Best Charity Accounting Software  – Top 10 for 2024

Charity accounting software is essential for keeping track of donations and expenses. It can help you manage your budget and ensure that your charity is spending money wisely. You will want to consider the features necessary for you and your charity and the price.

In this article, we will introduce you to the top accounting software for charity organisation based on multiple factors. Let’s get started!

The Best Charity Accounting Software 2024

There are many excellent accounting software available that can help you manage your charity finances. However, while choosing the right one for your charity, you will carefully consider several factors, such as features, prices, requirements, operations, and the software’s customer support.

To save time and effort, we have researched several accounting production software for charity and identified the top ones. Here’s a list of the top charity accounting software:

1. Freshbooks –  The Best Overall Charity Accounting Software
2. Zoho –  A Solid Online Solution for Charity Accounting
3. Sage Accounting  –  An All-in-One Cloud-Based Accounting Software
4. Xero  –  An Easygoing Accounting Software for Charities
5. FreeAgent  – Simple Accounting Software for Small Charity
6. TaxSlayer  –  Taxation-Focused Bookkeeping Solution
7. Liberty Tax  –  An Efficient Tool for Charity Tax Filing Online
8. Wave Accounting  –  Great for Managing Everyday Accounts
9. MoneyMinder  –  Simple Bookkeeping for Charities
10. Araize FastFund  –  Specialized Software Solution for Charities

Each software has pros and cons. A detailed comparison will help us identify the most suitable one for charity accounting.

The Best Charity Accounting Software Reviewed

We will now look into the features, pricing plans, and pros and cons of the accounting software for charity trust.

1. Freshbooks  –  The Best Overall Charity Accounting Software

Freshbooks focuses on accounting management for small businesses, while it also performs great as a charity accounting software and church accounting software. Freshbooks tops our list as the best accounting software for charity trust primarily due to its exceptional user-friendly and intuitive interface that is easy to learn without much technical knowledge.

Freshbooks is particularly suitable for charity organizations because it is very affordable, with the price for the entry-level plan starting from only $4.50/month. You will find plenty of training materials and resources on the company’s website if you need any help to get started.

Key features

1. Double-entry accounting: Freshbooks follows the industry-standard and globally-compliant double-entry accounting system so that you never have to sweat before the tax filing time for your charity organization, and you can have everything ready at your fingertips.
2. Customizable charts: As your organization expands, it will be tedious to follow the individual entries for financial reporting or analysis. However, the customizable charts of Freshbooks will make things visual for you.
3. Data-driven decision making: Freshbooks’s intuitive and graphical user dashboard lets you keep aware of your charity’s financial health. You can easily track any discrepancies and correct those.

Pros

• Great for small and medium-scale charities
• Dependable customer support
• Affordable pricing

Cons

• No automated bank reconciliation

Price (per month)

• Lite :  $4.50
• Plus :  $7.50
• Premium :  $15.00
• Select : Customized pricing

You can also book a free trial of FreshBooks.

2. Zoho  –  A Solid Online Solution for Charity Accounting

Zoho brings you one of the most feature-rich accounting production software for charity that has a free version as well. Zoho is straightforward to use and a good choice for team collaboration too. One of the finest things about Zoho is that you can always reach out to the customer support team without waiting for a long time.

Zoho gives you an end-to-end solution to manage all of your accounting and finance needs within a single platform regardless of the size of your charity organization, as the software is fully scalable. You can also set up individual client portals for your key donors where it is super easy to manage recurring payments or donations.

Key features

1. Comprehensive dashboard: Zoho Books gives you a complete or 360-degree view of your entire organization’s accounting activities. You will have full visibility of your cash flow, key expenses, and major projects within one window.
2. Customized fund management: Zoho Books lets you easily manage your non-profit funds. You can create dedicated expense accounts for major expenses, categorize your funds, and prepare highly visual reports.
3. Payment receipt: Any donors would love your organization if you send them a nice and simple payment receipt as a token of appreciation. Zoho Books lets you automate sending payment receipts to donors by email.

Pros

• Free version with major features
• Detailed transaction history
• Multiple payment gateway and currency support

Cons

• Somewhat confusing for beginners

Price (per month)

• Free :  $0
• Standard :  $10
• Professional :  $20
• Premium : $30
• Elite :  $100
• Ultimate : $200

The free version includes many of the basic features.

