As a nonprofit professional, you know how important it is to have the right tools in your fundraising arsenal.
Of course, your organization’s mission is its most important motivator for donors, but the internet has opened up more fundraising outlets than ever before. It’s important to have an adaptable toolkit that can handle any opportunity to fundraise online.
Online donation software comes in all shapes and sizes, and they’re designed to address a wide variety of needs. What every donation tool has in common, though, is that they can help your nonprofit raise more support online by engaging new donors or streamlining the donation process.
Let’s walk through a few top online donation software options for nonprofit organizations:
- Soapbox Engage - Top Online Donation Software Suite
- Double the Donation - Best Online Donation Tool for Matching Gifts
- DonorSearch - Best Online Donation Software for Prospect Research
- Mogli SMS - Best Online Donation Software for Mobile Engagement
- Bonfire - Best Online Donation Platform for Merchandise
- Facebook Fundraisers - Best Online Donation Tool for Social Media
- PayPal - Best Online Donation Software for Donation Processing
- Donorbox - Best Recurring Donation Software for Nonprofits
You’ll be building out your toolkit and raising more support for your mission in no time! Let’s get started.
1. Soapbox Engage - Top Online Donation Software Suite
Overview of This Online Donation Platform
Soapbox Engage is a leading provider of online donation software for nonprofit organizations of all sizes. Its suite of donation tools and donor engagement apps make it a perfect ready-made solution for Salesforce or effective à la carte tools for any nonprofit’s toolkit.
If your growing nonprofit has adopted (or is considering making the move to) Salesforce, the Soapbox Engage suite of apps is the easiest way to get up and running on the platform quickly.
It usually takes quite an investment of time and money to build out an integrated suite of tools that suit your nonprofit’s needs, but Soapbox Engage eliminates all of the guesswork. The suite of tools and apps includes:
- Online donation pages and processing
- Event and registration management
- Class registration management
- Online form-building tools
- Integrated, searchable user directories
- eCommerce tools for online sales
- Online petition creation and management
- Targeted action tools for online advocacy
Why Soapbox Engage Stands Out
Every single app in the Soapbox Engage suite can help increase online giving for nonprofits, but what’s the big-picture benefit of working with this integrated suite of online donation tools?
Each app works seamlessly with the others (especially when they’re all connected through Salesforce) to help you generate a 360-degree data view of your donor engagement strategies.
This ability has been a game-changer for nonprofits using the Soapbox Engage suite, helping them more flexibly adapt their strategies over time while offering supporters new ways to engage with their work online.
You can manage the entire online donation experience from start to finish and learn more from the whole process, too, to continually refine your strategies.
Explore the integrated suite of online donation tools from Soapbox Engage.
2. Double the Donation - Best Online Donation Tool for Matching Gifts
Overview of This Online Donation Platform
Double the Donation is a leading donation tool for nonprofit organizations that fundraise online and want a way to boost the impact of their donors. The world of corporate philanthropy, although very underutilized, is a perfect opportunity, and Double the Donation’s tools make it easy to tap into new sources of revenue.
Matching gift programs, in which employers financially match their employees’ charitable donations, have a number of major benefits, but your nonprofit needs to take steps to get started.
With Double the Donation’s online tool, you gain access to a comprehensive database of corporate philanthropy programs plus an intuitive search tool to make it easy for your donors to find their eligibility. Plus, it integrates with leading donation tools like Soapbox Engage to make the process even more streamlined.
Why Double the Donation Stands Out
Double the Donation’s online tools fill an important role that many organizations previously let go by the wayside. Matching gifts are a major source of potential revenue, but donors simply won’t know to request matches from employers if you don’t promote them and work to raise eligibility awareness!
Once you’ve implemented Double the Donation’s tools into your fundraising process, you can see some fast results. For instance, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society increased their matching gift revenue by $1 million in just a year!
Explore Double the Donation’s full set of features for your online fundraising.
3. DonorSearch - Best Online Donation Software for Prospect Research
Overview of This Online Donation Platform
If your organization conducts major gift fundraising of any kind, you already know that having an organized approach is the key to success. All of the data you gather during prospect research can quickly become overwhelming for your development team unless you have an easy way to sort, analyze, and prioritize your prospective donors.
DonorSearch is the world’s largest philanthropic database, and it includes tons of online tools designed to help streamline your identification, research, and cultivation processes.
It’s a leader in the area of prospect research and major gift fundraising for a few reasons:
- Its comprehensive database of wealth and philanthropic information
- Its integrated online toolkit for viewing and managing prospects, including a prospect generator, marketing lists, and search tools
- Integration with leading CRM platforms, including Salesforce
- Wealth screening services and API access
Why DonorSearch Stands Out
The database and prospect analysis features from DonorSearch stand out because they take a more thorough, and ultimately more effective, approach than other prospect research tools on the market.
By focusing on both wealth data and philanthropic indicators, like a prospect’s previous involvement with other nonprofits, history of political giving, etc., you get a more comprehensive view of them as a person. What this means is that you’ll be able to identify the prospects who are both able and likely to make a major gift in less time than ever before, letting your team focus instead on building the relationship.
Learn more about comprehensive prospect research tools from DonorSearch.
4. Mogli SMS - Best Online Donation Software for Mobile Engagement
Overview of This Online Donation Platform
Mobile engagement is more important than ever for reaching your donors and then staying on their minds. With Mogli SMS, your nonprofit can drastically streamline your approach to mobile engagement.
Its full set of Salesforce-integrated marketing tools allows you to send messages to and receive text messages from supporters, create unique surveys, configure preset keyword queries, and more.
Mobile technology has opened up a lot of new opportunities for nonprofit organizations, but also new logistical challenges. As a comprehensive set of tools for tracking, managing, and designing your strategies, Mogli SMS is the best choice for nonprofits looking for software to support their mobile engagement strategies.
