3 Best Free Accounting Software For Nonprofits

Rather than managing sales and revenue, nonprofits have to manage donor contributions, fundraising events, grants, investment income, membership fees etc. Larger nonprofit organizations will need enterprise level software with advanced accounting features with large donor management databases. This level of organization will want to ensure board members have full clarity of the organization’s finances through proper bookkeeping, cash management, and reporting.

You also need to continue receiving donations from your patrons and other supporters. You can do online fundraisers using online giving platforms to augment your income and ensure you can continue helping your constituents. The software enables nonprofits to send invoices in a moment’s notice and even automates the generation of recurring invoices.

Best for Easy Church-Donation Management

With QuickBooks Premier, as opposed to Desktop Pro, you’ll be able to access an industry-specific platform designed for nonprofit organizations. If you’re looking for the best business accounting software for your nonprofit organization, you’re in a unique position. You likely need a robust software system that can handle fund accounting and keep track of donor contributions. On top of this, you probably also have a strict budget to adhere to when it comes to actually purchasing your nonprofit accounting software. With no payroll tools, Quicken allows solo-run nonprofits that rely on volunteers to perform basic business accounting, such as allocating funds based on donor intent to different categories or budgets.

• Of course, you can always generate financial statements manually, but this takes a lot of time and skill.
• A purchase order is a document a purchaser (in this case, a nonprofit) sends to a vendor to confirm the purchase of different goods and services.
• This will help you decide which accounting software meets your needs best.
• The dashboard has mentions of profit and loss, sales, and other terms not commonly used in nonprofit environments.
• For more information on software especially for nonprofit organizations, read our nonprofit buyer's guide.
• Like most ERPs, NetSuite’s customizable system can be made industry-specific with unique solutions for advertising, retail, healthcare, manufacturing and wholesale distribution companies, among others.

Too big for small scale solutions but not large enough for enterprise-level software, they need something in-between. Fortunately, customizable NPO accounting software can hit that sweet spot. In addition to the functionality described above, you’ll need extra features.

Detailed budget tracking

Depending on the size, however, and the available funds, the main operator of the nonprofit may elect to handle that work themselves with the aid of online accounting software. Nonprofit accounting can be challenging, but thanks to FreshBooks online nonprofit accounting software, much of the more tedious work can nonprofit bookkeeping be automated. The crucial difference between nonprofit and for-profit accounting is their relationship to profit. In contrast to for-profit businesses, a nonprofit’s main mission isn’t to generate a profit. Rather, they aim to meet their revenue requirements in order to continue funding their offered services.

NetSuite’s accounting software offers accounts receivable and payable, cash management, fixed asset management, a general ledger and tax management solutions. When we contacted a sales representative for a starting price, we were told there is no set starting price as each solution is uniquely catered to the NetSuite client. Most of the accounting software on our list can accommodate growing businesses, up to and including enterprises.

QuickBooks Online

It offers comprehensive accounting, fundraising, and payroll services and can be accessed from anywhere in the world. Financial Edge NXT by Blackbaud is a cloud-based fund accounting solution. Like all of Blackbaud’s products, it was designed specifically for nonprofits. Custom software solutions save time for nonprofits by performing the exact tasks necessary to run your NPO.

• If you’re the treasurer of an organization, you can use the program to manage budgets, handle bookkeeping duties, reconcile bank accounts, and generate detailed reports.
• Some of the notable features of the software include payment tracking, payroll management, credit card processing, and finance management, among others.
• From an operational perspective, nonprofit organizations must maintain good business practices and compliance, which includes nonprofit accounting.
• A qualified accountant will help your nonprofit stay ahead of the game by carrying out all of these activities and more.
• As your nonprofit grows, you must protect yourself and the organization from fraud.
• When managing payroll for a nonprofit, bookkeepers must administer federal and state taxes, deduct money for employee benefits, and determine how funds are affected.

Forecasts will be far more important to predict the health of your organization into the following year. Unless you’re a power user or an accountant, business accounting software can be difficult to use. This is most apparent at smaller, volunteer-run nonprofits that “do the books” manually or with Excel spreadsheets. Cloud-based nonprofit accounting software solutions are far more user-friendly than their previous counterparts, enabling users to tap into easy-to-use web-based interfaces to carry out their accounting work. Zoho Invoice is a robust accounting and invoicing software that can serve both businesses and nonprofit organizations. The product is used primarily in invoice creation and management but also sports very useful accounting features.

You can keep track of your budget and compare it with the actual expenses to set future goals. Nonprofit accounting software options allow nonprofits to accurately manage the complex financial needs for organizations of any size. Nonprofit accounting software is a type of nonprofit software that handles the specific financial transaction needs found within the nonprofit industry. As opposed to a general-purpose accounting solution, nonprofit accounting software helps nonprofit organizations (NPOs) manage fund sources and further their organization’s mission by properly using available funds. This can sometimes be marketed on it’s own as fund accounting software. Many nonprofit organizations end up cobbling together accounting, donor management, and payroll services by using multiple programs, making things confusing during end-of-year reporting.

• The system likewise helps in processing payments, invoicing, and payroll to help you maintain healthy relationships with both your sponsors and employees.
• The nonprofit accounting software allows you to create custom invoices using several built-in invoice templates available in Excel, Google Docs, and PDF formats.
• Nonprofit accounting and bookkeeping revolve around representing an organization’s financial records in compliance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
• Next, make a list of the features your organization needs to properly track, report and manage its funds and taxes.
• Furthermore, Sage Business Cloud Accounting offers two free licenses to nonprofits.
• If you want to track donations and donor information, you’ll need to purchase additional software.
• For that reason, it may be best to get high-quality accounting software that can automate everyday tasks, create reports, and minimize room for errors.

The default version is only available via desktop, so employees cannot access it remotely. If you want to add cloud-based access, you’ll need to pay an additional fee for hosting for each user that will be using the program. For example, the cost for two users to remotely access the Diamond https://www.bookstime.com/ plan is $3,572.40. While there are cheaper versions of QuickBooks available for nonprofit organizations, we selected QuickBooks Enterprise Nonprofit because of its robustness. For large or growing organizations who need comprehensive accounting services, this program can be a good fit.

To streamline payroll and tax compliance processes even further, Gusto also automates payroll calculation, bill payments, and submission of a company’s payroll taxes. This enables non-profit organizations to ensure that they can pay their employees on time, submit year-end forms, and file taxes to avoid critical errors and costly penalties. Since every nonprofit is different, it’s impossible to say one software is the best – but there are some excellent options.