The best CRM software for nonprofits combines donor tracking, free plan access, and verified discounts so your budget stays where it belongs: on your mission.
Managing donor relationships from a spreadsheet works until it doesn’t. Once you’re juggling gift histories, volunteer rosters, email campaigns, and grant deadlines across three tabs in Excel, something breaks. Usually the tab. Sometimes the relationship.
A proper nonprofit CRM fixes that. And the good news is that several solid options come with free plans, permanent discounts, or both.
This page covers the best CRM options for nonprofits, the actual free tiers worth using, and the verified discounts you can apply today.
What to Look for in a Nonprofit CRM
A good nonprofit CRM must handle donor management, not just generic contact management.
The difference matters. For-profit CRMs track leads and deals. Nonprofit CRMs need to track donation history, recurring giving, volunteer activity, grant deadlines, and constituent lifecycle stages like “lapsed donor” or “major gift prospect.”
Before picking a platform, check for:
- Donor and constituent record management
- Donation and gift tracking
- Email marketing included or integrated
- Volunteer management (or integration with a tool that has it)
- Reporting on retention rates and engagement
- Nonprofit pricing, free plan, or verified discount
- Integration with accounting software like QuickBooks
HubSpot CRM Free Plan With a 40% Nonprofit Discount on Paid Tiers
HubSpot’s free CRM tier is permanently free, supports unlimited users, and covers contact management, basic email marketing, and donor segmentation without a trial expiry.
HubSpot offers unlimited users even on its free plan, while most competitors charge per seat. For a volunteer-heavy organisation juggling staff, board members, and part-time workers, that alone saves a meaningful amount.
The free plan lets you store donor and gift information, segment contacts, add a website tracking code, and schedule emails. It is a genuine CRM, not a demo with a countdown clock.
For small nonprofits that just need a place to store donor records, track who opened what email, and segment contacts by giving history, the free tier covers the basics.
Where it stops being enough: automation. The moment you want your CRM to actually do the work automated thank-you sequences when someone donates, drip campaigns, triggered follow-ups you hit the paywall. Those features live in Marketing Hub Professional.
For nonprofits ready to scale into paid plans, the discount is real. HubSpot offers a 40% discount on all Professional and Enterprise subscriptions for eligible nonprofits. To qualify, organisations must be new customers and sign up on an annual term contract.
Discounts are verified through TechSoup, and once approved, the discount stays with your account.
Over 4,000 nonprofit organisations use HubSpot globally, including the World Wildlife Fund, the Food Bank of New York City, and The Nature Conservancy.
Best for: Nonprofits with basic contact management needs starting free, or organisations with 10,000-plus contacts ready to scale into paid automation.
Salesforce NPSP 10 Free Licences via the Power of Us Programme
Salesforce offers eligible nonprofits 10 free CRM licences through its Power of Us Programme, giving small and mid-sized organisations access to enterprise-grade donor management at no cost.
The Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) is Salesforce’s free and open-source application built specifically for nonprofits. It extends the standard Salesforce CRM with functionality to manage donors, volunteers, grants, memberships, and programmes.
Through Salesforce’s Power of Us Programme, nonprofits can access 10 NPSP licences for free. These licences allow 10 users to access the CRM and include a standard data storage allotment. For small organisations, that covers the whole team.
NPSP is purpose-built for nonprofit data. It displays donor households, tracks donation records, manages grant applications, and reports on programme outcomes in a way that standard Salesforce does not do out of the box.
For new customers, Salesforce recommends Nonprofit Cloud, with NPSP continuing to be supported for existing users. Worth checking which product is the right fit when applying.
The honest caveat: Salesforce has a steep learning curve. If you do not have a dedicated admin or a Salesforce partner supporting the implementation, the platform’s depth can work against you. Additional licences beyond the 10 free seats are priced at $60 per user per month for the enterprise edition.
Best for: Nonprofits with complex grant tracking, multi-programme operations, or an existing Salesforce relationship.
Zoho CRM Free for 3 Users, 30% Off Zoho One via TechSoup
Zoho CRM’s free plan supports up to 3 users permanently, with lead, contact, and opportunity management included at no cost.
Zoho CRM’s free edition supports exactly 3 users without limitations and is not just a trial. The free plan includes lead, contact and opportunity management, mobile app access, and basic reporting. Automation and mass email require an upgrade.
For a small nonprofit with a lean team, 3 free users is a workable starting point. You can track donors, log interactions, and pull basic reports without opening your wallet.
For organisations needing the broader Zoho suite including Zoho Campaigns for email, Zoho Books for accounting, and Zoho Projects for programme management the bundle discount is where the real value sits. Through TechSoup, Zoho One offers eligible nonprofit organisations a 30% discount on base products and add-ons, with a discounted rate on premium support also available.
Zoho CRM also integrates with QuickBooks for nonprofits managing fund accounting alongside donor records.
Best for: Very small nonprofits starting free, or organisations wanting a full Zoho suite at a verified discount.
Bloomerang Built for Donor Retention, Paid Plans From $125/Month
Bloomerang is a purpose-built nonprofit CRM focused on donor retention, with pricing starting at $125 per month on annual billing and no free plan available.
Bloomerang CRM plans start at $125 per month, billed annually. There is no free version or trial available.
That said, Bloomerang earns its place on this list because it is genuinely built for nonprofits rather than adapted from a sales tool. The platform tracks donor engagement scores, calculates first-time donor retention rates in real time, and provides wealth screening on every plan.
Every Bloomerang plan includes unlimited users, free email and chat support, free access to Bloomerang Academy, unlimited standard online giving pages and forms, donor engagement scoring, wealth screening, email marketing, and nightly address verification with deceased suppression updates.
At $125 per month for the entry tier, the unlimited users and included data hygiene services NCOA updates, deceased suppression offset costs that other CRMs charge separately.
Bloomerang integrates directly with QuickBooks, Mailchimp, and Constant Contact, which answers the “quickbooks for nonprofits” question for organisations that want CRM and accounting to talk to each other without manual exports.
Best for: Small to mid-sized nonprofits prioritising donor retention data, wealth screening, and a platform built exclusively for the nonprofit sector.
Quick Comparison Table
| CRM | Free Plan | Nonprofit Discount | Best For |
| HubSpot | Free, unlimited users | 40% off paid plans via TechSoup | Contact management, scaling teams |
| Salesforce NPSP | 10 free licences | Power of Us Programme | Complex operations, grant tracking |
| Zoho CRM | Free up to 3 users | 30% off Zoho One via TechSoup | Small teams, full suite users |
| Bloomerang | No free plan | No listed discount | Donor retention focus, paid entry |
Disclaimer: In the ever evolving saas industry things change over time. The information may change for the most accurate details visit the official website.
How to Claim Nonprofit CRM Discounts
Most nonprofit CRM discounts are verified through TechSoup, the nonprofit technology marketplace that confirms registered charity status.
The process is straightforward:
- Register your organisation at TechSoup (techsoup.org) and complete the eligibility verification.
- Once verified, access the specific vendor offer through the TechSoup catalogue or follow the vendor’s nonprofit application page.
- For HubSpot, apply directly through HubSpot’s nonprofit discount page and connect your TechSoup validation.
- For Zoho One, access the 30% discount offer directly via the TechSoup listing for Zoho One.
- For Salesforce, apply through the Power of Us Programme at salesforce.org.
TechSoup eligibility generally covers registered charities, NGOs, and qualifying nonprofits. Specific eligibility criteria vary by vendor and region.
