🏢 Bonterra for Nonprofits
Managing donors, running fundraising campaigns, tracking program outcomes, and engaging volunteers across multiple disconnected platforms while your small team struggles to keep up? Bonterra brings your entire nonprofit operation into one integrated ecosystem with AI-powered coaching that tells you exactly which donors to contact, when to reach out, and what to say. Trusted by 170,000+ nonprofits managing $18 billion in annual giving, Bonterra transforms scattered data into strategic fundraising intelligence that helps under-resourced teams raise more with less effort.
What It Does
Struggling to remember which donors haven't been thanked, when to send your next appeal, or whether your event fundraising is actually profitable? Bonterra eliminates the guesswork and spreadsheet chaos that plague under-resourced nonprofits.
At its core, Bonterra is a comprehensive nonprofit technology platform that unifies fundraising, donor management, email marketing, event coordination, volunteer management, and case management into a single integrated system. But what sets it apart is the AI-powered coaching layer that continuously analyzes your data to surface actionable insights—like which lapsed donors are most likely to give again, or which email subject lines will resonate best with your audience.
Instead of your development director spending hours segmenting contact lists and wondering who to prioritize, Bonterra's AI does the analysis automatically and presents clear recommendations: "Contact these 15 donors this week—they're showing strong engagement signals." It's like having a fundraising strategist, data analyst, and CRM administrator working 24/7 for a fraction of the cost of even one full-time hire.
Best For
Organization Size
- Small nonprofits (via Network for Good) needing all-in-one tools with built-in coaching
- Mid-sized organizations consolidating multiple platforms into one ecosystem
- Large nonprofits and advocacy organizations (via EveryAction) managing complex campaigns
- Service delivery organizations needing both fundraising and case management
Use Cases
- Consolidating donor management, email marketing, and online giving into one platform
- Running peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns and charity events with registration and tracking
- Managing advocacy campaigns with supporter mobilization and legislative tracking
- Tracking program delivery and client outcomes alongside fundraising activities
Ideal For Teams Who
- Want AI-powered recommendations instead of guessing which donors to prioritize
- Need fundraising coaching and strategic guidance built into their software
- Are tired of data silos between fundraising, marketing, programs, and volunteer management
- Value nonprofit-specific features and workflows over generic CRM systems
May Not Fit If You
- Have very tight budgets and low transaction volume making percentage fees unsustainable
- Need highly customized CRM workflows beyond Bonterra's nonprofit-focused templates
- Prefer a simpler, single-purpose donor database without integrated email and events
- Are very early stage with minimal donor data (AI coaching requires data to analyze)
Key Features for Nonprofits
Bonterra's comprehensive suite goes beyond basic donor management to deliver strategic fundraising intelligence that helps small teams punch above their weight.
AI-Powered Fundraising Coaching (Bonterra Que)
Bonterra's "Nonprofit AI" analyzes your donor data, giving patterns, and goals to deliver personalized recommendations on which donors to contact, optimal ask amounts, best outreach timing, and strategic next steps. Built on decades of nonprofit fundraising expertise, it's like having a data-driven consultant reviewing your database 24/7 and highlighting opportunities you'd otherwise miss.
Integrated Donor Management & CRM
Track every donor interaction, donation history, communication preference, and engagement touchpoint in one unified database. Eliminate the chaos of scattered spreadsheets and disconnected tools—your entire team works from the same real-time data, ensuring no donor falls through the cracks and reducing hours of manual data entry.
Email Marketing & Campaign Management
Create, segment, and send professional fundraising emails without needing separate tools like Mailchimp or Constant Contact. Built-in templates, drag-and-drop builders, smart segmentation based on donor behavior, and detailed analytics show which messages drive donations. Your CRM data automatically populates personalization fields for truly customized appeals.
