Straight answers for nonprofit teams evaluating NP Ledger.
No hedging, no jargon. Here's what you need to know before moving off QuickBooks, Xero, Sage, freeware, or spreadsheets.
Should we switch at all, and if so, is NP Ledger the right fit?
01
Who built NP Ledger, and why does that matter?
Built by an active 501(c)(3) treasurer for the nonprofit he runs — and used in production since 2022.
NP Ledger is a product of 70Ware LLC. Its founder, Steve Raschke, runs Travler, Inc. — a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that supports sustainability projects with technology — and has been keeping its books since 2017. Travler has run those books on NP Ledger since 2022. That four-year track record on a real organization's general ledger shapes every part of the product: fund accounting native to the ledger, restricted funds enforced at the posting layer, 990 prep that doesn't mean a January scramble.
70Ware is a focused company, not a sprawling platform — which is the point. NP Ledger is hosted on Google Cloud with daily backups and continuous monitoring, and a full export of your data is included on every plan, so you're never locked in. And because the company is quality and service-oriented, the people who design the workflows you use are the people who answer your support questions.
02
Why wouldn't we just stay on QuickBooks and keep using workarounds?
QuickBooks wasn't designed for nonprofit accounting.
It doesn't natively support fund accounting, 990 preparation, grant tracking, or donor giving statements — so nonprofits end up building those workflows in spreadsheets. NP Ledger has all of that built in:
- Fund accounting with restriction enforcement
- 990 preparation with schedule helpers
- Grant tracking and budget-vs-actual
- Year-end donor giving statements
Less manual work, cleaner books at year-end — and NP Ledger starts at $29/mo, which is 57-75% less than QuickBooks Plus.
03
We've been using spreadsheets and it's been working fine. Do we really need accounting software?
Spreadsheets work until they don't — and the moment usually comes fast.
Most nonprofits outgrow spreadsheets at a specific trigger: their first independent audit, their first grant with compliance reporting, or the month transaction volume makes manual tracking unsustainable. When that moment hits, you need real fund accounting — not a retroactive scramble.
NP Ledger starts at $29/mo and gives you what spreadsheets can't:
- An audit trail — who changed what, when
- Fund restriction enforcement — spreadsheets can't prevent restricted fund misuse
- GAAP-compliant financial reports on demand
- 990 preparation built into the books
The spreadsheet import tool means your existing data comes with you.
04
Is NP Ledger actually built for nonprofits, or is it generic accounting software with nonprofit labels?
Built for nonprofits from the ground up.
Fund accounting is native to the ledger — not a bolt-on. The entire product is organized around how nonprofits actually work:
- Fund tracking and restriction releases
- Program and project accounting
- 990 preparation and donor giving statements
- In-kind contributions handling and grant reporting
05
Can NP Ledger handle restricted and unrestricted funds correctly?
Yes — with restriction enforcement at the posting layer.
NP Ledger supports general, restricted, board-designated, and in-kind contribution funds in the same ledger. Every transaction ties to a fund, and you get fund balances, fund-level reporting, and restriction release entries out of the box.
What makes it different: NP Ledger enforces restrictions when transactions are posted — you can't accidentally spend restricted money on unrestricted expenses. No other product under $200/mo does this.
06
Can it track grants, programs, and projects without spreadsheets?
Yes — without spreadsheets.
Programs, projects, and grants each have dedicated tracking built in:
- Budget-versus-actual reporting
- Project fund summaries
- Grant dashboard with color-coded progress
The only area you might still use a spreadsheet is funder-specific narrative reporting. Competitors like Aplos gate budget-by-fund to their $229/mo tier — NP Ledger includes it at $59/mo.
07
How does NP Ledger's pricing compare to QuickBooks, Aplos, and other nonprofit tools?
Significantly less — at every tier, with more nonprofit features included.
NP Ledger includes fund accounting on every tier. QuickBooks doesn't have fund accounting at any price. Aplos gates budget-by-fund to their $229/mo plan — NP Ledger includes it at $59/mo. And features like Voice Entry, Receipt Scanning, context-aware AI Help, and full Form 990 support don't exist in any competing product at any price point.
08
How hard is it to move to NP Ledger from QuickBooks, Aplos, spreadsheets, or another accounting tool?
NP Ledger walks you through it.
- Guided onboarding wizard
- Nonprofit chart-of-accounts templates
- CSV and spreadsheet imports
- Opening balance wizard with validation
You'll still want to review imported data before going live — that's true of any accounting migration.
09
Would NP Ledger save our team time quickly enough to justify switching?
Most teams see time savings within the first month.
Quick Entry, bank imports, reconciliation workflows, recurring transactions, AI Help, Voice Entry, and built-in nonprofit reporting replace the manual workarounds and year-end catch-up that eat hours today. The more workarounds you currently rely on, the bigger the gain.
