While many charity nonprofits focus on soliciting donations, other nonprofits such as chambers, associations, and networking groups rely on membership dues. Organizations like these can benefit from nonprofit membership management software that keeps track of renewal dates, handles online payments, provides membership forms, and more. Take a moment to review our guide, which we’ve updated for 2024 with current feature and pricing information.
Finding the best nonprofit membership software can feel overwhelming. Whether you end up choosing our nonprofit membership software or a competitor, the goal of this guide is to help you find the best fit for your organization.
In this Guide:
- What is the best membership software for nonprofits?
- What is member management software for nonprofits?
- How do you choose nonprofit membership software?
- Who are the top 10 nonprofit membership management software?
What is the best membership software for nonprofits for 2024?
| MembershipWorks | YourMembership | Donorbox | WildApricot | GlueUp | NeonOne | Memberclicks | Kindful / Bloomerang | Springly | HiveBrite | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price per month starts at | $0; paid plans start at $35/mo. | starts at $292/mo. | $0 | $0; paid plans start at $60/mo. | starts at $125/mo. | starts at $99/mo. | starts at $375/mo. | starts at $119/mo. plus $35/mo. extra for phone support | $0; paid plans start at $45/mo. | starts at $500/mo. |
| Setup Fee | $0 | varies | $0 | $0 | $0 | optional | starts at $3,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Additional per-transaction charges (beyond payment gateway fees) | $0 | 2.95% on top of payment gateway fees | Must use their affiliated payment gateway which has higher fees for nonprofits than other choices ** | $0 | $0 | 1% fundraising platform fee on all transactions through Bloomerang Payments | $0 | $0 | ||
| Member Only Content | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Directory | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Event Calendar / Registration | Yes | Yes | No calendar; yes registration | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Simple event registration; no calendar | Yes | Yes |
| Classifieds | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Job Board | Yes | Yes | No | Yes, but with revenue sharing | Yes | No | Yes, but with revenue sharing | No | No | Yes |
| Announcement Board or Forum | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Donations | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Shopping Cart | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| CMS compatibility | WordPress, Weebly, Squarespace, Wix, Duda, WithoutCode, Drupal, Joomla, Spacecraft, HTML5 sites | Requires their custom CMS | WordPress, Weebly, Squarespace, Wix, Webflow | Custom CMS. Uses iframes to embed widgets on other platforms | Requires their custom CMS | WordPress | Not applicable. They provide a website. | WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Weebly | Requires their custom CMS | Requires their custom CMS |
| Key Integrations | MailChimp, Quickbooks Online and Desktop, Xero | Quickbooks online, LMS, API | * Salesforce, MailChimp, Double the Donation | Quickbooks Desktop, Make (connects WA to other apps) | Quickbooks, Xero, API | Double the Donation, Constant Contact, MailChimp, Eventbrite, Quickbooks for plans over $149/mo. | Higher Logic, Hubspot, Salesforce, Learning Management System | Quickbooks, MailChimp, Qgiv, Donorsearch, Truegivers, Zapier | Quickbooks | Salesforce, Blackbaud, MS Dynamics 365, Raiser’s Edge, API |
| Payment Gateways | Stripe, Authorize.net, PayPal | Affinipay, BluePay | Stripe, PayPal, Venmo, Google Pay, Apple Pay | Affinipay (Paypal and Authorize.net at an additional cost) | Stripe, Adapay | NeonPay, Authorize.net, BluePay, IATS | Authorize.net, Bambora, CardPointe, PayPal | Bloomerang Payments, Stripe, Authorize.net, or Moolah | Springly’s in house solution | Stripe, PayPal |
| Support | Phone, email, live screen share | Phone, email | Forum, chat, email | Phone and chat support available at $399/mo plan | Email, phone, chat | Email, chat, phone (phone is $35/mo) | Chat, email, training at $120 per hour | Phone, Chat, Email | ||
| # of Admin Seats on paid plans | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unknown | Unlimited | 2; additional admins are $15/mo. each | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
* Added cost for each integration ranges from $8/mo. to $50/mo.
** Wild Apricot adds 20% to its monthly/annual fees if you don’t use their affiliated payment gateway with their non profit membership management software. Organizations can often find lower transaction fees with other payment gateways like Stripe, but the 20% fee increase comes into play if you go that route.
What is member management software for nonprofits?
Membership management software helps nonprofits bring efficiencies to their operations. Beyond collecting membership fees, these membership platforms help non profit organizations segment their members and engage them online. Not for profit membership software also provides membership site features like online donations, event registration, member directories, reporting, and more.
How do you choose non profit membership software?