Peer-to-Peer Fundraising & Events (DonorDrive)
Launch and manage charity walks, runs, giving days, and peer-to-peer campaigns with dedicated event management tools. Supporters create personal fundraising pages, track team progress, and compete on leaderboards while you monitor real-time revenue, manage registrations, and send automated acknowledgments—all without cobbling together third-party event platforms.
Advocacy & Mobilization Tools (EveryAction)
Engage supporters in policy campaigns with built-in advocacy features including action alerts, legislative tracking, petition management, and grassroots mobilization. Particularly powerful for organizations working on social justice, environmental issues, or policy change—track both fundraising relationships and advocacy engagement in one unified supporter profile.
Case Management & Service Delivery (Apricot)
For service delivery organizations, Apricot provides robust case management alongside fundraising tools. Track client intake, service delivery, outcomes measurement, and program evaluation in the same ecosystem as your donor relationships. This unified approach helps you connect funding to impact and demonstrate results to funders without switching between disconnected systems.
Real-World Nonprofit Use Case
Consider a regional food bank with a small development team of two people responsible for managing 3,500 donors, running monthly email appeals, coordinating four major fundraising events per year, and engaging 200+ volunteers. Before Bonterra, they juggled separate tools for email marketing, event registration, volunteer scheduling, and donor tracking—each requiring manual data entry and producing conflicting reports about their supporter base.
After implementing Bonterra's Network for Good platform, their donor data, volunteer hours, event registrations, and email engagement all flow into one integrated database. When planning their annual gala, they no longer export contact lists to separate event software. Instead, they create the event directly in Bonterra, segment invitations based on giving history, track RSVPs in real-time, process auction payments, and automatically update donor records—all in one workflow.
The AI coaching feature transformed their year-end campaign strategy. Instead of sending the same appeal to everyone, Bonterra's AI analyzed giving patterns and suggested segmenting their list into five groups based on recency, frequency, and donation size. It recommended specific ask amounts for each segment and optimal send times based on past engagement. Following these AI recommendations, their year-end campaign revenue increased 34% compared to the previous year's generic blast approach—without increasing staff time or marketing budget.
Perhaps most valuable, their development director now starts each week with AI-generated priority lists: "These 12 major donors haven't been contacted in 90 days," or "These monthly donors are showing decreased engagement—send personalized thank-you notes." Instead of reactive firefighting, they work strategically on high-impact relationship building, making their two-person team as effective as a department twice their size.
Pricing
Bonterra uses custom pricing based on your organization's size, contact count, and feature needs. While exact costs aren't publicly disclosed, here's what to expect:
Essentials
For smaller organizations
Custom
- Basic donor management and tracking
- Online giving and donation processing
- Email marketing tools
- Standard reporting and analytics
- Transaction fees apply
Pro
For growing nonprofits
Custom
- Everything in Essentials
- AI-powered fundraising coaching
- Advanced segmentation and analytics
- Event management capabilities
- Enhanced integrations
Enterprise
For large organizations
Custom
- Everything in Pro
- Advocacy and mobilization tools
- Case management (Apricot)
- Dedicated account management
- Custom workflows and integrations
Important Pricing Considerations
Transaction Fees: Bonterra charges transaction fees on online donations, which can be as high as 4.75% depending on your plan. For high-volume fundraisers, these fees add up quickly and should be factored into your total cost of ownership.
Contact-Based Pricing: Pricing tiers increase as your contact database grows. Monitor your contact count carefully to avoid unexpected price jumps when crossing tier thresholds.
Longer Commitments Save Money: Bonterra offers better pricing for multi-year commitments. If you're confident in the platform, locking in a longer term can reduce annual costs significantly.
Free Trial Available: Network for Good and some other Bonterra products offer free trials. Take advantage of these to test workflows and ensure the platform fits your needs before committing financially.
Nonprofit Pricing & Support
Bonterra's entire business model is built exclusively for the nonprofit sector, which means their pricing structure is inherently designed with nonprofit budgets and constraints in mind. While they don't advertise a specific "nonprofit discount" percentage, every pricing tier is nonprofit-focused rather than adapted from for-profit software.
