Steve Andersen at One Northwest has written "Some observations On Nonprofit Software":

• Missions are serviced only by engaging constituents to action
• Engagement activities aren’t unique to nonprofits, so the tools aren’t either
• The best way to build software for nonprofits is to find tools that successfully addresses most of your needs and then add the nonprofit-specific functionality
• Software targeted at a larger market than nonprofits will improve faster than software specifically for the nonprofit market
• Software that has open Application Programming Interfaces makes the “build-on-top” model work
• There is a market for nonprofit-specific software that serves a defined function and is accessible via robust APIs