Best charity apps to run your UK charity in 2026

Charities need help managing operations with limited resources. There is much to juggle: donor engagement, volunteer coordination, and fundraising all compete for attention.

The right apps can streamline processes, boost productivity, and drive impact. We have put together a list of 12 of the best apps for UK charities in 2026 to help organisations thrive and make a lasting difference.

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In this article:

• 12 best apps your UK charity needs in its toolkit

• 1. Zeffy: the best free fundraising app for UK charities

• 2. Beacon: the UK charity CRM

• 3. Volunteer coordination for UK charities

• 4. Google Workspace: productivity for charities

• 5. Canva: brand and marketing collateral

• 6. Mailchimp: email marketing

• 7. Eventbrite (and why UK charities often outgrow it)

• 8. Hootsuite: social media management

• 9. Membermojo and ChurchSuite: membership management for UK clubs and charities

• 10. Asana: project management

• 11. QuickBooks Online UK: accounting

• 12. Boardable: trustee board management

• How to choose the right apps for your charity

• Final thoughts on charity apps

• Frequently asked questions

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12 best apps your UK charity needs in its toolkit

• 1. Zeffy: the best free fundraising app for UK charities

• 2. Beacon: the UK charity CRM

• 3. Volunteer coordination for UK charities

• 4. Google Workspace: productivity for charities

• 5. Canva: brand and marketing collateral

• 6. Mailchimp: email marketing

• 7. Eventbrite (and why UK charities often outgrow it)

• 8. Hootsuite: social media management

• 9. Membermojo and ChurchSuite: membership management

• 10. Asana: project management

• 11. QuickBooks Online UK: accounting

• 12. Boardable: trustee board management

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1. Zeffy: the best free fundraising app for UK charities

A must-have in your charity's toolkit is Zeffy, a 100% free all-in-one fundraising platform. It is powerful yet simple to use, for both charities and donors.

Zeffy is a 100% free platform built to streamline your charity's fundraising efforts and maximise your impact. With a user-friendly interface and a wide range of features, Zeffy simplifies hosting successful fundraising events, managing donor relationships, and tracking donations, so you can focus on your mission without worrying about the technical side of fundraising.

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Features

• Event ticketing

• Online and in-person donations

• Raffles compliant with UK small-society-lottery rules (Gambling Commission guidance)

• Auctions

• Donor management

• Memberships

• Online shop

• And more

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Strengths and weaknesses

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Plans and pricing

Zeffy operates on a truly 100% free model.

Unlike other charity apps that charge a percentage of your donations, Zeffy ensures that every pound you raise goes directly towards your cause. The platform sustains itself through voluntary contributions from its users.

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2. Beacon: the UK charity CRM

Beacon is a UK-built, fundraising-first CRM that has topped the UK Fundraising Magazine CRM survey six years running. It is designed specifically for small-to-mid charities and submits Gift Aid claims natively to HMRC Charities Online, meaning your charity can reclaim 25p for every £1 donated by eligible UK taxpayers without leaving the platform.

Beacon gives you a complete picture of each supporter's giving history and engagement, so you can prioritise personalised outreach and identify major gift opportunities. With fast onboarding and a modern interface, it is a practical choice for fundraising teams who do not have dedicated IT support.

If you are looking for a more affordable entry point, Donorfy (owned by The Access Group) offers a free plan for up to 500 constituents and broader integrations with JustGiving, GoCardless, and Mailchimp, though its reporting is more basic than Beacon.

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Features of Beacon

• Native HMRC Gift Aid claim submission

• Supporter engagement tracking and segmentation

• Integration with Stripe, GoCardless, and Mailchimp

• Campaign fundraising dashboards

• Fast onboarding for small charity teams

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Strengths and weaknesses

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Plans and pricing

Beacon's plans start from £33.50 per month, scaling by active supporter count. Visit beaconcrm.org for the current pricing tiers.

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3. Volunteer coordination for UK charities

Effective volunteer management is central to most UK charities, from recruitment and scheduling through to DBS checks and hour tracking. NCVO publishes sector-leading volunteer-management guidance and is the natural starting point for any charity reviewing its volunteer processes.

When evaluating volunteer management software, look for tools that handle:

• Volunteer sign-up, scheduling, and check-in

• Communication and shift reminders

• Secure storage of DBS check references

• Reporting on volunteer hours and contributions

Charity Digital (charitydigital.org.uk) maintains an up-to-date directory of volunteer management tools used by UK charities. Ask your regional NCVO network for peer recommendations before committing to a platform, since needs vary significantly between a village-hall volunteer team and a national charity with thousands of regular volunteers.

