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Nonprofits · head to head

Salesforce for Nonprofits vs Sumac

Salesforce for Nonprofits logo

Salesforce for Nonprofits

Nonprofits

Enterprise CRM for nonprofit organizations

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Sumac logo

Sumac

Nonprofits

Modular nonprofit CRM that pairs donor management with client case management

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Salesforce for Nonprofits has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Salesforce for Nonprofits the Power of Us free grant covers only 10 Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud or Sales/Service Cloud licences; every licence beyond that is paid; Sumac pricing is not published at all, so a small organisation cannot compare Sumac against per contact priced competitors without committing to a sales process.
  • They diverge on capability: Salesforce for Nonprofits covers Donor management, Sumac covers Donor and gift management.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Salesforce for Nonprofits and Sumac actually diverge.

Attributes where Salesforce for Nonprofits and Sumac differ
AttributeSalesforce for NonprofitsSumac
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, IOS, AndroidWeb, Windows
Founded1999Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Nonprofits).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Salesforce for Nonprofits

  • Donor management
  • Campaign tracking
  • Volunteer management
  • Program tracking
  • Advanced reporting
  • Stripe
  • Google Analytics
  • Slack

Only in Sumac

  • Donor and gift management
  • Case management module
  • Memberships and volunteers
  • Grant management
  • Role based permissions
  • Custom fields and forms

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Salesforce for Nonprofits

  • Nonprofit constituent CRM covering fundraising, programs, outcomes and volunteersnot Sumac
  • Consolidating donor, grant and program data on the Salesforce platformnot Sumac

Sumac

  • A social service agency that must record client cases and donor gifts without buying two systemsnot Salesforce for Nonprofits
  • A charity that wants only donor and grant modules and refuses to pay for an events suite it will not usenot Salesforce for Nonprofits
  • A Canadian organisation wanting local support hours and receipting conventionsnot Salesforce for Nonprofits
  • An agency replacing a legacy Access or FileMaker database with something supportednot Salesforce for Nonprofits

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Salesforce for Nonprofits

  • The Power of Us free grant covers only 10 Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud or Sales/Service Cloud licences; every licence beyond that is paid
  • Nonprofit Cloud Enterprise is $60 per user per month billed annually and Nonprofit Cloud Unlimited is $100 per user per month billed annually
  • The free licences require passing Salesforce eligibility criteria for the Power of Us program
  • Most Salesforce products are sold on annual contracts
  • Some products must scale together when you add or upgrade, which requires going through an Account Executive

Sumac

  • Pricing is not published at all, so a small organisation cannot compare Sumac against per contact priced competitors without committing to a sales process.
  • The interface reflects the product's age, and staff arriving from consumer grade software find navigation and data entry slower than in newer CRMs.
  • Holding client case notes and donor records in one database makes permission design a compliance obligation, and a misconfigured role can expose confidential client material to fundraising staff.
  • The integration catalogue is small, so payment, email and accounting connections outside the listed few mean manual export or paid custom work.
  • Modular licensing means the price rises in visible steps as programmes expand, and organisations frequently discover the module they need most was not in the original quote.

Pricing, plan by plan

Salesforce for Nonprofits

Free
  • Nonprofit CloudFree
    • Donor management
    • Campaign tracking
    • Volunteer management
  • Professional$150/month
    • Advanced reporting
    • API integrations
    • Customization

Sumac

On request
  • Sumac$undefined/year
    • Quoted by module selection and organisation size
    • Case management is a separately licensed module
    • Implementation and data migration quoted separately

Which should you pick?

Choose Salesforce for Nonprofits if

  • You need donor management.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, IOS, Android.
  • You also want campaign tracking.
Salesforce for Nonprofits review

Choose Sumac if

  • You need donor and gift management.
  • You work on Web, Windows.
  • You also want case management module.
Sumac review

Questions people ask

Is Salesforce for Nonprofits or Sumac better?
Neither clearly leads. Salesforce for Nonprofits starts at Free and Sumac at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Salesforce for Nonprofits or Sumac?
Salesforce for Nonprofits has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Salesforce for Nonprofits and On request for Sumac.
Does Salesforce for Nonprofits or Sumac run on more platforms?
Salesforce for Nonprofits runs on Web, IOS, Android. Sumac runs on Web, Windows.
Can I use Salesforce for Nonprofits for free?
Yes. Salesforce for Nonprofits has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Sumac starts at On request.
What is Salesforce for Nonprofits best used for?
Salesforce for Nonprofits is most often used for nonprofit constituent crm covering fundraising, programs, outcomes and volunteers, consolidating donor, grant and program data on the salesforce platform. Of those, nonprofit constituent crm covering fundraising, programs, outcomes and volunteers and consolidating donor, grant and program data on the salesforce platform are not what Sumac is typically brought in for.
What can Salesforce for Nonprofits do that Sumac cannot?
Salesforce for Nonprofits covers Donor management, Campaign tracking, Volunteer management, Program tracking. Sumac covers Donor and gift management, Case management module, Memberships and volunteers, Grant management.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Sumac: Is Sumac the same product as Societ?

The vendor has been moving its products under the Societ brand, so you may see both names for the same platform during a sales cycle.

Sumac: Can it handle client case management?

Yes, that is its clearest differentiator among donor CRMs. It is a licensed module, not part of the base product.

Sumac: Is pricing published?

No. It is quoted by module and organisation size, which makes like for like comparison harder than with published per contact products.

Sumac: Does it work for US charities?

Yes, though the vendor is Canadian and its receipting and support conventions are strongest for Canadian organisations.

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