Find the Right Fundraising Software: Options, Features, and More

Choosing the right fundraising software for your charity is key to setting up for success. Here’s how Raisely stands out among the options.

Hey nonprofits! Are you looking for ways to make running your next fundraising campaign a little easier? If so, keep reading.

Nonprofit fundraising software improves workflow and makes it easier for you to manage your campaign. Unlike general crowdfunding software, specialised charity fundraising software is ideal for long-term giving campaigns and is tailored to meet the needs of nonprofits. Fundraising software can:

• Process online donations
• Build and improve donor relationships
• Streamline processes
• Generate custom reports and data
• Launch multiple campaign types
• Help you host fundraising events

If you want to connect your message meaningfully with people, fundraising software provides you with the tools you need to make an impact.

Here are seven of the best fundraising software platforms around, and how they can create value for your charity or nonprofit.

1. Raisely

Raisely’s fundraising software can help you boost your cause, and transform your online fundraising for good. Raisely is an employee-owned certified B Corp, and is on a mission to make five-star tech accessible for charities everywhere — without any contracts or costly subscriptions.

Here’s where Raisely really excels:

Free, Fully Customisable Templates

Our templates are what really set our fundraising platform apart. Every Raisely template is fully customisable with our user-friendly website builder. These templates make custom branding easy, and accepting online donations and creating donation options — like recurring giving and matched gifts — even easier! Also, there are plenty of campaign types to choose from, including:

• Peer-to-peer fundraising
• Active events and event registration
• Donation appeals
• Online donation forms
• Fundraising pages
• Event ticketing
• And more!

Built-In CRM

Customer relationship management (CRM) software is a need, not a nicety. CRM software helps you improve donor management by organising your supporters' data and keeping track of your relationship with them.

Raisely’s built-in nonprofit CRM gives you a complete view of your supporters. You can track crucial segmentations, like new or recurring donors. You’re also able to record notes on each donor, helping create custom interactions in future engagements.

Mobile Optimised

In 2021, 65% of Australians donated to nonprofits via their mobile devices on Raisely. Worldwide, 84% of millennials give to charities, and they prefer to give via mobile devices. As mobile continues to reign supreme, both numbers will likely increase this year, which means your fundraising efforts need to be mobile optimised.

Raisely’s online fundraising software makes creating mobile-friendly fundraising websites and donation forms a breeze. You can make edits and updates in real-time, whether you’re at an event on your couch.

Also, phone apps like PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay already store vital information, so mobile donors can send gifts as fast as GIFs.

Flexibility, Functionality, and Scalability

Raisely's mission is to make it possible for anyone to create amazing branded fundraising websites — without a web designer or developer. To help you get started, our Lead Educator, James Stinson, created a YouTube playlist with easy-to-follow tutorials covering your first steps with the platform.

Raisely’s software allows you to build capacity and grow to meet demands. If you’re a savvy web developer, you can add even more functionality to your fundraising campaign in three key ways:

• Editing the CSS
• Building custom React components
• Integrating with our fully open API

We’re also a full white-label platform, so you can include your branding and logo on any of our templates and email messages.

Integrations

You don't need to give up your existing toolbox to use Raisely as your fundraising software. The platform can be seamlessly integrated with top-notch apps such as Google Analytics and Google Ads, Facebook (including Facebook Fundraising), Salesforce, Autopilot, Strava, and more.

It’s Free!

Raisely exists to help nonprofits like yours grow for the well-being of people and the planet. Our entire fundraising suite is free. In terms of pricing, you can’t beat that.

2. Classy

Classy is a San Diego-based fundraising platform that connects supporters with causes they care about. Their tagline is “raise more online, do more good.”

Here’s what Classy is known for:

Fundraising campaign templates: With Classy, you can create multiple pages for your fundraising campaigns. This is especially useful when you have a lot of donation pages within a multichannel campaign.

Donor management software: Classy’s donor management software helps nonprofits understand their donor relationships. It keeps track of your donor engagement, so you can maintain your relationships with them.

