Non Profit Struggling with Recordkeeping
February 14, 2012 9:55 AM Subscribe
Small US non-profit (501(c)3) at its Whit's end. Are there opensource or online solutions to help me consolidate all my bookkeeping!
Ok, so I run a non-profit with zero staff and I do not take any salary, nor do I want to. One of my core principals is 100% of the gift is credited to the purpose.
Here is my quandry. I receive gifts from (1) Paypal subscriptions and donations and (2) written checks and efts. Each of these gifts is to be applied to a poor family in India. Sometimes the gifts are paid up in advance and I am instructed to pay it out at a fixed rate over a few months.
Every month I log into paypal, look at the checks that have come in, and log into bank of america to determine: (1) who gave and (2) how much. I then compare this the previous month to make sure all who said they would give indeed did give.
Then at the end of the year I compile everything into a spreadsheet and sum up all the gifts per donor and email out year-end tax letters to the donors.
OK, that said. There MUST be a viable, low-cost or opensource alternative which doesn't require me to be an expert. Do any of you have any experience with a piece of software/google marketplace app (I tried wave accounting and it is no good for me because it does not generate donor letters)/CRM solution?
----for what it's worth-----
If I could figure out how to get paypal to talk to CiviCRM, that may solve my problem.
Ok, so I run a non-profit with zero staff and I do not take any salary, nor do I want to. One of my core principals is 100% of the gift is credited to the purpose.
Here is my quandry. I receive gifts from (1) Paypal subscriptions and donations and (2) written checks and efts. Each of these gifts is to be applied to a poor family in India. Sometimes the gifts are paid up in advance and I am instructed to pay it out at a fixed rate over a few months.
Every month I log into paypal, look at the checks that have come in, and log into bank of america to determine: (1) who gave and (2) how much. I then compare this the previous month to make sure all who said they would give indeed did give.
Then at the end of the year I compile everything into a spreadsheet and sum up all the gifts per donor and email out year-end tax letters to the donors.
OK, that said. There MUST be a viable, low-cost or opensource alternative which doesn't require me to be an expert. Do any of you have any experience with a piece of software/google marketplace app (I tried wave accounting and it is no good for me because it does not generate donor letters)/CRM solution?
----for what it's worth-----
If I could figure out how to get paypal to talk to CiviCRM, that may solve my problem.
PS its not an ad post. every non profit and library should check here for software first.
posted by majortom1981 at 10:00 AM on February 14, 2012
posted by majortom1981 at 10:00 AM on February 14, 2012
Response by poster: Thank you for the resource, majortom1981. I will look at this now.
posted by yoyoceramic at 10:10 AM on February 14, 2012
posted by yoyoceramic at 10:10 AM on February 14, 2012
I was going to suggest gnucash - confused me at first, but then i was determined to spend time figuring it out and i did, quickly. Also, outright.com!
posted by kpht at 1:36 PM on February 14, 2012
posted by kpht at 1:36 PM on February 14, 2012
Seconding TechSoup - register there and all your software problems will disappear...maybe not but it is too good of a resource for any nonprofit not to take advantage of.
Also - you might want to go to sourceforge.net and search for what you're looking for in this case "bookkeeping" or "finance", its a haven of opensource software and if you can get over the techie interface, a potential goldmine.
But, again, techsoup first.
posted by nondescript at 6:22 PM on February 14, 2012
Also - you might want to go to sourceforge.net and search for what you're looking for in this case "bookkeeping" or "finance", its a haven of opensource software and if you can get over the techie interface, a potential goldmine.
But, again, techsoup first.
posted by nondescript at 6:22 PM on February 14, 2012
Techsoup isn't a fit for all nonprofits unfortunately. I think your npo has to be of a certain size and I'm guessing the one you described won't qualify. I just don't want you to get your hopes up -- I've certainly worked for npos that use tech soup but the npo I volunteer with (very small, no staff, etc) doesn't qualify
posted by fieldtrip at 8:53 PM on February 14, 2012
posted by fieldtrip at 8:53 PM on February 14, 2012
Gnucash works for my small non-profit. It had a bit of a learning curve, but now I track every penny quite easily, and it only takes 2-3 hours per week. Just don't get behind! Trying to figure out what happened is ten times harder than tracking things as they occur. Good luck!
posted by amcm at 11:06 PM on February 14, 2012
posted by amcm at 11:06 PM on February 14, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
I will repeat techsoup.org
Look there for any software first. Its for non profits and libraries and you can get software for very cheap (example windows 7 pro licenses for $6 a copy). They might the software you need for cheap.
You can get quickbooks at $21 from here. Give it a shot. this is where i get all my microsoft software at work (it admin of a library).
posted by majortom1981 at 9:59 AM on February 14, 2012