3. Sage Accounting  – An All-in-One Cloud-based Accounting Software

Sage Business Cloud Accounting is a great online charity accounting software that offers a variety of features needed to efficiently manage your non-profit or charity’s accounts and finances. The online solution is subscription-based, and you won’t have to make any commitment. You can also integrate Google Drive with Sage Accounting for shared and enhanced cloud storage and initiate easy backup for your invoice copies.

Sage comes with a set of handy features that include invoice management, expense categorization, and reporting capabilities. The whole package runs from the cloud, so you won’t have to worry about saving anything locally when you update your transactions.

Key features

1. Complete view: Sage lets you customize your dashboard to present periodic views, such as daily, weekly or monthly views so that you can dig deeper into your charity organization’s financial health and trends.
2. Automation capabilities: Sage manages all the frequent and recurring administrative and accounting tasks in the background once you program this online charity accounting software for automation.
3. Invoice management: Sending customized invoices to your donors will add professionalism and trustworthiness to your organization’s operations. Sage lets you create and send customized payment requests to prospective donors.

Pros

• Bank reconciliation
• Easy invoicing
• Feature-packed mobile app

Cons

• Lack of fast-key operations

Price (per month)

• Accounting Start:  $10
• Accounting :  $25 (70% off for the first six months)

Sage Accounting offers a 2-month free trial letting you get a full understanding of its usability for your charity.

4. Xero  –  An Easy-going Accounting Software for Charities

Xero is one of the easiest-to-manage accounting software for Mac and Windows. The intuitive user interface lets you set up and organize your books very easily, and you won’t need hours of training to become familiar.

Xero has reached a user base of more than one million. It’s also one of the top charity finance accounting software UK. In addition, over 16,000 organizations use Xero as their main accounts management software.

Key features

1. Cash flow management: Managing your cash flows is one of the biggest challenges as a nonprofit or charity. Xero lets you track incoming and outgoing cash flows from one unified and intuitive dashboard.
2. Connection on the go: Xero has advanced iOS and Android mobile apps that are loaded with all essential features. You can access almost the full range of features from wherever you are.
3. Payroll management: Xero lets you send payments to your staff members on time and online without any complexities. The software will make tax deductions in the backend and record them accurately for tax reporting.

Pros

• Payroll management and batch payment
• Very lightweight and smooth to run
• Highly scalable

Cons

• Lack of automated function to track unpaid invoices

Price (per month)

• Early: $12
• Growing:  $34
• Established: $65

You can also book a 30-day free trial.

5. FreeAgent  –  Simple Accounting Software for Small Charity

If you have a small charity or nonprofit organization that does not have a large budget to purchase an advanced accounting management solution, FreeAgent can be your go-to choice with an affordable price tag starting from only $10/month.

FreeAgent packs most of the useful and essential features that you would typically need to manage the books for your small or medium-sized charity. It is a great tool for multi-currency invoicing and tax reporting purposes, which makes it a viable BNA tax accounting software for charity organizations.

Key features

1. Fully unrestricted: FreeAgent’s pricing plan is possibly the simplest among all the competitors. There is absolutely no restriction on your use either. You can add as many users, clients, and projects as you want.
2. Complete project management: The all-inclusive dashboard of FreeAgent gives you a 360-degree view of all of your nonprofit projects. You can always effortlessly track the income and expenses of individual projects.
3. Bank reconciliation: FreeAgent lets you connect your bank accounts within your accounting dashboard so that you can always keep your transactions recorded and synced.

Pros

• UK-based team of accountants to provide customer support
• No set-up or implementation fees
• Integrated time tracking

Cons

• Limited functionality for large charity organizations

Price

Price for the Universal plan is $10 per month for the first six months and $20 per month afterwards. A 30-day free trial is also available.

6. TaxSlayer  –  Taxation-focused Bookkeeping Solution

TaxSlayer Books combines great features related to accounting and tax management. The accounting software for charity has recently been rebranded as Workful Books. The software is highly capable of tracking your daily income, expenses, and cash flow.

You can also easily prepare and easily print IRS 1099 forms from your existing accounting records. There are three individual packages of TaxSlayer Books or Workful Books: Workful Book Online, 1099/W2 Online, and Workful Payroll.

