CRM for charities: what to look for

The right CRM for a charity depends on your size, budget, existing systems and the workflows you need to support, not the brand name. The three most common options are Salesforce, HubSpot and Capsule, each suited to a different kind of organisation.

Salesforce for charities

Salesforce offers powerful features and discounted licensing for charities through Salesforce.org. It suits medium and large charities with dedicated administration resources. Without someone to maintain it, Salesforce can become the system nobody trusts. That is exactly the problem I was called in to fix for a charity working in 25 countries.

HubSpot for charities

HubSpot is more user-friendly than Salesforce and offers a free tier that works for very small teams. It is a good choice for charities that need donor management, email marketing and reporting in one tool, without the complexity of a full Salesforce implementation.

Capsule for very small charities

Capsule is a simple, affordable CRM that works for charities with fewer than 20 contacts to manage daily. It lacks the automation depth of Salesforce or HubSpot, but it is easy to set up and maintain without technical expertise.

What to look for when choosing a charity CRM

Whichever brand you consider, look for:

• Donor management with segmentation and communication tracking.
• Automation for thank-you flows, renewal reminders and segmented appeals.
• Reporting dashboards your trustees can actually read.
• Documentation your team can follow after the consultant leaves.
• A pricing model that fits a charity budget, rather than per-seat enterprise pricing.

How much does a CRM build cost?

A CRM and Workflow Build from SAO Consultancy starts at £3,000 and takes two to four weeks. It includes CRM hygiene, two to three live automations, a reporting dashboard, full handover documentation and team training. The fee is fixed before any work starts.