Nonprofit Fundraising Survey

Transcription

1 Nonprofit Fundraising Survey CONDUCTED OCTOBER 2015 BY SW CREATIVES, LLC SW Creatives is a branding and design consultancy that works with a wide variety of nonprofits across multiple sectors. We were interested in learning about the fundraising tech that organizations were using as we are regularly asked for recommendations. In October 2015, we set out to discover what was working and what wasn t working for nonprofits through a short survey. Large and small organizations responded, as well as consultants to nonprofits. We are excited to share the results of that survey with you, and hope that this will help you make informed decisions about fundraising for your organization.

2 Which platform are you currently using for fundraising? Network for Good 28% 6 Salsa Labs 12% 3 First Giving 0% 0 etapestry 4% 1 Raiser's Edge 8% 2 DonorsChoose 0% 0 Razoo 8% 2 StayClassy 4% 1 Bloomerang 4% 1 PayPal 4% 1 Other* 32% * Other responses: Neon CRM Protivity Salesforce CauseVox, CiviCRM Facebook with a Paypal option Luminate Online (formerly Convio) and StratusLIVE CRM Combo of FrontStream, SalesForce, and our own through Authorize.net 1 / SW CREATIVES NONPROFIT FUNDRAISING SURVEY 2015

3 Feedback on Fundraising Platforms Bloomerang Very easy to use and help desk is very responsive. The big con was when we migrated all our donor information from our previous software platform it was a disaster and it took months to clean up. CauseVox I have enjoyed using CauseVox it s a crowdfunding tool that has no monthly/annual fee (with the exception of transaction fees) until you raise $5K. My only issue with it is the pages are not mobile-friendly, which I find to be problematic as a web designer. They also allow you to use your own URL, which is a huge plus for user experience. I ve only launched one campaign for a client that is still ongoing, but so far no complaints. DOES THE PLATFORM INCLUDE DONOR MANAGEMENT? Donor Perfect excellent customer service and easy to use and understand 2 / SW CREATIVES NONPROFIT FUNDRAISING SURVEY 2015

4 etapestry No etapestry is not intuitive. Difficult for a small organization to use. Facebook with a Paypal option It depends The ability to add Facebook friends. No IF NOT, HOW DO YOU MANAGE YOUR DONOR LIST? Prayers and Facebook messenger Luminate Online (formerly Convio) and StratusLIVE CRM Luminate Online (formerly Convio), could be better relative to the better commercial marketing packages but it is affordable and does the job well enough 3 / SW CREATIVES NONPROFIT FUNDRAISING SURVEY 2015

5 Neon CRM It has modules that once subscribe to. So we don t pay for what we do not use. Found it easy to get used to Our grant writer finds it cumbersome Network for Good x 3 No x 1 Maybe x 1 Ease of navigation Nice look Integration between different applications, like events now and constant contact Donations, Events, CRM and by constant contact can be bundled provides access to a suite of resources including Constant Contact and an event page Can be a little clunky to use Becomes relatively expensive very quick. The price tag combined with the design limitations make it not worth it from my standpoint. The staff there promised things to my client that simply weren t possible, and simple things like changing the text on a button were also not options., for a fee 4 / SW CREATIVES NONPROFIT FUNDRAISING SURVEY 2015

6 Paypal Easy and has low fees Is obviously less robust than many other options, and would need to be combined with a comprehensive donor management/acquisition software package - many of which are available in open source software, such as CiviCRM. For my nonprofits who only use PayPal I actually don t think they manage their donor lists at all. These are extremely small nonprofits who could probably benefit from a better system. Protivity No No moves management function; gift processing very difficult DOES THE PLATFORM INCLUDE DONOR MANAGEMENT? No IF NOT, HOW DO YOU MANAGE YOUR DONOR LIST? via excel and we use Raiser s Edge as a supplemental software Raiser s Edge 5 / SW CREATIVES NONPROFIT FUNDRAISING SURVEY 2015

7 Razoo x 2 Salesforce Salsa Labs x 2 Maybe x 1 It does everything (advocacy, donations, , supporter management, even simple surveys). It has good tech support. It s idiosyncratic and sometimes buggy/wonky. Salsa is great for individual donations, but not for overall donor management. At one point, they talked about building in a grants module but that hasn t happened yet. If a nonprofit is more on the grant/foundation side, Salsa probably isn t the best choice. StayClassy 6 / SW CREATIVES NONPROFIT FUNDRAISING SURVEY 2015

8 Is there a platform you have used that you would recommend nonprofits stay away from? BLACKBAUD S OLDER PRODUCTS LIKE SPHERE Not sure if they are still supporting it but it s the worst. I also think network for good is not a good choice for your sole fundraising platform. CROWDSTER RAZOO It is very costly. SAGE It s just tricky to use and pulling reports always seemed to be challenging. Also, it wasn t sensitive on the way data was inputted into the system, so you could insert one donor information a multiple of ways and the system wouldn t catch it. What do you currently use for marketing? Do you recommend it? TANT CONTACT: 50% yes x 5, it is very efficient and intuitive. no x 1 It s ok, but not sure I would recommend it. Seems limited and there are a few bugs. VERTICAL RESPONSE: 17% yes x 1 no x 1 NEON: 8% yes x 1 SALSA: 8% no x 1 MAILCHIMP: 17% yes x 2 I have clients using Mailchimp, Constant Contact, and CiviCRM. I recommend MailChimp for most of them, the integrations are endless and deliverability is usually not a concern. 7 / SW CREATIVES NONPROFIT FUNDRAISING SURVEY 2015

9 Do you have any additional comments or insights to share with other organizations? I m not a nonprofit, though I used to work for several. I m a web designer/developer, and most of my clients are nonprofits (including several of my former employers). Definitely compare and contrast the different types of software available, and always speak to your web person first to find out how easy it is to integrate/style your donation software of choice. This is often overlooked, and can really cause problems when nonprofits want something that s simply not possible with their platform, but they didn t know the right questions to ask. What is your nonprofit s annual operating budget? $15M $1M - $3M UP TO $100,000 $500K - $1M NO RESPONSE 8 / SW CREATIVES NONPROFIT FUNDRAISING SURVEY 2015