When choosing the best membership management software for nonprofits, key factors to consider include:
- Price – Membership software pricing can vary from free to hundreds of dollars per month. The number of accounts in your nonprofit membership database can be a determining factor. Some systems charge for extras like transaction fees, support, and integrations. Be sure to consider the total cost of ownership for any system.
- Features – Some nonprofits may want a member directory and event management tools while others may need to focus on recurring donations. Gather a list of “must have” features for your membership software before beginning your research. For example, do you need to restrict access to certain content on your website by membership levels? Do new members need to be approved after going through the member application process? Do you need a church community builder? Obviously, the ability to track member data and activity is the most important, but the nuances of your organization’s profile and processes are important to consider.
- Additional transaction fees – Payment gateways allow you to process payments on your site and charge transaction fees in the 2.2-3% range. Some membership site platforms also charge an additional percentage on top of payment gateway fees. Not all member management software for nonprofits charge these fees. In some cases, these extra fees are as high as 7% per transaction.
- Payment processing choices and associated fees – Some systems require that you use their own gateway for paid memberships or subscription billing. These in-house gateways can have higher rates than if you use other providers like Stripe that offer a nonprofit discount.
- Integrations – It’s important to check to see if the software will work on your existing website. You’ll also need to know if it is compatible with systems you already use like Quickbooks. Automation between systems can help avoid tedious administrative tasks. Check to see if additional fees are charged for the integrations you need.
- User experience – Software should be easy to use whether members are updating user profiles or staff is setting up membership levels. Some older systems will have less modern interfaces that are less intuitive. Seeing a live demo of the system can help you evaluate user friendliness.
- Reporting – Organizations vary widely in the types of reporting they require and in how they use their membership data. Make a list of what stats your board needs on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis and then see if the membership software you are considering can offer these numbers. Unified reporting that’s available in an all in one platform can simplify your ongoing tasks.
- Support – Consider what types of support your organization may need, whether it’s by phone, email, attending group trainings where you can ask questions, watching videos, chat, or one-on-one live screen share. Some charity membership software charges for support and training while others include support in the price of the product.
Top 10 Membership Management Software for Nonprofits
1. MembershipWorks
MembershipWorks helps organizations quickly add non profit membership software to their website. Because MembershipWorks is compatible with a variety of website platforms, many organizations keep their existing website. With many features such as a calendar, donations, and shopping cart built in, it’s an ideal all in one solution. No code knowledge is required. They offer a free plan for customers with fewer than 50 accounts.
Cost: Pricing starts at free; first paid level is $35/mo.
Setup fee: $0
Per-Seat charges: $0; admin seats are unlimited on all paid plans
Additional transaction fees: $0
Top additional features beyond membership management: Event registration, calendars, online directory, restricted content, donations, job bank, shopping carts, classified ads, announcement boards, forms, member only content.
Key integrations: Quickbooks Desktop, Quickbooks Online, Xero, MailChimp, Stripe, Authorize.net, PayPal Checkout, PayPal Pro
Support: Free and unlimited, phone, email, and live screen share training.
Buy if you:
- Want to keep your existing website* or plan to change website platforms soon and need an easy transition with your nonprofit management system
- Have regular staff or volunteer turnover and need free one-on-one training to help with onboarding
- Want readily available phone and email support
- Want to access to all features at all payment plan levels
Don’t buy if you:
- Are looking for online scheduling or resource booking
- Require an app for conference attendees
- Need your membership management software to have Point of Sale System (POS) integration
See how MembershipWorks compares to other systems
2. YourMembership
YourMembership integrates many aspects of nonprofit management and event management into one association management software. Along with their membership database for nonprofits, they also offer an integrated Learning Management System for an extra fee. Although their pricing is higher than other membership software, their nonprofit technology includes a membership website builder. Their online community feature can encourage members return to your website more often. Some users of this association software are fans of their event management platform because of features like their event waitlist, badge printing, and their mobile event app.
Cost: starts at $292/month
Setup fee: varies
Top additional features beyond membership management: Online community, job board, event calendar and registration, directory, member only content, online store, mobile event app
Key integrations: Quickbooks Online, Career center, LMS
Support: Email, phone
Buy if you:
- Want a mobile app for your conference attendees
- Want them to design your member website
- Are looking for the ability to add on an integrated LMS
Don’t buy if you:
- Want to keep your existing website
- Need a trial version to test the member management system
- Want up-front pricing information before watching a demo
See a YourMembership comparison
3. Donorbox
Donorbox has recently expanded their service to include memberships. They are easy to integrate into many types of websites. However, Donorbox is light on membership features when compared to other membership platforms. For nonprofits who are looking for association management software, they are not a good fit as they lack the features like event management that others offer. In other words, they are not comprehensive software. While they appear to be a free membership management software, they do have extra charges for integrations. They also charge a hefty 2.95% platform fee per transaction on top of payment gateway charges. That said, if your organization is just beginning to accept online donations, Donorbox might be a good place to start. But it’s not an ideal choice for membership based organizations that need to manage events and member data.
