# CanadaHelps Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Is CanadaHelps the right Nonprofit solution for you? Explore 27 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/230221/CanadaHelps/reviews --- CanadaHelps 4.5 (27) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/230221/CanadaHelps/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated March 13th, 2026 # Reviews of CanadaHelps Ease of use 4.0 Customer Service 4.7 ## Pros and Cons in Reviews MF Marta F Development CoordinatorNon-Profit Organization Management, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “The website provides a simple and secure way to contribute to causes that matter to me, and I appreciated the diverse options available, allowing me to support various charitable initiatives with just a few clicks.“ July 27, 2023 KO Kimberley O Fund Development Specialist Non-Profit Organization Management, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: 6-12 months. “It can be difficult to customize reports and the information I have to sift through is very extensive.“ September 22, 2021 JM John M ChairpersonEducation Management, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “It was many years ago I set up our account and I recall it was very straightforward and has required no maintenance. “ October 31, 2024 JL Jen L Fund Development CoordinatorCivic & Social Organization, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “The customer support at Canada Helps is absolutely wonderful, always quick to respond with the guidance and answers needed.“ September 19, 2024 TK Theresa K VolunteerFood & Beverages, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Ease of use, a lot of free resources (webinars, online features), being non-profit“ October 5, 2023 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-25 of 27 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use Alistair J. VP Development Higher Education Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Another Home Run for CanadaHelps" September 22, 2021 5.0 The CanadaHelps team has been an incredible partner and a significant resource for our charity. They are personable, responsive and capable. We feel privileged to have a partner that truly "gets" the charitable sector, understands our challenges and promotes our causes. Pros Modern, intuitive, powerful, backed by a technical and customer service team that is second to none. Cons The Opportunities tab has lots of room for development as a recurring grant management tool. Switched from [Sumac](https://www.capterra.com/p/144095/Sumac/) We had been early adopters of Silent Partner. It was getting old and clunky. It had been taken over and improved by Sumac but, as delighted users of the CanadaHelps charity platform, we wanted to leverage its benefits into a new DMS. Further, we were able to do a historic (20 year) data conversion into the DMS. Review Source Response from CanadaHelps September 29, 2021 Thank you for leaving a review Alistair, our Product Team always appreciate your thoughtful feedback. We are so happy to hear that you regard us as a partner and the feelings are mutual - we look forward to our continued partnership! JL John L. Treasurer Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Canada Helps: A Canadian charity helping other charities!" April 3, 2025 5.0 Very good support from friendly and courteous people. They are always improving their product. We have grown from 50 members to over 250 using the Canada Helps DMS in two years. Pros Single software package enables all facets of donor recruitment, engagement and renewed commitment. Cons The reports function is a little difficult however I have learned over time. The bulk email function creates a great looking email but once again there is a learning curve. Switched from [WildApricot](https://www.capterra.com/p/76116/WildApricot/) Wild Apricot was too expensive, it is American now, support was slow. Review Source BH Bruce H. Director Fund-Raising Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Don't buy it!" April 18, 2024 3.0 75% negative. Phone calls to their help line often get pushed to email. Pros Donation processing as we are a small charity Cons Pulling reports is brutal. Rather than allow you full access to all critical fields, they decide which ones you can and can't access. What this means is you have to generate multiple reports then do the analysis yourself. I regret having leased this system. Reason for choosing CanadaHelps I thought it would be easy to use - nope. Switched from [Bonterra Network for Good](https://www.capterra.com/p/111128/Bonterra-Guided-Fundraising/) Report running was fantastic but this software is not properly designed for charity work. Review Source DB David B. CFO Defense & Space Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Guild of the Royal Canadian Dragoons" September 27, 2021 5.0 We looked at commercial software and we stumbled across the DMS after asking CanadaHelps if they knew of a a provider. Perfect solution for our charity given those who work for us are located across Canada. We needed something simple to understand, cloud based and flexible. Pros Ease of use, cost, flexibility and support . Cons Took a little while to become comfortable using it - takes time to learn anything! Alternatives considered [Act!](https://www.capterra.com/p/175860/Act/) Reason for choosing CanadaHelps We looked at commercial software and we stumbled across the DMS after asking CanadaHelps if they knew of a a provider. Perfect solution for our charity given those who work for us are located across Canada. We needed something simple to understand, cloud based and flexible. Review