What's Included for Nonprofits:
- Custom Nonprofit Pricing: Pricing is tailored to your organization size, budget, and feature needs—not one-size-fits-all corporate rates
- Free Trial Options: Test Network for Good and other products with free trials before committing financially
- Fundraising Coaching Included: AI-powered coaching that would cost thousands per month from a consultant is built into Pro and Enterprise plans
- Nonprofit-Specific Features: Tools like peer-to-peer fundraising, advocacy mobilization, and case management at no additional charge beyond your plan tier
How to Get Nonprofit Pricing:
Contact Bonterra's team at [email protected] or request a custom quote through their website. Be prepared to share your organization's annual budget, contact database size, and specific feature needs to receive the most accurate pricing proposal.
Get Custom Nonprofit QuoteNote: Prices may be outdated or inaccurate.
Learning Curve
Beginner-Friendly
Network for Good is designed for small teams with limited technical expertise. Intuitive interface and pre-built templates get you fundraising quickly.
Intermediate
Overall Rating - Full platform mastery takes time. Expect 2-4 weeks to feel comfortable with core features and 2-3 months to leverage advanced capabilities.
Advanced Features
EveryAction's advocacy tools, custom reporting, and API integrations require dedicated admin resources for large organizations.
What to Expect: Bonterra's learning curve varies significantly depending on which product you're using and your organization's technical sophistication. Network for Good is intentionally designed for nonprofit generalists—your development coordinator can start creating donation pages and sending emails within hours of onboarding. The built-in fundraising coaching guides you toward best practices without requiring deep expertise.
However, EveryAction's comprehensive CRM and advocacy features involve a steeper learning curve. Organizations typically assign a dedicated database administrator or invest in formal training to unlock the platform's full potential. The complexity grows when managing large contact databases (50,000+ records), integrating with external tools like QuickBooks, or building custom reports and dashboards.
Support & Training Resources: Bonterra provides extensive onboarding support, help documentation, video tutorials, and training webinars. Network for Good users appreciate the responsive support through phone, email, and online chat—particularly valuable for small teams without IT departments. However, some users report declining support quality after Bonterra's acquisitions, with account representatives replaced by ticketing systems that feel less personalized.
Bottom Line: If you're a small nonprofit choosing Network for Good, expect a gentle learning curve with strong support. If you're implementing EveryAction for a larger organization, budget for dedicated admin time and formal training to maximize your investment. The AI coaching helps accelerate learning by suggesting what actions to take, reducing the intimidation factor of a feature-rich platform.
Integration & Compatibility
Platform Availability
Bonterra is a cloud-based web platform accessible through any modern browser. No software installation required, and your team can access donor data from anywhere with an internet connection—perfect for remote teams and mobile fundraising at events.
Key Integrations
Accounting & Finance
- QuickBooks Online: Two-way sync for donation tracking and financial reconciliation (most frequently cited integration by users)
- QuickBooks Disbursements: Streamline payment processing and accounting workflows
CRM & Sales Platforms
- Salesforce Platform: Integration available through EveryAction for organizations using both systems
Communication Tools
- Zoom Workplace: Coordinate virtual events and donor meetings
- Twitter/X & Meta for Business: Social media integration for campaigns
- Google Sheets: Export data for custom analysis and reporting
Native Integrations
- Bonterra emphasizes robust native integrations that sync automatically without middleware tools like Zapier
- API available for custom integrations (contact Bonterra for developer documentation)
Data Portability & Migration
Bonterra allows data exports in standard formats (CSV, Excel) so you're not locked into the platform. However, migrating into Bonterra from existing systems requires careful planning. The platform offers data import tools and migration support, but expect some manual cleanup work—particularly when consolidating data from multiple disparate sources.
