Benevolate review (2026)
McKinney, Texas-based CRM and operations platform sold to nonprofits, museums and synagogues, whose synagogue edition covers membership, dues, yahrzeits, school, events, a member portal and QuickBooks journal sync.
Quick facts
- Published price
- Quote-based: monthly core platform fee + a per-transaction fee on every payment except checks; premium modules priced separately
- Setup / onboarding
- Implementation scoped per organization (data migration, configuration, training, payment setup, go-live support); no amounts published.
- Payment processing
- Stripe. /pricing states '2.2% + $0.30' for the nonprofit edition and says synagogue rates are 'in the quote'. The sample ledger on /feature/payments shows ~2.9-3.0% on card and $0.00 on ACH, which is illustrative, not a published rate. Who bears the fee is not stated.
- Target size
- Not stated.
- Region
- US; Texas HQ.
- Company
- 7300 State Highway 121, Suite 300, McKinney, TX 75070 (per /synagogues) · since Not stated. /synagogues says 'two and a half years inside how synagogues actually run'. benevolate.com has Wayback captures back to 2008 but earlier content was not inspected, so domain age is not a founding signal.
Score: 63.0/100
Computed by the published rubric from the feature evidence below. 85% of feature fields verified.
Documented strengths
- Genuine accounting mapping (category -> COA -> deposit bank) with QuickBooks journal sync
- API access included in Core; both email and SMS on household lists
- Security page is candid about SOC 2 status rather than claiming it
- Visible in the synagogue-executive market (NAASE 2026 Platinum sponsor)
Documented limitations
- No published synagogue prices; everything is a quote
- Thin synagogue track record by its own account (four synagogues worked with directly)
- Hebrew calendar, honors/aliyot and a mobile app are not mentioned
- SOC 2 report not yet issued; no third-party reviews
Our take
Benevolate is a Texas CRM company that serves several nonprofit verticals and has built a synagogue edition: membership and dues, yahrzeits and lifecycle events, religious school and preschool modules, cemetery, events, a member portal, email and SMS, API access and a QuickBooks journal sync, with website hosting as a premium module. It sponsors the synagogue administrators' association and, by its own account, has spoken with dozens of congregations and works directly with four.
Everything is a quote: a monthly core fee plus a per-transaction fee, with premium modules on top. The only published rate is Stripe's nonprofit card rate. That makes Benevolate impossible to budget from the website and costs it transparency points, but the documented scope is broad for a congregation that wants a general CRM with Jewish-specific records rather than a product built only for shuls. Hebrew calendar handling, honors and a mobile app are not mentioned, and the company reports that its SOC 2 report is not yet issued.
Benevolate pricing
| Plan | Monthly | Annualized | Limit | Includes | Excludes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Synagogue Core (custom quote) | — | — | Not stated; quote depends on number of households, modules, implementation needs, migration complexity and website requirements | CRM, membership, donations, payments, forms, events, member portal, reporting, API access, yahrzeits, lifecycle, facilities | Premium modules (Religious School, Preschool, Cemetery, Website hosting); transaction fees |
Pricing model: Quote-based: monthly Core platform fee + a per-transaction fee on every payment except checks; Premium modules priced separately. Terms: Not stated.. No dollar figure is published for the synagogue Core fee or Premium modules. Source: https://benevolate.com/pricing, checked 2026-10-12 (vendor-page). Prices exclude payment-processing fees unless stated.
Feature coverage, with evidence
"Yes" means we found the capability described on a vendor page (linked). "Partial" means limited, add-on or third-party. "Not verified" means we could not find it documented; it may exist. Ask the vendor.