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Key features to look for

• Event sign-up and check-in

• Mobile app for volunteers

• Cloud-based data management

• Analytics and automatically generated reports

• Website integration

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Strengths and weaknesses

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Plans and pricing

Volunteer management tools vary widely in price. Many offer a free tier for small charities, with paid plans unlocking advanced scheduling and reporting. Compare options via Charity Digital's software reviews before committing.

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4. Google Workspace: productivity for charities

Boost productivity and collaboration with Google Workspace. It offers a custom email for charities and access to a full suite of tools: Gmail, Calendar, Meet, Docs, Sheets, Forms, Sites, and more.

With Google Meet and Google Calendar, you can schedule virtual meetings. You can collaborate on grant proposals or annual reports in real time through Google Docs, and collect volunteer registrations with Google Forms.

The platform allows managing member access and creating two-factor authentication for secure log-ins.

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Features of Google Workspace

• Automated and AI-powered productivity tools

• Google Workspace Vault to protect important information

• Real-time collaboration and cloud storage

• Product adoption insights for Workspace apps

• Google Chat with private rooms for up to 8,000 users

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Strengths and weaknesses

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Plans and pricing

The free version allows up to 100 participants in video meetings and 30 GB of cloud storage per user. UK-registered charities can upgrade to paid plans at a 79% discounted rate via TechSoup UK.

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5. Canva: brand and marketing collateral

Canva is an easy-to-use graphic design tool with a huge collection of editing tools, templates, graphs, and stock illustrations. Your charity can use it to design all kinds of brand and marketing materials to spread the word about your mission.

The brand kit is a particularly useful asset for charitable organisations. It lets you store colours, logos, and fonts, ensuring consistency across your materials.

With its free mobile app, you can create and edit professional-quality posts and upload them straight from wherever you are.

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Features of Canva

• Photo editing tools including transparency, cropping, photo vignettes, and blur sliders

• Design grids and photo frames for attractive presentation and customisation

• Bubbles and text boxes with thousands of fonts and sizes to choose from

• Content planning, scheduling, and social media management

• Access to 75 million-plus premium images, videos, music, and other graphics

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Strengths and weaknesses

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Plans and pricing

Canva offers eligible charities free access to its premium features for up to 50 users. UK charities can verify eligibility via their Charity Commission, OSCR, or CCNI registration number. Some premium elements require payment.

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6. Mailchimp: email marketing

Mailchimp is a popular marketing platform that enables charities to create professionally designed emails, automate campaigns, and build landing pages and subscriber forms.

The platform provides insights about donors and segments them into specific lists. With that understanding, you can send targeted messages at the right time to your supporters, delivering a seamless and consistent experience.

You can also use Mailchimp to monitor website traffic. Its free website reports allow you to analyse your website's performance on a simple yet detailed dashboard.

One thing to note from UK charities: organisations regularly outgrow Mailchimp's free tier at the 500-contact ceiling. Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is a common cost-effective alternative at that point. Explore Mailchimp alternatives for UK charities.

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Features of Mailchimp

• A/B testing and email scheduling

• Tailored emails to donor segments

• Free email templates with drag-and-drop editor

• Automated workflow

• Analytics and reporting tools

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Strengths and weaknesses

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Plans and pricing

Mailchimp offers a one-month free trial and a 15% discount for verified charities. For current UK pricing in £, visit mailchimp.com/en-gb/pricing.

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7. Eventbrite (and why UK charities often outgrow it)

Eventbrite is a trusted event platform used by organisations from charities to small businesses and community groups. It lets you create, share, and collect tickets from your donors for in-person and virtual events.

The platform provides access to attendee data and lets you promote your event through emails, Eventbrite ads, social media ads, and landing pages.

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Features of Eventbrite

• Flexible ticket types for in-person and online events

• Integrated social media and email marketing tools

• Detailed analytics and robust reporting

• Check-in feature with barcode and ticket scanning

• Attendee tracking and management

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Strengths and weaknesses

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Plans and pricing

Eventbrite is free for events with up to 25 tickets. Beyond that, you will need one of the paid plans:

• Flex: £7.99 per event for up to 100 tickets

• Pro: from £19 per month for up to 100 tickets

• Premium: custom pricing for unlimited tickets

There is also a service fee of roughly 6.95% plus £0.59 per paid ticket, plus payment processing. For UK charities running community events under £10 a ticket, those fees can quickly eat into your margin.

