Free CRM Software for Nonprofits to Get More Signups

Small businesses, startups, and nonprofits like you can always benefit from saving money anywhere and everywhere, especially regarding your marketing and sales. That’s what makes free CRM solutions so appealing.

I know ‘free CRM’ sounds limiting, but you would be surprised!

You can gain valuable insights into your audience, tailor communications through email marketing, automate social media posts and emailing, shorten sales cycles, and review analytics to improve the customer experience.

In this blog post, we go into the details of 11 free CRM software for nonprofits, including their key features.

We’re not talking about free demos or free trials. These nonprofit CRM solutions are free forever, allowing you to save while you build your organization. Once you can afford it, you can begin spending money on these CRM platforms, as they all have paid plans with advanced features and higher limits.

An Exhaustive Review of 11 Free CRM Software for Nonprofits

Let’s get started!

1. EngageBay

You can’t talk about free forever and not mention EngageBay. This service was founded for small businesses and startups and has expanded its audience to include nonprofits.

The all-in-one nonprofit donor management software includes service, sales, and marketing automation tools, with EngageBay’s CRM (customer relationship management) its crown jewel.

Here is an overview of all free CRM features:

Telephony: Call integration with EngageBay’s CRM software unlocks key telephony features, from call notes and recordings to call conferencing. Even better, EngageBay integrates with your favorite telephony programs and tools.
Lead services: Determine where your leads come from with EngageBay’s lead location and lead source services. Lead scoring will help you decide the most viable, qualified leads to focus on, and segmentation will keep your marketing messages laser-focused.
Email marketing: Once EngageBay’s powerful free CRM platform and your email meet, great things happen. Use deal management tools, track email-related communications with your leads and customers, expand your 360-degree customer view, automate email tasks for sales and marketing, and produce workflows.
Sales engagement: Improve sales with productivity measures, a sales leaderboard, deal funnels, and records of which team makes the most calls within EngageBay — making it one of the best CRM software.
Sales reporting: You won’t believe the quality of the metrics reports you receive when using a free CRM for nonprofits like EngageBay. You can measure calls by user, tasks by user, won deals, and lost deals. This tool also offers sales forecasting.
Form building and donor data entry: Make the most of your time with EngageBay’s automated features within its CRM. It will take care of contact management, exit pop-up, form creation, and form embedding.
Task management: What is due when? Your sales and marketing employees won’t wonder when you use EngageBay. You can assign tasks and reminders, segment projects, and organize tasks, with a view for multiple tasks available.
Meeting scheduling: Keep a full calendar without overbooking yourself using EngageBay’s meeting scheduling software. The CRM software includes group and individual calendars with custom slots for booking.

EngageBay user ratings

G2 rating: 4.2/5
Capterra rating: 4.6/5

2. CiviCRM

A nonprofit-centric solution, CiviCRM is the choice of over 11,000 nonprofit organizations like yours. This open-source software has contact and donor management features to streamline your operations.

Let’s take a look at what you can use within this free nonprofit software:

Contact management: CiviCRM has handy contact management capabilities, including automatic interaction recording, as many custom fields as you need, custom activities, and contact info exporting and importing.
Peer-to-peer fundraisers: Raise money for important causes within your CRM, using features like donation display progress (updated automatically), personal contributions and campaigns, and “tell a friend” links.
Advocacy campaigns: Make online petitions within CiviCRM, reach out to supporters without leaving the platform, and review how far your fundraising campaign has gone, making CiviCRM one of the best nonprofit CRM software.
Case management: Record donor interactions, like emails or phone calls, and manage activities around an ongoing or closed case. You can also generate reports for cases with sensitive information redacted.
Email marketing: Build better email marketing campaigns, using CRM for split-testing, email scheduling, personalization, email list importation and exportation, list segmenting, and analytics, including subscribers, unsubscribers, bounces, open rates, and click-through rates.
Membership management: If your nonprofit offers memberships, you’ll use this CiviCRM feature a lot. You can make membership-related signup forms, change membership levels, automate reminders for renewing, build membership directories, segment your email lists to only members, and search for specific members. These tools can help improve donor engagement and help with your fundraising efforts.
Event planning: Use CiviCRM to build event reminders and templates. You can also rely on this CRM tool to search for specific events, including by role and participant, event type, or event name.

