Microsoft is retiring its own nonprofit CRM. Fundraising & Engagement, the purpose-built module inside Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit, will be permanently retired on 31 December 2026. For Norwegian nonprofits and membership organisations that run their donor and giving data on it, that turns an earlier strategic decision into a concrete project deadline.
The good news: this does not have to mean a rip-and-replace. The data already lives on Dataverse, the same foundation Dynamics 365 runs on, and there is a controlled, staged transition. This article lays out what is happening, why, the options, and what can still be done now that under three months remain.
What is actually happening, and when?
Short answer: Microsoft announced on 15 July 2024 that Fundraising & Engagement will be retired on 31 December 2026. Until then Microsoft provides support and addresses critical security issues, but delivers no product enhancements. From 1 January 2027 there are no security updates or technical support. If you have not started by now, in October, a responsible switch before New Year is unlikely for most organisations. Our advice is to use the autumn for mapping and choosing a path, avoid changes in the middle of giving season, deliver the 2026 gift information from your current solution by the Norwegian Tax Administration's deadline of 20 January 2027 if you are in the deduction scheme, and plan go-live in the first half of 2027. In the meantime, keep risk down by stopping new dependencies, tightening access and setting an end date. The data lives in Dataverse, the same foundation Dynamics 365 runs on, and can be carried forward.
Fundraising & Engagement is the donor and giving module within Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit. It is the piece many organisations adopted to manage donations, campaigns, recurring giving and gift receipting on the Microsoft stack. The retirement date is firm and documented in Microsoft's own Fundraising and Engagement guidance and across its partner network.
The system will not stop working overnight on 1 January 2027. The risk is quieter than that: a system that is unsupported by Microsoft, holding donor records and payment information, with no security updates from Microsoft and no one there to call when something breaks. For an organisation under privacy and audit obligations, that is not a position to drift into.
Primary source: Microsoft announced the retirement on 15 July 2024 and describes the recommended paths forward in its official Fundraising and Engagement documentation.
Why is Microsoft retiring its own nonprofit CRM?
Short answer: Microsoft is stepping back from maintaining a first-party nonprofit CRM and leaning on its partner ecosystem instead. Rather than ship and support a nonprofit module itself, it wants partners and ISVs to build purpose-built solutions on top of Dynamics 365 and Dataverse.
This is a strategic refocus, not a withdrawal from the sector. The Microsoft platform underneath, Dynamics 365, Dataverse, Power Platform and Fabric, is still actively developed. What is going away is the specific, Microsoft-maintained fundraising module. The capability moves to the partner layer, where solutions can be tailored to how an organisation actually works.
For organisations that already invested in the Microsoft direction, the practical takeaway is reassuring: the foundation you chose was sound. The work now is to move the fundraising capability from a retiring module onto a configuration you and a partner control, rather than to abandon the platform.
What it means for Norwegian organisations on the solution
If your fundraising or membership operation runs on Fundraising & Engagement today, three things deserve attention now. None of them require panic, but all of them reward an early start.
1. Map what you actually use
Most organisations use a fraction of a system's features heavily and the rest barely at all. Knowing which giving flows, receipts, campaign structures and integrations are business-critical is what keeps the next step from becoming a like-for-like rebuild of things no one needs.
2. Protect the data
Donor history, recurring gifts, consent records and giving patterns are among an organisation's most valuable assets. Because the module sits on Dataverse, this data can be carried forward rather than re-entered. Confirming where it lives and how it maps to a new model early removes the biggest source of migration risk.
3. Decide on your own timeline
With under three months to the deadline, the lead time for a switch before New Year is used up for most organisations. What can still be done in 2026 is mapping, choosing a path and an approved plan, so the transition in 2027 can run as a normal project with proper change management and testing. We cover the timeline, the cost drivers and how to handle year-end and gift reporting in the article on what the migration costs.
"A platform retirement is rarely an IT problem first. It is a chance to ask which of yesterday's customisations the organisation still needs, and to carry forward only those."
Cartagena, based on CRM and Dynamics 365 projects across nonprofits, membership organisations and industry
Three paths forward, and how they differ
Short answer: for most organisations we see three practical main options. Stay on Dynamics with a partner-built nonprofit solution, stay on Dynamics with a configuration you and a partner build (including a custom Power Platform solution), or move off Microsoft to a platform such as Salesforce, Blackbaud or Bloomerang. The first two keep your foundation; the third is a full platform change. Other variants exist, but most decisions land in one of these three.
Partner-built solution on Dynamics 365
An ISV nonprofit or association solution built on Dynamics 365 and Dataverse. Fast to stand up, packaged features, less custom work. Best when your needs match a standard product.
Configure Dynamics 365 with a partner
A configuration of Dynamics 365 tailored to nonprofit use, built with a partner. Most flexibility over data model and process, integrates cleanly with finance and Power Platform. Best when the organisation has its own way of working.
Move off Microsoft
A non-Microsoft platform such as Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud, Blackbaud or Bloomerang. A genuine option, but the most work: new platform, new integrations, full data export, and retraining. Best when there are reasons to leave the Microsoft estate entirely.
For many organisations already on Microsoft, the honest comparison is between path 1 and path 2. Path 3 carries the cost and disruption of a full platform change on top of a migration that, on Dynamics, can be largely a re-modelling exercise. That does not make leaving wrong, but it should be a deliberate choice, not a reflex triggered by the retirement notice.