A note on Ticket Tailor for UK charities

For village fetes, quiz nights, NODA award evenings, and similar community events where tickets are under £10, Ticket Tailor is often the clear UK alternative. It is a UK-founded B Corp charging a flat fee of £0.22 to £0.60 per ticket (pay-as-you-go), with a 50% discount for registered charities and tickets under £5. Free events with under 2,000 tickets per year are free. There is no percentage cut of your revenue, so on a £10 ticket Ticket Tailor typically costs a fraction of Eventbrite's combined fee. Visit tickettailor.com/pricing for current rates. You can also compare Zeffy and Eventbrite for UK charities.

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8. Hootsuite: social media management

Social media outreach is critical for charities today. Hootsuite is a full toolkit that helps your charity manage social media accounts from desktop and mobile devices.

The tool lets you create schedules for posts in advance, implement ad campaigns, and measure performance and results across all social platforms from a single place.

Hootsuite's social listening tools monitor mentions, keywords, and hashtags so you always know what people are saying about your charity.

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Features of Hootsuite

• Set permissions for members and protect your social media presence

• AI writing tool and attractive templates for social media posts

• Audience management and multi-platform publishing

• View social trends and conversations

• Grammarly built-in and integration with Canva

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Strengths and weaknesses

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Plans and pricing

Hootsuite plans start from around £40 per month for one user with up to 10 social media accounts. A free version allows one user to monitor two social media accounts. Hootsuite offers discounts to charities via TechSoup UK and Percent. Check hootsuite.com/plans for current UK pricing.

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9. Membermojo and ChurchSuite: membership management for UK clubs and charities

For UK clubs, PTAs, sports clubs, and small charities with a membership base, Membermojo is one of the simplest and most cost-effective options available. It is built specifically for UK organisations and handles member records, renewals, and payment collection without transaction fees.

For churches, ChurchSuite is the UK standard, covering rotas, children's check-in, Gift Aid, and donation management in a single platform.

One important note from UK VoC: if your organisation is an unincorporated association, a Community Interest Company (CIC), or a PTA that is not yet a registered charity, check the eligibility rules before signing up. Several membership and fundraising platforms reserve their lowest-cost plans for organisations holding a Charity Commission, OSCR, or CCNI registration number.

The solution integrates with your existing website and supports multiple membership tiers. It automates payment reminders and collects payments using different methods.

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Features of Membermojo

• Custom fields to collect specific member information

• Standards automation and embeddable membership widgets

• Integrations with QuickBooks, Mailchimp, and more

• Insight into website usage and membership conversions

• Sort and segment member data

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Strengths and weaknesses

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Plans and pricing

Membermojo is free for up to 50 members, then scales from £30 to £550 per year by member count, with no transaction fees. Full pricing at membermojo.co.uk.

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10. Asana: project management

Asana is a capable project management tool that lets you handle your work, projects, and tasks online in one place. It is a web-based task management and collaboration platform for managing staff and volunteers, keeping track of their work, and helping them exchange information.

You can set goals on Asana to keep your team on the same page and milestones to encourage and motivate hard work. Asana offers a library of templates to create your own processes and standardise routine tasks.

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Features of Asana

• Labels to sort, filter, and automatically report on work

• Organise work as a list, timeline, calendar, Kanban board, or Gantt chart

• Automatic updates on work that matters

• Real-time insights and charts for the team's progress

• Time tracking and automated workflows

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Strengths and weaknesses

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Plans and pricing

Asana's free plan allows you to add up to 15 team members. With Asana's charity pricing, UK-registered organisations can access paid plans at a 50% discount.

• Personal: Free

• Starter: from approximately £10 per month (verify current UK pricing at asana.com/pricing)

• Advanced: from approximately £24 per month

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11. QuickBooks Online UK: accounting

QuickBooks Online UK is one of the best accounting tools for charities. It is powerful yet approachable, helping charitable organisations manage their finances more accurately and efficiently. Your organisation can sort expenses by fund or programme, create custom reports, and track budgets from anywhere.

The accounting tools let you create and email reports automatically, from statements of financial activities to budget versus actual comparisons. QuickBooks Online UK supports Making Tax Digital (MTD) compliance and handles VAT reporting, which is important for charities since VAT reliefs for charities are specific and partial rather than blanket exemptions. The Charity Tax Group is the authoritative UK reference for charity VAT and tax matters.

Your organisation can accept donations from multiple sources and produce reports in the format your accountants expect, including Charities SORP (FRS 102).

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Features of QuickBooks Online UK

• Detailed financial reports in real time

• User-friendly tools to create, manage, and monitor budgets

• Custom reports for different stakeholders, such as trustees and supporters

• Automated payment processing and customisable receipts for donors

• Integrations with GoCardless, Beacon, and Donorfy

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Strengths and weaknesses

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Plans and pricing

QuickBooks Online UK plans vary by tier. Visit quickbooks.intuit.com/uk for current UK pricing. Xero is the main UK alternative and is widely used by charity accountants familiar with Charities SORP.

