501(c) Organizations

Supporter and Contribution Tracking for 501(c) Organizations

Membership renewals go out in March, the advocacy appeal in May, and the PAC solicitation only to the people allowed to get it. Keep all three in one contact file with separate donation accounts, lists, and permissions.

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FundraiserMax Contacts list with Name, Org, Email, Phone, Location, and Total Donated columns and an Export Excel button

The Contacts screen in FundraiserMax, with the Org column. Real product, not a mockup.

How a trade association would run a program year

Hypothetical scenarios. No customer is described.

Membership director, renewal season in March

Renewal notices go out the first week of March to last year's members, and anyone who hasn't paid by the 31st gets a text.

  1. Contacts > tag each member record with the program year. Member companies go in as organization-type contacts, and each member's record names the company in its organization field.
  2. Lists > Create List > Smart List with the rules has tag member-2025 AND last gift date before January 1.
  3. Communication > Email > Templates > build the notice in the block designer with a merge tag for first name, then send it as a campaign to the list.
  4. Communication > SMS > a short follow-up text to the same list on April 1, from a provisioned number.

On screenRecipients, sent, opened, and clicked on the campaign row, and the Unsubscribes tab recording anyone who opted out.

Government affairs director, fly-in day in June

Members come to the capital on June 10 for a day of office visits and a reception that night, and the reception room holds a fixed number.

  1. Events > Create Event with the date, a capacity, and the ticket price left at zero.
  2. Paste the RSVP link into a Communication > Email campaign to the member list. Each RSVP is email-verified and carries a guest count.
  3. Flag the board members as VIP on the attendee list and put the offices they're visiting in the attendee notes.
  4. Check members in at the door, then log each debrief under Calls & Meetings > New Call/Meeting with an outcome and a follow-up date.

On screenThe attendee list with guest counts, VIP flags, and who checked in, and the follow-ups waiting on the Calls & Meetings list.

Finance staff, the connected PAC solicitation in September

The PAC solicits its restricted class in September, and its gifts can't be mixed in with the association's records.

  1. Campaigns > New Campaign for the PAC drive > Donation Accounts > New Account with the type set to PAC and the individual limit amount entered for reference.
  2. Settings > Users > set each user's level on the PAC campaign to No Access, view, edit, or manage.
  3. Lists > Create List > Smart List with the rule has tag restricted-class, then send the solicitation to that list from the PAC campaign.
  4. Financials > Search Records > filter by the PAC campaign > Export Report to Excel.

On screenPAC gifts on their own rows with the campaign and donation account named, a By Donation Account summary, and an Excel file with none of the association's gifts in it.

Executive director, board packet due the second Tuesday of October

The board wants the quarter by campaign and by fund, plus a current member list.

  1. Dashboard > the campaign summaries.
  2. Financials > Search Records > date range for the quarter > Export Report to PDF.
  3. Contacts > Export Excel for the member list with the Org and Total Donated columns, or ask the AI assistant for the top donors.

On screenOne PDF and one spreadsheet, with totals by campaign and by donation account.

How the pieces fit for a (c)(4) or (c)(6)

Contact Management

Individuals, organizations, and households as contact types, tags for member class and program year, and employer and occupation on each record.

Smart Segmentation

Restricted-class and lapsed-member lists as smart lists over tags and giving fields, with AND/OR rules that update as records change.

FundraiserMax Lists screen with All, Static, and Smart Lists tabs, a Create List button, and Name, Type, Contacts, Description, Created, and Campaign columns
The Lists screen, where the restricted-class list lives.

Campaign Finance

A donation account for the association and another typed PAC, each with a limit amount stored for reference, and every gift tied to one of them.

Email Marketing

Email campaigns and SMS from the same lists, with email unsubscribes honored across campaigns.

Event Management

Fly-ins and receptions with an RSVP page, capacity, guest counts, VIP flags, and check-in at the door.

Calls & Meetings

Member visits logged with an outcome and a follow-up date on the record.

Rules that shape the work

The (c) subsection sets what you can do. Counsel decides how it applies; here's what the product does and doesn't record.

A 501(c)(3) has to keep lobbying insubstantial, or elect the IRC 501(h) expenditure test. A (c)(4) or (c)(6) may lobby, and political campaign activity can't be a (c)(4)'s primary activity.
In the productCampaigns and tags keep an advocacy appeal's gifts apart from general support, and the Financials export shows which campaign each gift came through.
Not in the productFundraiserMax doesn't classify spending, count lobbying hours, or compute a political-activity share. It tracks who gave, to which campaign.
Gifts to most (c)(4), (c)(5), and (c)(6) organizations aren't deductible as charitable contributions, and IRC 6113 requires those organizations, above a gross-receipts threshold, to say so in every solicitation.
In the productThe disclosure goes into your templates like any other text, and thank-you-sent flags with dates record the acknowledgment.
Not in the productNo automatic disclosure insertion and no deductibility math.
A trade association's connected PAC may solicit only its restricted class, and needs each member corporation's approval for the year before soliciting that company's people (52 USC 30118(b)(4), 11 CFR 114.8).
In the productA PAC-type donation account, a smart list for the restricted class, a per-user permission level on the PAC campaign, and a tag or note on the member company for the approval.
Not in the productNo PAC filing output and no approval tracking beyond that tag or note. Export to Excel for whoever files.

What isn't here

  • No dues billing or renewals engine. A renewal is an email campaign to a list, and the payment is logged as a gift.
  • No lobbying expenditure or grassroots-contact counter.
  • No Form 990 or PAC report output. Exports go to Excel and PDF for whoever files.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can one account hold the association and its PAC?

Yes. Each campaign has its own donation accounts, typed general, PAC, super PAC, candidate, or nonprofit, and every gift is recorded against a campaign and one of those accounts. Filter Financials by the PAC campaign and the association's gifts stay out of the export. Settings > Users sets each user's level on the PAC campaign: No Access, view, edit, or manage.

Does it track lobbying activity?

No. FundraiserMax records who gave, how much, when, and to which campaign. If you tag the advocacy appeal's donors and run it as its own campaign, the export separates that money from general support, which is the part your accountant needs. Hours, expenditures, and the political-activity share are yours to track elsewhere.

Can members be tagged by class or year?

Tags on the contact record take any text, so member-2025, board, or restricted-class all work. Smart lists use has tag and does not have tag as rules, combined with AND/OR over giving fields like last gift date and total given, and the Target screen filters on tags too. Member companies go in as organization-type contacts, and each member's record names the company in its organization field.

Does SMS work for member alerts?

With a provisioned number at $10 per month, Communication > SMS sends a message to any list, with no per-message charge. A renewal notice or a day-of note for the fly-in goes to the same list the email went to. The trial can't buy a number, so texting starts once the paid plan does.

What does a 501(c) organization pay?

$40 per user per month, or $425 per user per year, with unlimited contacts and no feature tiers. Add-ons are phone numbers at $10 per number per month, marketing email past 100 sends per account per month at $2 per 1,000, and email validation at $0.01 per address. During the 7-day trial you can import contacts, build segments, set up campaigns and events, and log calls; the card at checkout is charged on day 8.

Other organizations

Members, donors, and the PAC in one file, kept apart where they must be.

Tag the class, build the lists, run the renewal and the appeal, and export what the filer needs.$40 per user per month, 7-day free trial, no charge until day 8.

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