CiviCRM user ratings

G2 rating: 3.9/5
Capterra rating: 4.1/5

3. Zoho CRM Free Edition

As a small nonprofit still finding your footing, Zoho CRM is good to have in your corner. The free edition of its CRM tool, while not as robust as the paid alternative, still has a variety of features suited to your organization at this stage.

Here is what the free CRM software includes:

Integrations: The free edition of Zoho integrates with other Zoho tools and programs, including Zoho Projects, Zoho Desk, Zoho Forms, Zoho Campaigns, Zoho Mail, and Zoho Survey for a more complete sales and marketing strategy.
Cloud-based storage: File and data storage is available in the cloud. You can save 5,000 records in data storage. Best of all, the cloud storage is free.
Customization options: Configure Zoho CRM your way, including custom list views, data names, and custom pages.
Automation: How does automating 45% of your sales tasks sound? Zoho CRM says you can! That’s a big promise from a free CRM. Think of how your sales team can use that free time. They can strengthen donor relationships and convert more leads.
Lead generation: On that note, Zoho will help you find leads with its free CRM. Build a strong, conversion-ready website with lead forms through Zoho.
Email marketing: A built-in editor ensures you never have writer’s block when producing email copy. You can also format your emails manually or use a template, add email opt-outs, personalize communications, and produce email workflows within Zoho.
Contact management: Build a full-fledged contact book for deal management, then put Zoho to work managing your contacts within this CRM software.
Analytics: The charts and graphs Zoho can generate paint a clear picture of your latest sales and marketing wins and failures.

Zoho CRM user ratings

G2 rating: 4.0/5
Capterra rating: 4.3/5

4. HubSpot CRM

HubSpot may not offer many free services, but its CRM tool more than makes up for its costly service plans elsewhere. The array of CRM and marketing tools afforded to you within this free software might make you wonder if this is just a free trial or if you really have to pay.

Nope, you don’t! Here are the features nonprofits shouldn’t miss:

Lead management: Your leads live on HubSpot CRM. Within this software, you can learn all the pertinent details about your leads, such as their job titles and customer status. You can also pull up notes, email, and call records with the lead anytime to choose the right sales strategy.
Sales automation logging: When sales happens, who has time to log them? You won’t have to with HubSpot’s services. If you have Outlook or Gmail, you can automatically sync them with HubSpot Sales to pull together all relevant sales tasks, from emails to calls.
Pipeline management: Build your sales funnel how you prefer, sorting the view to match the project or task you’re working on. For example, you can organize sales deals by monetary value or by the number of appointments schedule. You can also create custom views.

HubSpot CRM user ratings

G2 rating: 4.4/5
Capterra rating: 4.5/5

5. Bitrix24

A free online tool like Bitrix24 can be a suitable nonprofit donor management software, as you have a diversity of options at your fingertips without paying a cent. Let’s learn more about what is included.

Workflow automation: Do you have a busy day ahead, or maybe a busy week? Automate your tasks in a workflow with Bitrix24, winning back time and getting everything done on your to-do list.
Appreciations and announcements: Whether you want to show your donors your gratitude or announce a new fundraiser, the automated tools within Bitrix24 make donor communications effortless.
Form and website building: Could your website use an overhaul? Perhaps you’re interested in adding more forms to your site. With free form– and website-building tools, you can create a brand-forward online presence. Free templates are available.
Task view: Organize tasks in a way that makes sense for you with Kanban boards and Gantt charts.
Sales and marketing automation: Push your campaign ahead without losing hours to it each day with Bitrix24. Use triggers and rules to automate tasks and use sales intelligence for sounder money decisions.
Customer management: From contacts to leads and donors, you can manage them all within Bitrix24, keeping communications tailored and streamlined.
Communications: Keep in touch with the right parties using workgroups, calendars, online documents, video calls, webmail, and chat.