Key features

1. Day-to-day accounting management: TaxSlayer Books provides you with all the essential tools to manage your everyday accounting and bookkeeping tasks. You can track deposits, donations, payment receipts, vendor bills, and project status.
2. Cloud-based: Workful Books is entirely cloud-based, and the solution also comes with a great mobile app, you can use it from anywhere on-the-go. You won’t have to carry your device with you or worry about keeping backups.
3. Financial reports: TaxSlayer is specialized in financial report preparation. You can prepare periodic financial reports, such as balance sheets, income statements or cash flow statements for any defined timeline.

Pros

• Very easy to use
• Specialized in tax report filing
• API for invoice automation from your website

Cons

• Very limited collaboration tools

Price (per month)

• Online:  $9.95–1 simultaneous user and 1 company
• Online Unlimited :  $59.95 — Unlimited companies or businesses

TaxSlayer also offers a 30-day free trial where you can explore the functionalities.

7. Liberty Tax  –  An Efficient Tool for Charity Tax Filing Online

Being a charity or nonprofit organization does exclude you from the federal and state requirement of filing tax documentation. In many cases, the requirement is even more rigorous for maintaining transparency. Liberty Tax can be a great tool for your charity’s audit assistance.

The interview-style format of taxation filing in Liberty Tax has been prevalent and convenient since 1998. In addition to the self-filing, you also have access to professional auditors to handle complex documents.

Key features

1. Audit assistance: A team of vetted professionals will assist you in every step to prepare and file your charity’s taxation and audit documents.
2. Protection promise: If anything goes wrong related to your tax filing, you have little to worry about because Liberty Tax promises to represent you in any legal situation once you use the software.
3. Double-check: Liberty Tax wants to ensure your reports and filing are free from any mistakes or errors, so they will double-check your files and forms.

Pros

• One of the best nonprofit accounting software
• Very straightforward user interface
• Comprehensive taxation and audit support
• Multiple calculators

Cons

• Limited functionalities for everyday accounting

Price

• Basic:  $45.95  –  Schedule A, B, and Forms 1040, 8853
• Deluxe : $65.95  –  Schedule A, B, C, and Forms 1040, 8829, 8839 and others
• Premium :  $85.95  –  Schedule A, B, C, E, F, K-1 and Forms 4136, 4684, 4835 and others

The basic plan is sufficient for small charities.

8. Wave Accounting  –  Great for Managing Everyday Accounts

Wave Accounting is free accounting software that lets you manage every aspect of your charity accounts very easily, including invoicing, payments, banking, and payroll.

One of the most convenient things about Wave Accounting is its exceptional affordability and hard-to-beat pricing. You can use the invoicing, accounting, and banking services entirely free, without any hidden cost, making it truly one of the best accounting software Canada has to offer.

Key features

1. Accounts advisory: Wave Accounting provides you 1:1 accounts advisory support, which comes very handy when you would prepare your taxation and audit documents for your charity.
2. No requirement for credit card information: When you sign up for the software and start using it, you won’t have to worry a bit about providing any credit card details. You can keep using it as long as you want.
3. Integrated payment gateway: Wave Accounting lets you receive donations and payments right within your app from multiple supported payment sources, including bank deposits, credit cards, and Apple Pay, with a reasonable fee.

Pros

• Free accounting and bookkeeping management
• Highly visual interface
• Real-time report creation

Cons

• Lack of a few advanced functionalities such as time tracking and inventory management

Price

• Invoicing:  Free
• Accounting: Free
• Banking: Free
• Payments:  Pay-per-use
• Payroll:  Starting from $20/month
• Advisory Support :  Starting from $149/month

You can start using Wave Accounting for free.

9. MoneyMinder  –  Simple Bookkeeping for Charities

MoneyMinder provides you with a complete range of tools for bookkeeping and financial reporting for your charity organization.

There are no confusing pricing tiers. You will find all you need in the pro version, whereas there is a free version for preparing budgets and payment schedules.

Key features

1. Complete range of tools: MoneyMinder has everything you need for day-to-day fund management, such as bookkeeping, budgeting, managing contacts, managing donors, and invoicing.
2. Easy integration: MoneyMinder easily syncs with Square, PayPal, and 12,000 banking institutions for smooth reconciliation.
3. Audit tools: You won’t have to sweat when preparing audit reports and tax forms. MoneyMinder lets you calculate 990EZ totals, and prepare annual and audit reports in no time.

