The latest Charity CRM Survey from Fundraising Magazine and Charity Finance offers an interesting snapshot of how charities are approaching CRM, compliance, AI and digital transformation in 2026 and it’s encouraging to see open source technology continuing to perform strongly across the sector.

With more than 400 charity respondents, the survey highlights a growing demand for CRM platforms that are flexible, adaptable and capable of supporting increasingly complex organisational needs.

Strong Results for CiviCRM

This year’s findings showed CiviCRM performing particularly well in a number of key areas.

  • 4.6/5 for cost effectiveness
  • 4.1/5 overall CRM satisfaction
  • 4.1/5 for customisation
  • 4.1/5 for security
  • 87% supplier recommendation score for Compuco

These results reinforce something we see consistently across the sector: charities increasingly value technology that gives them flexibility, ownership and long-term sustainability.

CRM Is Becoming Mission-Critical

One of the strongest themes running throughout the survey was the growing strategic importance of CRM systems.

As charities face rising operational pressure, increasing compliance expectations and rapidly evolving AI technologies, CRM platforms are no longer simply fundraising databases, they are becoming the operational backbone of organisations.

Our very own Jamie Novick, CEO of Compuco, reflected on this shift in the article:

“In this environment, a well-implemented CRM has gone from being important to completely essential.”

The survey also explored changes to the UK’s new “charitable purpose soft opt-in” rules and the increasing importance of good data governance.

Jamie noted that while the changes create new opportunities for charities to engage supporters, success depends on having strong systems and processes in place:

“It is not a silver bullet, and to benefit, charities need strong data governance.”

The Rise of Flexible, Connected Platforms

Another clear takeaway from the survey is that charities increasingly expect their CRM to integrate seamlessly with the wider digital ecosystem.

AI, automation, supporter journeys, reporting, portals and communications are all becoming more interconnected and organisations need platforms capable of evolving alongside those needs.

Open source platforms like CiviCRM are particularly well positioned for this shift because they allow organisations to adapt and extend their systems over time, rather than being locked into rigid structures or vendor limitations.

As the survey suggests, the future of CRM is likely to be defined less by standalone databases and more by connected, intelligent systems that help charities operate more efficiently and build stronger supporter relationships.

Looking Ahead

The pace of change across the charity technology sector continues to accelerate. From AI-powered workflows to evolving fundraising regulation, charities are navigating an increasingly complex environment.

But one thing remains clear from this year’s survey: organisations continue to place high value on flexible, mission-focused technology that helps them adapt, scale and deliver impact.

For the wider CiviCRM community, these results are another strong indication that open-source technology continues to play an important role in the future of the sector.

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Download and read the full survery here.