Why Mogli SMS Stands Out
If your organization already uses the Salesforce platform, you know how valuable it can be to use online donation tools and marketing software that can seamlessly report its data into the central CRM.
As a native app for Salesforce, Mogli SMS is guaranteed to play nicely with your existing toolkit if you're already on the platform. Pull directly from your existing contact lists, easily configure and schedule your bulk messages, and automatically create new contact records when new supporters get in touch.
Explore the full set of unique features from Mogli SMS.
5. Bonfire - Best Online Donation Platform for Merchandise
Overview of This Online Donation Platform
Custom merchandise has long been a reliable fundraising tool for nonprofit organizations. With Bonfire’s online donation platform, you can take your merch shop online, reach new donors, and raise more awareness for your cause.
Bonfire offers some of the most flexible options and campaign structures for nonprofits ready to try merchandise fundraising. These include:
- Crowdfunding-style t-shirt campaigns (with special features and reduced fees for nonprofit organizations)
- General online campaigns to create and offer custom t-shirts online anytime
- Direct orders of custom shirts with no minimum required for orders
These flexible features make Bonfire a perfect partner for your events, online campaigns, and any projects intended to engage your community of support.
Why Bonfire Stands Out
Bonfire is the best choice for nonprofit organizations looking to fundraise with custom merchandise. This is because their flexible options far outshine the limitations and requirements that other platforms hold on you.
Plus, they make it easy to design stylish custom apparel that will raise awareness of your cause, build your organization’s brand recognition, and help you raise more money online.
Explore the features of Bonfire’s online fundraising platform.
6. Facebook Fundraisers - Best Online Donation Tool for Social Media
Overview of This Online Donation Platform
Facebook Fundraisers is one of the most popular and effective online donation platforms today. That’s because it helps you meet your supporters where they already are — social media.
Both nonprofit organizations and individuals are able to quickly launch campaigns through Facebook’s fundraising tool and start promoting it right away. If your organization has conducted peer-to-peer fundraising in the past, you already know how effective social media can be as a vehicle for your campaigns.
Facebook Fundraisers includes all the core features you’ll need to set up a campaign page, fundraising goal, and deadline and then track supporter engagement.
Why Facebook Fundraisers Stands Out
When it comes to fundraising online, visibility is the key to success. Promoting your campaigns across social media is the new standard, and unless you need access to more advanced or specific toolkits, going straight to the source is a good way to focus your efforts.
Facebook Fundraisers is one of the simplest, most direct solutions for nonprofit organizations looking to double down on their social media fundraising.
Explore the features and categories of Facebook Fundraisers.
7. PayPal - Best Online Donation Software for Donation Processing
Overview of This Online Donation Platform
PayPal is a leader in online payment processing, and for good reason. Their payment tools make paying online easy and fast. Their nonprofit-specific donation processing features make them a top partner for your online fundraising projects, too.
PayPal offers a number of solutions for nonprofits to more easily accept donations online:
- Embedded donate buttons for nonprofits’ websites
- A growing database of charitable causes who’ve partnered with PayPal and can be accessed directly online or via the PayPal mobile app
- Integrations with Soapbox Engage donation tools, GoFundMe crowdfunding campaigns, Facebook Fundraisers, and tons of other fundraising platforms
Why PayPal Stands Out
Payment processing has always been the trickiest step in providing online users with streamlined experiences. For nonprofits, losing potential donors because of the clunky user experience when submitting payment information should be avoided at all costs!
Implementing PayPal’s tools into your online donation software directly addresses this issue by giving donors an additional option. For instance, the Global Fund for Women was able to significantly boost fundraising by offering a PayPal processing option for their disaster relief campaign.
8. Donorbox - Best Recurring Donation Software for Nonprofits
Overview of This Recurring Donation Platform
Donorbox is a state of the art recurring donation system for nonprofit organizations. Nonprofits can easily accept one-off payments as well as recurring donations on a weekly, monthly, quarterly or annual basis.
It’s ability to embed a donate button, donate form seamlessly on any nonprofit website makes it one of the most sought after online donation tools for nonprofits. You can even match your brand style with customization and offer multiple currencies, languages, and payment options. For online payment methods, Donorbox has multiple options such as Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Low-fee ACH, SEPA bank transfers and Paypal.
Why Donorbox Stands Out
Donorbox is one of the best choices for nonprofits looking for sustainable revenue from recurring donations. To take nonprofit fundraising to the next level, Donorbox provides a suite of tools that help nonprofits raise even more donations.
They include Text-to-Give, Crowdfunding, etc. Nonprofits can build and maintain relationships with donors with Donorbox’s impeccable donor management system.
Donorbox offers integration with third party applications such as Salesforce, Mailchimp, Zapier, Double the Donation. This helps nonprofits save a lot of time and in turn increase their donations. Explore the features of Donorbox’s Online Fundraising Platform.
Building out a strong fundraising toolkit means finding the right online donation software and platforms to support your efforts from start to finish.
Donation tools, marketing software, prospect research databases, social media platforms, and more all have parts to play in the success of your fundraising efforts! For the best results, look for tools that will work well alongside (or directly integrated with) your existing tools whenever possible.
Be sure to continue your research on online donation software with a few additional resources:
- Increasing Your Donation Page Conversion Rate: 9 Smart Tips. Once you've got your new donation page set up, how do you make sure it's effective? We walk through some best practices.
- Best Salesforce Apps for Nonprofits: 7 Essential Tools. If you're using Salesforce, you need to find the right donation tools and apps to make the most of your platform.
- 5 School Fundraising Ideas That People will Actually Enjoy. Tired of the same old fundraising ideas for your school? We've got some new ideas to get you started.
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