Pros

• Simplified user interface
• Comprehensive documents library
• Volunteer management

Cons

• No mobile app

Price

• Free:  $0  –  Budget management and payment schedule management
• Pro:  $179/year  –  Complete non-profit accounting solution

You can use the free version to explore some basic functionalities.

10. Araize FastFund  –  Specialized Online Charity Accounting Software Solution

Araize FastFund is a specialized accounting and bookkeeping solution to match the needs of nonprofits and charities specifically.

A team of Certified Public Accountants designed FastFund. The comprehensive online charity accounting software for charities includes several modules, such as accounts payable, general ledger, payroll management, and fundraising management.

Key features

1. Self-balancing: The tool helps you save time and possible mistakes with its automated self-balancing fund management.
2. Complete accounting solution: Key accounting features include cash receipts, disbursements, journal entries, budgets, bank reconciliations, and printing financial reports.
3. Fundraising: There are handy features for managing nonprofit fundraising activities such as donation tracking, sending acknowledgement reports, and pledge templates.

Pros

• Fully compliant with regulatory guidelines
• Intuitive interface
• Integrated fundraising tools

Cons

• Pricier than competitors

Price (per month)

• Standard :  $42
• Premium :  $94

You can purchase additional modules in both plans, which start from $19/month for each module.

Best Charity Accounting Software

The following will help you quickly compare the pricing, accessibility and availability of free or trial versions of the best charity accounting software for 2024. We have carefully researched the ease of use, pricing, and features of each software while preparing the list and ranking them.

We also considered whether the online charity accounting software offers a good value for money and a transparent pricing plan, which are important concerns for small charities.

Best Free Charity Accounting Software

Freshbooks is the best charity accounting software that starts from as low as $4.5/month and includes a free trial for 30 days without the requirement for any credit card information. Freshbooks has many features, such as management of balance sheets, trial balance, journal entries, and general ledger, preparation of detailed financial reports and statements, and access to external accountants.

Based on our test and research, Freshbooks is the best accounting software for charity trust due to its exceptional user-friendly interface and great features at a hard-to-beat price point.

What Are The Benefits Of Using Accounting Software For Your Charity?

An online charity accounting software will benefit you in several ways, such as:

• Managing finances easily: The software will help you to keep track of all your income and expenses in one place. This will make it easier for you to manage your finances and stay on top of your budget.
• Tracking progress: The software can generate financial reports that will help you track your organization’s progress. This information can be used to make decisions about where to allocate resources and how to improve your operations.
• Saving time: The software can automate many of the tasks associated with financial management, such as invoicing, payments, and reporting. This will save you time to focus on other aspects of running your organization.
• Saving cost: This online charity accounting software can help you to streamline your financial operations and reduce your overhead costs. This will free up more resources that can be used to further your mission.
• Improving transparency: Finally, accounting software for your charity will help you maintain transparency for your accounting and bookkeeping tasks.

How We Evaluated The Best Charity Accounting Software

We have considered several factors when choosing the best accounting production software for charity. Those are:

Easy interface

First of all, the software should be simple to use and come with an intuitive interface. If the software requires advanced technical knowledge, it may not be a feasible option for most charities.

Pricing

We have carefully evaluated the pricing of different options, including premium ones, free ones, and open source accounting software. Although you will face certain limitations in the free options, those may be excellent choices to fulfil your small charity’s accounting needs.

Customer Support

A convenient online charity accounting software should come with good customer support, in case you have any questions or problems. So, we have checked the availability of customer support and the possible ways you can reach out to them, including phones, emails, and live chats.

Scalability

As your charity grows over time, the software should also grow. It will be inconvenient to migrate to another software just because your organization has grown.

Features

Finally, we carefully compared the features of different software packages while choosing the best accounting software for charities. Some key features include report generation, real-time expense tracking, double-entry accounting, budgeting, etc.

Conclusion: What Is The Best Charity Accounting Software?

Accounting software for small charities helps maintain transparency in transactions and keeps accurate records of income and expenses. You have several options in choosing the right charity accounting software for your organization.

Considering the ease of use, convenient pricing plan, and features, we have found Freshbooks as the best charity accounting software in 2024. Freshbooks is highly scalable, which makes it an excellent option for small and mid-sized charities, and is the best accounting software for charity trust.

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