Source Response from CanadaHelps October 1, 2021 Thank you Dave for leaving a review. We're proud to be serving Canada's charitable sector. We look forward to continuing to support you and the Guild of the Royal Canadian Dragoons. RD Roxanne D. Director of Inventory, Outreach and Communications Libraries Used the software for: 2+ years ### "CanadaHelps DMS review from The Children's Book Bank" November 25, 2021 4.0 I was part of the planning and the beta-testing of the DMS. It was a fun experience and really great to be a part of this new feature of CanadaHelps from the start. Pros So far the DMS has been very helpful for our team to organize and execute fundraising campaigns - including the MailChimp integration. We also like being able to process a cc donation, issue a tax receipt and know that all the information is already logged into our system. Cons It would be nice to have a monthly payment feature for the DMS - the once a year payment can be hefty, especially for smaller organizations. There are still some bugs - duplicate contacts from importing our original lists. But over time these kinds of bugs get worked out. Switched from [Sumac](https://www.capterra.com/p/144095/Sumac/) We weren't using Sumac enough and it was not terribly user-friendly, especially when it came to pulling contact lists. Review Source Response from CanadaHelps November 30, 2021 Hello Roxanne, thank you for taking the time to leave us a review. We're happy to hear you found the DMS helpful for organizing and executing your fundraising campaigns. We have noted the demand for monthly payment options and are looking into ways to make the DMS more accessible in this regard. Thanks again for leaving your feedback. KB Kathy B. National Director of Operations Public Relations and Communications Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "New to DMSing" November 12, 2021 4.0 We are able to start generating regular newsletter and fundraising campaigns with greater ease. The on boarding process was longer than expected but the support staff have been great in helping us get to where we need to go. Pros It is great to have all our contacts in one place. There is a steep learning curve but I am hopeful it will be worth all the effort! I am grateful for the super support staff helping us along. Cons We are working to create new business processes around the DMS. There are a few key part of the software that I would like to see improved including uploading new contacts in bulk (without having to use another email communication program). The placement of 'unsubcribe' feature of the bulk email templates needs to become more flexible so people are unsubscribing to communication without taking the time to even scan it. Alternatives considered [Salesforce Sales Cloud](https://www.capterra.com/p/61368/Salesforce/) Reason for choosing CanadaHelps We chose CH DMS because we were already using CH for our donations. Review Source Response from CanadaHelps November 17, 2021 Hi Kathy, thank you so much for leaving us a review. We're happy to hear our support team is helping you with the learning curve, that's what we're here for. Also great to hear that newsletter and fundraising campaigns have gotten easier with the CanadaHelps DMS. The feedback you are providing us is very useful. I'm happy to share that we are working on a bulk import tool for the DMS in the near future and the placement of the unsubscribe position should be fixed this or next week so stay tuned! Do reach out to us if you have any other feedback. Thanks again for taking the time to leave a review. KO Kimberley O. Fund Development Specialist Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Quick customer service " September 22, 2021 5.0 Sending out our newsletter to over 1400 people is easy and efficient. This is much improved from the system we were using before. Pros This software is easy to use. It makes sending out our quarterly newsletter fast and efficient. Responding to donors from the Donor Management System is a breeze as is the ability to customize letters. I would highly recommend the CanadaHelps system to colleagues. Cons It can be difficult to customize reports and the information I have to sift through is very extensive. Switched from [Mailchimp](https://www.capterra.com/p/110228/MailChimp/) We wanted a product that we could use for multiple uses. Donor management, mailings, custom group emails, accounting. Review Source Response from CanadaHelps September 29, 2021 Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review Kimberley! It's great to hear that we're helping to make things like donor communication easier for your organization and that you would recommend the DMS. We have heard your feedback and improving the reports is in the pipeline! Thanks again for this feedback. MK Michael K. Treasurer Performing Arts Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Highly recommended" April 15, 2025 5.0 Canada Helps is easy to work with, support is an email away and they provide quick thorough assistance. Pros The platform is easy to use...and full of features that make life easy. The donations forms are easy to create and link to our website. Cons There are a lot of tabs on the interface that causes some confusion at times...mostly because there are things we have not yet learned how to work with. We get what we need and know that there is more to the program if and when we are needing more. Review Source Response from CanadaHelps April 16, 2025 Hi Michael thank you for your kind words, we are glad our fundraising tools are making life easier and you're finding value in them for your charity! We acknowledge the charity account