Bonterra Guided Fundraising Reviews

Fantastic for Nonprofits

Comments: It's been a really positive experience. The customer service is quick and friendly. They're constantly updating the software for the better. It's really easy to use, even for the least tech-savvy people.

Pros:

The CRM works really well -- it's easy to keep track of donors, real-time donations, and events. It lets you stay in contact with donors and see their patterns of giving. It's also easy to see which events brought in the most donations, and lets you easily email groups of donors, either by event or by giving patterns.

Cons:

The forms (surveys) are too limited. I can't collect data in the way I want, so it makes surveying donors difficult.

Bonterra works for me

Comments: I love this software. I have used many other CRM's, but this is my favorite!

Pros:

I like the user-friendly interface. It has a professional look. It does basically everything I need for a small non-profit organization.

Cons:

There are a couple features that I wish Bonterra would implement: 1. The date of the first gift for each constituent on the first screen 2. An easy to read Pie Chart on the dashboard that breaks the current donor count into three categories: New Donors, Retained Donors and Reactivated Donors

Please consider other donor software!

Comments: Terrible! After less than a year, they are taking away a key feature of their platform (event ticketing) and making it an additional $2000 (!!!!!) to have. This is a 55% increase in cost despite it being a service I was told I would have when I signed up. Despite multiple complaints from almost all their clients, no one at the company will take responsibility for the decision or admit the error and not do it. I am having to switch to another platform immediately as that is a cost that small or medium size nonprofits (their target audience) cannot support. Their customer service uses platitudes ("I understand your frustration") rather than solutions. Even if they realize how unethical this is and how it damages our ability to fulfill our mission, I cannot trust them because what's next? Will they start charging thousands for emails next? Who knows, they cannot be trusted even though I have a signed contract stating this is a service I am guaranteed to have, they will not honor it. Please go with any other donor management software!!

Pros:

It's easy to use and when I started with it, it combined all the features I need in one place - peer to peer, event management, ticketing, etc., and at a reasonable rate.

Cons:

There are many features that need to be improved. Their help articles are often out of date and do not follow the current version of the software with the steps that need to be taken. The compatibility of auctions to donor records is terrible creating multiple duplicate entries that staff had to correct. They not only charge a flat rate for services but ALSO a percentage so there are a LOT of hidden costs. They do not have a way to track volunteer hours (essential in the nonprofit world!!) and their customer service, while responsive, resorts to platitudes rather than solutions.

Our Valentine's Day message - we love you!

Comments: We LOVE Network for Good! It has simplifed things by putting data all in one place! No more moving data from the event reservation platform, the credit card processor, and the newsletter service! And the platform is easy to use and generates great-looking newsletters.

Pros:

It has simplifed things by putting data all in one place! No more moving data from the event reservation platform, the credit card processor, and the newsletter service! And the platform is easy to use and generates great-looking newsletters.

Cons:

We wish it had a grant tracking platform as we were told that Salesforce had one.

Satisfied Customer Since 2020

Comments: Love the customer support! So responsive! We implemented the product during COVID and it couldn't have gone more smoothly.

Pros:

The addition of event ticketing and auction functionality makes the package even more attractive and useful.

Cons:

Our database count is inflated by zero-dollar "subscribers" -- people who have never donated but receive information (such as local government officials on the newsletter list) -- so our annual costs are higher than I would like.

Good value

Pros:

I came to this product when the online giving fee of our previous provider went through the roof. I was pleasantly surprised at how intuitive and friendly the contact management and donor management functions are. Now, I am using it for event management, which is a bonus.

Cons:

Often, when an online donation is made, it generates a new contact, even if the person is already in the system. Yes, this can be cleaned up quickly by combining contacts. But I'd like the system to recognize each individual. And, of course, my gripe with all these systems is it doesn't handle household giving well. How do you count a gift from a married couple? It has to go against only one of their records.

Network for Good

Comments: Over all it is good a good system for our organization.

Pros:

In the areas that we use frequently the system is fairly easy to use. I know it can do a lot more for us but I don't know how to use those functions.