Cost: $0 monthly fees; see platform fee
Setup fee: $0
Additional transaction fees: 2.95% platform fee in addition to payment gateway charges and integration fees
Top additional features beyond membership management: Donations, event registration (no calendar), peer-to-peer fundraising, easy integration
Key integrations: Integrations incur additional fees of $8-$50/month per integration. They include: MailChimp, Double the Donation and Salesforce. Note that Donorbox does not integrate directly with Quickbooks.
Support: Email
Buy if you:
- Want basic processing of membership payments without paying for other features
- Need a fast solution with easy setup and integration
- Don’t need CRM features
- Want to avoid a monthly fee and prefer paying for the service through transaction fees
Don’t buy if you:
- Think your needs for membership management, reporting, or other features will grow quickly
- Need to have password-protected members only content, event calendars, or member directories
- Are looking to avoid transaction fees (platform fee + payment gateway fee) of 5-6%
- Need phone support
4. WildApricot
WildApricot is one of the oldest providers of nonprofit member management software and markets itself as an all in one solution. Accordingly, they have a large user base. Most nonprofit member organizations use WildApricot’s CMS (content management system) to build their membership website. This allows the organization to handle website management and their member database all in one place. They offer multi-chapter organizations the ability to create a template website and copy it for their chapters to use. Their parent company, Personify, is also known for offering MemberClicks, which is a more complex system and is known as association management software.
Cost: Pricing starts at free; first paid level is $60/mo.
Setup fee: $0
Additional transaction fees: Wild Apricot adds 20% to its monthly or annual fees if you don’t use their payment gateway. Nonprofits can often find lower transaction fees with other payment gateways like Stripe. Stripe offers a nonprofit rate of 2.2% + $.30 versus WildApricot’s gateway that charges 2.9% + $.30 per transaction. However, the 20% fee increase comes into play if you go that route.
Top additional features beyond membership management: Website builder, multi-chapter features, event calendar and registration, email marketing, directory, member only content, forum, online store, mobile app
Key integrations: Make, Affinipay, Website Widgets
Support: Chat, email, forums
Buy if you:
- Are looking for an all-in-one solution; it includes the website, communications platform, and nonprofit membership database
- Want a built-in member forum
- Need a mobile app for members or a mobile app for admins
Don’t buy if you:
- Need more flexibility with your website design beyond the templates that they provide
- Hope to keep a WordPress website; their integration with WordPress is limited and challenging
- Want phone support
- Want to use a payment gateway of your choice and not be charged extra fees to do so
5. GlueUp
GlueUp offers an all-in-one membership database software for nonprofits. Their features include a private social network for members and built-in email campaigns. Organizations must use their custom CMS for their website. With features like CPE tracking and an LMS, they are considered association management software. Like the other membership management tools mentioned in this article, they store membership information in the cloud.
Cost: Starts at $125/mo. Note that not all feature modules are included on each plan type.
Setup fee: $0
Additional transaction fees: $0
Top additional features beyond membership management: Website builder, CPE tracking, event registration, directory, LMS, member community (social network), mobile apps
Key integrations: Quickbooks, Xero, API
Support: Phone
Buy if you:
- Are a larger nonprofit and are interested in an API integration with your existing website
- Want to provide your members with a private social network
- Need to accept multiple currencies
Don’t buy if you:
- Need a low monthly cost
- Are a smaller nonprofit that doesn’t need all of the bells and whistles
- Want to avoid developer fees if you want to keep your existing website
6. NeonOne
NeonOne offers a variety of solutions for just about any type of nonprofit organization. Their products include solutions for fundraising, member-based organizations, events management and more. They provide unique volunteer management features such as the ability to track volunteer hours, expenses, and mileage. The system supports event planning by offering a variety of event types to choose from when setting up an event. Nonprofit organizations can also opt to sell assigned seating for their events. Higher level plans include custom reporting and phone support. They also offer a website building and hosting service that starts at an additional $45 per month.
Cost: Starts at $99/mo.
Setup fee: optional $600+ for data migration service; optional $600+ for training
Additional transaction fees: $0
Top additional features beyond membership management: Website builder, volunteer management, peer-to-peer fundraising (at $149/mo. plan and higher), custom reporting
Key integrations: Double the Donation, Constant Contact, MailChimp, Eventbrite, Quickbooks for plans over $149/mo.
