The way we work is evolving rapidly. Remote working is becoming the norm and asynchronous working is on the rise, too. If staff are working on the same projects from different locations, at different times, how do charities actually get stuff done?

There are a bunch of different tools on the market to support remote working, with new ones popping up all the time. From comms tools to digital payments to virtual event management, there are so many options!

For project management software specifically, there are a number of factors to take into account when trying to choose a tool that will work for you: functionality, ease of use and of course, price. 

The best project management tools

ASANA

Best for project management in small charities.

Asana allows you to set and track strategic goals, input tasks (and attach files or assets), assign them to different team members, create forms and other templates, build in approvals processes and automate to save time.

You can view the progress of your project by laying it out as a timeline, board, gantt chart, or list. There is even a Kanban board for those using Agile project management. 

Asana also has over 100 free integrations with other apps including Microsoft Teams, Slack, Outlook, Salesforce, Google Drive, and Gmail. 

The free version accommodates teams of up to 15 people and unlimited projects. From £11.59 per user, per month, you can increase the number of team members and add additional functionality like private projects, forms, timeline view, reporting and more.

TRELLO

Best for ease of use.

In Trello, you can create basic projects as boards with lists for different topics and cards for each task. Tasks can be labelled and files or assets uploaded to them. By using power ups or the upgraded version of the app you can access different views including calendar and timeline. 

To support project managers, Trello has also released a ‘workspace’ function which allows you to track tasks across multiple projects with sorting and filtering functions.

Trello has very few integrations as standard, but can be integrated with lots of other apps via their ‘power ups’ system including Gmail, Microsoft Teams, and Slack.

The free version of Trello includes up to ten boards and one power-up per board. For $12.50 (£9 approx) per user, per month you can upgrade to business class, which includes unlimited boards and power ups, advanced checklists and the various views.

MONDAY.COM

Best for large charities managing multiple projects across teams

Monday.com has lots of built-in project management functionality and is intuitive to use. It has more than 200 template boards and 30 template column types to support different project goals.

You can also easily link boards working on connected projects. Monday has tried to make setting up automations and integrating with other apps really easy, too. For agile users, Monday includes a Kanban board view.

The free version of Monday provides very little of the functionality you will need to get the best out of the platform. Spending £9–14 per user, per month will allow you to access the range of functions needed to project manage across teams.

CLICKUP

Best for use with agile project management

ClickUp packs in a lot of functionality for a very reasonable cost. For $9 (£6 approx) per member, per month you can access everything the tool can do. Projects are organised into workspaces, boards, lists, and tasks, and with the paid version storage space is unlimited.

The software includes a group of functions specifically developed for agile project management including an agile board view, scrum points and sprints. However, it has a bigger learning curve for new users than some of the other tools.

ClickUp has a number of native integrations as standard, including Slack, One Drive, Outlook, and Zoom.

MICROSOFT PLANNER

Best for Microsoft 365 users

If you have a Microsoft 365 licence and use agile project management, Microsoft Planner is a great option. It is included in the Microsoft 365 suite of products and designed to create the Kanban boards used in agile. It has simple views including the standard board view, a charts view for reporting and a schedule view.

It is integrated with the other Microsoft 365 apps, so you can organise meetings, send emails, create and store files within the Planner system using Outlook, Word, and Excel. If you are already using Teams to organise your tasks, Planner will integrate your tasks into your Teams to-do list.

Whichever tool you decide to use, it’s a good idea to plan lots of training and support to help everyone get comfortable with this new way of working.