navigation is a bit jam-packed at the moment and re-vamping the interface is definitely on our product road map. Don't hesitate to let us know any other feedback. JM John M. Chairperson Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "We have been using it for a decade or more 5 stat" October 31, 2024 5.0 It was many years ago I set up our account and I recall it was very straightforward and has required no maintenance. We run campaigns twice a year. Each campaign only requires publishing and promoting the link. Whether on a desktop computer or a cell phone the donation page is easy to use. Pros My favourite feature is the Donations page listing those who donated and allowing me to respond and indicating if I did respond. My second favourite is the Custom Download. Our donation management is simple on a excel spreadheet. The customer download exports nicely into excel. Cons We run a simple campaign twice a year for a week and have experienced no Cons. Review Source JL Jen L. Fund Development Coordinator Civic & Social Organization Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great Customer Service" September 19, 2024 5.0 Our use of the CanadaHelps platform has been very positive and we value their services. Pros The customer support at Canada Helps is absolutely wonderful, always quick to respond with the guidance and answers needed. Cons It does take a little time to learn how to use the platform however they offer helpful instructional resources and great customer support! Review Source OO Oralee O. Executive Director Leisure, Travel & Tourism Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "CanadaHelps does help a lot." October 19, 2024 5.0 CanadaHelps is a quality, legitimate site that streamlines donations and makes it easy for charities of all size to use and is an easy, secure platform for donors to access Pros It is a simple to use platform with lots of resources for the charity sector Cons Simplified instructions for volunteer organizations Review Source BO Brinda O. Volunteer Specialist Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Easy to use" August 3, 2024 5.0 Pros It’s very straightforward and easy to navigate. Cons Nothing particularly but sometimes it can get confusing with the American option Review Source AN Alisa N. Director of Funds Development and Communications Recreational Facilities and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "CanadaHelps is a good platform for donation payments, tax receipting, peer-to-peer fundraising" July 3, 2024 5.0 Overall, CanadaHelps has made it easier for me to accept donations and issue tax receipts. I like that there is a peer-to-peer option to support our fundraising events. Pros Payment options are great for donors. Tax receipts are issued electronically. Cons It would be nice to have scheduled reports that come to my email automatically each week/month. Reason for choosing CanadaHelps It was simple to set up and other YMCAs were using it. Review Source MJ Michaela J. Development and Communications Hospital & Health Care Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Townsend Smith Foundation Review " March 28, 2023 5.0 Overall, my experience with Canada Helps has been positive. It is a great system with many tools to help us with our events, fundraising and operations. Pros One of the positives of Canada Helps, is the customer service representatives. I find that they are amazing at helping you navigate the system, and they get back to you very quickly. I like how easy it is to use the system and keep track of all of the donations and donors. Cons There are some things that could be improved. We have challenges with consolidating two contacts that are the same. I think it would be helpful to have more tutorials available on your website. When it comes to event pages, I think the ability to Link a P2P to the event page should be clearer as an option. I think that the welcome page for the organization can use some improvement as well, maybe more options for visual representation. Review Source Response from CanadaHelps March 30, 2023 Hello Michaela, thank you for taking the time to write us a review. Happy to hear that you find the customer support helpful and that the overall experience has been positive. We are working on building out more learning resources and features for the DMS and your feedback is greatly appreciated. MF Marta F. Development Coordinator Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "This is the product for your organziation!" July 27, 2023 5.0 Pros What I liked most about CanadaHelps is its user-friendly platform that makes it easy for individuals and organizations to donate to a wide range of Canadian charities. The website provides a simple and secure way to contribute to causes that matter to me, and I appreciated the diverse options available, allowing me to support various charitable initiatives with just a few clicks.Furthermore, CanadaHelps offers valuable resources and information about the charities they partner with, enabling users to make informed decisions about their donations. The platform's transparency and commitment to accountability also gave me confidence in the legitimacy of the organizations listed. Cons Firstly, the transaction fees could be seen as a drawback, as I wished more of my donation would directly benefit the charities I supported. Secondly, the search options sometimes felt limited, making it challenging to find specific or smaller charitable organizations I wanted to contribute to. Moreover, while CanadaHelps provides information about the charities, I desired more comprehensive profiles with detailed impact reports and financial breakdowns