Back in August of 2024, I started working at Ledgers Inc as the Nonprofit Guy. That’s not an official title, but that’s how I’m occasionally asked for when people stop in. I’m fortunate to serve approximately 30 nonprofits ranging from churches to foundations to relief agencies to youth sports to housing associations and more.
What do they all have in common? They all rely on QuickBooks for their accounting needs. So why am I looking for an alternative? I’m a cheap accountant, and QuickBooks is getting expensive. 15 years ago, QuickBooks would cost you around $200. With inflation, it should cost $300 now. It now costs for the cheapest version $2,210! The cheapest online version costs $38/month and doesn’t include payroll (roughly $100/month).
Thankfully there is a ministry (TechSoup) that helps 501(c)(3) nonprofits get QuickBooks online for $80/year. Payroll still costs extra, but that is tremendous savings. I have concerns that one day this might go away so I’m looking for alternatives.
Over the next several months, I’m just going to document my process of checking out some possibilities. I have a pretty good list of accounting solutions to check out, but feel free to send me any recommendations. I have tried to make an accounting solution using only Excel, but that doesn’t seem to be a viable solution. I posted my attempt a couple of years ago. Maybe something could be made out of Access?
Anyway, I appreciate you coming along on the journey.
Useful Links
- Ledgers Inc: https://ledgersinc.net/
- TechSoup QuickBooks: https://www.techsoup.org/intuit
- QuickBooks & Churches Videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLy3_Fkz8_LMr6QTGMvolFG5i6Vn2WaMor
- QuickBooks Desktop Pricing: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/desktop/enterprise/buy-online/
- QuickBooks Online Pricing: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing/
Jeff, I just picked up a new church in Minnesota and the treasurer is also an accountant. She is retiring from her treasurer position and has such a headache with QuickBooks payroll that she has pulled their payroll to OnPay. I think it’s probably just as expensive, but she says that she talks to a human every time she needs to call which is very infrequently. Not sure what your experience has been with them.
Jennifer (Erickson) Scholten
Thanks for sharing, Jennifer. I’ll check it out. We started using Patriot Payroll at work for the same reason. It’s nice to be able to have human to talk through some issues.
Take a look at Aplos. We use it at our church and it works very well.
Thanks, Larry. I’ve heard good things about Aplos and will give it a try.