Bitrix24 user ratings

G2 rating: 4.1/5
Capterra rating: 4.1/5

6. Insightly

Another CRM that won’t break the bank (because it’s free) is Insightly. This project, campaign, and donor management tool for two users (on the free plan) is ideal for small nonprofits just dipping their toes into CRM.

Here is what you can do with Insightly’s free CRM software:

Customize page layouts: You create the blueprint for your webpages with custom-built designs.
Custom fields: Although you can only use two custom fields per form, the data entry fields can be tailored to your nonprofit to capture the information you need.
Email management: Don’t log into your business inbox when you can use Insightly’s CRM to send and receive emails. You can send ten messages a day on the free plan.
Email templates: If your emails aren’t getting the open and click-through rates you were hoping for, try the email templates in Insightly. You can use five templates under the free plan, tweaking them as you see fit.
Record management: From prospects to customers or donors, you can keep over 2,000 records within Insightly on the free plan.

Insightly CRM user ratings

G2 rating: 4.2/5
Capterra rating: 4.1/5

7. Freshsales by Freshworks

If you only have two users, why not try Freshsales? This tool is a strong CRM for nonprofits, and you don’t have to pay if you keep your users within the limit. Small teams should have no problem doing that.

Bearing that in mind, let’s review what Freshsales can do for your nonprofit:

Integrations: Freshsales integrates with many everyday business tools, including Outlook, Xero, QuickBooks, Gmail, Slack, DocuSign, PayPal, Zapier, and PandaDoc. The CRM tool also syncs with the Freshworks marketplace and third-party apps via API.
Phone sales: Launch a Zoom meeting, personalize your SMS messages, grab an Uber for a client meeting, track travel on Google Maps, receive notifications in real-time, and open links within Freshsales, perfect for the nonprofit on the go.
Roles: Define project and task roles, allowing and revoking access based on responsibility level.
Customization: Set up the layout, language, currency support, contact lifecycle stages, and sales activities within Freshsales for a CRM platform that works for you, not the other way around.
Reporting: The AI-driven insights delivered in appealing, neat reports include sales forecasts, next-best action, sales reports, sales dashboards, and contact scoring.
Workflows: Stay on top of tasks as they arise, doling out responsibilities to other team members with Freshsales’ workflows.
Email marketing: Use two-way email syncing within Freshsales and unlock more possibilities. For instance, you can use email templates, customize your email campaigns, and build your contacts.
Chat campaigns: Harness the power of chatbots and personalization, presenting bots that can lighten the load for your customer service team.
Detailed customer views: Review customer activity timelines, scope out in-depth details, and view customer data in various views (kanban board, list, or table view) within Freshsales.

Freshsales user ratings

G2 rating: 4.5/5
Capterra rating: 4.5/5

8. Flowlu

The business management tool Flowlu is another good one to have on your radar as you consider nonprofit donor management software options. Its online-based CRM, bolstered by its knowledgebase, finance management, and online invoicing, will keep your nonprofit business progressing steadily forward.

Let’s see what else you can do in Flowlu.

Task management: Go deeper into tasks with Flowlu, setting custom statuses for tasks and creating subtasks as needed. Task tracking indicates where you spend the most time so you can use it more productively.
Collaboration tools: Connect more seamlessly within Flowlu using mind maps, content collaboration, project chat, company feeds, teammate responses, mentions, comments, team chat, and smart notifications.
Project management: Keep your project deadlines with multiple project support, workflows, and project performance metrics. You can also select from Kanban project views for easier work management.
Notifications: Never miss a moment of the action with notifications in real-time within Flowlu.
Custom fields: Add more fields to CRM accounts, pages, or opportunities, so they’re designed for your nonprofit’s needs.
Customer information: Learn more about your donors with notes, attached files, personal information, appointment records, invoice records, and opportunity involvement.
Reporting: Track your ongoing campaigns, donations, and sales within Flowlu’s reporting dashboard. The CRM reports include charts and graphs projecting revenue data.