| Capability | Status | Notes and evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Membership & household records | Yes | 'Households and history'; relationships tied to people. source |
| Yahrzeit tracking & reminders | Yes | Yahrzeits listed in synagogue Core; /synagogues: 'Yahrzeit, cemetery, and lifecycle' module. source |
| Hebrew calendar integration | Not verified | Not mentioned; Hebrew-date conversion for yahrzeits not described. source |
| Dues, billing & receivables | Yes | 'Dues, invoices, payments, open balances'; staff see 'which households still have a balance'. source |
| Online payments | Yes | Stripe card and ACH; recurring payments. source |
| Donations, pledges & campaigns | Partial | Gifts post to funds, GL and households; annual campaign category shown; pledges not described on pages read. source |
| General ledger / fund accounting | Partial | Each revenue category maps to a chart-of-accounts line and deposit bank; journal export. Not positioned as a full GL. source |
| QuickBooks integration | Yes | Journal sync posts journal entries, invoices and deposits to mapped QuickBooks banks incl. Undeposited Funds clearance. source |
| Religious school management | Yes | Premium module: enrollment, attendance, billing, family communication; Jacksonville Jewish Center case. source |
| Events & registration | Yes | Tickets, RSVPs, volunteers, QR check-in. source |
| High Holiday seating | Partial | 'Registration, seats, and the household that reserved them stay together'; High Holiday seating per se not named. source |
| Honors, aliyot & gabbai tools | Not verified | Not mentioned. source |
| Cemetery management | Yes | Cemetery is a Premium module; lifecycle module holds 'dates and rituals'. source |
| Website / CMS | Partial | Website hosting is a Premium module; CMS depth not described on pages read. source |
| Email & newsletters | Yes | Email campaigns and newsletters using household lists. source |
| SMS / texting | Yes | Homepage: SMS 'using the same household lists'. source |
| Member self-service portal | Yes | 'A portal on the same record'. source |
| Mobile app | Not verified | No native app mentioned. source |
| API / data export | Yes | 'API access' in synagogue Core; detailed journal CSV export. source |
| Automation & workflows | Partial | 'AI & automation' page and 'Ask Benevolate' query feature linked; details not read. source |
Migration
Documented import sources: Spreadsheet/CSV exports (examples: Members.csv, Gifts.xlsx, 'last year's events'), Homepage describes an 'Atlas' import with duplicate review, field mapping and validation; no legacy systems named.
Assistance: Dedicated Benevolate lead; Mapping -> Setup -> Migration -> Training -> Launch; 30-day check-in, then quarterly calls, with ongoing support 'during the first two years'.
Fees: Included in the per-organization implementation scope; no amounts published.
source
Support & security
Channels: dedicated implementation lead, contact form, demo scheduling. Hours: Not stated.. Training: Staff trained before launch; format and length not described.. source
Security: SOC 2 controls 'Ready', report 'Not yet issued'; Stripe is PCI DSS Level 1 (Benevolate states this does not make it PCI certified; it does not store full card numbers); HTTPS; retained payment references encrypted AES-256-GCM; salted password hashes; optional authenticator-app MFA; role-based access; internal pen test completed, independent certification pending; hosting provider unnamed; backups not mentioned. source
What independent sources say
Individual experiences, not survey data. Review platforms are sparse in this niche; treat counts under 20 as anecdotes.
- none found. No Capterra, G2 or forum reviews located on 2026-10-12. source
Questions to ask Benevolate before you sign
- Actual Core monthly fee and transaction percentage for synagogues
- Founding year and funding
- Whether yahrzeit handling converts Hebrew dates
- Dedicated High Holiday seating
- Origin of the 'benevolate vs shulcloud' query: no comparison content exists on either site
Alternatives to Benevolate
| Product | Published price | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easyshul | Standard (congregations with more than 150 families) $349/mo | 80.5/100 | compare |
| ShulCloud | Standard ('ShulCloud without Financials') $161.99/mo; Premium ('ShulCloud with Financials') $313.99/mo; Enterprise ('The Complete ShulCloud') $464.99/mo; Small-shul Premium rate (signup checkbox) $97.99/mo | 78.5/100 | compare |
| Rakefet Online | RakefetOnline-CRM Annual - NEW USERS (year 1) $149/mo; RakefetOnline-CRM Annual - EXISTING USERS $90/mo | 78.0/100 | compare |
| MyShul | Standard $179/mo; Premium $310/mo; Enterprise ('most popular') $460/mo | 75.0/100 | compare |
Frequently asked questions
How much does Benevolate cost for a synagogue?
Not published. The vendor quotes a monthly core fee plus a per-transaction fee based on households, modules, migration and website needs. Ask for a written quote itemizing all three.
Sources
- https://benevolate.com/
- https://benevolate.com/pricing
- https://benevolate.com/synagogues
- https://benevolate.com/about
- https://benevolate.com/security
- https://benevolate.com/implementation
- https://benevolate.com/customers
- https://benevolate.com/feature/payments
- https://naase.org/2026-conference-partners/
- https://integrations.doublethedonation.com/benevolate
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