Donor Management Software
Donations come in by e-transfer, card, and cheque, and every receipt is typed by hand in January. Communal takes the gift online, receipts it the same minute, and keeps the donor's history on one record.
- A donation page for every campaign, with a goal on it
- A CRA or IRS compliant tax receipt emailed with every gift
- Donors can cover the processing fee at checkout
- Every gift on one donor record, next to their membership and volunteering
Powering 500+ community organizations
Card in, receipt out, no retyping
Receipting season should not take a week
- Gifts arrive by cheque, e-transfer, and card, and someone matches them by hand
- Receipts are built one at a time from a template in January
- Nobody can say what a campaign raised without adding up a spreadsheet
Every gift is receipted and on the record the minute it lands
- Donors give from your campaign page by card
- The receipt goes out by email as the payment clears
- The campaign total is on the screen, not in a formula
Most donors tick the box
Online Donation Forms Donors Finish
- Suggested amounts, or any amount the donor types in
- Donors cover the processing fee with one checkbox
- Card payments through Stripe, paid out to your bank
- A comment on the gift, so the dedication arrives with it
More on donation forms that convert.
The moment the gift lands
Tax Receipts Sent the Moment a Donation Lands
- A CRA or IRS compliant receipt emailed with every gift
- Your charity number, legal name, and signature on the receipt
- Resend or download any receipt from the donation record
- An annual summary for the donors who ask for one
More on automatic tax receipts, and on the receipting guide.
Every gift, tagged and receipted
Every Gift on One Donor Record
- Giving history sitting next to membership and volunteer hours
- Tags for the campaign or the fund a gift belongs to
- Personal and corporate gifts told apart
- Export the list for the auditor or the board
Donors who also volunteer are covered on the donor and volunteer management page.
Fundraising Reports for the Board and Year End
A treasurer needs four numbers, and rebuilding them from a spreadsheet every quarter is where the evening goes. Communal keeps the totals current as gifts land, so the board report is a filter and an export.
- Total raised by campaign, by month, and by year
- Gifts by payment method, so cheques and cards reconcile
- First time donors told apart from returning ones
- CSV export for grant applications and the auditor
The fundraising reporting guide covers which numbers earn a place in the board pack and which ones do not.
Donation Pages for Campaigns and Appeals
A roof appeal and a garden build are two different asks, and they should not share one donate button. Give each campaign its own page with its own goal, and every gift is tagged to it without anyone sorting the list afterwards.
- A page per campaign with its own goal bar
- One link to share by email and on social
- Gifts tagged to the campaign automatically
- The page closes on the date you set
Raising for a plot build or a season of programming? See community garden software and nonprofit membership software.
Donor Management Software vs Spreadsheets and Generic CRMs
A spreadsheet records the gift. It does not receipt it, charge the card next month, or tell you what the appeal raised.
| Feature | Spreadsheets and CRMs | Communal |
|---|---|---|
| Tax receipts | Built by hand in January | Emailed with every gift |
| Donor comments | Lost in an email thread | On the gift record |
| Processing fees | Come out of the gift | Donors can cover them |
| Donor history | Rows in a workbook | One record per donor |
| Campaign totals | A formula somebody maintains | On screen as gifts land |
| Membership link | A second list to reconcile | The same person record |
| Volunteer link | Not connected | Hours on the same record |
| Year-end reports | Rebuilt from scratch | Filtered and exported |
Comparing named platforms instead? Read the DonorPerfect alternative, the Bloomerang alternative, the Donorbox alternative, the Zeffy alternative, or the Neon CRM alternative.
The head to head on Communal vs Zeffy goes through what a free donation tool covers and what it leaves on your desk.
Who Raises Money on Communal
Small organizations where the person receipting the gift is also the person running the program it paid for.
Community associations
Rink roofs, playground builds, and the annual appeal, run by a board that also collects membership dues from the same people.
Nonprofits and charities
Registered charities that need every gift receipted to CRA or IRS standard without a fundraising database and a finance system to reconcile.
Community gardens and cultural centres
Project appeals with a visible goal, where donors are often the same people who take a plot or buy a class ticket.
Sports clubs and arts councils
Equipment funds, bursaries, and season sponsorships tracked next to the memberships and programs the money pays for.
What Donor Management Software Costs
Communal is $75 per month flat for up to 250 members, and that base plan includes donors, volunteers, member records, and point of sale. There is no separate module to buy.
Card-processing application fee set in your agreement, often 2%; no monthly minimums.
No contracts, prorated billing, cancel any module any time.
Connected to your entire operation
Donors shares one database with every other module. No duplicate entry, no data silos
Powering 500+ community organizations
We love hearing from our customers and are proud to have helped 500+ organizations drive more impact and grow their communities.
We are finally able to communicate with our members, run booking software and a program payment platform all in one application. The cost to our Community is very reasonable and the team is fantastic to work with.
My experience with the software and the team has been overwhelmingly positive. We switched from another provider and the difference was night-and-day!
Revenue from membership sales and renewals increased, and we save a significant amount of staff time and paperwork. The customer service is outstanding and the team at Communal continues to add helpful features.
See Communal in Action
How community organizations run memberships, programs, and fundraising in one place.
Donor and Fundraising Guides
Practical guides for taking donations online, receipting them, and reporting on what came in.
Donor Management Software
What to look for, what to ignore, and mistakes we see organizations make.
Read Guide →Tax ReceiptsAutomatic Tax Receipts
Stop generating receipts manually. CRA and IRS compliance, setup, and what automatic actually means.
Read Guide →Online GivingDonation Forms That Work
Simple beats fancy. Fee coverage, mobile, and what actually converts.
Read Guide →ReportingFundraising Reports
Five numbers that matter, reports for different audiences, and what to ignore.
Read Guide →Donor Management Software FAQ
The receipt is generated when the payment clears and emailed to the donor straight away. It carries your charity number, legal name, and signature, and it stays on the donation record so you can resend or download it later. Nobody builds receipts from a template in January.
Yes. The page suggests a few amounts and takes whatever the donor types in. Each gift is paid by card through Stripe, receipted on the spot, and lands on the donor's record with the campaign tag and any comment they left.
Credit card processing fees are typically 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. Communal gives donors the option to cover processing fees at checkout, so your organization receives 100% of the intended donation amount. Over 92% of donors choose to cover fees when given the option.
Each campaign gets its own page with a goal bar, a summary, and its own link to share. Gifts made through that page are tagged to the campaign, so the total is on the screen rather than in a formula, and the page closes on the date you set. There is more on donation forms.
Every donor has one record showing their contact details, every gift, every receipt issued, and the tags those gifts carried. You can read one donor's history or filter the whole list by campaign, month, or gift type and export it for the board or a grant application.
Yes, in both. For Canadian registered charities, Communal generates CRA compliant receipts that meet Canada Revenue Agency requirements, including your registration number, the donor's details, the amount, and the date. For US 501(c)(3) organizations, receipts carry the written acknowledgment the IRS requires, including your EIN and the goods and services statement. There is more on the tax receipt software page.
They are the same record. If someone gives in March and volunteers at the fall fair, both sit on one profile alongside their membership, so you can see the whole relationship before you ask again. The donor and volunteer management page covers how that works.
Communal is $75 per month flat for up to 250 members, and that base plan includes donors, volunteers, member records, and point of sale. There is no separate module to buy for fundraising. Card-processing application fee set in your agreement, often 2%; no monthly minimums. No contracts, prorated billing, cancel any module any time. Full detail is on the pricing page.