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12. Boardable: trustee board management

Level up your board governance and leadership with Boardable. It is designed to help charity trustees connect and stay organised wherever they are. Using a centralised portal, Boardable makes it easy for charity professionals and trustees to schedule and hold meetings, even for dispersed boards.

With fully integrated video conferencing and customisable agenda templates, there is no need to use multiple platforms for planning, meeting, and collaborating. Meeting minutes, documents, discussions, and all essential materials are secure and accessible from one place.

For UK charities, effective trustee governance sits at the heart of the Charity Governance Code, which sets out the principles and recommended practice for good trustee board management.

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Features of Boardable

• Agenda builder and document centre

• Virtual polls and voting

• Team-focused workspaces

• Consolidates meeting materials into digital board packets

• E-signature and public meeting page

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Strengths and weaknesses

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Plans and pricing

• Core: Free

• Essentials: from approximately £14 per month (verify current UK pricing at boardable.com/pricing)

• Professional: from approximately £21 per month

• Enterprise: custom pricing for large trustee boards

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How to choose the right apps for your charity

You do not need to invest in every app available for charities. Look for solutions that actually improve your workflow and solve existing challenges in your operations.

Here are the key factors to consider when picking tools for your charity.

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1. Identify your needs

Decide what you need the app for. Where are you currently facing challenges in managing your organisation? Are you spending too much time on the accounts? Are you struggling to acquire new donors or facing difficulties with volunteer management?

Consider what you want to simplify and automate through software.

If you are not yet a registered charity, whether a village hall, PTA, CIC, or unincorporated association, check the tool's eligibility rules carefully. Several fee-preferential plans, including Google for Nonprofits, Canva for Nonprofits, and Zeffy's UK plan, require registration with the Charity Commission, OSCR, or CCNI.

Some charity apps to consider:

• Event management: the app should help you plan and manage fundraising events from start to finish, with features for ticketing, managing RSVPs, tracking attendees, collecting donations, and marketing.

• Communications and collaboration: look for in-app messaging, document management, push notifications, and email integration to keep your team and supporters informed.

• Fundraising: the app should support different fundraising campaigns, such as peer-to-peer, crowdfunding, and annual appeals. It should help to engage donors and offer additional features like recurring donations.

• Volunteer management: effective solutions should offer volunteer sign-up, scheduling, and the ability to find and communicate with volunteers.

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2. Research available apps

Once you have identified your needs, look for apps that address them. Find a few powerful tools to test before committing. Most providers offer a demo, and that is the best way to confirm they can solve your challenges.

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3. Easy to use

Whatever app you choose, make sure it is easy to use and does not require specialist training. The app should have an intuitive interface, letting you accomplish tasks like creating a donation form or following up with donors seamlessly.

Check whether it can automate certain repetitive tasks, such as sending donation acknowledgements, event reminders, and membership renewal notices.

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4. Support and resources

The availability of customer support and resources matters. Even the best apps can throw up usability or compatibility issues.

Look for responsive support through live chat, email, and phone. Make sure the provider offers training or product demo videos and has a dedicated resource centre on their website.

Also check whether the tool is UK GDPR compliant and how it handles subject-access requests under the Data Protection Act 2018. UK donors are increasingly aware of their data rights, and GDPR compliance is often one of the first questions charities ask before adopting a new platform.

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5. Review your budget

As a charity, you need to use your resources wisely. Look for ways to keep costs down so that more of your funds go to the cause you serve.

Any tool you adopt should be affordable and within your budget. Most providers offer certain features for free, with more complex features available at a cost. Use the free version first to evaluate effectiveness for your organisation.

Most apps offer discounts for charities, but prices can still be significant for smaller organisations. Weigh the time and resources the tool can potentially save against its cost.

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Final thoughts on charity apps

Whether you are looking to improve your charity's internal productivity or strengthen your fundraising, there are reliable apps worth considering across every part of the operation.

A UK charity running a £15 summer fete, an autumn appeal, a Christmas raffle, and a sponsored 5K is often paying for Ticket Tailor, JustGiving, Crowdfunder, and a CRM separately. Zeffy consolidates that stack, free, with small-society-lottery-ready raffles (in line with Gambling Commission guidance), UK GDPR-conscious donor data, and compliance with the Fundraising Regulator's Code of Fundraising Practice.

By offering a 100% free model, Zeffy ensures your charity can access a full suite of fundraising and donor management tools without any financial barriers. With Zeffy, you can streamline your fundraising, build lasting relationships with your donors, and create a sustainable future for your organisation, all at no cost to you.

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Frequently asked questions

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