Pro Tip: Before committing, ask about migration support included in your plan tier. Enterprise customers typically receive dedicated migration assistance, while smaller organizations may need to handle imports themselves or hire consultants. If data quality is questionable in your current system, budget time for data cleaning before migration to avoid importing messy records.
Honest Assessment: Pros & Cons
Pros
- ✓Comprehensive All-in-One Platform: Eliminates the need for separate donor management, email marketing, event, and volunteer tools—reducing subscription costs and data silos
- âś“AI-Powered Coaching Included: Strategic fundraising recommendations that would cost thousands from consultants are built directly into the platform
- ✓Nonprofit-Specific Features Out of the Box: Peer-to-peer fundraising, advocacy tools, and case management designed for nonprofit workflows—not generic business software
- ✓Scales from Small to Enterprise: Network for Good serves tiny teams while EveryAction handles large advocacy organizations—grow without switching platforms
- âś“Integrated Database Simplifies Operations: All supporter data (donors, volunteers, event attendees, program participants) lives in one unified database with consistent reporting
- âś“Strong for Peer-to-Peer Campaigns: DonorDrive is particularly powerful for charity walks, runs, and giving days with leaderboards and team fundraising
- âś“Good Support for Small Teams (Network for Good): Phone, email, and chat support accessible without requiring dedicated IT staff
Cons
- âś—Transaction Fees Can Add Up Quickly: Up to 4.75% on all online donations means high-volume fundraisers pay significantly more than flat subscription models
- âś—Pricing Transparency Issues: Custom pricing requires sales conversations; some users report unexpected costs, hidden fees, and sustainability concerns after discounts expire
- âś—Customer Support Declined Post-Acquisitions: Users report account representatives replaced by ticketing systems, slower response times, and less personalized assistance
- âś—Limited Customization: Cannot do global changes easily, non-robust custom fields, and template limitations frustrate organizations with unique workflows
- âś—Reporting Limitations: While standard reports are solid, users find custom reporting less flexible compared to dedicated BI tools or highly customizable CRMs
- âś—Technical Glitches with Large Data Volumes: Some users experience system slowdowns and persistent data matching issues requiring manual cleanup
- âś—Contact-Based Pricing Can Inflate Costs: Pricing jumps when crossing contact count thresholds, penalizing organizations that grow their supporter base (ironic for fundraising software)
The Bottom Line
Bonterra is a powerful, comprehensive platform best suited for small to mid-sized nonprofits that value nonprofit-specific features, AI coaching, and integrated tools over customization flexibility. The transaction fee model works well if you're processing moderate donation volumes and want to avoid steep upfront costs, but high-volume fundraisers should carefully calculate total cost of ownership. Customer support quality appears to have declined post-acquisitions, so ensure you're comfortable with ticketing systems rather than dedicated account reps. If you need turnkey nonprofit software with strategic coaching included, Bonterra delivers significant value. If you need highly customized workflows, transparent pricing, or exceptional ongoing support, explore alternatives like Bloomerang or Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud.
Alternatives to Consider
Bonterra isn't the only comprehensive nonprofit platform. Here are comparable alternatives and when they might be a better fit:
Bloomerang
Donor retention-focused CRM
Best for: Organizations prioritizing donor retention over acquisition. Bloomerang's entire platform is designed around retention metrics, engagement scores, and relationship building.
Key Advantage: Simpler, more affordable pricing (starts at $125/month flat) without transaction fees. Highly rated customer support and user-friendly interface require minimal training.
Choose Bloomerang if: You want transparent pricing, exceptional support, donor retention focus, and don't need advocacy tools or case management. Better for organizations under 10,000 contacts seeking simplicity over comprehensive features.
Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud
Enterprise CRM platform
Best for: Large nonprofits with dedicated IT staff and complex customization needs. Salesforce offers virtually unlimited customization but requires technical expertise.
Key Advantage: Power Users Program provides 10 free licenses for qualifying nonprofits, plus discounted additional licenses. Unmatched integration ecosystem and customization capabilities.
