QuickBooks For Nonprofits: The Complete Guide

As a nonprofit, you want the absolute best for your organization — and that includes accounting software. If you’ve started your search for the best accounting software for nonprofits, I’m sure you didn’t get far without hearing the name QuickBooks.

But is QuickBooks the right accounting solution for your small business or not-for-profit organization? Which QuickBooks product is best for nonprofits? And how do you know if QuickBooks has the nonprofit features you need?

We’ll answer these questions and more!

QuickBooks Nonprofit Products

First off, QuickBooks doesn’t have a separate product specifically designed for nonprofits. However, several of its existing products offer nonprofits features.

QuickBooks Premier

QuickBooks Premier (see our review) is a full-fledged, locally-installed accounting software designed for small to medium-sized businesses. QuickBooks Premier offers six industry-specific editions, including a nonprofit edition.

QuickBooks Enterprise

Like QuickBooks Premier, QuickBooks Enterprise (see our review) is a locally-installed software targeted to large businesses and enterprises. This product also has a nonprofit edition.

QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online (see our review) is a cloud-based accounting software with tons of features and over 200 integrations. While there aren’t any built-in nonprofit features in QuickBooks Online, there are a ton of integrations that can give you the nonprofit features you need.

If you’re looking for simple, web-based accounting software for nonprofits, QuickBooks Online is an excellent place to start. However, in this post, we’ll focus specifically on the nonprofit edition of QuickBooks Premier and QuickBooks Enterprise.

Pricing

One of the biggest differences between QuickBooks Premier and QuickBooks Enterprise is the cost. While both offer the nonprofit edition, QuickBooks Enterprise allows for more users, advanced inventory, and lead management. If you’re looking for discounted or free software for nonprofits, QuickBooks isn’t your best bet, but you get a lot for your money when you use one of the QuickBooks nonprofit editions.

QuickBooks Premier

QuickBooks Premier offers two pricing options. You can either purchase a QuickBooks Premier license for $499.95 or purchase a yearly subscription of QuickBooks Premier Plus for $499.95/yr.

A QuickBooks Premier license is good for three years, after which QuickBooks drops support. Phone support costs extra. The QuickBooks Premier Plus subscription includes phone support, updates, and data backup. Additional users cost extra.

Going with QuickBooks Premier Nonprofit Edition instead of the Standard Edition doesn’t cost any extra. For more details, visit QuickBooks Premier’s pricing page.

QuickBooks Enterprise

QuickBooks Enterprise has three pricing plans:

• Silver (starts at $1,100/yr)
• Gold (starts at $1,430/yr)
• Platinum (starts at $1,760/yr)

The price of each plan is determined by your number of users. Subscriptions are renewed annually and include phone support, updates, and data backups. You can calculate how much your QuickBooks Enterprise software would cost on Intuit’s site. Like QuickBooks Premier, QuickBooks Enterprise Nonprofit Edition has no additional cost.

Basic Accounting Features

Both QuickBooks Premier and QuickBooks Enterprise have strong accounting features and are incredibly well-developed. Here’s an idea of the features you can expect to find with each software.

QuickBooks Premier Features

QuickBooks didn’t earn its strong reputation for nothing. QuickBooks Premier is one of the most comprehensive accounting programs out there. The software offers strong accounting features, including a customizable chart of accounts, journal entries, bank reconciliation, accounts payable, and over 135 reports.

QuickBooks Premier also offers invoicing, contact management, expense tracking, project management, inventory, and time tracking.

Some of our other favorite features include:

• Tax support
• Budgeting
• Sales orders
• Mileage deductions
• To-do list and calendar
• Print checks
• Letter templates

All of these features do come at a price — the software has a steep learning curve. For accountants and those with accounting experience, QuickBooks Premier’s traditional setup may be easy to understand, but for those with limited accounting knowledge, the software will take some time to learn.

On the plus side, QuickBooks Premier offer decent customer support and receives extremely high praise (especially when compared to QuickBooks Pro). Read our comprehensive QuickBooks Premier review for all the details on these features and more.

