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Home » Community » Databases and Software » Suggestions for Non-Profit Accounting Software

Suggestions for Non-Profit Accounting Software

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  • 47 Replies
  • 4 Subscribers
  • Postedover 11 years ago

Suggestions for Non-Profit Accounting Software

  • LynHibbert
    Posted by
    on 6 Aug 2003 1:04 PM
    I have just recently moved from a larger non-profit (over 100 employees) to a smaller non-profit (15 employees). I am used to using the Financial Edge 7 (Blackbaud) which is pretty sophisticated and also expensive. My new firm currently outsources all accounting work, but I will be doing it in-house as soon as I choose an appropriate accounting package.

    I need to have 2 company databases (parent & subordinate) with the ability to do fund accounting for both. I need GL, AP, AR, reporting, and possibly check-writing packages. I also need to be able to cross fiscal years for reporting due to various contract year dates. I would also like to have a time-reporting package that can allocate employee costs to appropriate funds or programs.

    Can anyone suggest a good package costing under $1,000? Thanks for any input.
  • SterlingTX
    Posted by
    on 7 Aug 2003 8:02 AM
    Quickbooks would certainly be an option....and they have recently developed a version specifically for nonprofits....you can check it out at www.nonprofitbooks.com!
  • crpeck
    Posted by
    on 8 Aug 2003 10:29 AM
    Nonprofit Books is a plug in or companion product with Quickbooks made by another company B2P Commerce. You have to buy both programs to work together. You can get them both for less than $1000 if you don't need donor management integration and don't need to load on a network.

    Quickbooks has come out with their own non-profit edition. It is $499 street (cheaper on eBay) for a single user version, but over $1,400 if you need the 5 user version. You can check it out and order a 30 day demo version to check it out at:

    http://quickbooks.intuit.com

    If you're used to higher end non-profit software, you're going to have to make some definite adjustments to work with the budget software. Knowledge of regular for-profit accounting is helpful because both of these software just take regular accounting records and convert them to non-profit reporting.

    Good Luck!
  • jmccormick
    Posted by
    on 9 Aug 2003 11:57 AM
    You seem to have fairly sophiticated requirements for such a small budget, which may lead to dissapointment if you get a cheap package.
    Since you have experience with FE7, you know the benefits, flexibility and automation it offers (7.2 just came out so the AR module is much more robust).

    I would suggest you do a real ROI analysis of the costs you will incurr over a one year time frame between buying a cheap package with the employee time and cost to make that package fit your needs (reporting is going to be a real issue) and the more expensive package. You may end up creating many excel reports and spending twice as much time getting your information in and out on a cheap package. Over one year, what is the cost of the employees time for taking twice as long? Will two employees have to work on the cheaper package to get the right information in or out when only one employee would need to work on the more expensive package (time tracking, budgeting, contract reporting, etc.).

    I help alot of people understand the true cost of selecting an accounting package - it's not just the price tag, it's the employee resources, number of additional software packages that have to be used (excel is most common), frustration levels, and value of the information that all add up to the true cost.

    Besides, Blackbaud (as do most higher end packages) offers deals, discounts and interest free financing to help eleviate the cost and/or spread it out over time so it's not a big hit to one fiscal years' budget. (we actually sell Blackbaud which is why I know the deals available - but I'm not partial to it because we sell it, we sell it because I think it's the best out there in it's class.)

    If you want help creating an analysis of costs, I'd be happy to help you put together some real numbers to show a 3 year trend between cheaper packages and something higher end like Financial Edge.

    Jill Knowland McCormick
    jill@LibrisSolutions.com
    (510) 915-2334
    Jill Knowland McCormick Libris Solutions Financial Software Systems San Francisco / Oakland / Hawaii (510) 893-3945 www.LibrisSolutions.com
  • opportunity
    Posted by
    on 2 Mar 2004 11:12 AM
    You might want to look at a new product (a year or so old) called Accufund.
    It is inexpensive (relatively) and dynamic enough to meet all your needs and then some.
    You can call
    781 433 0233 and talk to Roy Woodman.

    I use it and it is great for us.

  • Anonymous
    Posted by Anonymous
    on 11 Aug 2004 11:30 AM
    Is anyone using Solomon (recently bought by Microsoft?)
  • Anonymous
    Posted by Anonymous
    on 13 Aug 2004 12:20 PM
    We are also looking for an alterntive to Quicken family products. We have 2 closely related nonprofits, but otherwise very simple needs. Total staff less than 10, very modest non-salary expenses.
  • Anonymous
    Posted by Anonymous
    on 31 Aug 2004 3:06 PM
    Have you tried Peachtree Premium 2005? The new Premium version allows you to have multiple companies and their reporting flexibility is pretty good. The package also includes Crystal Reports for customizing reports. I think we pay about $400 for the program, $200 or so for tax service, and about $300 for unlimited phone support via an 800 number. I know they have their own checks and forms (I get ours through a discount 3rd party).
  • jslinn
    Posted by
    on 8 Sep 2004 12:02 PM
    I agree with jmccormick - you seem to have fairly sophisticated needs and you may be disappointed with the "overlay" products out there. They usually sound ok, but cross-year reporting, fund/grant/program breakdown reports, and intercompany transfers are almost always the greatest challenges of a nonprofit organization, consuming most of your time and resources. If Ginancial Edge is too expensive, check out MIP (Best Software) - they have an Intro version of their Fund Accounting software that includes all of the modules you've asked about at quite a bit cheaper prices (maybe $2500), plus the program is fully integrated with a full-featured donor tracking/membership/volunteer/event management software called Paradigm which they also own.

    Jim Slinn
    jim@summitwest.ca
    1-866-647-3866
    Jim Slinn jim@summitwest.ca 1-866-647-3866 "Meeting the Financial Management Needs of Nonprofit Organizations:
  • skiprice
    Posted by
    on 12 Oct 2004 10:55 AM
    :spinsmile;
    I work at a nonprofit health clinic. I use Peachtree Premium. It's a very powerful accounting software with many features. It's a very flexible that does take alot of setup.
  • ClockwareCares
    Posted by
    on 14 Oct 2004 1:39 PM
    Clockware is offering up to 10 user licenses
    of commercial timesheets for payroll software to non-profits for free. Clockware integrates with 250 payroll systems.

    Clockwork Cares

    I'm not sure if I answered your question though.

    Thanks,

    Jake R.
  • Anonymous
    Posted by Anonymous
    on 15 Oct 2004 11:26 AM
    Check out B2P on techsoup products and Quick Books Pro 2003 & up Together they are awesome together and price might be okay -- .

    Good Luck
  • Susan_Tenby
    Posted by
    on 15 Oct 2004 12:42 PM
    Footinthedoor501 is referring to the products listed here:
    B2P and QuickBooks. Quickbooks appears to be temporarily out of stock, though.

    HTH,

    Susan

    Susan Tenby, Parernships, Online Community and Social Media Director, Caravan Studios, a division of TechSoup.org.
  • Anonymous
    Posted by Anonymous
    on 15 Nov 2004 1:42 PM
    I also am at a small, nonprofit and am looking for an accounting package. My main problem in finding one is that our company is MAC based and most of the packages out there seem to be PC only. Does anyone know of any products for MAC?
  • baptistehageman
    Posted by
    on 16 Nov 2004 1:12 PM
    I hear Intuit which makes quickbooks pro just came out with a mac version which is compatible with pc, especially if your accountant's office is pc based.