Every one of these tools produces standard double-entry transactions underneath, saving time without compromising standard accounting methodology. Bookkeepers who prefer traditional journal entry can use that method directly.
10
Can a founder, volunteer treasurer, or part-time bookkeeper actually use it without deep accounting expertise?
Yes — that's exactly who it's designed for.
- Guided workflows tell you what to do next
- Quick Entry handles common transactions without journal entry knowledge
- AI Help explains accounting concepts in plain language
- Voice Entry lets you describe a transaction and have the form filled
It's real double-entry accounting underneath, so an occasional review with an accountant is still good practice.
11
Will NP Ledger still fit if our nonprofit gets more complex over time?
Yes — it scales with you.
First grant? Add a project and track budget-vs-actual. Hired a bookkeeper? Add them with member-level access. Multiple programs? Each gets its own reporting. Growing from a two-person team to a multi-program organization with an outside accountant — NP Ledger handles both, across three plan tiers.
12
Does NP Ledger support invoicing or accounts payable?
Accounts payable: yes, on Standard+.
Enter bills, approve them, record full or partial payments, and track what's owed with an AP Aging report. Quick Entry and Voice Entry both accept bill entries.
Invoicing: not yet.
NP Ledger is built for donation-driven nonprofits. Fee-for-service revenue can be recorded via Quick Entry or journal entries today.
What will bookkeeping actually feel like after the switch?
13
What does entering a transaction actually look like in NP Ledger?
Choose what happened — NP Ledger handles the accounting.
Quick Entry gives you four plain-language actions: "I paid a bill," "I received a donation," "I made a sale," and "I received an in-kind contribution." Pick one, fill in the details, and NP Ledger creates the correct journal entry behind the scenes. No debits, no credits, no GL codes required. All tiers
Voice Entry takes it further — speak the transaction naturally ("Received $500 from Jane Smith for the building fund") and NP Ledger extracts the fields and prefills the form. You review, adjust if needed, and post. Standard+
Receipt Scanning extends this to photos — photograph a receipt with your phone, and NP Ledger extracts the vendor, amount, date, and category using AI vision. The form is prefilled just like Voice Entry, and the receipt photo is automatically attached to the transaction for audit trail. Standard+
Prefer traditional accounting? NP Ledger also supports standard double-entry journal entries — full debit/credit control, GL code selection, and multi-line entries that keep the accounting equation in balance. Quick Entry, Voice Entry, and Receipt Scanning are time-saving shortcuts built on top of that foundation, not replacements for it.
No competitor offers these shortcuts at any price point — and no competitor builds them on top of real double-entry accounting the way NP Ledger does.
14
Does NP Ledger include AI features, and are they actually useful for bookkeeping?
Yes — practical time-savers, not gimmicks.
- AI Help explains concepts, walks you through tasks, and answers questions about your actual books — not generic advice Standard+
- Voice Entry lets you speak a transaction and have the form prefilled automatically Standard+
- Receipt Scanning photographs a receipt and extracts vendor, amount, date, and category — the receipt photo is auto-attached to the transaction Standard+
These features layer on top of NP Ledger's standard double-entry accounting engine — they speed up the work without replacing the methodology your accountant expects. No other nonprofit accounting product offers context-aware AI at any price.
15
Is voice entry genuinely practical for nonprofit bookkeeping, or does it create more cleanup than it saves?
It saves time.
Voice Entry captures what you say, extracts accounting fields — date, amount, accounts, fund, program, contact — and prefills the transaction form. You review the prefilled form and post. It's faster drafting, designed so you move quickly without skipping the check.
16
How do bank imports and reconciliation work?
Import, match, reconcile — all built in.
- Live bank feeds from 7,000+ U.S. banks (Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, PNC, Capital One) plus Mercury Standard+
- OFX, QFX, QBO, and CSV file import from any bank All tiers
- PayPal, Venmo, and Stripe connectors Standard+
- Auto-matching reconciliation with inline adjusting entries Standard+
17
What does NP Ledger do to make month-end easier in practice, not just in marketing copy?
Fund activity stays organized as you go — instead of being reconstructed at month-end.
Bank imports, reconciliation workflows, recurring transactions, Quick Entry, and nonprofit-specific reporting keep things current throughout the month. The result is less cleanup time and board-ready reports on demand.
18
Can our outside accountant or bookkeeper work in NP Ledger, and can we control who sees or changes what?
Yes — with five role levels including a dedicated Accountant role.
NP Ledger has five access levels — owner, admin, accountant, member, and viewer. The Accountant role is purpose-built for external CPAs and bookkeepers: full read access to financial data, the ability to post adjusting entries and edit 990 filings, plus access to the audit log and data exports — without access to org settings, billing, or user management.
Accountants also get a dedicated CPA Dashboard showing trial balance, fund balances, 990 filing status, and recent adjusting entries — everything they need in one view. Standard+
19
Will our outside accountant actually be comfortable working in NP Ledger, or will they push us back to something else?
