With FastFund Fundraising, you can create detailed donor profiles, track cash, pledges, and in-kind gifts, and create customized donor receipts. When bundled with FastFund Accounting, FastFund Fundraising is available for as little as $20 per month, or $42 per month as a standalone product. The price for Sumac ranges from $35 per month to $250 and up per month, depending on your organization’s needs and number of records. Other services, like online donation acceptance, website management, and course registration require additional fees.

The difference between the balance sheet and the statement of financial position is that, because nonprofits don’t technically have any owners, the statement of financial position doesn’t have any equity on it. Their transactions are largely driven by sales, expenses, investments, and returns. In essence, their aim is to generate revenue greater than the costs incurred. Gross revenues, also known as gross sales, are the main section of your company’s financial statements and are called “gross” because they represent the whole amount generated before any expenses are deducted. The idea of fund accounting, which emphasizes accountability rather than profits, is the primary difference between for-profit and non-profit standards. Non-profits often have a variety of general ledgers, or funds, as opposed to profit entities, which have a single self-balancing account.

Is QuickBooks a Nonprofit Accounting Software?

More than 80 percent of small businesses use QuickBooks, so parent company Intuit must be doing something right. If you’re concerned about getting board approval of your decision, QuickBooks may be the right choice, as it will likely be familiar to the staff and board. For example, tax reporting can be an extremely complex process that must be taken care of error-free.

With areas such as fundraising and grants, you’ll also have to account for fund status, such as restricted, unrestricted, and temporarily restricted funds. The entry should contain information such as the donor’s name, the amount of money, and the date. Before applying for tax-exempt status with the IRS, you need to register your nonprofit status with your state. As mentioned, nonprofits have to follow strict rules to justify their financial position and fundraising expenses.

Best Accounting Software for Nonprofits of 2023

Customization starts at $179 a month if you need advanced accounting solutions. They can choose to hire in-house accountants or outsource their accounting to a specialized firm. The program offers numerous integrations and an easy-to-use interface, even for those who aren’t tech-savvy. FreshBooks is available on both computers and mobile devices, so you can stay on top of your nonprofit organization at any time. Financial statements provide insight into how much money your nonprofit has, where you spend it, and how it’s used. Preparing financial statements can be done automatically or manually.

The 02 segment indicates the specific department, program, or grant, and 5000 is the standard expense account number. QuickBooks Online users can invite their accountants to access their QuickBooks information directly. QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise users can send an accountant’s copy or use a shared server to share data with their accountants. This influences which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. A purchase order is a document a purchaser (in this case, a nonprofit) sends to a vendor to confirm the purchase of different goods and services.

Use Software Developed for Your Industry

Some software will even integrate with third-party donation apps like Fundly or DonorPerfect. There are specific solutions on the market today that are designed for nonprofit bookkeeping. Custom software solutions save time for nonprofits by performing the exact tasks necessary to run your NPO. Automation tools from these solutions fill out tax forms, track donations, nonprofit bookkeeping services or simply check your bank account all from one source. AccuFund Accounting Suite helps optimize financials for nonprofits, municipalities, and other government entities. AccuFund requires a small hardware footprint, resulting in lower upfront and training costs for organizations of any size searching for a flexible, affordable accounting solution.

• Once you have chosen an affordable software and respective plan that includes the accounting features and functionality your nonprofit needs, evaluate its more advanced plans.
• Most importantly, you should adhere to proper disclosure procedures in all financial statements as outlined in GAAP guidelines.
• While it can be tempting to launch many different and complex programs, smaller nonprofits might benefit from focusing on their core programs.
• These contributions assist NGOs to meet their operational costs and achieve their goals.
• Bank reconciliation is the process of ensuring an organization’s records (balance sheet, general ledger account, cash flow, etc.) are accurate.
• However, even at that price, we think that the functionality and ease of use are worth the price.

Many of Sage’s most compelling tools are focused on inventory management and creating quotes, which is not relevant for most nonprofits. Still, the software provides the functionality that most small or medium-sized organizations will need, starting at just $10 per month. Whether big or small, all nonprofits need a solid financial plan covering their key accounting needs. But accounting for small nonprofits is definitely in a league of its own, and these organizations need to keep certain things in mind regarding everything from budgeting to volunteers. Additionally, volunteers can expand their organization’s overall capacity with the help of volunteers by providing additional staffing to support various activities and initiatives. This can include assisting with program implementation, event planning, administrative tasks, and fundraising efforts, allowing the nonprofit to accomplish more without needing additional paid staff.

We also looked at customer reviews on Capterra, a leading software review provider. For instance, when a nonprofit holds a fundraiser, the money received needs to be tracked separately from other funds. So, if a nonprofit has five active programs for which it regularly obtains funding, it will need to track all income and expenses for each of those programs or funds separately. As with other QuickBooks products, QuickBooks for Nonprofits requires users to enter transactions using familiar-looking forms (invoices, bills, checks, etc.). It makes it easier for employees and volunteers who are not accountants to assist your nonprofit with some bookkeeping. Since nonprofit organizations don’t center on profit but on a nonprofit mission, they have different bookkeeping practices.

Don’t spend another night worrying about your books being in chaos. With a comprehensive understanding of your needs, use a guide like this one to consider the various options and select the best choice for you. If you’re feeling ambitious and want to grow the organization beyond its current size, Zoho Books is even better.

This includes the financial management of online donations from crowdfunding or foreign sources, which must be reported along with an NPO’s main funding. 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. 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. This type of accounting is similar to corporate accounting in many respects but there are also rules, regulations, and reporting requirements specific to nonprofit organizations.