Board software for small nonprofits: an honest shortlist

A small nonprofit choosing board software should look at five products: Karma Compass, Boardable, BoardPro, BoardEffect and OnBoard. Before any of them, check whether the tools you already have are enough.

We make Karma Compass, so this list includes the cases where you shouldn't pick us. Everything about the other products comes from their own sites, read between 19 October and 12 November 2026.

First: do you need a portal?

A board of seven that meets quarterly, with one organized person keeping the files, can run on Google Drive or Microsoft 365. Both posts describe a setup and say where it stops working. The short list of signs: votes between meetings, action items nobody follows up, and directors who can't find the current version of anything.

The shortlist

Karma Compass

Pick it if your directors won't log in to another system. They RSVP, vote and open the packet from links in their email. Free is $0 with unlimited board members and four meetings a year. Pro is $99 a month for the whole board and adds agenda drafts, minutes drafted from your notes or a transcript, and playbooks that send reminders.

Don't pick it if your directors want a native mobile app, because there isn't one. Don't pick it if procurement needs a certification report before signing. We walk customers through our security on a call. And it doesn't connect to Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams meetings.

Boardable

Pick it if you want a nonprofit-focused portal with iOS and Android apps, e-signatures and committee workspaces. It is priced per user, from $20.99 a month billed annually, so the bill grows with the board. There is a 14-day trial.

BoardPro

Pick it if you want a per-board price and unlimited users. It starts at $1,650 a year, and not-for-profits may qualify for up to 40% off. It has mobile apps, and directors sign in to vote. BoardPro says 30,000 board members in Australia and New Zealand use it.

BoardEffect

Pick it if you want an established product backed by Diligent, with offline reading on iOS and a long list of compliance statements. Prices are quoted on request.

OnBoard

Pick it if you run several boards or need a portal your IT team can connect to Microsoft 365, which OnBoard includes on Premium and above. Prices are quoted on request, by plan and number of users.

What we left out, and why

• Diligent Boards is sold alongside a governance, risk and compliance platform and priced by quote.
• Govenda describes its customers as governance teams at private, pre-IPO and public companies.
• Aprio says its nonprofit plans start at 20 users.

Each can run a nonprofit board. They are aimed at larger organizations than the ones this list is for.

How to decide in an afternoon

1. Write down the two things that hurt most now. The two we hear about most are follow-up and finding documents.
2. Count who needs access, including staff and committee members who aren't directors.
3. Price each product for that number, using our pricing comparison.
4. Run one real meeting on a free plan or a trial before you sign for a year.

Sources

• Vendor pricing pages for Boardable, BoardPro, BoardEffect and OnBoard.
• Our side-by-side pages for Boardable, BoardPro, BoardEffect, OnBoard, Diligent, Govenda and Aprio list every page we read, with dates.