Bring this to your evaluation meetings. Score each item 0, 1, or 2. The provider with the highest score is rarely the cheapest, and almost always the right answer.
Feature scope
- Unlimited domestic calling on every plan
- Business SMS, with at least 100 segments per user per month
- HD video meetings with at least 100 participants
- Call recording with searchable transcripts
- AI noise cancellation
- Automatic call routing and call queues
- Auto-attendant editable by non-technical staff
- Voicemail-to-email and voicemail-to-text
- Mobile and desktop softphone apps
- Integrations with your CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, Bloomerang, etc.)
Security and compliance
- Encryption in transit and at rest
- SSO and MFA support
- SOC 2 Type II report available on request
- HIPAA-eligible if you handle health information
- Data center redundancy with documented failover
- Configurable data retention for recordings and messages
Migration and onboarding
- Free number porting
- Dedicated project manager assigned to your migration
- Live training for staff included
- Live training session for volunteers included
- On-demand training library accessible after launch
- Documented cutover plan with rollback option
Support
- 24/7 phone support, not just chat or tickets
- Named escalation contact for critical issues
- Response time SLAs in writing
- Self-service knowledge base with current screenshots
- Quarterly check-in with a real human, not a bot
Pricing structure
- Per-user pricing, not per-line
- Nonprofit discount applied transparently to base rate
- Month-to-month billing available without penalty
- Annual billing option with at most 33% lift over monthly
- Free trial period (typically 14 days)
- No fees for adding or removing users at renewal
Operational fit
- Multi-site routing without per-site setup costs
- Configurable hours and after-hours behavior
- Hot desking if multiple staff share one workstation
- Cost center reporting if you need to allocate by program
- Custom roles and permissions for sensitive operations
The honest tiebreaker
If two providers tie on the checklist, the deciding factor should be: which sales rep took the time to actually understand your nonprofit? The platforms are very similar. The partnership is not. Choose the team that asked smart questions about your fundraising calendar, your volunteer flow, and your program work, not the one who asked which competitor you were evaluating.