NP Ledger gives CPAs the tools they already expect, plus features that save them time.
Accountants get the foundations they rely on in any professional system:
- Standard general ledger and trial balance
- Full audit trail and reconciliation workflows
- Period-close controls
- GAAP-compliant nonprofit financial statements
- Dedicated CPA Dashboard with trial balance, fund balances, and 990 status
- One-click audit-ready export (PBC package) with trial balance, GL, financial statements, reconciliations, and 990 worksheet Standard+
Invite your accountant with the Accountant role and they'll have a focused view of exactly what they need — no navigating the full app.
20
Can NP Ledger handle donations, donor statements, and in-kind gifts?
Yes — contributions are a first-class workflow.
- Donation receipts and supporter history All tiers
- Year-end giving statements with IRS-compliant disclosures Standard+
- In-kind contribution tracking with 15 default categories, Independent Sector volunteer hour rates, and ASU 2020-07 compliance Standard+
- Stripe webhook automation — donations become accounting records matched to the right fund automatically Professional
NP Ledger handles the accounting side of contributions — for fundraising campaigns and donor cultivation, pair it with your preferred CRM.
Can we trust it with reporting, year-end work, and long-term use?
21
What reports can we produce for our board, funders, and auditors?
The full suite of nonprofit financial reports.
CSV export on every tier. PDF export on Standard and Professional.
22
Does NP Ledger help with Form 990 and year-end compliance?
Yes — 990-N through full 990, with more depth than any competitor under $200/mo.
- 990-N and 990-EZ workflows Starter
- Full 990 with account mapping, worksheet export, and filing status Standard+
- Schedule helpers for A, B, G, J, M, and O Standard+
NP Ledger organizes your 990 data throughout the year so filing prep is straightforward — your tax preparer handles the actual e-filing. QuickBooks has no 990 support at any price. Aplos stops at 990-EZ.
23
Does NP Ledger reduce year-end stress in a meaningful way, or does it just move the work around?
Year-end gets easier because the work stays current throughout the year.
Fund tracking, donation records, in-kind contributions handling, and 990 data are maintained as you go — instead of being reconstructed in January. Less scrambling, cleaner books, and fewer surprises at filing time.
24
How secure is our financial data, and is there an audit trail?
Built for financial data from day one.
- Google OAuth and two-factor authentication
- Role-based permissions and audit logging
- Posted transactions are immutable — once posted, they can't be silently edited or deleted
- Period closing and private document storage on Google Cloud with daily backups
25
How long does setup take, and what does onboarding look like?
Most small nonprofits are entering transactions in the first session.
A guided wizard walks you through:
- Organization setup and chart of accounts (with nonprofit templates)
- Fund configuration and contacts
- Spreadsheet imports and opening balances
Bringing over years of historical data takes longer, but the import tools do the heavy lifting.
26
If we ever leave NP Ledger, can we export all of our data?
Yes — your data is always yours.
Every plan includes a full organization export — chart of accounts, transactions, contacts, funds, projects, bank accounts, in-kind contribution categories, and fixed assets — as a bundled CSV download. All Plans
We believe data portability is a right, not a premium feature. You can export everything at any time, on any plan.
27
How is pricing structured, and what do we get at each plan level?
Three tiers, all with fund accounting included.
Annual billing saves on every tier.
28
Does NP Ledger integrate with online donations, payment tools, or other systems we already use?
Yes — and the integration list is growing.
- OFX, QFX, QBO file imports All tiers
- Live bank feeds for 7,000+ U.S. banks plus Mercury; PayPal, Venmo, Stripe connectors Standard+
- Donorbox, Givebutter, and PayPal donation webhooks Standard+
- Stripe webhook automation with fund-matching rules Professional
- Gusto GL Mapper and Patriot IIF payroll imports Standard+
- Tax1099.com CSV export for contractor 1099s All tiers
More API integrations are on the roadmap. Use NP Ledger alongside whatever you already have for fundraising, payroll, and donor management.
29
What doesn't NP Ledger do?
We'd rather do one thing exceptionally well.
NP Ledger's mission is to be the best nonprofit accounting software — full-featured, purpose-built, and priced for organizations that put every dollar toward their mission. That focus means we don't try to be everything:
- No payroll processing — but Gusto GL Mapper and Patriot IIF exports auto-import as balanced payroll journal entries, with a "Record Payroll" Quick Entry action for manual runs Standard+
- No donor CRM or fundraising pages — pair with Stripe, Zeffy, Givebutter, or similar
- No native mobile app — the responsive web app works on any device
- No direct 990 e-filing — NP Ledger prepares the data; your tax preparer files
Nonprofits are better served by focused tools that work well together than by all-in-one platforms that do everything adequately.
Still comparing options?
Review the feature set, compare plan levels, and decide whether NP Ledger fits the way your nonprofit actually keeps books.
Still have a question we didn't cover?
hello@npledger.com