Budgeting software simplifies financial planning and maximizes limited resources for nonprofits. These modern tools streamline budget management, reduce manual work, and increase accuracy. They help organizations navigate challenges like fluctuating inflation, limited funding, changing markets, and regulations.
In this guide, we'll explore the importance of budgeting tools and highlight the top 10 solutions for nonprofits of all sizes, enabling them to effectively gather, organize, and use financial data to minimize expenses and optimize resources.
10 best budgeting software solutions for nonprofits
- Vena
- Budgyt
- Xero
- FreshBooks
- Software4Nonprofits
- BudgetPak
- Intuit QuickBooks
- Blackbaud Financial Edge
- Araize FastFund
- Questica
Top 10 budget software tools for your nonprofit
Importance of budgeting software for nonprofit organizations
Budget software for nonprofits is crucial for meeting financial goals. Unlike error-prone spreadsheets, the right software streamlines budget management, saving time and reducing unnecessary expenses. Here are the top benefits of using nonprofit budget software:
- Comprehensive financial tracking: Monitor spending across multiple accounts to prevent cash flow issues and allow confident decision-making
- Automated data consolidation: Simplify the collection and organization of data from multiple sources to create a comprehensive view of your nonprofit's financial health
- Advanced forecasting: Predict financial outcomes through scenario planning, ensuring better resource management and crisis management
- Financial accountability: Get clear financial reports and projections, building transparency and accountability with donors, stakeholders, and regulatory bodies
- Improved collaboration: Facilitate teamwork across departments and stakeholders by providing shared access to financial records and budgets
- Cost control: Budgeting tools help you monitor expenses regularly, identify cost-saving opportunities, and avoid overspending
By using these features, nonprofits can confidently manage their finances, reduce administrative burdens, and focus on their core mission.
10 best nonprofit budgeting software tools
- Budgyt
- Xero
- FreshBooks
- Software4Nonprofits -ACCOUNTS
- BudgetPak by XLerantIntuit
- QuickBooks
- Blackbaud Financial Edge
- Araize
- FastFund
- Questica
1. Vena: Best for all-in-one budgeting software
Vena combines the familiarity of Excel's interface with enterprise-level financial planning software to help nonprofits streamline and enhance their financial processes. It allows you to create budgets based on any requirement.
The platform offers access to pre-built templates for planning revenues, operating expenses, and much more. With Vena, secure insights about your future by utilizing data from your plans to see how changes to your organization's drivers will influence financial projections.
Top features
- Control access to data for advanced security and managing permissions
- Intuitive visual workflows to automate tasks
- Connects with CRM tools like Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, HubSpot, and NetSuite
- Provides a centralized database to access your organization's finances
- Powerful and flexible reporting options
Pros and cons
Pricing
Vena doesn’t offer monthly pricing information. Request a demo or take a seven-day trial of their software to decide whether you want to commit.
2. Budgyt: Best comprehensive budgeting software
Budgyt is a user-friendly platform that allows users to lock down features and controls like formatting, formulas, and links, helping reduce budget errors and maintain audit compliance.
On a centralized dashboard, it stores and displays important budgets, reports, and views for easy access and collaboration. You can organize budget reports automatically by region, department, time, group, and much more.
Top features
- Forecasting feature with advanced planning capabilities
- Multi-team collaboration
- Access perfectly formatted financial reports
- Enter data quickly with built-in spreading tools
- User permission and audit logs for enhanced security
Pros and cons
Pricing
Budgyt offers discounts to nonprofits. To know about their prices, you’ll have to reach out.
3. Xero: Best for project budgeting and reporting
Xero is one of the best pieces of accounting software with specific tools for tracking project expenses. With Xero’s job tracker, you can easily create a project and seamlessly link costs to specific tasks and jobs.
The platform offers insights into exactly where every dollar goes while executing a project. You can view project accounting metrics and monitor progress on a specific initiative against its budget.
You can access a summary of multiple past projects on a single dashboard to make better budgetary decisions for new ones.
Top features
- Create invoices based on fixed time, price, and expenses from a project
- Invite team members to collaborate on financial data in real-time
- Track expenses and record the hours spent on a project
- Monitor project budgets and access detailed reports
- Compares actual reports with alternative scenarios for project planning purposes
Pros and cons
Pricing
Xero offers a 30-day free trial. Once that ends, it’s available in three plans:
- Starter: $29/month
- Standard: $46/month
- Premium: $62/month
Registered charities and nonprofits have access to 25% discounts on their Xero subscription.
4. FreshBooks: Best for expense tracking and management
FreshBooks stands out with its ability to offer unlimited expense tracking and estimates. This makes it easy for your organization to track spending and revenue streams.
You can categorize expenses within the software, mark them as billable, and automatically pull them into an invoice.
With a high-tier plan, you can automate expense tracking, set up recurring donations, and track project profitability and accounts payable.
Top features
- Auto-categorization of expenses and tax-friendly categories
- Tracks restricted funds and day-to-day expenses
- Assign recurring expenses
- General ledger and profit and loss reports
- Create customizable and branded invoices
Pros and cons
Pricing
30-day free trial available, and prices are:
- Lite plan: $19/month
- Plus plan: $33/month
- Premium plan: $60/month
- Select plan: Pricing available on demand
5. Software4Nonprofits: Best for smaller nonprofit organizations
ACCOUNTS from Software4Nonprofits is a nonprofit accounting software solution designed specifically for small-scale organizations like churches and community charities. It allows you to track income and expenses, monitor fund balances, and create monthly and annual budgets.
You can get nonprofit financial statements like income statements by fund or composite, balance sheets, and transaction details.
