The Best Nonprofit Time Tracking Tools For Any Organization

“There’s nothing wrong with paper time sheets, they only take a few minutes to fill out!”

That’s what the Admin Coordinator at a small nonprofit I know used to tell me when I’d suggest using software instead.

Then one day she found a discrepancy in her reporting — one that threw off the whole month’s budget. It took three hours to find the right time sheet, and when she did, it turned out to be a simple manual entry error.

She’s switched to time tracking software now, and can’t believe she ever filled things out by hand.

If you’re looking for a better way to fill out time sheets, there are a number of easy-to-use (and free) time tracking software tools that can completely automate the process for you — everything from tracking volunteer hours, to assigning and tracking staff projects.

In this post I’ll cover the top features of open source time tracking software and eleven popular options used by nonprofits.

What is Time Tracking Software?

Time Tracking Software is a category of software that automates many time-management related tasks in an accurate and secure way. Common features include:

• Automated time tracking
• Time sheets
• Project assignment
• Employee clock-in/clock-out
• Shift scheduling
• Invoicing
• Expense tracking
• Calendar integration
• Comprehensive reports
• Mobile app

Below, I’ve put together a list of eleven popular time tracking software tools. I’ve sorted the list alphabetically and listed the prices and highlights of each tool to help you pick the best one for you. I also included a review from a nonprofit if I was able to find one online.

14 Time Management Software Tools Nonprofits Swear By

1) ClickTime

• Great for: Organizations looking to improve productivity
• Use it to: Understand the true costs of projects and programs
• Cost: $8 per user, per month

ClickTime makes it easy for nonprofits to plan, track, and manage employee hours and program budgets. ClickTime has a time tracking platform built specifically for nonprofits, which includes reports on funding sources, functional expenses, program costs, and more. ClickTime also offers time off tracking, expense tracking, and employee scheduling as additional features.

2) Harvest

• Great for: Easy to use timesheets
• Use it to: Track your time and send invoices
• Cost: Free for 1 person and 2 projects, paid plan starts at $12/month

I know a one Program Manage who’s made everyone at her organization install Harvest on their phones to track hours on the go. Harvest offers fast invoicing and payments, and expense tracking. Some of their features include time forecasting, online payments, and robust reporting.

3) Hours Tracker

• Great for: Keeping track of hours on the go
• Use it to: Track your hours through your phone (it’s a mobile app)
• Cost: Free basic version, Personal version starts at $7.99

Hours Tracker is a simple mobile app that allows you to clock in and out wherever you are. You can even enable the app to clock in and out for you based on your GPS location — when you arrive or leave your site of work.

4) Monitask

• Great for: Small and medium remote teams.
• Use it to: Track time, create tasks and monitor progress of your team
• Cost: $4.99 per user, per month

Monitask provides industry standard in time tracking and employee monitoring but with great discount for non-profits. Follow the link and contact support. Multi-language interface is great for international remote teams. Track time spend on tasks, some of other features include URL and app usage monitoring.

5) On the Clock

• Great for: Small teams
• Use it to: Track employee time
• Cost: Free for up to 3 users, $2.20/employee thereafter

On the Clock offers a simple employee time clock that allows employees to punch in and out from their phones, tablets, or computers. Employees can also request paid time off, which managers can them approve or deny. They also offer many other features like shift scheduling, exports to Excel, and 24/7/365 critical support.

6) ProofHub

• Great for: Large teams, international teams, or working with clients
• Use it to: Keep track of time spent on tasks to bill clients accurately
• Cost: $45/month

ProofHub is a comprehensive project management software that can also track the time your employees spend on tasks. Features include workflows and boards, Gantt charts, easy reporting, professionally designed project templates, and their interface comes in half a dozen different languages.

7) T Sheets

• Great for: International teams, or teams with travelling members
• Use it to: Streamline payroll, send invoices, track time
• Cost: Free for 1 user, premium version starts at $4/month

T Sheets is a comprehensive time tracking software that allows your employees to text, phone, tap, or even tweet in their hours. Features include clock in/out reminders, employee breaks, and overtime alerts. T Sheets also uses GPS location to see where on the map your employees are clocking in from.

8) Time Doctor

• Great for: International teams
• Use it for: tracking time and increasing productivity
• Cost: Free basic plan, premium version is $9.99/user/month

While primarily used for businesses, Time Doctor offers a multi-lingual interface, which many other time tracking software options don’t have. This makes it great for tracking hours and productivity of international teams. Some of their other features include chat monitoring, web and app usage,  and an open API.