Cons:

The customer service is not great. If you have a question or need help you have to go through the chat box and you get a video to watch. Maybe I am just old and not too techy but a real person would be much more helpful. I am never in a situation where I have time to watch a video to get an answer.

New User of Bonterra Guided Fundraising/Network For Good

Comments: Excellent! The support staff is always helpful and timely and the Fundraising Coaching sessions have been very helpful.

Pros:

My nonprofit organization initially selected Bonterra/Network For Good because of it imbedded communication tools that allow us to stay in touch with our donors. While other CRM applications use email integrations with MailChip and Constant Contact, Bonterra/Network For Good's email, text, video messaging, and direct mail features are integral to their application. We have not been disappointed.

Cons:

While Bonterra/Network for Good had good tools for creating reports, I would like to see better tools and options for creating reports.

Great CRM program

Comments: Great CRM, easy online giving, customer service is friendly and quick, help catalog is easy to search and understand.

Pros:

I really like that this CRM is very user-friendly. Point and click is so easy. And if I have a question I can ask by phone, email, or chat and get answers quickly.

Cons:

When exporting sponsor information, the contact name is not included with organizations. After export, I have to add the contact name to the spreadsheet. It would be great if the contact name came over with the company name.

This system is not what I would recommend now - too expensive

Pros:

All in one system for communications and donors

Cons:

How each product now is separate and must pay for it which has changed from the initial investment but it is basically the same product

From Rookie to Professional during a pandemic!

Comments: When we signed on with NFG, I had no Donor Management Software experience. I was the definition of a Rookie! In addition, our organization was small, but growing rapidly, and the donor records were not in the best order when I joined the staff. The task to get it all organized and ready to upload in the system was the hardest part, but the NFG team was encouraging and helpful. Our initial contact list was pretty small, but it has more than doubled in a year! Our fundraising coach was amazing from the beginning! She was patient, encouraging, held me accountable, and was so dedicated to our success! In between our meetings, I would participate in webinars to expand my knowledge of the software and new fundraising strategies during a worldwide pandemic! When I look at all that we have learned and how far we have come in a year, I am in awe and full of gratitude and appreciation for the Network for Good team! I can say with confidence I am no longer a "Rookie," but consider myself a professional, ready and eager to learn more! I smile thinking about where we will be at this time next year because I know the Network for Good team will continue to coach and encourage us on towards excellence in the fundraising field! Thank you for having faith in us and for continuing to develop strong, confident fundraising leaders, even in the midst of the uncertainty, challenge and difficulty our country and world has faced this year.

Pros:

First and foremost, we love the customer service and support team! They make you feel at ease from the start and they walk you through the entire process. We love the webinars, resource library, video message feature, built in email system and the text-to-give feature. The task bar keeps you on track and the Activity feed allows you to see what your team has been working on if you need a quick reference.

Cons:

Because there are so many features, sometimes I forget how to navigate to something. This is more due to my "Rookie" status, than the software.

Great Product! Don't know what we'd do without Network for Good!!

Comments: Our overall experience with Network for Good has been wonderful! When looking at a new donor management system we compared several platforms and are very happy we went with Network for Good!

Pros:

The one feature that has completely boosted our fundraising are the Donor Engagement Plans that Network for Good has to offer. This has been a huge help to us in the past year! Especially not being able to do in person events. It has definitely boosted our online giving by at least 10%!! Love how simple and easy the platform is to navigate and use. They offer lots of flexibility in creating communication messages with donors.

Cons:

The only con I can think of is that you cannot automatically setup ACH donations to be processed through Network for Good. We have a handful of monthly donors who give through Direct Deposit.

Network for Good - friendly interface and great communication features for nonprofits

Comments: We received consistently good support from Network for Good during the transition period when we migrated our data from the old system into the new program. They helped us figure out how to best set up our new management system. The technical support is also very good. We receive responses to questions very quickly or within a few hours.