Integrations: Classy integrates with other useful applications like Salesforce, Facebook, Google Analytics, and Constant Contact.

3. Bloomerang

Bloomerang is a cloud-based platform headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. They claim to help organisations to advance their mission by focusing on user-friendly technology and support.

Bloomerang benefits include:

CRM: Bloomerang’s CRM was built by fundraising professionals with nonprofits in mind. You gain access to any data you need, and spend less time focusing on admin tasks that are taking you away from raising funds and spreading brand awareness.

Reporting automation: You can set up forms on Bloomerang’s site, where everything automatically goes into their donor database. If a donation is made offsite, you can import it via a CSV file.

Online donating and tracking: Bloomerang’s donation software makes tracking and identifying “hot” donors simple. It also helps you with outreach by identifying donors who aren’t as engaged or haven’t donated in awhile.

4. Double the Donation

Double the Donation focuses on matching gifts — hence the name! This Atlanta, Georgia-based company has a database that helps nonprofits make the most of their donor matching opportunities.

Here are three more of Double the Donation’s top features:

Searchable database: Double the Donation created a search engine for their matching gifts database. When the supporter of a nonprofit makes a donation, they’re sent to this database and can view their employer’s matching gift policy. The supporter is then directed to the website or forms they’re required to fill out to request a matching donation.

Regular updates: Double the Donation frequently updates their database to ensure their search engine remains relevant. Your fundraising strategy with Double the Donation would be pointless if a company’s policy has completely changed, or if they haven’t accepted a matching gift form in 10 years.

Comprehensive management system: If you misspell a company name or don’t know their parent company or subsidiary, Double the Donation’s database will help you find the company.

5. OneCause

OneCause is an Indianapolis, Indiana-based company that specialises in event and online fundraising solutions. Their software is geared towards online event fundraising.

Let’s dive deeper into some of these key features:

Auctions: With mobile bidding, people can participate in auctions even if they can’t physically attend the event.

Text2Give: OneCause’s Text2Give scoreboard provides donors with real-time updates. You can watch the fundraising thermometers slowly increase, feature donors’ names for acknowledgement, and keep everyone apprised of your fundraising goals.

Virtual streaming: OneCause lets you livestream your event and educate and engage donors interested in your cause.

6. Givebutter

Givebutter calls itself a “people-centric” fundraising platform that is mobile-friendly and customisable. Though founded in Washington, D.C., their remote teams are spread (get it?) across 14 states and five countries — a lot like Raisely!

Here are some of Givebutter’s key features:

Contact management software: Givebutter’s contact management software keeps your data clean by identifying redundant or duplicate contacts. You can also add tags, notes, and custom contact fields.

Ticket management: Givebutter’s tools help you manage all your virtual, in-person, and hybrid events. You can manually check in event guests, resend tickets, revoke tickets, and scan them with any mobile device.

Simple fundraising pages: Givebutter’s donation pages allow you to  include countdowns, tell your story, add progress bars, and design whatever you like with their Canva integration.

7. DonorPerfect

Headquartered in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, DonorPerfect lets you manage all your fundraising campaigns and donor data in one place, whether your focus is on direct mail, online donations, or capital campaigns.

Some of DonorPerfect’s key features include:

Multiple online forms: DonorPerfect has online forms for event management, monthly donations, one-time donations, and more. You can also track them in DonorPerfect’s CRM.

Crowdfunding: With DonorPerfect, you can customise a crowdfunding page and turn your followers into brand ambassadors for your cause. You can set up automated messages, include leaderboards, and help your supporters seamlessly create personal pages aligned with your brand.

Acquiring major donors: DonorPerfect’s DonorSearch gives you access to data on a number of public records, including people's charitable donations.

Choose Raisely for Your Fundraising Software Solution

Although the fundraising software from the six competitors we mentioned have plenty to offer, Raisely’s all-in-one fundraising platform is chock-full of high-quality, free content! We have templates for all your needs. Our built-in CRM can transform your team into donor management masters, and our mobile optimisations make it easy to donate on the go.Are you ready to see the platform in action? Request a demo and explore how well our fundraising software can work for you.