Power BI alternative for nonprofit reporting

Power BI is a capable tool with generous nonprofit pricing. This page sets out where it fits, where Filament is different, and who should stay where they are.

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At a glance

	Power BI	Filament
Price	Pro US$14 per user a month, billed yearly; US$4.20 for eligible nonprofits	Pro US$249 a month billed annually, with unlimited users
Sharing	A Pro or Premium licence for everyone who shares reports	Permissions for your whole team, plus public links, embeds and PDF reports
Building reports	Power BI Desktop, on Windows 10 or later	In the browser; ask for a dashboard and edit the SQL behind it
Connectors	A long Power Query list, including Salesforce, Excel and Google Analytics	50+ apps across fundraising, CRM, marketing and finance
Fundraising and finance	Raisely, Xero and Mailchimp aren't on the Power Query connector list	Connects Raisely, Xero, Mailchimp, Salesforce and Stripe
Apps not on the list	Build a custom connector, or update a spreadsheet by hand	Request an app; most are built within two weeks, for free
Data model	Your team builds and maintains the model	Data cleaned and modelled for you in a dedicated PostgreSQL warehouse
AI	Copilot with Microsoft Fabric capacity	Included in Pro, with 250 Filly messages a month and an MCP server

What Power BI does well

Power BI is a serious analytics tool. Power BI Desktop is a free download for building “advanced queries, models, and reports” and publishing them to the Power BI service (Microsoft Learn). Microsoft’s connector list for Power BI is long, and includes Salesforce, Excel, SharePoint, Google Analytics, Google Sheets and most common databases (Microsoft Learn).

The pricing is clear. Power BI Pro is US$14 per user per month, paid yearly, and Premium Per User is US$24 (Microsoft). Eligible nonprofits can get Power BI Pro for US$4.20 per user per month (Microsoft nonprofit offers).

Who should stay on Power BI

If your organisation runs on Microsoft 365, your main systems are on Microsoft’s connector list, and you have someone who knows Power BI and has time to maintain the data model, stay where you are. At the nonprofit price, 20 Pro users cost US$84 a month. That is very good value, and Filament won’t beat it on licence cost.

Where it gets harder for nonprofits

Reports are built in Power BI Desktop, which needs Windows 10 or later (Microsoft Learn). On the free account, Microsoft’s pricing page says to “Upgrade to Pro or Premium to share reports” (Microsoft), so everyone who builds or shares reports needs a licence.

Some systems nonprofits use, such as Raisely, Xero and Mailchimp, aren’t on Microsoft’s list of Power Query connectors (Microsoft Learn).

The bigger cost is often time. Power BI gives you a lot of control over the data model, and someone has to own that model: build it, fix it when a source changes, and answer the questions it can’t. In many nonprofits that is the data or CRM person, on top of their actual job.

Where Filament is different

Filament takes on the data side. It connects apps such as Raisely, Salesforce, Xero, Mailchimp, Stripe and Microsoft Dynamics 365, and keeps the data in a dedicated PostgreSQL warehouse for your organisation, isolated from other customers. You can choose to keep it in Australia, the EU or the US. Platform data and some processing may be outside that region.

You ask for a dashboard or a figure in plain English rather than building a model first. Answers show their working, with the methodology and SQL you can edit. Filament remembers your definitions, so “active donor” means the same thing next month. Threads let you follow a question into the detail when a number moves.

Dashboards become board-ready PDF reports, and every dashboard change is tracked and easy to revert. Pro includes unlimited users, so a board member or program manager doesn’t need their own licence to read a report. If you’d rather hand the work over, the Analyst plan adds a data analyst for dashboard development and analysis requests.

Sources

All checked 26 October 2026.

See the
whole picture.

Create dashboards with a prompt, build board-ready reports, and share your insights across your team.

Explore the demo dashboard

Beach Clean 2026 Key Metrics

Date range

Compared toPrevious year

Fundraiser state

Traffic channel

Campaign HealthFundraisersAcquisitionWebsite Traffic

Funds raised$118,050Goal: $245,000

Sign-ups19482% activation rate

Donations399Median gift: $100

Avg. donation$295.86Across the campaign

Funds raised vs target

$118,050 of $245,000

Sign-ups vs target

194 of 250

Cumulative funds raised 2026 Previous year

Beach Clean 2026 Key Metrics report

Campaign Health

Funds raised stand at $118,050 against a $245,000 target. Sign-ups are ahead of fundraising as a share of goal.