Pros:

Network for Good's design and bundled features make it extra easy for our Executive Director and staff of our small nonprofit organization to handle donor management tasks and communicate with our donors and other contacts. We had been using another donor management system with a much less user-friendly interface and only two people were able to figure out how to use it. Now, our Executive Director and other staff are regularly using the features without needing constant help. The way the interface is designed actually encourages you to communicate more with your donors, by email, videos or texts because it's so easy. We use Network for Good for email blasts, mailings and text messaging, so we were able to cancel our Constant Contact and text messaging contracts and move everything into Network for Good. It helps to have all of our contacts and their information in one place. During the pandemic when our program went virtual, we started text messaging our members (our clients) about scheduled Zoom meetings, and have continued to use this as an effective communication device. Another nice feature are the "Giving Pages," which are attractively designed pages to handle online donations for specific events or purposes. These can be embedded on our website. We've created several giving pages that have helped us raise thousands of dollars for our new building, annual fund, etc.

Cons:

The only feature that I would want to improve is to make the design of the giving pages a little more flexible.

Great for the Value!

Comments: Overall, this is a great product. The ease of use is without match and it is perfect for an organization of our size and capacity. I love that people can fundraise for us, and look forward to engaging more donors to do this as we get even more of a handle on the software.

Pros:

I love how accessible this software is. When you don't have a lot of time to dedicate to learning a new program, for the most part, this is extremely intuitive and you can learn as you go, and in nonprofit where things move really quickly and you may wear many hats, I am sure this is something very appreciated by users.

Cons:

I would have like auto-acknowledge in the system for online gifts. Imports should be easier. If I name a campaign that is remotely like something that already exists in the system, the system should allow me to choose it instead of duplicating and causing a "data mess." "Global changes" if such a mess occurs would be helpful so that everything can be changed at once instead of one by one. Not being able to refund in the system is also a pain. Peer-to-Peer could also be easier in that it is difficult to do so as an organization or business as opposed to a person, every time we use it, we have to find creative ways to edit the name above so that the fundraisers can appear as desired by the teams starting the page.

Good value, great functionality

Comments: I am very satisfied with the product so far. My team sees the value in it and we are able to justify the cost even as a small non-profit because of the value it provides us as a donation platform and advanced CRM.

Pros:

I love the ability to send videos to a donor by recording and personalizing the message all within the platform. I had spent a lot of time in the past trying to find a third party to host these features and could not find anything as simple or integrated as this. The custom reports and groups are very easy to create and help to organize our data well. The user experience is great -- it was much easier to learn and then to teach my team than other softwares like SalesForce. I like that the appearance is simple and clean. We really appreciated the assistance with data migration from our old software.

Cons:

I wish that for the price it included a dedicated support representative instead of the ticketing system they have in place. The response time is usually good but I prefer being able to ask someone for help that I already have a relationship with. I also wish there was a bit more technical help -- like a 30 minute one-on-one live virtual tutorial -- with onboarding items like mapping with Quickbooks or setting up the email domains. We are a small team and none of us are trained in IT support. Reading the help articles only helps so much. The last thing I will mention is that I receive a lot of automated emails from multiple people on their team and it becomes a bit overwhelming especially in the beginning of learning the new technology.

Greatly disappointed

Comments: We regret switching to Network for Good and are in search of a replacement.

Pros:

Having email and text messaging integrated with the donor management function is very helpful.

Cons:

There are a lot of features lacking, and they are not receptive to feedback/requests for improvements or changes. The reporting customization options leave a lot to be desired in comparison to our previous system. Many things that seem like they should be easy to automate must be done manually. They accept PayPal, and they offer no way to charge donor cards. Constituent addresses are automatically shortened (e.g.: Street becomes St), which creates a lot of extra work when generating a mailing where we want addresses fully spelled out on the envelope. Peer-to-peer fundraising is clunky and siloed in a different place than other donations, making reporting difficult.

Recent migration from ticket based system

Comments: Really very good

Pros:

Ease of use. Well organized. Competively maintained.