Top features
- Track income, assets, expenses, liabilities and fund balances like grants
- Create custom charts of your account
- Integrates with donation tracking software
- Define Monthly or annual budget by account
- Create and share charitable receipts
Pros and cons
Pricing
ACCOUNTS offers a 60-day free trial and has two plans:
- ACCOUNTS Standard: $129/year
- ACCOUNT OnDemand: $199/year
6. BudgetPak: Best for budget forecasting
BudgetPak is an accounting solution providing stand-alone budgeting and forecasting. Its budgeting capabilities can be customized to meet your organization's unique needs.
The forecasting functionality allows your finance teams to share high-level or detailed forecasts with their members.
You can create custom projection formulas based on financial and non-financial drivers for high-level estimates of future years. With BudgetPak, fully understand all potential expenses with what-if scenarios.
Top features
- Driver-based and rolling forecasting
- Provides workflows and approval processes to streamline collaboration
- Integrated financial and operational data to build comprehensive financial models
- Model different scenarios and assess their potential impacts
- Create and compare multiple forecast versions
Pros and cons
Pricing
Available upon request
7. Intuit QuickBooks: Best for nonprofit cash flow management
Using Intuit QuickBooks, your nonprofit can closely track each project’s cash flow via the Cash Flow Dashboard. Access historical cash flow to understand where you need to spend more and where you need to save.
With pre-built and free budget templates, create a spending roadmap and maintain a healthy cash flow.
Intuit QuickBooks allows you to track donations and expenses, budget by program and compare to actuals, and create grant and donor reports.
Top features
- Automated cash flow forecasting and inventory management
- Invoicing and payments
- Custom financial reporting and job costing
- Expense tracking and transaction sorting
- Manage billing and set up payment reminders
Pros and cons
Pricing
- QuickBooks Essentials: $18/month
- QuickBooks Online Plus: $27/month
- QuickBooks Advanced Accounting Plan: $60/month
8. Blackbaud Financial Edge: Best for large nonprofit organizations
Blackbaud Financial Edge is specifically designed for large nonprofit organizations. It comes with many best-in-class capabilities to help organizations with significant accounting tasks, employees, and a large donor base.
Use the solution to create budgets, handle cash flow, and manage the general ledger. It comes with expanded budgeting capabilities, allowing you to forecast different scenarios and create budgets across fiscal years.
With automated routine tasks and intuitive workflows, you can save time and make decisions faster.
Top features
- Fund accounting and grant management
- Fixed asset management
- Audit Trails and Compliance
- Automated credit card and bank reconciliation
- Flexible reporting and real-time insights
Pros and cons
Pricing
Available on request
9. Araize FastFund: Best for mid-size nonprofit organizations
Araize FastFund accounting platform combines accounting with fundraising and payroll services. You can use the solution to generate accounting reports, manage budgets, and handle bank reconciliations.
It allows you to create budgets for each grant, program, and department with automatic roll-ups for funds and organizational totals.
With the solution, you can generate all the data required to complete IRS Form 990. Araize FastFund generates audit-ready and compliant financial statements to meet the reporting requirements of government and private funding sources.
Top features
- FASB-compliant financial statements
- Automated recurring entries
- Project revenue and expense tracking
- General ledger and invoice processing
- Accounts receivable and payable
Pros and cons
Pricing
- Standard Program: $45/month
- Advanced Plan: $100/month
Araize offers two programs that you can buy separately or bundle with accounting software programs. Fundraising is available at $45/month or $85/month, and payroll services are priced depending on employees.
10. Questica: Best cloud-based software solution
Questica is a cloud-based budgeting software for organizations that want complete remote access. It allows you to automatically develop, track, and plan cost allocation plans and indirect cost rates in one centralized system.
With Questica, you can emphasize multi-year budgeting to manage funds easily through a period of growth or change. It offers what-if scenarios to help you forecast your budget and make smarter decisions related to fund allocation.
Top features
- Advanced reporting and auditing
- OpenBook Project Explorer for capital budgets
- Project budgeting and cash management
- Expense forecasting and workforce planning
- Detailed financial reporting
Pros and cons
Pricing
Available on contact
How to choose budgeting software for your nonprofit?
Create a list of features
Understand your nonprofit's essential budgeting needs. List must-have features like budget creation, expense tracking, forecasting, restricted fund allocation, or cash flow planning.
Then, compile a secondary list of desirable but optional features such as scenario planning, donor management, and more. This approach ensures you select software that meets your core requirements while considering extra benefits.
Look for a produce demo/free trial
To find the ideal software, seek product demos or free trials. This provides hands-on experiences with the product, allowing you to check if the solution meets your organization's needs, assess its user-friendliness, and check compatibility with your existing tools.
Clarify pricing
Most software providers specify the prices of their products, while others usually inform upon request. There is also no one standard prize. Some have subscription-based pricing plans, while others offer features as add-ons on chargers.
When looking for a budgeting software solution, clarify how each pricing plan is structured and offered. See what features each tier comes with and whether that's what your organization needs.
Consider also how much you're willing to spend on a budgeting tool. Look for a free version or companies offering nonprofit discounts.
Access to training resources and support
Your nonprofit staff might not be accustomed to using budgeting software. Even if the tool that you buy is simple to follow, it is a good idea to provide some basic-level training to your members.
Check if the software provider offers training resources like webinars, tutorials, or a knowledge base.
Concluding thoughts on nonprofit budgeting software
Selecting the ideal budgeting software for your nonprofit is key to success. It helps you make smart decisions and stay financially healthy, even in a constantly changing market. Some tools even automate report creation and expense tracking for faster budget preparation and decision-making.
We've highlighted a range of options, from dedicated budgeting tools to comprehensive accounting solutions. Consider your current needs and future financial goals as you make the choice to transform your nonprofit's financial strategy.
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