In today's dynamic nonprofit landscape, making strategic technology investments can significantly impact an organization's ability to thrive.
Choosing the right CRM system can be a stressful decision for nonprofits. In the 2024 State of the Nonprofit Sector Report by Forvis Mazars, nonprofit leaders reported rising operating expenses, lack of resources, and limited staff capacity as their three biggest concerns. These constraints impact decision-making for technology investments and often force organizations to choose solutions that create more problems than they solve.
A CRM system is the most important investment for nonprofits. It supercharges their fundraising capacity and alleviates the burden of tedious administrative workflows.
With evergreen pressure to reach critical fundraising goals, nonprofits need a CRM that helps target the best prospective donors, reduce the amount of lapsed donors, and tailor marketing content for different donor segments. Important communication updates for annual leadership, corporate, and foundation donors can also be automated, ensuring vital supporter relationships are not compromised.
Many nonprofits lack the time and budget to linger in the technology-buying process. Fortunately, G2's quarterly market reports help buyers compare solutions, glean key insights in a structured format, and ultimately make faster, informed software purchasing decisions. Powered by peer user reviews, G2 published 16 reports for nonprofit CRM software this summer season.
This blog highlights key takeaways from the recently published Summer 2024 Grid® Report for Nonprofit CRM.
Top-ranked nonprofit CRM products in G2’s Summer 2024 Grid® Report
The table below shows the top-ranking products in G2's Summer 2024 Grid® Report for the Nonprofit CRM category.
The top five overall leaders remain the same from the Spring 2024 Grid® Report, with only one update in ranking order. Raiser’s Edge NXT switches positions with Neon CRM, moving from third to second place. Bloomerang maintains its number one position among Nonprofit CRM products—a placement it has now held for seven consecutive quarters since the Winter 2023 Grid® Report.
All five products have strong G2 scores ranging from 75 (Virtuous) to 86 (Bloomerang), indicating solid Satisfaction and Market Presence performance. Notably, Bloomerang’s scores are informed by 510 reviews, more than double the number of reviews compared to any of the other four leading products.
Raiser’s Edge NXT boasts the highest Market Presence score (99) but the lowest Satisfaction (70) score. Neon CRM and Givebutter have the lowest Market Presence scores by contrast (61 and 54, respectively) but compensate with Satisfaction scores in the 90s. Compared to the other three leading products, these two have the largest gap between their Satisfaction and Market Presence scores. This explains how Raiser’s Edge NXT overtook Neon CRM in the overall rankings.
The rankings for the small business market segment show no product change besides the ranking order for Raiser’s Edge NXT and Neon CRM. Mid-market, however, shakes up the rankings noticeably. Oracle NetSuite and Bonterra Development & Digital (formerly EveryAction) join the party, bumping Givebutter and Neon CRM from the top five ranking. Bonterra ranks 8th out of the overall leader products, while NetSuite ranks first among products in the Contender quadrant of the Grid®. No report was published for the enterprise market segment.
What contributed to this ranking shift? Let’s examine the breakdown of customer segments for the top five products, as represented by G2 reviewers.
Bloomerang, Neon CRM, and Givebutter primarily serve smaller nonprofit organizations, but Raiser’s Edge NXT and Virtuous have a bigger presence in the mid-market customer segment. For Raiser’s Edge NXT, the split between small business and mid-market is nearly equal. Bonterra Development + Digital has 26% mid-market representation, and Oracle NetSuite has 52%, which explains how they replaced Neon CRM and Givebutter in the Mid-Market Grid® Report top five ranking.
Something else to consider: average nonprofit size. A January report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that the average nonprofit organization has 42 employees, and G2 defines a small business as 50 or fewer employees. Due to this, small business users may have a disproportionate impact on overall rankings for nonprofit CRM products.
More complex solutions, such as Oracle NetSuite, offer more functionality than the average nonprofit can realistically utilize, let alone afford.
To contextualize the top five overall rankings further, let’s dig into the Satisfaction scores.
Interpreting user satisfaction with G2’s Simple Six ratings
The table below highlights user ratings for the top five overall category leaders in the Summer 2024 Grid® Report for Nonprofit CRM Software and how they compare to the category average score. G2’s Simple Six satisfaction ratings gauge satisfaction with software products based on verified user reviews.