Choose Salesforce if: You have (or can hire) dedicated Salesforce admins, need deep customization, want best-in-class integrations, and qualify for their free license program. Overkill for small nonprofits without technical resources.
Little Green Light
Affordable donor management
Best for: Budget-conscious small nonprofits that need solid donor management without bells and whistles. Straightforward, no-frills approach at very affordable pricing.
Key Advantage: Significantly lower cost than Bonterra with transparent pricing. No transaction fees, and excellent value for organizations with limited budgets and simple needs.
Choose Little Green Light if: Budget is your primary concern, you don't need AI coaching or advocacy tools, and you want straightforward donor tracking and reporting. Best for organizations under 5,000 contacts with basic requirements.
How to Choose
Consider Bonterra if you want comprehensive features, AI coaching, and nonprofit-specific workflows in one platform—and your donation volume justifies transaction fees. Choose Bloomerang for simplicity, retention focus, and transparent pricing. Pick Salesforce for maximum customization with dedicated technical resources. Select Little Green Light when budget constraints are your primary concern and you need basic donor management without extras.
Our recommendation: Request demos from your top 2-3 finalists, test them with your actual donor data, and involve the team members who'll use the system daily. The "best" CRM is the one your team will actually use consistently.
Getting Started with Bonterra
Ready to explore Bonterra? Here's how to evaluate whether it's the right fit for your nonprofit:
Assess Your Needs and Calculate Total Cost
Before requesting a demo, clarify your requirements
Document your current pain points: Are you struggling with disconnected tools, limited fundraising strategy, or time-consuming manual data entry? List must-have features (donor management, email marketing, events, advocacy, case management) versus nice-to-haves.
Critical: Estimate your annual online donation volume to calculate transaction fees. If you process $100,000 in online donations annually, a 4.75% fee equals $4,750/year—factor this into your budget comparison with flat-fee alternatives.
Request a Demo and Free Trial
See the platform in action with your use cases
Visit bonterratech.com and request a personalized demo. Be specific about which product you're interested in (Network for Good for small teams, EveryAction for advocacy, Apricot for case management).
During the demo, ask: What are the exact transaction fees for our expected donation volume? What's included in each pricing tier? How does AI coaching work with our data volume? What migration support is provided? Can we access a free trial before committing?
If available, test the free trial with real donor data (anonymized if necessary) to evaluate workflows, reporting, and whether your team finds it intuitive. Involve the people who'll use it daily—not just leadership.
Compare Total Cost of Ownership
Look beyond monthly subscription fees
Calculate Bonterra's total annual cost: base subscription + transaction fees + any implementation/training costs. Compare this to alternatives you're considering (Bloomerang, Salesforce, Little Green Light) on an apples-to-apples basis.
Consider value beyond price: If Bonterra's AI coaching helps you identify $50,000 in additional major gifts, the platform may pay for itself many times over. If transaction fees exceed $10,000/year, investigate flat-fee alternatives.
Ask about contract terms: What happens if your contact database grows and you hit the next pricing tier mid-year? Are there penalties for canceling early? Can you lock in pricing with a multi-year commitment?
Plan Your Data Migration and Implementation
Set yourself up for success from day one
Before migrating, clean your existing donor data: remove duplicates, standardize formatting, and fix obvious errors. Garbage in = garbage out, and AI coaching is only as good as your data quality.
Leverage onboarding support: Take advantage of Bonterra's training resources, help documentation, and onboarding sessions. Assign a point person on your team to become the platform expert and train colleagues.
Start with core features first (donor records, donation tracking, basic emails) before expanding to advanced capabilities (AI coaching, advocacy tools, case management). Give your team time to build confidence with the fundamentals before tackling everything at once.
Need Help Implementing Bonterra?
Choosing the right fundraising platform is just the beginning. Successfully implementing Bonterra requires strategic planning, clean data migration, and training your team to leverage AI coaching effectively.
