The typical setup for a small-to-mid NGO here is a donor list in one spreadsheet, a volunteer list in another, and program data in a third — maintained by whoever has time, which means it's usually out of date by the time a grant report is due.
A custom system merges these into one donor and volunteer database: donation history, volunteer hours, and program participation all tied to the same contact record, so a grant report doesn't mean cross-referencing three files by hand.
Volunteer coordination benefits the most from automation — matching volunteers to opportunities based on availability and skills, sending automatic shift reminders, and logging hours automatically instead of a sign-in sheet nobody transcribes afterward.
For donor relationships specifically, the system should make it easy to see giving history and communication preferences at a glance — the difference between a donor renewal email that feels personal and one that obviously came from a mail-merge.