For the most part, these five leaders meet or exceed the category average for each metric. Neon CRM and Virtuous fall 1% short for Quality of Support, but that is negligible. The lone outlier here is Raiser’s Edge NXT, which ranks below the average score for each of the Simple Six metrics. The product’s exceedingly high Market Presence score offsets these slightly lower-than-average scores.
Additionally, Raiser’s Edge NXT has the largest segment of mid-market users among these leading products. This may indicate the product compromises these scores by trying to deliver a product that meets the differing needs of small and mid-sized nonprofits.
Interestingly, Raiser’s Edge NXT review data indicates an average number of 17 users purchased per contract term, while Neon CRM, Bloomerang, and Givebutter average 3 users, and Virtuous averages 7 users. This vast disparity in users plays out in the above ratings. More users equals more needs and expectations from a customer standpoint, leading to higher chances of frustration.
This presents an interesting challenge for nonprofit CRM vendors. How can they balance delivering a product that meets the needs of any nonprofit, regardless of size, while also delivering a product roadmap that incorporates the latest features and innovations? How important is it for nonprofit users to have a CRM system with all the bells and whistles instead of a CRM system that sacrifices niche features in favor of optimizing the essential goods? After all, a cutting-edge product won’t be worth the investment for a buyer who doesn’t know how to make use of those fancy features.
Let’s segue into the implementation and return on investment (ROI) data in this Summer 2024 report to see what users said about the leading nonprofit CRM products.
Implementation and ROI insights from G2's Nonprofit CRM category
At the time of this article, G2 review data collected thus far in 2024 shows an average implementation timeframe of 2.5 months across nonprofit CRM software products but an average timeframe of 11.8 months to achieve full ROI after implementation. The average contract length is 11.1 months, meaning some buyers may not see a full return on their investment within the first contract cycle.
Buyers should understand how they intend to measure ROI before purchasing a CRM system. One organization’s metrics will not necessarily be the same as another. ROI might look like an increase in first-time donors, development staff productivity, and donor engagement activities.
Where do the overall top five nonprofit CRM products rank against these average values?
Givebutter is the only top-ranking product with a quicker average ROI timeline than the overall category average—nearly 34% quicker. In contrast, the rest of the leading products exceed the category average ROI timeline.
Raiser’s Edge NXT exceeds the average by nearly 42%. Again, their customer segment and average number of users per contract may contribute to this longer timeframe. Raiser’s Edge NXT reviews also show an average contract length of 30 months, so the average user is getting ROI within one contract cycle.
The pricing for these products can also affect how users perceive the ROI timeline. Givebutter’s extremely short average ROI timeline may be a reflection of the product’s pricing or average customer needs. Interestingly, 86% of Givebutter user reviews cite an in-house implementation team, compared to only 32% of Raiser’s Edge NXT reviewers. This may speak to the complexity of Raiser’s Edge NXT and the straightforward simplicity of Givebutter.
Bloomerang and Givebutter are the only two products of the leading five with a shorter average go-live time, though all products have a fairly reasonable average. Users overwhelmingly report cloud deployment for these leading products.
Bloomerang, Raiser’s Edge NXT, and Neon CRM have 100% cloud deployment, while Neon CRM has 73%. Givebutter stands out with only 39% cloud deployment. Such a large on-premises deployment skew may speak to the product's affordability compared to other options, but it also means users bear the burden of securing their data. If scalability and remote access aren’t necessary, users may opt for on-premises anyway.
Next steps for nonprofit CRM buyers
Given the financial constraints many nonprofits face, picking the wrong CRM can have devastating consequences. Buyers can utilize all the insights from this article to aid their decision making. In addition to G2 reports, our category pages also list the highest-rated and easiest-to-use products with detailed scores. Read reviews to see what peers have to say about CRM systems your nonprofit is considering.
Remember: The CRM that works best for one organization may not be the CRM that works best for another. Factors like pricing, integration needs, number of users, and deployment options can influence how buyers rank potential products. Plan to scale the number of users? Looking for specific features? Use the information from G2 reports and category pages to your advantage as you engage with vendors.
Don’t pay the price of buying a CRM that only solves an immediate need; invest in a solution that will stick for years and ensure your organization meets all its goals.
Learn more about the factors influencing nonprofit CRM ROI timelines.
Edited by Jigmee Bhutia
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