to make more informed decisions. Lastly, occasional technical glitches or interface issues affected my overall user experience, and I preferred a smoother donation process. Review Source DG Danielle G. Senior Coordinator, Donor Experience Sports Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Happy with the switch!" September 22, 2021 5.0 We're really enjoying it and look forward to the improvements that are to come that we don't even know we need yet. We are so happy with the way Canada Helps has taken our feedback to make the system better and I would recommend it to any small charity in a heartbeat. Pros As a charity that uses CanadaHelps.org to collect donations, I love that the Canada Helps DMS has a seamless connection to the .org. Our previous CRM did not interact with CanadaHelps.org which led to a lot (I mean a lot) of manual inputting of gifts (including every recurring monthly gift). We also love that Canada Helps DMS is a lot cleaner than our old software, it's relatively user-friendly, and only gets better with time. We have greatly benefitted from the support of our main contact who onboarded our team to the system, and continue to ask questions as they come up. Canada Helps DMS is eager to make our experience as a charity better, and are very open to feedback/suggestions of how to make the product better for charities. Cons As with anything new, it took some time to get on board with the DMS, and Canada Helps was still tweaking things to make the system better. It is in a much better place now after working on some improvements, and was WELL worth the time to switch from our old system. Review Source Response from CanadaHelps September 29, 2021 Hi Danielle, thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We're so happy to hear you're enjoying our fundraising tools and DMS. We've definitely come a long way and will continue to take feedback from our charity partners! We have many features and improvements in store. RC Robin C. Project manager Education Management Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Great platform for non-profits" June 6, 2024 5.0 Pros Canada Helps is a great platform to manage our events, fundraisers and online donations with ease. Love it! Cons If the processing fees could be lower, that would make it better! Reason for choosing CanadaHelps We cose Canada Helps because it's Canadian! Review Source CK Cecile K. Project Manager Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Excellent donor management system for charities" December 7, 2021 5.0 The DMS from Canada Helps is very user-friendly and has all features a charity needs to have in order to manage donor information and to support communication regarding donor stewardship. The DMS team members provide excellent training and outstanding customer service. They are friendly and attentive, respond promptly on questions and concerns, and go above and beyond to help find a solution. We have received exceptional support, even outside of business hours! Pros The great things about this software are the donation forms, emails can be sent out of DMS (individual and groups), the ease of batch adding contributions and issuing tax receipts. Cons Managing groups is a bit tricky when it comes to combining some groups as one group, but we found a way by creating a "smart group" and setting ‘parent’ and ‘child’ groups. There is no integration with Quickbooks Online and regarding tax receipts - it is a challenge in the back end to have to cancel a tax receipt (e.g., if an address has changed), then re-add every single contribution, then re-issue a new tax receipt. Reason for choosing CanadaHelps Interaction with the CanadaHelps team over the years and in comparison to other systems this DMS provides us everything we need for a great price. Review Source AG Arienne G. Director of Fundraising Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "CanadaHelps Review" May 4, 2024 4.0 Pros I love using CanadaHelps. It makes communicating with donors and tracking donations so easy! It updates automatically. Processing offline donation receipts is simple and efficient. Cons Still learning the sendgrid part to CanadaHelps to ensure communication to others is simple. Running reports isn't as intuitive as I'd hoped (but that's not my expertise); however, mining through contributions can basically pull any report I need anyways. Review Source TG Tyler G. Operation supervisor Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Great for tracking donors " September 22, 2021 4.0 Pros The software is able to track and organize donations of individuals who contribute to our organization. In addition, the simplicity to send thank you messages is great along with sending taxable receipts. Cons However we are still learning how smart lists operate and there ability to automatically add individuals to the lists. Finally large donor importing is not available at this time so you must manually enter one individual at a time. We are looking forward to CSV data batch input when that feature is available. Review Source Response from CanadaHelps September 29, 2021 Thank you for the transparent feedback Tyler! We look forward to supporting you and your team with the CanadaHelps DMS. We have batch imports on the roadmap and are excited to work on the best importing solution out there. MS Maude S. Executive Secretary Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "CanadaHelps helps itself" January 9, 2024 1.0 My experience with CanadaHelps has been that I feel that they help themself more than they help our organization. Their automatic grab of a portion of any donations to the organization doesn't help us at all. Once a