Comments on: .org-Filter: What's a good free financial management platform for a non-profit startup?

Question: .org-Filter: What's a good free financial management platform for a non-profit startup?

wmeredith — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 11:33:55 -0800

Seeking open-source (free) financial management software for a not-for-profit start up. Has anyone used something they were pleased with?

The company is promoting Improvisational Comedy in the Kansas City area, if that matters at all. We are also officially a 501(c)3 status company so we actually are not-for-profit, meaning we can accept tax write-off-able donations and such.

Thanks for looking.

The organizations website can be found at City3.org.

By: anastasiav

anastasiav — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 11:48:36 -0800

Would you settle for very, very cheap?

TechSoup will sell software for pennies on the dollar to eligible non-profits. Head on over and see what you might be able to use.

By: tuxster

tuxster — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 12:36:00 -0800

I'll second Techsoup. Here is a direct link to their Accounting Software Category

We use the QuickBooks Premier 2005 Nonprofit Edition and quite happy with it. It is a little complicated so for a start-up it might be too much, but it is pretty much the industry standard. Unfortunately, it seems to be Out of Stock currently (they only get a limited number of discounted licenses every year).

The Microsoft Small Business Accounting 2006 seems to be still available for only $6, so you might want to give it a shot.

I also would strongly recommend signing up to their newsletter so that you get notified when they get new licenses. A couple times now they've handed out free spam fighting software (Mailshell Desktop Edition), and I expect they'll do the same regularly.

By: PenDevil

PenDevil — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 12:38:48 -0800

You don't mention what OS you're on but if you're on Linux consider GNUCash. I use it for my own personal expenses and it handles them quite well.

By: chrisroberts

chrisroberts — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 15:17:09 -0800

We are finally getting away from the disaster that is QuickBooks. We are moving to APPGEN's MyBooks program. They have a 30 day trail and support multiple platforms.

By: chrisroberts

chrisroberts — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 15:38:42 -0800

Just thought I would add some others, mostly for Linux (but not all):

Quasar
SQL-Ledger
Compiere
Kapital
Moneydance
Pronto-Xi
FoxOnLinux
Free Accounting

By: bcwinters

bcwinters — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:32:51 -0800

You must, must, listen to anastasiav and get a TechSoup account.

It'll blow your mind what you can get for, like, twenty bucks.

There are lots of limitations (like you generally get one big order per year) but it's still unquestionably an awesome place for non-profits to get good tech deals.