The main categories of nonprofit software, from donor management and fund accounting to volunteer and staff management, how to prioritize with a small budget, grant documentation points and questions to ask vendors.
| Category | What it does | Who uses it |
|---|---|---|
| Donor management (CRM) | Donor records, gifts, pledges, acknowledgments, reports | Development staff |
| Online giving and events | Donation pages, peer-to-peer campaigns, event ticketing | Development and marketing |
| Fund accounting | Tracking money by fund, program and restriction | Finance |
| Grant management | Applications, deadlines, reporting and compliance | Development and finance |
| Volunteer management | Recruiting, scheduling, hours and recognition | Volunteer coordinators |
| Staff management | Scheduling, time tracking, time off and HR records | Program managers and HR |
| Program and case management | Clients served, services delivered, outcomes | Program staff |
Small nonprofits rarely have the budget or staff to replace everything at once. Pick the area causing the most risk or wasted time. If donor acknowledgments are late and data lives in spreadsheets, start with a donor CRM. If grant reports take days because staff time is reconstructed from memory, start with time tracking. If volunteer shifts go unfilled, start with volunteer scheduling. Fix one area well, then connect the next.
To record clock-ins, breaks and overtime automatically, see EZTime time and attendance software.
Funders often require documentation of how staff time was spent. For federal awards, the Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200.430) requires charges for salaries and wages to be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed, supported by a system of internal control. In practice, that means staff who work across several programs or grants should record time by program, and those records should be approved by a supervisor. Private foundations may have their own requirements. Software that tags hours by program or grant makes this far easier than year-end estimates.
Nonprofits can generally accept genuine volunteer service for civic, charitable or humanitarian purposes without paying wages. Problems arise when paid employees “volunteer” to do the same kind of work they are paid to do for the same organization, or when volunteers receive payments that look like wages. Under the FLSA, non-exempt employees generally must be paid for that work. Keep volunteer and paid time separate in your systems, and check Department of Labor guidance for your situation. Our nonprofit volunteer time tracking article covers practical setup.
Volunteer hours are often valued in grant matches and annual reports, so accurate records have real financial value. Our volunteer hours log is a simple place to start.
Nonprofits hold sensitive information: donor giving histories, client records, sometimes health or immigration details for the people they serve. Limit access by role, require strong passwords and two-factor sign-in where available, remove access promptly when staff or volunteers leave and avoid storing client details in shared spreadsheets. Ask each vendor where data is stored, how it is backed up and how they would notify you of a breach. Some programs, such as health services, carry specific legal privacy obligations, so check what applies to you.
A community food bank with 12 staff and 300 volunteers runs donors in spreadsheets, volunteers through sign-up forms and staff time on paper. A federal grant review asks for time records by program, and the team spends a week rebuilding them. The food bank first moves staff to a time tracking app with program tags and supervisor approval, then adds a donor CRM the following year. The next grant report takes an afternoon.
EZTime covers staff management for nonprofits: schedules, mobile and web clock-in, hours tagged by program with job and client tracking, documented corrections, time off and reports in PDF and Excel. It is not a donor CRM or fund accounting system. See also nonprofit coordinators.
Usually donor management, online giving, accounting, volunteer management and staff time and scheduling, prioritized by your biggest pain point.
Some vendors offer free tiers or donated licenses. Check limits and what happens as you grow.
Record time by program or grant, with supervisor approval, close to when the work is done.
Not for the same kind of work they are paid to do, under FLSA rules. Check DOL guidance.
Accounting that tracks money by fund, program and restriction, so you can show how restricted gifts were used.
Only if you will use most of it. Many small nonprofits do better with a few well-connected tools.
EZTime tags hours by job, client and role and shows real-time labor costing on the schedule, so estimates can be checked against actual hours.