9) TimeCamp

• Great for: Easy billable hours tracking
• Use it for: an all-in-one time management solution
• Cost: Free for 1 user, basic plan starts at $5.25/month

TimeCamp boasts a productivity increase of 30 minutes per employee and is used by over 10,000 teams around the world. Their specialty is in billable hours, employee tracking, and invoicing. They also have integration with a number of applications like 123ContactForm, Trello, Basecamp, and Google Calendar.

10) ToDoist

• Great for: Breaking down complex tasks and projects
• Use it to: Create organized to-do lists and access them from anywhere
• Cost: Free entry-level version, premium version is $29/year, 50% discount for nonprofits

Are you still writing your to-do list on a notepad? If so, ToDoist is a great solution for the listmakers among us.

Here’s how it works: Create a digital list. Label it. Add tasks, then check them off as you go. Done! Simple, right?

The real draw is that you can organize and make multiple lists (like a different list for each team, a new list of tasks each week, monthly goals, etc.). You can also access your lists from anywhere you have an Internet connection, add labels to your tasks to keep them organized, and delegate tasks to other people.

11) Toggl

• Great for: General Time Tracking
• Use it to: Track time spent on specific assignments or tasks
• Cost: Free for 30 days, packages start at $9/user/month

Toggl is one of the most common time-tracking softwares I see nonprofits using. Here’s how one Program Coordinator uses it to save time and manage her volunteers. Toggle also has a free extension for Google Chrome that adds a timer to your browser so you can track how long you’ve been doing something on the internet. Toggle then creates easy-to-view reports on how you’ve been spending your time.

12) Track it Forward

• Great for: Volunteer-run organizations
• Use it to: Track volunteer hours
• Cost: Free for up to 25 volunteers. Premium plans start at $15/month

Track it Forward is a comprehensive volunteer management system used by nonprofits all over the world including the International Society for Autism and John Hopkins University. Track it Forward also integrates with your website, can handle event sign-ups, and creates easy-to-read reports.

13) Tracking Time Chrome Extension

• Great for: Tracking personal projects and tasks
• Use it to: Add a time tracking extension onto your browser
• Cost: Free

Tracking Time is a great extension you can add to your Google Chrome browser. I know one nonprofit admin who swears by this tool because of how simple it is to setup and start tracking time.

14) WeWorked

• Great for: Monitoring time and expenses for grant applications
• Use it to: Crete staff, employee, and program timesheets
• Cost: $1.99/month for up to 3 users. Free timesheet templates available.

WeWorked is a comprehensive timesheet software program used by thousands of nonprofits around the world. They make it easy to track your hours and stay within budget. Plus they have easy to access reports that can help if your organization gets audited.

Bonus: If You’re A Membership-Based Organization, Use This Software to Save Time

WildApricot Membership Management Software

• Great for: Any type of association, club, or membership-based nonprofit
• Use it to: Automate most of your administrative work in database management, events, payments, website, and email communication
• Cost: Free basic plan, premium plan starts at $60/month. Free 60-day trial.

WildApricot is a type of membership management software, which is an all-in-one tool comprised of a website builder, online contact database, communications system, finance, and payment system, event platform, and more. While it doesn’t have time-tracking capabilities, it is a very powerful tool that can free up a lot of your time by automating many administrative processes. With WildApricot you can:

• Instantly process online payments, fees, and donations.
• Setup online event registration pages, payments, and reminders.
• Improve member communication through automated invoices, emails, and newsletters.
• Give you a professional, easy to build website where you can host a news section, notices, resources, member directory, an event calendar and more.
• Maintain a full contact database that’s easy to search, filter, and update.
• Provide you with financial reports, analytics, and membership summaries in seconds.
• Save your organization money and time by automating many more administrative tasks.

WildApricot is also the number one membership management platform used by over 20,000 organizations around the world. Sign up here to get your free 60-day trial.

“As a small non-profit and an all volunteer board, we do not have the capability to run our membership sign ups and training registrations, by hand. We now have automated payments, registrations, renewals and are able to communicate in an instant with our membership. It is also very nice to have all of this with a user-friendly website in one place!”

-DeeDee LeBaron, President, Oregon Employment and Training Association

And there you have it: eleven of the best time management tools I’ve seen used most effectively (plus a great time-saving tool for membership based organization). Hopefully, you’ll find these tools useful at your own nonprofit. All the best with better managing your time!

Additional Resources:

• 5 Must-Have Nonprofit Digital Marketing Tools (WildApricot.com)
• 10 Inexpensive (or Free) Nonprofit Marketing Tools That Create Stunning Visuals (WildApricot.com)
• The Ultimate Guide to Choosing Free Membership Management Software (WildApricot.com)
• The Big Reason Why You Need To Start Tracking Your Time (Forbes.com)
• The Exact Amount Of Time You Should Work Every Day (FastCompany.com)