A transition without rip-and-replace
Because Fundraising & Engagement and Dynamics 365 share the Dataverse foundation, the move can be staged rather than done as a single high-risk switch. The pattern we favour keeps the organisation running throughout.
| Stage | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1. Map | Document the giving flows, integrations and reports that are genuinely in use, and decide what carries forward. |
| 2. Model | Design the donor and member data model on Dynamics 365 and Dataverse, reusing the existing data rather than re-keying it. |
| 3. Coexist | Run the new model alongside the current one for a period, validating data and processes before anyone depends on it. |
| 4. Go-live | Cut over deliberately, with people trained and reports verified. For most organisations starting now, that means the first half of 2027, after the 2026 gift reporting and annual statements have been sent. |
This is the same staged, coexistence logic we apply when an organisation moves off an older CRM or out of spreadsheets. It is also where the value of staying on the platform shows: the closer the destination is to the origin, the smaller the leap. A related read is our guide to moving from Excel into Dynamics 365, which uses the same principle.
Pattern: A typical situation we see in the nonprofit segment: an organisation with roughly 10,000 to 15,000 donors and a handful of recurring-giving and receipting flows on Fundraising & Engagement. Mapping usually shows that two or three flows carry almost all the volume, while a long tail of custom fields is barely touched. Re-modelling the active flows on Dynamics 365 and carrying the donor history over from Dataverse turns an intimidating "replace the whole system" into a focused project of a few months.
A finished domain solution or a platform: the deeper question to settle now
A forced migration is an expensive moment, but it is also a rare chance to ask a better question than "what replaces Fundraising & Engagement?" The better question is whether the organisation needs a dedicated giving tool, or a platform that carries giving, membership, finance, communication and insight on one foundation. We work through that trade-off in more depth in our article on membership system or CRM platform.
Ready-made domain solutions, a standalone giving or membership system, cover their area well but tend to live beside the rest of the organisation's data, requiring exports and reconciliations to see the whole picture. A platform approach on Dynamics 365 with Power Platform and Microsoft Fabric keeps donor and member data, finance integration, self-service and analytics on the same data foundation. For many membership organisations this is the real prize: the move from a register that records who is a member to insight about how members engage. We cover that shift in our piece on going from member register to member insight.
The same foundation is what makes advanced work possible later, from clean finance integration to advocacy and stakeholder tracking. For nonprofits whose mission includes influencing policy, the platform can also carry structured tracking of that work, an approach we describe in our article on the Political Compass for advocacy organisations.
Frequently asked questions about the Fundraising & Engagement retirement
When is Microsoft Fundraising & Engagement retiring?
Microsoft announced on 15 July 2024 that Fundraising & Engagement, the nonprofit CRM module in Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit, will be retired on 31 December 2026. Until then it can be used with security updates and support. From 1 January 2027 there are no further security updates or technical support. If you have not started, use the autumn for mapping and plan go-live in the first half of 2027.
What happens if we keep using it after 31 December 2026?
The solution will not stop working immediately, but it becomes an unsupported system with no security updates, bug fixes or help from Microsoft. For an organisation that manages donor data and payment information, that is a real privacy, operational and audit risk. If you cannot switch before the deadline, make the period short and bounded: stop new dependencies, tighten access, take a controlled extract of the donor history and set a go-live date on the new solution.
Do we have to switch to Salesforce?
No. Microsoft recommends planning a move to a solution built on Dynamics 365 and Dataverse, either through a partner solution or a tailored implementation. Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud, Blackbaud or Bloomerang are possible alternatives, but a platform change away from Microsoft is usually a larger and more expensive effort than staying on the Dynamics foundation you already have.
Can we keep our data?
Yes. Fundraising & Engagement is built on Dataverse, the same data service that underpins Dynamics 365. Donors, contacts, gifts and campaigns can be migrated to a new Dynamics-based model without discarding the history. That is a significant advantage of staying on the Microsoft platform rather than exporting everything to a wholly new system.
How long does a move to Dynamics 365 take?
It depends on data volume, the number of integrations and how customised the current setup is. Based on projects we have taken part in, a focused move for a mid-sized nonprofit typically runs three to six months from mapping to go-live. If you have not started by October 2026, it is safer to plan go-live in the first half of 2027 than to squeeze a switch into giving season.
What is the difference between a finished domain solution and a platform for nonprofits?
A ready-made domain solution, such as a standalone membership or fundraising system, covers its area well but often lives beside finance, communication and analytics. A platform such as Dynamics 365 with Power Platform and Fabric gathers donor and member data, finance integration, self-service and insight on one data foundation. The retirement of Fundraising & Engagement is a good moment to decide which of these the organisation actually needs.
Planning the move off Fundraising & Engagement?
We map which donor and giving flows are actually in use, what the data model looks like in Dataverse today, and what a staged move to Dynamics 365 would require. A mapping like this typically takes a few weeks, and gives the board a decision basis with real numbers and a realistic plan for the 2027 transition.
Sources
- Microsoft Learn: Fundraising and Engagement is being retired, support ends 31 December 2026
- Microsoft Learn: What is Microsoft Dataverse?
- Microsoft Learn: Power Platform licensing FAQs
- Microsoft Learn: The Dynamics 365 implementation guide (Success by Design)
Sources retrieved and checked 5 October 2026.