Best Accounting Software for Nonprofits for April 2024
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The Bottom Line
Accounting and bookkeeping can be daunting for any organization. And it can be cumbersome for small organizations like nonprofits. But, having the right software can help. Luckily for you, we’ve done the research so you don’t have to take the time out of your schedule.
QuickBooks Enterprise Nonprofit from Intuit is our overall top pick. Smaller organizations may benefit from ACCOUNTS while larger entities may have more luck with Financial Edge from Blackbaud. If you want to cater to special needs, consider Sumac to track donations, Araize FastFund Accounting to help you take advantage of your cloud-based system, or MoneyMinder, which is a great option for volunteer organizations.
Why You Should Trust Us
We selected the top seven accounting software companies for nonprofits after reviewing 20 different well-known companies. We evaluated each accounting software program based on its features, pricing, ease of use, and customer reviews on Capterra.
Particular emphasis was placed on the transparency of cost, companies that did not publicly disclose their software’s price were eliminated, and organizations that were not rated on Capterra or had lower than a 4-star rating were not included on our list.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Accounting software handles certain bookkeeping and accounting tasks. It stores your organization’s financial data and records and can perform some business transactions.
For example, accounting software can be used to store and track your organization’s expenses, payroll, and transactions. It can also record incoming donations and grants, and run reports. Accounting software can help you save time, as it can handle bank reconciliation and speed up tasks like invoicing, bill payment, and even payroll.
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Nonprofit accounting is vastly different from for-profit accounting. Nonprofits are backed by donations and grants, so they have strict financial accounting standards they have to meet. In terms of reporting requirements, nonprofits have to meet FAS 116 (Accounting for Contributions Received and Contributions Made) and FAS 117 (Financial Statements of Not-for-Profit Organizations) standards.
Nonprofits are often on tight budgets. While having a dedicated accountant or bookkeeper (or several) on staff is ideal, that’s not always possible for new or growing organizations. The right accounting software can help nonprofit organizations meet these standards even if they have a lean staff, so they can reach their financial objectives and minimize their costs.
Software can help handle the additional accounting needs of a nonprofit organization, such as meeting unique reporting requirements, tracking grants, making financial information available to donors and stakeholders, and creating balance sheet reports.
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When choosing accounting software, consider the needs of your organization and the experience of the person who will be handling accounting for your organization. Smaller organizations and volunteer-led groups will likely be better off with free or low-cost options that are streamlined, simple, and offer basic accounting functions.
If your organization is larger, has hundreds of donors, or accepts a significant amount of online payments, you likely need a more robust program and will need to pay more money for accounting software. Large-scale organizations with thousands of donors will need enterprise-scaled solutions, such as QuickBooks Enterprise Nonprofit or Blackbaud’s Financial Edge.
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