Support: Phone and chat (on higher level plans), email
Buy if you:
- Are focused on donor management and want the option to add features like peer-to-peer fundraising
- Need grant tracking features
- Want to track volunteer hours
- Want the option to pay them to migrate your member data into the system for you
Don’t buy if you:
- Need a job board feature
- Are a smaller nonprofit and need to start out with something more simple
- Want to pay for a higher level plan to access phone support
7. MemberClicks
Some features that this Association Management Software (AMS) offers include event management software, and online learning. Their platform includes integrated communication tools such as an email marketing system and an online member community to maintain strong relationships with members. Pricing includes a membership website provided by MemberClicks. If your membership organization is looking for a cheaper membership management software from Personify, they are also the providers of WildApricot.
Cost: Starts at $375/month
Setup fee: Starts at $3,000; includes membership site
Per-seat charges: $15/month after the first two designated administrators (for MC Professional product)
Top additional features beyond membership management: Job board, event calendar and registration, directory, email marketing, learning management system (LMS)
Key integrations: Quickbooks, Hubspot, Salesforce
Support: Phone, email, chat
Buy if you:
- Are a larger nonprofit and need API integration with other systems such as CRMs
- Want to track member engagement metrics with custom scoring
- Need to track member referrals
Don’t buy if you:
- Are a smaller nonprofit. Their parent company also offers WildApricot, which is more geared toward smaller nonprofits.
- Want more than two admins who can contact support without having to pay extra for additional admins
- Want to be able to change your website design yourself
8. Bloomerang/Kindful
Bloomerang purchased Kindful in 2021. Bloomerang offers fundraising software with a focus on donations and reporting. In other words, this software solution is more focused on donor management and donor tracking than membership management. Along those lines, it offers features such as peer-to-peer fundraising. Bloomerang extends its capabilities beyond donor management software by offering integrations. Consider the cost of the integrations when comparing against competitors that offer an all-in-one product.
Cost: Starts at $119/month plus $35/month extra for phone support
Per-Seat charges: none
Additional Transaction-Related Charges: 1% fundraising platform fee on all transactions through Bloomerang Payments
Setup Fee: $0
Key Features Beyond membership management: Donations, donor management, peer-to-peer fundraising
Key Integrations: Quickbooks, MailChimp, Qgiv, Donorsearch, Truegivers, Zapier
Support: Email, chat, phone ($35/mo)
Buy if you:
- Are more focused on donations and fundraising than memberships
- Need a volunteer management feature with shift signup/scheduling capability and an app
- Are looking for engagement tracking and CRM features
Don’t buy if you:
- Don’t want to pay a 1% transaction fee on top of your payment gateway fees
- Don’t want to have to pay extra for phone support
- Don’t want to be charged for each individual member of a family or group membership
See a Bloomerang / Kindful comparison
9. Springly
Springly is an all-in-one membership software which includes a membership website. Springly offers a nonprofit management circle where customers can share ideas with each other. Trade associations and professional associations appreciate that the system offers features and a membership management tool designed for multi chapter nonprofits. It has a required in-house payment processing gateway that charges a higher transaction fee than nonprofits can access elsewhere. Springly charges for some support options for their membership management software that other providers include in their monthly pricing.
Cost: Starts at $25/month
Per-seat charges: unknown
Additional transaction fees: $0
Setup fee: $0
Top additional features beyond membership management: Multi-chapter features, member only content, events management, online store, scannable tickets
Key integrations: Quickbooks
Support: Chat, email, training (training at $120 per hour)
Buy if you:
- Need multi-chapter features (for example, if you are a national nonprofit with affiliated chapters)
- Want to have a built-in accounting system within your nonprofit membership software versus an integration. This is not a common feature in other systems at this price point.
- Want to share ideas with other nonprofit organizations in Springly’s Facebook group
Don’t buy if you:
- Need phone support
- Want to keep your existing website
- Want to be able to do a lot of customization using the website builder that Springly provides
10. HiveBrite
HiveBrite provides a membership website along with features like member generated content, event management, and a built in email marketing platform. HiveBrite integrates with some of the larger and more complex member data management platforms. Alumni associations are fans of its community features, which includes a mobile app.
Cost: Starts at $500/month
Per-seat charges: unknown
Additional transaction fees: $0
Setup fee: $0
Top additional features beyond membership management: Job board, member directory, forums
Key integrations: Salesforce, Blackbaud, MS Dynamics 365, Raiser’s Edge, API
Support: Phone, chat, email
Buy if you:
- Want one or more online forums for your members
- Are looking for a member collaboration tool
- Are a larger nonprofit that needs integration with CRMs like Salesforce
Don’t buy if you:
- Need a free trial to test out the software
- Don’t need an online community as that’s a main focus of the product
- Don’t want to pay additional platform fees charged on top of transaction fees
Note that pricing and features may change from the information we have gathered here. Non-profit membership software providers regularly evolve their product offerings and price points.
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