year, they 'share the wealth' with organizations that push their giving platform. However, if they can afford to do that once a year, they could reduce/eliminate their fees to organizations by asking for donations to their platform as other platforms do. We are moving our fundraising to another platform altogether. Pros It is a trusted name in fundraising for Canadian non-profit organizations. As such, Canadians, as a whole, trust it to be legitimate site to donate to various Canadian organizations. Cons The customer service was completely lacking. Any attempts to reach customer service have resulted in poor response. Review Source Response from CanadaHelps January 10, 2024 Hello Maude, We are sorry to hear you have not had a good experience. We try our best to resolve any difficulties charities have. If you have any outstanding issues or specific concerns, please let us know at info@canadahelps.org or (877) 755-1595. In regards to fees, we charge 2-5% for donation processing, (including all other fees such as credit card etc.), depending on the type of donation. We try to be as transparent as possible about the fees and they go towards helping to sustain CanadaHelps so we can continue to provide charities with affordable access to online fundraising and educational tools. Occasionally, we run promotions to support giving in Canada such as a 1% top-up etc. We're sorry we didn't meet your expectations but we wish you all the best in your future fundraising! PC Pat C. Secretary/Bookkeeper Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Nice Product" July 12, 2023 4.0 Great and I have recommended it to another non-profit board of directors Pros Using Canada Helps saves time for our employee as well as our volunteers that help out. Cons I would like to see a monthly report of what was given and a comparison to either last year same month, or overall Review Source Response from CanadaHelps July 13, 2023 Hi Pat, thanks so much for leaving us a review and recommending CanadaHelps to other nonprofit boards! We're glad it's saving you time. You can actually access monthly reports and other donor information inside your Charity Account by going to "Donation Reports" and then "Donor Insights." Please reach out to us at info@canadahelps.org if you need further direction on accessing that. TK Theresa K. Volunteer Food & Beverages Used the software for: 2+ years ### "A Great Platform for Attracting Donors" October 5, 2023 4.0 Pros Ease of use, a lot of free resources (webinars, online features), being non-profit Cons It's not easy to find some menu items. Some of them are in the menu bar at the top (e.g., Donation Management), and some of the items are on the page (e.g., Profile). It would be nice for them to be in a single menu bar. Alternatives considered [PayPal](https://www.capterra.com/p/207944/PayPal/) Reason for choosing CanadaHelps It was widely used, and it is non-profit. Review Source Response from CanadaHelps October 10, 2023 Hi Theresa, thanks for taking the time to leave us a review! Great to hear you are enjoying the free resources; our team works hard to produce webinars, blogs and whitepapers for charities. Thanks for the feedback on the navigation. I'm wondering which page you see this on so I can pass this on to our product team. Could you reach out to charitylife@canadahelps.org? ZF Zeeshanali F. Treasurer Religious Institutions Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Acceptable but as a complementary service" November 27, 2022 5.0 It is a great platform however cannot be the sole system to manage all the needs of a not-for-profit. Pros Simple to use and easy to customize. Easy for receipt management! Cons Less donor management and customizable CRM. Reason for choosing CanadaHelps This is one source amongst using our own credit card processing system and online platform. Review Source Response from CanadaHelps December 5, 2022 Hello Zeeshanali, thank you for your review. We are happy to hear you find our platform helpful for managing your receipt management. We understand you are looking for more features to bring our DMS to the next level - we hear you and we are constantly working to improve our solution. GS Gracia S. Data Management Specialist Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "DMS Review by a staff of CareImpact" November 10, 2021 4.0 It's been a great tool to communicate with our donors consistently Pros It was easy to migrate our existing contacts and it's very easy to contact the helpdesk with my queries. Also, I really liked the existing articles and videos to help with the use of the DMS. It has really educated me on how to use the DMS and what I can use the DMS for. Cons I think adding contacts into the DMS can get tedious when there is more than 1. Maybe a feature where we can import in contacts using a csv file would be useful. Also, having different tiers of access would benefit our organization as we don't want all our staff to have access to the entire DMS. Review Source Response from CanadaHelps November 16, 2021 Hi Gracia, thank you very much for leaving a review. We're glad that you find the support for our DMS helpful. We are working on more content to support charities using our DMS and spreading the word so more charities know how a DMS can benefit them! We hear you on the cons and we are thinking about these pieces - I can let you know a bulk import tool is on our roadmap. We look forward to continuing to support you and your team at CareImpact! Similar Products Featured ## Send me user reviews about this product ### Fill out the form and we'll send a list of the top-rated software based on real user reviews directly to your inbox.