Flowlu user ratings

G2 rating: 4.7/5
Capterra rating: 4.8/5

9. Streak CRM for Gmail

If your nonprofit relies on Gmail since it’s a free email service, you should consider Streak CRM for Gmail. This free tool integrates into your email to take your communications to another level.

Here’s what you can do within Streak CRM:

Email sharing: Never miss an important donor communication again. Streak has single-click links so you can share emails from Gmail and then track their replies with notifications when someone responds. Paste your email links in tools like Google Calendar, Notion, Slack, Google Chat, Asana, and Google Docs.
Mail merging: Write your email in Gmail, upload email addresses as a CSV file, then send your email through Streak. It’s that simple.
Email tracking: Never second-guess whether your email was delivered with Streak. The CRM software even lets you know when your email was viewed.
CRM AI: Grab data, collect insights, automate tasks like data entry, get suggestions for email sequences, personalize your campaigns, and customize your communications with AI within Streak’s free CRM for nonprofits.
Mobile functionality: Never miss an insight or email when you can access Streak on your phone, tablet, or any other mobile device. Send contacts from the app to your smartphone, log calls, review tasks, and check information before that big call.

Streak CRM user ratings

G2 rating: 4.5/5
Capterra rating: 4.5/5

10. Glide

Part designer tools, part developer, Glide may seemingly come out of left field, but it’s got some features for nonprofits in its software. The free plan is also appealing, but keep in mind the features are basic.

For instance, you can use:

Integrations: Glide plays nicely with many tools, only some of which you can access on the free plan. They are OpenAI, Gravatar, Generate CSV File, Pexels, Device Info, and Data Structures.
AI: The AI functions in Glide uncomplicate this technology, allowing you to use it how it suits your nonprofit.
CRM and sales templates: Discover a series of templates for a more responsive CRM and engaging sales campaign. All templates require zero coding experience, and you can customize them.

Glide user ratings

G2 rating: 4.7/5
Capterra rating: 4.7/5

11. Odoo

The last free nonprofit CRM software I have for you is Odoo, an open-source software for sales, marketing, HR, finance, and service. If you limit use to only one app, such as CRM, you can add as many users as you wish for $0.

Let’s look at what features you can use.

Lead management and scoring: Be ready for an influx of leads with Odoo’s lead management. The CRM can also use AI to automatically score leads based on criteria that matter to your nonprofit.
Automated tasks: Cut down on manual work with drag-and-drop sales pipelines and task automation.
Smart Decisions: Odoo will review your data in real-time to recommend the next steps, insights, and forecasts.
Quote building: Produce quotes for services or products in a jiffy within Odoo, choosing from several styles.
Meeting scheduling: Set up a call or a meeting with Odoo to keep leads moving through the sales pipeline.
Kanban views: Organize your data within Odoo CRM by dragging and dropping items into the Kanban view.
Sales pipeline details: Get up close and personal with your sales pipeline, seeing where deals are and which are near being closed.

Odoo user ratings

G2 rating: 4.0/5
Capterra rating: 4.1/5

Conclusion

Free CRM tools are more comprehensive and complete than you might think, allowing you to use email marketing, automation, lead scoring, contact management, sales, and reporting tools without paying a penny.

While this pricing level won’t always suit your nonprofit as you grow, starting with a free-forever plan ensures you can build your organization on your own time without hemorrhaging money from the get-go.

EngageBay is an all-in-one marketing, sales, and customer support software and is completely free for up to 15 users. Sign up or book a demo with our experts.