Keela

Overview

Keela is a web-based donor management platform that brings nonprofit contact records, fundraising, communications and reporting together. It suits charities that want those jobs in one system and can budget around the size of their contact database. Its broad toolkit is a strong fit for coordinated donor work, but contact-based pricing and extra-cost features need close attention.

Key features

Keela combines donor profiles, deduplication and relationship tracking with donor scores and pipeline management. That gives teams tools to organize supporter records and follow fundraising prospects, although pipelines are an additional-cost feature rather than part of the stated core plan.

Fundraising includes custom donation forms, campaign tracking, recurring-giving prompts and automatic gift acknowledgements. Unlimited forms and donations across plans are useful for organizations running multiple campaigns; the smart donor asks add a data-informed element to asking for support.

Communications bring email building, segments, tags and automated workflows into the same system, with texting available as an extra-cost feature. Reporting includes customizable dashboards, real-time summaries, presentation-ready reports and automatically calculated KPIs, a substantial set of tools for teams that need to monitor performance.

Integrations include Raisely, Aplos, Stripe, QuickBooks Online, PayPal, Eventbrite, Mailchimp, SendGrid, Xero, Zapier, BitPay and DonorSearch. Keela says PayPal and Stripe process donations at a nonprofit rate of 2.2% plus 30 cents, with no additional Keela fee. Data is stored on Microsoft Azure servers in the United States, Canada or Australia depending on the nonprofit’s location; Keela says HTTPS encrypts data sent to its servers and data is backed up multiple times daily.

Pricing

Keela’s pricing is contact-based. The entry paid tier, for up to 1,000 contacts, costs $164 a month billed annually or $190 a month billed monthly. For 1,001–2,500 contacts, pricing is $243 a month billed annually or $259 a month billed monthly. The 2,501–5,000 tier is $316 a month billed annually or $357 a month billed monthly; 5,001–7,500 contacts costs $379 a month billed annually or $420 a month billed monthly. The 7,501–10,000+ tier is $438 a month billed annually. Organizations with more than 10,000 contacts are directed to request custom pricing.

Every plan includes unlimited forms, emails, donations and support, so the main stated pricing constraint is the contact count rather than campaign volume. The annual prices are lower than their monthly counterparts where both are given, but require annual billing. Premium Care starts at $200 per month and adds live chat and scheduled phone support; every plan already includes unlimited email support, online training, a knowledge base, training videos and Keela U. Pipelines, texting and wealth screening are also additional-cost features, so teams that need them should include those extras in their budget.

Platforms

Keela is available on the web. Its support package combines email help and self-guided training resources, with live chat and scheduled phone support reserved for Premium Care.

Who it's for

Keela is aimed at nonprofits and charities, including organizations working in civil rights, social justice, mental health and childhood hunger. It is best suited to teams that want donor management, fundraising, email and reporting in one platform, and whose contact volume makes the tiered cost worthwhile. Organizations with large databases should plan for custom pricing above 10,000 contacts; teams that only need a small, low-cost donor database may prefer a simpler-priced option.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Fundraising, donor records, email automation and detailed reporting sit together, reducing the need to coordinate those core tasks across separate tools.
• Pro: Unlimited forms, emails, donations and support avoid stated usage caps on those activities.
• Con: Pricing rises with contact count, and the annual commitment lowers the monthly rate; larger organizations must request custom pricing beyond 10,000 contacts.
• Con: Pipelines, texting, wealth screening and enhanced support cost extra, limiting how much teams can assume is included in the base price.

Alternatives

Consider Funraise if a free plan matters: it is free for organizations raising under $1 million annually, while its Premium Plans require a sales conversation. Raklet offers a free tier with 100 contacts, one admin seat and 1,250 free emails per month, making it worth considering for a very small group that can work within those caps.

Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud may suit eligible nonprofits seeking a broader CRM option with 10 free licenses through the Power of Us Program. Choose Eudonet CRM if a sector-tailored CRM and a sales-led quote fit better than Keela’s published contact tiers. Trail Blazer is an alternative for organizations with fewer than 500 contacts: its small-database plan starts at $50 per month, includes unlimited mass email and has setup fees of $295 to $495.

Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT is another custom-quote option, with implementation, training and ongoing support potentially included. Consider CharityEngine if its fundraising platform’s donation pages, workflows, event management, segmentation, direct mail and reporting align with your needs. CiviCRM offers a freemium alternative; its Starter plan costs $15 a month per instance and supports unlimited users and up to 5,000 contacts.

Compare Keela in the Nonprofit CRM Software, Donor Management Software and Donation Management categories.

Verdict

Keela is a strong candidate for nonprofit teams that want donor management, fundraising, email and reporting coordinated in one web platform. Its broad feature set and generous activity allowances are the main reasons to choose it; contact-based costs and paid extras are the reasons to look elsewhere if your database is large or your budget depends on pipelines, texting or wealth screening.