As your team and volunteer base grow, much of your work can become increasingly tedious and prone to error. You might turn to free project management templates and apps as your solution, but these options lack the functionality of a dedicated HR platform, can add to your workload as you scale, and could raise compliance issues.
The best HR software for non-profits centralises employee and volunteer data, automates core HR processes and helps you lead an engaged team. That’s why we researched and compiled our shortlist of solutions based on:
We also explain how our top choice offers award-winning customer support and a substantial discount to non-profits, not-for-profits and charities.
| Reduce your workload and empower remote teams. Automate your HR processes, give employees a self-service portal, and take advantage of our discount for non-profits. |
While HR software for non-profits can make your life easier, not all are designed to meet your specific needs.
Our helpful comparison table gives you an at-a-glance breakdown of crucial features.
Here, we explore the most practical HR software elements for your teams.
Depending on where you operate, you may be required to publish salary and gender pay gap data and maintain records for a certain period of time. HR software should make compliance as hassle-free as possible to avoid penalties and fines.
Some HR platforms sacrifice user-friendliness for functionality, offering a wide variety of features but making the learning curve long and challenging. With that in mind, prioritise an HR platform that makes managing an employee and volunteer database intuitive and customisable.
An attentive, easy-to-reach customer service team can help you navigate the first weeks of software implementation and help you address any challenges down the road. It’s best if they’re reachable by at least two different channels, whether by phone, chat or email. And if they respond in less than 24 hours, even better.
Many HR software platforms offer a mobile app that enables employees to clock in and out, record breaks, and maintain more accurate records, thereby supporting productivity and ensuring employees don’t work excessive hours. Platforms like HRLocker even have GPS tracking that gives you visibility on workers’ locations.
With an effective absence management tool, employees can visit their self-service portal to enter holidays, sick leave, or other personal time off. Managers simply approve or deny requests with a click.
The best HR platforms also simplify time-consuming practices, like calculating and allocating time off in lieu (TOIL), making it easier for individuals to find their TOIL balances and book time off against those hours.
Volunteer background checks are standard practice for not-for-profits and, in some locations, are legally required. So, choose an HR solution that makes sharing, digital signatures, and storing background checks and relevant volunteer documents as streamlined as possible to avoid any legally required paperwork from getting lost in the shuffle.
To save you from a daunting online search, we’ve included our top five HR software recommendations for non-profits, breaking each one down by use case, unique features, and pricing so you can make the best decision for your organisation.
Store all contact information, terms of employment, and compensation information directly in HRLocker’s database. Source
HRLocker is an intuitive, all-in-one solution that enables you to onboard new employees and volunteers, manage their data, track time and attendance, and monitor team performance, all with in-depth reporting features.
We’re not shy about recommending our very own HR platform as our top choice because it acts as a central hub for automating and simplifying both internal and volunteer-facing processes.
What’s more, HRLocker gives non-profits, not-for-profits and charities a substantial discount!
HRLocker offers award-winning customer support that you can access by chat, phone, or email. We’re ready to answer any onboarding questions for new users, and you’ll also have access to a plethora of invaluable podcasts, webinars and how-to videos, too.
Another impressive feature is HRLocker’s GPS time tracking functionality, which automatically captures team members’ location and start time when they clock in for work. That’s ideal for both employees and volunteers who change work sites throughout the day or who often work remotely.
On top of that, HRLocker customers find the software easy to implement, and they say it makes storing employee information, logging hours, and managing time off much more streamlined:
“From initial testing of the software right down to full installation the team at HRLocker could not have been more helpful and ensured we were happy. It has transformed our time and attendance recording to being more professional and that of a modern employer,” Diarmuid C. (Managing Director).
Pro tip: HR software can save your non-profit time and money, but you need to know the return on investment so you can report it to leadership. Use our ROI Calculator to find out exactly how much your manual processes are actually costing you.
Our plans start at €4 or £3.50, or $5 per employee per month, but charities and non-profits are given substantial discounts. This means you can track time, store data, and log emergency contacts for a lot less. You’ll also have access to the employee and volunteer database, time-off management, document storage and e-signing, and onboarding tools.
| Reduce your workload and empower remote teams. Automate your HR processes, give employees a self-service portal, and take advantage of our discount for non-profits. |
Breezy HR’s candidate management dashboard gives you a quick overview of every applicant’s stage in the hiring process. Source
If you’re looking for a platform with in-depth features to recruit new employees, Breezy HR has you covered. It’s an applicant tracking system (ATS) designed to support you throughout the hiring process.
