A charity CRM holds every donor, supporter, member, volunteer and funder in one place and tracks the full relationship: donations, Gift Aid, appeals, grants and consent. Softomate designs and builds bespoke charity CRM systems for UK non-profits, with donor and supporter management, Gift Aid tracking and claims, fundraising and campaign management, grant and funder tracking, membership and accounting integration, built GDPR-first on Odoo so you avoid per-user licence fees. Bespoke charity CRM from £6,000, with a free discovery call.
A charity CRM is built around fundraising and stewardship, not selling. It gives you a single supporter view that replaces the spreadsheets, the old donor database and the disconnected mailing tools, so the team can see every donation, Gift Aid declaration, appeal response and grant in one record. Softomate builds these modules into one connected system for UK charities and non-profits, so income, communications, consent and reporting all live in the same place, and trustee and funder reports stop being a manual end-of-quarter scramble. The result is more recoverable Gift Aid, better donor retention, cleaner GDPR consent and far less admin.
01. The modules we build
Every donor, member, volunteer and prospect held in one record with full giving history, contact preferences and relationships. The single supporter view shows lifetime value, last gift, regular giving status and stewardship notes, so major donors are looked after and lapsing supporters are spotted before they go. No more reconciling three spreadsheets to answer one question.
Gift Aid declarations are stored against each donor with their date and scope, eligible donations are flagged automatically, and the system builds a ready-to-submit claim schedule for HMRC. It handles enduring and single declarations, excludes ineligible gifts, supports the Small Donations Scheme and keeps a full audit trail, so the 25 percent uplift is recovered without manual reconciliation or rejected claims.
Plan, run and measure appeals, campaigns and events in one place. Income is tagged to the right appeal so you see the true cost and return of each campaign, regular giving and pledges are tracked alongside one-off gifts, and segmented supporter lists drive the right ask to the right donor. Trustees get a real fundraising dashboard instead of a hand-built monthly report.
The full grant lifecycle in one place: application, decision, award, conditions, payment milestones, spend and reporting deadlines with reminders before each report is due. Restricted and unrestricted funds are kept separate and tagged to each programme, so SORP accounts and funder reports show exactly how restricted income was received and spent, without a separate grants spreadsheet.
For membership charities, the CRM manages joins, renewals, lapses and member benefits, with automatic renewal reminders and online payment. Supporter journeys nurture a first-time donor towards regular giving, welcome new members and re-engage lapsed supporters, so stewardship runs on a defined programme rather than whoever remembers to send the email.
Consent and communication preferences are held per channel, with lawful basis, the right to be forgotten and an access log built in, so the charity can evidence good data handling to the Fundraising Regulator and the ICO. Donations and Gift Aid flow through to Xero or QuickBooks, and online donation forms feed the CRM directly, so finance reconciles automatically instead of rekeying every gift.
02. How We Deliver
Softomate builds charity CRM systems on Odoo, an open-source platform that gives you a connected core for contacts, donations, accounting, events and email in one system, then we tailor it around how your charity actually fundraises. Because Odoo is open source, there are no per-user licence fees that punish you for growing your supporter base, and the CRM can be extended with exactly the modules you need rather than the ones a closed product decides to sell you. We start with a free discovery call that maps your current data, fundraising activities, Gift Aid process and reporting needs, then we configure the CRM, migrate your existing donor records and spreadsheets, integrate your accounting and donation forms, and train your team. You get one bespoke system and one team behind it, quoted at a fixed price.
Explore the related builds: bespoke CRM development for the underlying approach, custom CRM development for tailored CRM work, Odoo ERP implementation when finance and operations need to join the CRM, and Odoo custom development for bespoke modules on top.
03. What It Costs
A bespoke charity CRM from Softomate starts at around £6,000 for a core build, and the final price depends on the modules, the integrations and how much data needs migrating. Because we build on Odoo, there are no per-user licence fees, so the cost does not climb every time you add a fundraiser or grow your supporter list. We quote a fixed price after a free discovery call, so you know the number before any build begins.