One Hundred Nights helps nonprofits evaluate, implement, and optimize fundraising technology. We'll help you:
- Assess whether Bonterra is the right fit versus alternatives given your budget, team size, and goals
- Clean and prepare your existing donor data for seamless migration without duplicates or errors
- Configure Bonterra's AI coaching to align with your fundraising strategy and organizational priorities
- Train your team to use advanced features effectively and build sustainable workflows
- Set up integrations with QuickBooks, email tools, and other systems in your nonprofit tech stack
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Bonterra's different products?
Bonterra is a suite of integrated products under one umbrella. EveryAction is their comprehensive CRM for larger nonprofits with advocacy needs. Network for Good targets smaller nonprofits with built-in fundraising coaching. DonorDrive specializes in peer-to-peer fundraising and events. Apricot handles case management for service delivery organizations. All products share Bonterra's focus on nonprofit-specific needs but serve different organizational sizes and use cases.
Does Bonterra offer nonprofit discounts?
Bonterra's pricing is customized for each nonprofit based on organization size, features needed, and record count. While they don't advertise a standard nonprofit discount percentage, their entire business model is nonprofit-focused with pricing designed for the sector. Free trials are available for some products like Network for Good. Contact [email protected] for customized nonprofit pricing that fits your budget and needs.
How does Bonterra's AI coaching work?
Bonterra's AI-powered fundraising coaching (called Bonterra Que) analyzes your donor data, giving patterns, and organizational goals to provide personalized recommendations. It suggests which donors to prioritize, optimal ask amounts, best contact timing, and strategic next steps. The AI is trained on decades of Bonterra's nonprofit expertise and successful fundraising patterns from thousands of organizations. Think of it as having a data-driven fundraising consultant reviewing your database 24/7 and highlighting opportunities you might miss.
What are Bonterra's transaction fees?
Bonterra charges transaction fees on online donations, which can be as high as 4.75% depending on your plan and payment processing setup. These fees cover payment processing, platform maintenance, and donation management features. While this is a consideration for budget-conscious nonprofits, many organizations find the integrated fundraising tools and AI coaching offset the transaction costs through increased donations and improved donor retention. Always clarify exact transaction fees when discussing pricing with Bonterra's team.
Can Bonterra handle both fundraising and program management?
Yes, Bonterra offers both fundraising tools (EveryAction, Network for Good, DonorDrive) and program/case management tools (Apricot). This makes it particularly valuable for service delivery organizations that need to manage both donor relationships and client services in one ecosystem. You can track a donor's giving history while also managing the clients who benefit from those donations, all within the Bonterra platform. This unified approach eliminates data silos between your fundraising and program teams.
Is Bonterra suitable for small nonprofits?
Bonterra's Network for Good product is specifically designed for small nonprofits with limited staff and budgets. It includes built-in fundraising coaching, intuitive interfaces, and all-in-one functionality that eliminates the need for multiple tools. However, some small nonprofits report concerns about pricing sustainability after initial discounts expire and transaction fees adding up. Best for small organizations that need comprehensive features and coaching but have sufficient donation volume to justify transaction fees. Very small grassroots organizations might find more affordable alternatives like Little Green Light or Kindful.
How does Bonterra compare to Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud?
Bonterra is built exclusively for nonprofits with fundraising-specific features out of the box, while Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud is a customized version of an enterprise CRM. Bonterra typically requires less technical expertise and offers nonprofit-specific workflows immediately, plus built-in AI fundraising coaching. Salesforce offers more customization potential and robust integrations but often requires dedicated admin staff or consultants. Bonterra is generally better for small to medium nonprofits wanting turnkey solutions, while Salesforce suits larger organizations with technical resources and complex customization needs.
Ready to Transform Your Fundraising?
Explore Bonterra's comprehensive platform and see how AI-powered coaching can help your team raise more with less effort.