Cons:

There is always something that needs to be improved. My sense is that NFG is committed to staying ahead of the curve with this issue. Would love to have a more streamlined process to track couples with different last names. Users with different email addresses can be an issue. And in NYC, tracking households by mailing address in white glove buildings where Apt numbers are often not used can be problematic

So Impressed with Network for Good Software

Comments: Excellent experienc for all of these! As a person with NO EXPERIENCE at all in any type of Donor Management system, it was quite easy for me to get started, and then with the incredibly helpful support staff, I am growing in my capabilities and understanding of the depth of capabilities in the software for all of these things:
Donor Information Management
Donor thank yous - so easy
Donor Information analaysis - amazing tools, and custom selecting for emails/annuncements etc.
Newsletter design capabilities
Email design and sending capabilities
Text capabilities
Information feedback from outreach materials.
Pretty much everything is great!

Pros:

When I was walked through the introductory DEMO, and purchased the softwared I had NO idea how advanced it is, and the many options it has. Not only does it effectively and efficiently track donors, allow deposit into your bank account directly, it provides incredible analytical tools and outreach capabilities. The email, text, and Newsletter capabilities are so professional and are so well organized. The product support is fantastic. From on boarding to actively using they really are there for you. We are a small 100% volunteer non-profit, so this is all on our own time, and it is incredible to have this team at Network for Good to help us with this area of our Non-profit. It is a large expenditure for us because 100% of our donations go directly to our causes, and we are fairly small, but it is absolutely worth it for the incredible amount of time I save in account management, donor information management, and not to mention the incredible publicity and outreach tools. THANK YOU NETWORK FOR GOOD! I could not have imagined that it would be this good.. Thank you for assisting small non-profits like us... to some real good, very professionally! Gracias

Cons:

Review capability of email blasts. but this is a tiny tiny thing. It is awesome.

Don't wait too long!

Comments: My overall experience has been excellent. Part of my issue with taking so long to on board was I was doing this on boarding and migration myself and I have many interruptions in my day for example stopping the ship care packages before the post people come to pick it up. Going to my daughters house to let the dog out. Helping my wife with her Bible study. My grandkids coming over. So there's a myriad of interruptions that take place where I just find it hard to commit several hours at one time on a project. That's not networks for goods problem that was my problem.

Pros:

Donor Management was huge for me. Having to have spreadsheet for when I sent out correspondence to donors, thank you cards to donors, I was using two and three methods to keep up with donor relations. As my donor list increased it became unmanageable to go to my contacts of my computer and list when donations came in and then go to a spreadsheet to acknowledge some event or donation campaign that was taking place. It became a bit of a nightmare I'm working many hours sometimes not remembering if I put the information into the spreadsheet or contact list. Network for Good donor management system once I started inputting the data and seeing the dashboard, how everything was right there in one place for for the eye to see. I knew the first day I should've started this years earlier.

Cons:

I felt like the migration part of the system was a little cumbersome, especially if you have had donors for a long period of time and wanted to capture the donations that may have gone back several years. So I've had this for about six months and I have probably 90% of my donors in there but I have not figured out how to get my major donors and capture all of their previous donations overtime. It's probably just an issue with with trying to figure out how to capture all the previous data without adding each individual reoccurring donation from years past.

Reputable website among active donors with dinosaur functionality and page design.

Pros:

For three years, I worked at grassroots nonprofit that has been around for more than 2 decades. Network for Good was the donation service we used to accept all online donations. Trusted among lifetime donor/philanthropist types It seems like many boomer-aged donors who have been engaged in long-term philanthropy are familiar with and trust the website. Donation Pages: Donors can indicate whether they want to make a one-time donation or a recurring monthly donation. As an admin you can pre-set donation amounts and/or let donor indicate any amount that they would like to donate (although there is a minimum donation amount). Network for Good also allows you to customize a set number of campaign pages for no additional charge to their standard subscription fee. As a legacy customer, our non-profit enjoyed the benefit of a grandfathered-in lower monthly rate in addition to access to ConstantContact, which was great. Reports: You could pull donor reports (download as excel) by dates and campaign type and then sort by criteria. Customer service was very good. Wait times were always short and phone reps were very knowledgeable and able to help.