A single supporter view with donor and member records, donation tracking, Gift Aid declarations and claims, consent management and core reporting for one charity. The right starting point for a small or medium charity moving off spreadsheets or an ageing database, with a clean foundation to grow on.
Adds campaign and appeal management, grant and funder tracking with restricted funds, membership and renewals, event handling, supporter journeys and integration with accounting software such as Xero or QuickBooks. The configuration for a charity that fundraises across several channels and reports to multiple funders.
Supporter journeys, online donation form integration, complex data migration from a legacy system such as Salesforce or Donorfly, multi-entity and trading-subsidiary structures, and custom modules. For larger charities consolidating several systems into one source of truth across fundraising and finance.
Built on open-source Odoo, so the cost does not scale with your team or your supporter base the way closed charity CRM products do. You own the system, add users freely, and pay for the build and the support you want rather than a rising annual seat charge as the charity grows.
Why Softomate
Donor stewardship, Gift Aid, appeals, restricted funds and consent are first-class, not a sales CRM with the labels changed. Real example: a charity moved off three spreadsheets to one supporter view in a single 9-week build.
Declarations stored, eligible gifts flagged, HMRC claim schedule built automatically. Charities recover the 25 percent uplift in full instead of leaving missed claims on the table.
Per-channel consent, lawful basis, right to be forgotten and an access log configured during the build, so compliance is evidenced by the system rather than a fragile manual process.
Built on open-source Odoo, so the bill does not climb every time you add a fundraiser or grow your supporter list, unlike closed charity CRM products charged per seat.
Core charity CRM from £6,000; fundraising and grants builds £15,000 to £35,000. One in-house team handles the configuration, the data migration and the integrations.
Modules configured per charity during a fixed-price build. Free discovery call for UK charities and non-profits.
05. FAQs
A charity CRM is a database system that holds every supporter, donor, member, volunteer and funder in one record and tracks the full relationship with each of them: donations, Gift Aid status, communications, event attendance, grant applications and pledges. Unlike a generic sales CRM, a charity CRM is built around fundraising rather than selling, so it records single and regular gifts, Gift Aid declarations, restricted and unrestricted funds, campaign and appeal performance, and supporter consent under GDPR. The aim is a single supporter view that replaces scattered spreadsheets and disconnected tools, so the team can see giving history, steward major donors, run appeals and report to trustees and funders from one place. Softomate designs and builds bespoke charity CRM systems for UK non-profits, built on Odoo as the underlying platform, from £6,000.
A charity CRM handles Gift Aid by storing each donor Gift Aid declaration with its date and scope, then automatically flagging every eligible donation and building the claim file for submission to HMRC. The system records whether a declaration covers a single gift, an enduring period or the past four years, links it to the donor record, and excludes donations that do not qualify such as those from non-taxpayers or in exchange for goods. When it is time to claim, the CRM produces a ready-to-submit schedule rather than a manual spreadsheet, supports the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme where relevant, and keeps a full audit trail for HMRC. Softomate builds Gift Aid tracking, claim preparation and declaration management into the CRM so the finance team recovers the 25 percent uplift without the manual reconciliation that causes missed or rejected claims.
A bespoke charity CRM in the UK typically starts at around £6,000 for a core build covering donor and supporter records, donation tracking, Gift Aid and basic reporting for a single charity. A mid-range project adding fundraising and campaign management, grant and funder tracking, membership, event handling and integration with accounting software such as Xero or QuickBooks usually ranges from £15,000 to £35,000. A larger deployment with supporter journeys, online donation form integration, data migration from a legacy database such as Donorfly, Salesforce or a pile of spreadsheets, and multi-entity structures typically ranges from £40,000 upwards. Because Softomate builds on Odoo, charities avoid per-user licence fees that scale painfully as the supporter base grows. Softomate quotes a fixed price after a free discovery call that maps your current data, fundraising activities and reporting needs.
