books for free to manage invoices, receive online and offline payments, track expenses and mileage, import bank and credit card statements, generate accounting reports, chart accounts, and manage 1099 contractors. Other plans add custom domain names, workflow automation, recurring expense tracking, project expense tracking, and more users for $15 to $240 per month (if billed annually).
Automation makes Zoho Books stand out. Recurring contractor invoices, payment reminders, transaction categorization, and card auto-charging can be eliminated to reduce labor costs.
Who should use it?
Zoho Books can help nonprofits cut project labour costs. Additionally, nonprofits that need intuitive software that even non-accountants can use should consider Zoho Books.
Pros, Cons
- Registered nonprofits get 15% off.
- Very simple to use
- Free plan
- Automation tools automate workflow
- Tools for managing donations and restricted funds
- No automation rules in free and first-tier plans. $2.50 per month to add new users.
- The free plan offers no phone support or chat.
- No 990 filing tools
Realm: online church management software
Realm offers three plans without prices. The Inform plan is best for accounting. This plan lets you create donor profiles, update staff notes, offer text, web-based, or recurring giving, manage pledges, create and view donor history and statements, provide personal donor dashboards, share donation reports, permit restricted giving, and segment donors.
Realm makes managing donors and donations easy for churches, with fewer features than competitors and award-winning customer support. Each subscription includes 24/7 online Help Center, phone support, webinars, personalized training, local user groups, and an annual client conference. Realm provides support in any format your church prefers.
Who should use it?
Realm can help churches manage donations with simple accounting.
Pros, Cons
- Quality, 24/7 customer support in multiple formats
- Donor profiles
- Donation and pledge management tools
- Simple to use
- Some competitors have more features.
- Not suitable for all nonprofits
- Publicly unavailable price.
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