The candidate screening experience often gets chaotic, but Breezy HR simplifies the process with Kanban-style dashboards that show you where every job seeker is in the pipeline.
Providing dedicated dashboards for every open role, Breezy is practical for organisations that need to hire quickly for multiple positions. Plus, users say the support team is helpful and responsive.
Like HRLocker’s HIRE for recruitment and onboarding, Breezy HR lets you manage all your interviews within the platform for a fully streamlined hiring process that provides candidate data in one centralised location, reducing your workload as you expand your team.
Breezy HR offers a free plan with basic hiring tools. Paid plans start from $157 (USD) per month and offer more advanced recruiting and applicant tracking tools for organisations of every size.
Zoho People gives employees more control over their work experience with self-service tools for tracking attendance and pay. Source
Zoho has a sizable suite of products for handling business tasks, from customer support to marketing to IT management and finance. Zoho People is a comprehensive HR system that organisations can use to manage their top talent.
With additional add-ons for temporary staffing and expense tracking, Zoho People is a practical choice for growing organisations that need to tighten operations and manage personnel needs.
Zoho People customers enjoy how the platform makes time and attendance easier to track, reducing their reliance on Excel spreadsheets. It also helps you keep track of how team members are feeling throughout their tenure with employee lifecycle engagement surveys.
What impresses us most is how comprehensive Zoho’s platform is, offering a wide range of functions, features, and integrations, though many of these are only available at premium and enterprise-level pricing or as add-ons.
Zoho People pricing starts at €1.25 per user per month for a basic package, but several key tools are missing at this level.
Keep employee paperwork and records tidy in BambooHR’s self-service dashboard. Source
BambooHR helps teams take charge of core HR tasks like time tracking, paid time off (PTO), talent management and employee engagement within its easily accessible platform.
With a clean user interface and short learning curve, BambooHR is a satisfactory option for charity organisations that have little to no experience using an HRIS to manage their internal processes.
BambooHR users report that the platform has elevated their approach to hiring and team management. They also appreciate how open the support team is to suggestions for new features.
Another intriguing aspect of the platform is the Employee Wellbeing tool, which enables team members to share their feelings about their work and organisational culture, allowing you to address signs of burnout and boost retention rates.
BambooHR doesn't provide pricing on its website, so you have to contact its sales team for a custom quote.
ADP Enterprise HR supports complex reporting and compliance management solutions. Source
ADP’s core HR solutions are built around payroll, taxes and compliance, as well as its outsourcing services to take care of your manual HR administrative tasks.
With software for time tracking, benefits management, candidate screening and recruitment and hiring, ADP offers a range of products that are simple to integrate with your existing processes so you can focus on higher-level concerns, like how to improve retention and scale your operations.
ADP DataCloud lets you access industry analytics and benchmarks so you can compare your non-profit with others based on size, location and core activities.
You can then use this data to better attract and retain ideal candidates, define what salary and benefits to offer the team, and identify who in your organisation you’re at risk of losing.
You can also use DataCloud’s analytics to optimise pay equity, understand the cost of attrition and identify top performers.
ADP doesn't give pricing information out on its website; you have to contact the sales team for a custom quote.
HR software makes managing non-profit employees and volunteers easier and allows you to focus on the areas of your role where you can really effect change in your organisation – like employee engagement, productivity and community outreach.
It can help you streamline processes relating to onboarding, training and performance management. It can also help you quickly access employee data, track leave, and manage benefits. Finally, it can provide insights and analytics to help you make better decisions.
But it’s often challenging to find a solution that’s feature-packed, affordable, and easy to use.
HRLocker balances user-friendliness with functionality, allowing you to expand your team and volunteer base without stretching your budget too thin.
| Reduce your workload and empower remote teams. Automate your HR processes, give employees a self-service portal, and take advantage of our discount for non-profits. |
Non-profits have tasks like coordinating cohorts of volunteers, reaching out to previous and potential donors, and complying with specific tax regulations – which means they need HR software that can support these and other processes.
Here are some of the areas that a platform like HRLocker can automate and simplify:
In general, HR solutions are designed to help HR professionals automate their everyday tasks. They also give team leads and employees more control over their own work experience and make previously siloed tasks more accessible for everyone.
More specifically, HR software solutions: