Most small nonprofits do not need the largest system on the market. They need one that staff and volunteer leads will actually use each week. This guide covers what to look for, what you can skip paying for, and how to choose. It also explains where CoreCNX fits: it is built for political and advocacy organizations, and it suits nonprofits that run outreach through volunteers, canvassing and texting. Our political campaign CRM guide explains the same one-record approach for campaigns, and much of it applies to advocacy groups as well.
What a small nonprofit needs from a CRM
One record per person
Many people support a nonprofit in more than one way. A volunteer may also give each December, read the newsletter and attend the spring event. If each activity is kept in a different list, that person appears three or four times, and no one can see the full relationship. A CRM should keep one record per person and help you combine duplicate records when the same person is entered twice.
History in one place
Each record should include a timeline, which is a dated list of everything that happened with that person: gifts, volunteer shifts, emails opened, event attendance and notes from conversations. When a board member asks who gave last year but not this year, the answer should come from the records rather than from someone's memory.
Tags and saved groups
Tags are labels you choose, such as monthly donor, board member or food drive volunteer. A saved group, sometimes called a segment, is a filter you keep, such as everyone tagged as a volunteer who lives in one ZIP code. Together they let you send the right message to the right people without building a new spreadsheet each time.
Imports and exports
Your first task in any CRM is bringing in the lists you already have. Look for an import that accepts spreadsheet files, lets you match each column to a field, and handles duplicates. Exports matter just as much. You should be able to download every contact as a CSV file, a simple spreadsheet format most programs can open, at any time.
Most small nonprofits send newsletters, appeals and event reminders by email. A CRM with built-in email lets you choose recipients by tag, see who opened each message, and leave out anyone who unsubscribed.
Events
Fundraisers, volunteer days and community meetings produce sign-in sheets and RSVP lists. Your CRM should let you note who registered and who attended on each person's record, so you can thank attendees and follow up with people who missed the event.
Consent records
If you text supporters, you need to know who gave permission and when. A CRM should record consent, meaning a person's permission to receive texts or email, with the date and source. Opt-outs should apply everywhere you send messages.
Integrations
An integration is a connection that moves information between two programs automatically. List the tools you already use, such as a donation platform, a website form or a texting service, and check how each one would get information into the CRM. Where there is no direct connection, a regular CSV export and import may be enough.
What you can skip paying for
Nonprofit software is often sold with features designed for large fundraising departments. Before you pay for a larger plan or an add-on, ask whether someone on your team will use it every month.
- Capacity you will not reach. Choose a plan sized for the contacts you have and expect within a year, rather than the list you hope to have in five years.
- Modules for staff you do not have. Grant tracking and detailed fund accounting help organizations with staff in those roles. A small organization often handles those tasks in its accounting software.
- Long setup projects. A small organization should be able to import its main list and send a test email during a free trial. If a vendor requires weeks of paid configuration first, ask why.
- Annual contracts before a trial. Test the system with your own data before you commit to a year.
- Logins you cannot afford to give out. Some systems charge for each user, and others include a set number of users with each plan. Count the staff and volunteer leads who need to sign in before you compare prices.
How to choose a CRM for your nonprofit
- Count your contacts and your users. Add up the donors, volunteers and supporters across every list, and remove obvious duplicates. Then count the people who need to sign in.
- List your sources. Write down every place contact information comes from today, such as spreadsheets, donation platform exports, event sign-in sheets, your email list and your website.
- Decide what you must track. For most small organizations, this means gifts, volunteer activity, event attendance and consent to receive texts or email.
- Test with your own data. During a trial, import your largest list, combine a few duplicates, tag a group, send a test email and export everything again.
- Decide who owns the account. The account should belong to the organization rather than to one staff member or volunteer. Give at least two people administrator access, so the records stay with the organization when people change roles.
Where CoreCNX fits
CoreCNX is a CRM built for political campaigns and advocacy organizations. It suits nonprofits whose work looks similar, such as recruiting volunteers, knocking on doors, texting supporters and collecting sign-ups on a website. Its pricing page describes the Starter plan as suited to small advocacy nonprofits that need a simple CRM.
In CoreCNX, you can do the following:
- Keep one record per person, with a timeline. CoreCNX matches records by phone number first and then by email address, so the same person arriving from different sources stays on one record. You can also review possible duplicates and merge them.
- Organize contacts your way. Create custom fields such as giving level or last gift date, add tags, and save groups of contacts as filters. A pipeline, which is a board of stages you name, can track steps such as volunteer, volunteer leader and donor, and each stage change is recorded on the timeline.
- Import and export. Import CSV or Excel files with suggested column matching, and choose how to handle people already in your account. Columns that do not match a standard field can become new custom fields. Export contacts as a CSV file, filtered by tag or stage.
- Send email. Choose recipients by tag or pipeline stage, and see opens and clicks on each person's timeline. Contacts who unsubscribed are left out of later sends.
- Record consent. Record consent for text, email, phone or mail, with the source and notes. A text opt-out reported by CampaignCNX+, or an unsubscribe from a CoreCNX email, is recorded on the contact automatically.
- Follow up. Add notes, assign tasks with an owner and a due date, and run reports on activity by source, pipeline stages and tags. Team members can have the admin, manager or user role.
The CNX Suite has four products: CampaignCNX+ for texting, Beacon for door-to-door canvassing, Alma for website chat, and CoreCNX as the CRM. They can be bought together on one bill, and each product has its own login. The suite is designed so that Beacon door results and survey answers, CampaignCNX+ texts and replies, and Alma chatbot conversations are added to the same person's timeline in CoreCNX.
Our post on one voter record across petitions, doors and texts shows how that works during a campaign, and an advocacy group can use the same approach. If your nonprofit works with partner groups on a shared cause, CoreCNX for referendum coalitions and party organizations explains how several partners' lists become one set of records. Our page on CoreCNX for political campaigns shows a supporter, volunteer and donor pipeline in more detail.
Plans and pricing
Plans are priced mainly by the number of contacts, and each plan includes a set number of users.
| Plan | Monthly | Contacts | Users included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $49 | 5,000 | 5 |
| Growth | $99 | 15,000 | 10 |
| Pro | $199 | 50,000 | 20 |
| Enterprise | $499 | About 150,000 | Custom number |
Paying annually saves about 20%. Starter includes 5,000 emails a month, and Growth and higher plans add a public API, which is a connection for your own software. Every plan has a 14-day free trial for up to 5,000 contacts, with no credit card required.
This example is an illustration and not a price quote. A tenant advocacy group has about 2,800 supporters and volunteers spread across three spreadsheets. Two staff members and three volunteer leads need to sign in. That is five users and fewer than 5,000 contacts, so Starter covers it at $49 a month, or $470 a year billed annually. If the list later grows past 5,000, CoreCNX bills $15 for each extra 1,000 contacts on Starter, and the account stays open.
Common questions
Is CoreCNX only for political campaigns?
No. It is built for political campaigns and advocacy organizations, and it also suits nonprofits that recruit volunteers, canvass, text supporters or collect sign-ups on their website.
Can volunteers have their own logins?
Yes, within your plan's user count: 5 on Starter, 10 on Growth, 20 on Pro and a custom number on Enterprise. Many organizations give volunteer leads the user role and keep the admin role for staff.
Can we bring in our donor spreadsheet?
Yes. You can import a CSV or Excel file, match its columns to fields, and choose how to handle people who are already in your account. Columns such as last gift date can become custom fields during the import.
What happens to our data if we leave?
You can export your contacts as a CSV file at any time, including at the end of a trial.
Start with your largest list
Import your largest spreadsheet, combine the duplicates and send one test email to a small group. Start a 14-day CoreCNX trial and see whether one record per person makes your outreach easier to manage.