QuickBooks Enterprise Features

Much like QuickBooks Premier, QuickBooks Enterprise has an impressive number of features, but with 6x more storage and advanced inventory capabilities, QuickBooks Enterprise is designed for large businesses and enterprises. QuickBooks Enterprise has the accounting features you’d expect including a chart of accounts, journal entries, bank reconciliation, fixed assets management, and accounts payable.

QuickBooks Enterprise also includes expense tracking, contact management, project management, and time tracking. While the invoicing is slightly more limited, there are several features that you won’t find with QuickBooks Premier like lead management, advanced inventory, a loan manager, a business plan tool, and the option to add Intuit Field Service Management.

QuickBooks Enterprise also provides:

• Tax support
• 140 reports
• Class tracking
• Mileage deductions
• To-do list and calendar
• Letter templates
• Print checks

While there is a steep learning curve, QuickBooks Enterprise offers better customer support than QuickBooks Premier, making it ultimately easier to learn. Customer reviews on the software are mixed; you can check out our full QuickBooks Enterprise review for all of the details.

Nonprofit Accounting Features

In addition to the standard features that come with QuickBooks Premier and QuickBooks Enterprise, the nonprofit edition for both programs adds:

• Pledges: You can create and manage pledges. When creating a pledge, you can record the item, description, class, amount, and tax.
• Donations: You can record donation made by check, e-check, credit card, debit card, or cash.
• Programs/Products: The Programs/Products tool lets you track specific projects and programs run by your nonprofit.
• Donor Letters: With QuickBooks Nonprofit, you can create donor letters using QuickBooks Premier and QuickBooks Enterprise’s existing letter templates.
• Customized Chart Of Accounts: The Nonprofit Edition comes with a default chart of accounts specifically designed for nonprofits. You can customize this chart of accounts to fit your organization’s needs.
• Nonprofit Reports: One of the best parts about QuickBooks’ Nonprofit Edition is that you have access to nine additional nonprofit reports (in addition to the existing 135+ reports that come with QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise). You’ll find reports like a Statement of Financial, Position, a Statement of Functional Expenses (990), the Biggest Donors/Grants, the Budget vs. Actual Programs/Projects, and more.

The only downside of the QuickBooks Premier and QuickBooks Enterprise Nonprofit Editions is that you can’t change the title of your contacts; so all of your donors and volunteers will be called ‘customers’ and ’employees’ within the software.

Learn more about how real nonprofit organizations are using QuickBooks Nonprofit Edition.

Is QuickBooks Right For My Nonprofit Organization?

QuickBooks Premier and QuickBooks Enterprise are fully-developed accounting solutions. Each has a bit of a learning curve but offers impressive features and key nonprofit features. But how do you know if QuickBooks Nonprofit Edition is right for you?

Ask yourself these questions:

1. Do I have time to learn how to use QuickBooks Premier or Enterprise?
2. Do the QuickBooks Premier Nonprofit and/or QuickBooks Enterprise Nonprofit Editions include all of the features I need?
3. Can I afford nonprofit accounting software from QuickBooks?

If you answered “yes” to all of these questions, great! QuickBooks may be a good fit for your nonprofit organization.

Before committing to QuickBooks, we recommend you take the software for a spin. Sign up for a free trial of QuickBooks Enterprise Nonprofit Edition. There is no free trial for QuickBooks Premier Nonprofit Edition, but you can still get an idea of what to expect using the Enterprise trial. Don’t forget to look at The Complete QuickBooks Product Comparison Guide to see the key differences between QuickBooks Premier and QuickBooks Enterprise.

If you can’t afford QuickBooks Premier or Enterprise, or if you want something easier to learn, check out our Top 10 Nonprofit Accounting Software Programs.

Read our Complete QuickBooks Premier Review

Read our Complete QuickBooks Enterprise Review

Read our Complete QuickBooks Online Review