Funds raised$118,050

Sign-ups194

Funds raised vs target48% of goal

Cumulative funds raised

Tidewatch Demo Page 3 of 13

Notice every change.
Understand why.

A dashboard shows you where to look. Threads help you understand why. Ask a question, explore the detail, and iterate your strategy in real time.

Spot the signal

Cost per acquisition$34.20+42.5% this weekPrevious week $24.00

Threads

Why has our cost per acquisition jumped?

Filament

Most of the increase is in paid social. Spend rose, but fewer visitors completed a sign-up. Search is holding steady.

CPA by channel

Paid social

$41.60

$19.80

$8.40

Connected data, in context

Built for the way you work.

Knowledge & memory

Your definitions, your context, your way of working. Teach Filament once and carry that understanding into every question.

“For us, an active fundraiser has published their fundraising page.”

Remembered for your team

Using your definition

82%

of fundraisers
are active.

MCP server

Equip your agents, Claude, and ChatGPT with the data they need to work alongside you.

Your assistantFilament connected

Where is this campaign losing momentum?

Filament · Queried campaign data

Sign-ups are ahead of fundraising. Here’s where the gap is:

Sign-ups78%

Funds raised48%

You’ve raised $118,050 of the $245,000 target. I’d look at what happens after someone joins.

What should we look into first?

Start with activation and gift size. Compare fundraisers who have received a donation with those who haven’t.

Revisions

Every change to a dashboard is tracked, saved, and easy to revert.

Fundraising by monthOriginal

Fundraising by monthCurrent

Permissions

Data for your whole team, with granular permissions on dashboards and apps.

Campaign overview

JJessCan edit

SSamCan view

AAlexCan view

Agency accounts

Your best analysis, ready for every client. Share templates across your agency.

One template. Every client.

Simple sharing

Make any dashboard public or embed it online.

Single sign-on

Bring your existing identity provider or Google Workspace.

Free templates

Start with a library of free KPI templates made for the apps you use.

Trusted by the best

**Kevin Rassool**Tech Lead, High Impact Athletes

Pricing

Simple pricing for all of Filament. Just choose the level of support you need.

Prices in US dollars.

Pro

$249/ month

$2,988 billed annually

Self-serve reporting for your whole team

Dedicated data warehouse
Unlimited users and connected apps
Dashboards, PDF reports, MCP and SSO
Filly AI analyst, 250 messages a month

Get started

Analyst

From $690/ month

12-month commitment,
billed monthly

Everything in Pro, plus a data analyst
to create dashboards and answer questions.

Dashboard development
Analysis requests
Custom templates
Priority support

Talk to us

Enterprise

Let’s talk

A data team for
your organisation.

For the bigger picture.
Built around your needs.

Custom integrations
Data engineering
Your own infrastructure
Full-service data team

Book a demo

Unlimited connected apps are subject to fair use. Extra Filly messages are available in packs of 250 for $75.

Your data, secured as standard

Your data stays yours. We provision a dedicated warehouse for every Filament customer, never permit AI training on your data, and keep your data in the region of your choice.

How we keep your data safe

Your own warehouse

Every organisation has a dedicated PostgreSQL data warehouse for your data, isolated from other customers.

You control access

Implement granular roles and permissions to govern who can view and share data. Secure user accounts with MFA and passkeys.

Protected at every layer

Data encryption keeps information safe, with full encyrption at rest and in transit.

Choose your warehouse region

Store your data in Australia, the EU, or the US to meet your data sovereignty requirements Platform data and some processing may be outside that region.

No model training

Filament does not train its models on your personal data, and our AI providers are contractually prohibited from using it to train or improve their models.

Zero data retention for AI providers

Filament mandates zero data retention for downstream AI providers. Filament retains conversation history under its access, encryption and retention controls.

A few things you might be wondering.

Talk to our team

Do board members need their own licence?

No. Pro includes unlimited users. You can also send a board-ready PDF report or share a live dashboard link.

Do we need Windows?

No. Filament runs in the browser, so anyone on your team can ask questions and build dashboards from a Mac, Windows or Chromebook.

Who maintains the data model?

Filament connects your apps and cleans and models the data in your warehouse. If you'd rather hand the reporting over too, the Analyst plan adds a data analyst for dashboard development and analysis requests.

Where is our data stored?

In a dedicated PostgreSQL warehouse for your organisation, isolated from other customers. You can choose to keep it in Australia, the EU or the US. Platform data and some processing may be outside that region.

Is there a free trial?

Yes. Try Filament free for 14 days. We'll help you connect your apps and build your first dashboard.