Yes, the charity CRM is built GDPR-first because supporter data is the most sensitive asset a charity holds. Each contact record stores consent and communication preferences by channel, so the CRM only emails, posts or calls supporters who have agreed to that channel, and consent can be withdrawn and evidenced at any time. The system records the lawful basis for processing, supports the right to be forgotten and subject access requests, logs who accessed or changed a record, and applies role-based permissions so volunteers and fundraisers see only what they need. Retention rules can flag or remove data that is past its agreed period. This matters for the Fundraising Regulator and the Information Commissioner, both of which expect charities to demonstrate consent and good data handling. Softomate configures these controls during the build rather than leaving compliance to manual process.
Yes, the charity CRM tracks the full grant lifecycle and keeps restricted and unrestricted funds separate so reporting to funders and trustees is accurate. For each funder the system records the application, the decision, the award amount, the restrictions and conditions, payment milestones, spend against the grant and the reporting deadlines, with reminders before each report is due. Donations and grants are tagged to the correct fund and project, so the CRM can show how much restricted income has been received and spent on each programme, which is essential for SORP accounts and funder reports. This replaces the spreadsheet that usually tracks grants in isolation from the rest of the charity finances. Softomate builds grant and funder tracking into the same CRM that holds donors, members and supporters, on Odoo, so the whole income picture lives in one place.
Transparent pricing
Core Donor CRM
A single supporter view with donor and member records, donation tracking, Gift Aid declarations and HMRC claim preparation, consent management and core reporting for one charity. The right starting point for a small or medium charity moving off spreadsheets or an ageing database.
Live in: 6-9 weeks
Fundraising and Grants (most common)
Adds campaign and appeal management, grant and funder tracking with restricted and unrestricted funds, membership and renewals, event handling, supporter journeys and integration with accounting software such as Xero or QuickBooks. For a charity that fundraises across several channels and reports to multiple funders.
Live in: 8-14 weeks
Full Bespoke Deployment
Supporter journeys, online donation form integration, complex data migration from a legacy system such as Salesforce NPSP or Donorfy, multi-entity and trading-subsidiary structures, and custom modules. For larger charities consolidating several systems into one source of truth across fundraising and finance.
Live in: 14-24 weeks
Pricing is fixed after a discovery session. All builds include 90-day post-launch hyper-care, UK GDPR-compliant DPA, AWS UK hosting, source-code transfer at sign-off and structured handover documentation.
Comparison
Off-the-shelf charity CRMs such as Salesforce NPSP, Donorfy and Beacon are a sensible choice for many charities, and we will tell you honestly when one of them fits your needs better than a build. The decision usually comes down to how standard your fundraising is, how many systems you need to join up and how the cost behaves as you grow. Here is a fair comparison to help you decide.
| Factor | Off-the-shelf (Salesforce NPSP, Donorfy, Beacon) | Bespoke on Odoo |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first use | Fast for standard setups; days to a few weeks | Longer; a core build is typically 6-9 weeks |
| Fit to your process | You adapt to how the product works | Built around how your charity actually fundraises |
| Cost over time | Per-user or tiered fees that climb as you add staff and supporters | One-time build, no per-user licence fees on open-source Odoo |
| Complex grants and restricted funds | Workable, sometimes via add-ons or workarounds | Modelled directly, tied to SORP reporting and funder deadlines |
| Membership and trading subsidiaries | Varies by product; can need bolt-ons | Handled in one connected system alongside finance |
| Deep integrations (accounting, donation forms, legacy data) | Standard connectors are good; bespoke links can be limited | Built to fit your stack, including complex data migration |
| Ownership and lock-in | Hosted by the vendor; you rent access | You own the system and can host and extend it freely |
Our honest recommendation: if your charity is small or your fundraising is fairly standard, an off-the-shelf charity CRM such as Donorfy or Beacon is often the quickest, most cost-effective route, and we will say so. A bespoke build on Odoo earns its place when you have complex grant and restricted-fund tracking, membership or trading subsidiaries, several systems that need to join up, or a per-user licence bill that keeps climbing as you grow. Softomate builds the bespoke option from £6,000, after a free discovery call that maps which path actually fits your charity.
Softomate Solutions Limited
Deen Dayal Yadav
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