Looking for a CRM solution? Odds are, Salesforce has crossed your radar. In fact, nonprofits have likely seen the Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP).
When weighing the options between Salesforce NPSP and CharityEngine for your fundraising CRM needs, there are some key considerations to keep in mind.
CharityEngine is a complete fundraising platform with the most built-in fundraising tools out of any CRM in the industry. On the other hand, Salesforce NPSP is geared towards nonprofit management, with fundraising capability being one aspect of its broader functionality.
Let's delve into the overarching advantages and drawbacks of Salesforce NPSP and how it stacks up against CharityEngine.
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Nonprofit Success Pack |
| Best For | Sophisticated fundraisers who want a consolidated platform with all their fundraising tools. | Nonprofits who want to consolidate program management with fundraising software. |
| Pricing | $$ to $$$ | $ to $$$$ |
| Differentiators | A complete fundraising platform that puts all your data in one place. | Nonprofit technology built on the world's #1 CRM |
| CRM & Donor Management | ||
| Membership Management | Yes | Yes |
| Major Gift Management | Yes | Yes |
| Donor Pipelines | Yes | Yes (Deal Pipelines) |
| Sustainer Management | Yes | No |
| Sustainer IQ - Subscription Billing Technology | Yes | No |
| Fundraising | ||
| Custom Donation Forms | Yes | No (Third-party integration) |
| Payment Processing | Yes | Third-party integration with Stripe |
| Multichannel Marketing | ||
| Advanced Email Automation | Yes | Yes |
| Text-to-Give | Yes | Yes |
| Direct Mail | Yes | No |
| Multichannel Attribution Tracking (including DRTV) | Yes | Limited |
| CMS | Yes | Yes Requires Salesforce CMS |
| Events | ||
| Event Management | Yes | No (Third-party integration) |
| Volunteer Management | Yes | Yes |
| Auctions | Yes | No (Third-party integration) |
| Peer-to-Peer | Yes | No (Third-party integration) |
| Reporting & Analytics | ||
| Out-of-the-Box Reports | Yes (90+) | Yes (70+) |
| Custom Dashboards | Yes | Yes |
| Enterprise Query Builder | Yes | Limited (Dependent on third-party integration data) |
| Other | ||
| Multi-Organization & Chapter Management | Yes | Yes |
| Case Management | Yes | Yes |
| Shopping Cart | Yes | No |
| Grant Management | Yes | Yes |
| Advocacy | Yes | No |
| Open API | Yes | Yes |
| Customers Say* | ||
| Pros | “The ability to generate custom reports and create custom dashboards allows us to easily compile relevant data and reports to share with our staff in a way that is easy for them to access and understand. Overall, CharityEngine makes it easy to streamline our work and lightens the workload of both our frequent and in-frequent CharityEngine users.” | "Salesforce for Nonprofits provides a cohesive and all-encompassing tool to manage nonprofits. From donor relations to grant management to volunteer management to program and impact delivery, the Salesforce does this all seamlessly and with users in mind.” |
| Cons | “As expected with a product as robust as CharityEngine, training new employees on the software can take some time. That said, their Client Services team is always available to help out when needed.” | “Salesforce is cumbersome and clunky. It wasn't built as a donor database, and that shows in its functionality. Although you can house your donor data within Salesforce, it doesn't have an intuitive feel and isn't helpful in tracking and alerting users to donor-centric metrics like donor retention, new donors, etc. The reporting functionality is also cumbersome.” |
*Customer quotes from G2
Ultimately, the choice between CharityEngine and Salesforce NPSP comes down to your nonprofit's specific needs and priorities.
While Salesforce NPSP leverages the power of the industry-leading CRM platform, it may require significant customization and additional integrations to support comprehensive fundraising efforts, which can increase the cost substantially.
CharityEngine, on the other hand, offers a purpose-built, unified fundraising platform with robust out-of-the-box capabilities tailored to nonprofit organizations' unique requirements.
The decision should be guided by carefully evaluating your organization's goals, budget, and the level of customization required to achieve seamless, donor-centric fundraising operations.
To learn more about CharityEngine, contact us for a personalized tour of our complete fundraising platform.