Cons:

The interface for customizing donation pages was truly terrible. Even though Network for Good provided design template options, it was very challenging to make the text appear on the page as it was supposed to. You had to go through like 10 different screen categories, in order, and fill out little forms containing the information that you would want to be displayed. When you specify donation amounts, you need to enter them in the order that is to appear lest you want to spend thirty minutes toggling arrows only to have the site freeze. If the nonprofit I was at didn't have the legacy version that included ConstantContact, I would have recommended getting rid of the subscription. The donation processing fee is no less than that of any other payment processing service. In fact, other sites that do not charge a monthly usage fee (gofundme, eventbrite, etc.) provide much better functionality and even other bonus services. I get that the site wants to be super secure and that as nonprofit you want to collect as much donor info as possible, but it would be great if people could make a donation without having to fill out ALL of their personal information: name, address + payment address (if different), phone and email. I think that this deters younger donors or anyone who wants to donate quickly/impulse donations.

For non-profit basics, use it

Comments: Overall, I liked the program, but will not be renewing after the first year because it did not have the "depth" that I needed. We had DonorPro, which was bought out by Salsa, who then moved over to the Bonterra Group of products, so I was forced to leave our former software. I tried NFG, but it doesn't not meet my needs.

Pros:

I found it easy to use and track donations and "clients". It is visually appealing. I do a lot of mailings, and it was easy to do filters to make those mailings happen

Cons:

For me, it doesn't have enough "depth". What I need in a program like this is the ability to have several pets listed for each contact and it cannot do that. I had to put in another whole contact - but it couldn't be a duplicate of the other - to list the 2nd pet someone had. This is on the contact side. I could not use the Donor side for this because I couldn't filter it properly for the mailings I needed to do.

Easy to use and time-saving donor management system

Comments: Our small nonprofit struggled with finding a way to manage our donors and Network For Good (NFG) provided a perfect solution. The amount of time I save with the software automating many of the data entry I used to do manually is incredible. That it is cloud based and multiple users can access means that I am no longer the only person who can access our financial numbers and donor contacts, so the bookkeeper and key stakeholders can access the information they need without having to go through me.

Pros:

-Time saving through data automation -Ease of use, both for understanding the system and navigation through the pages -Quick response from customer support << so important! -Willingness of customer support to take suggestions to improve the database -The increase in donors selecting options that directly increase giving, specifically paying processing fees and opting for recurring donations, is making a big difference to our organization's bottom line -Clear visual represenations of the data to quickly understand recent activity and to see the financial progress -Integrated emailing through Constant Contact--a system we already use--helps to communicate easier with small segments of our donors, making them feel more into the organization -Customizable event registration integrated into the database is HUGE for us since a large portion of our donations are collected in relation to trips and dinners.

Cons:

-The emails sent through the database using Constant Contact aren't completely customizable, I would like to have the link color be controllable so our visual branding is consistent across platforms. -The two portals to access the NFG websites (donor database and the dashboard for our the account) were difficult to differentiate at first since they both open to a dashboard--it took weeks for my people to understand the difference (my people tend to be over 65 and less computer savvy) -Custom questions asked during checkout still have to be entered manually--this should be automated -I am still new to the system and discovering things that are a little off from what I am used to with the previous way we dealt with our donors, however, NFG is very responsive to helping me find work arounds that utilize the features of the software

Just working out the kinks

Comments: The more I learn the more I like. Now that we are getting into accepting and recording snd acknowledging new donations, I’m liking it more and more.

Pros:

Communication tools are the best! I look forward to using them more. We’ve gotten great feedback on the video emails. I’ve done 2 IIndividual video emails and the a groups video to over 200 donors. So far the response she was great.

Cons:

Onboarding was difficult. Although your staff was helpful. Our organization had run of excel spread sheets. The system was working but becoming unwieldy. Transferring this over with donation years back to 2015 was difficult. Also, not allowing us to filter by our external ID that we consistently used meant many duplicates due to some differences and a system with less than half with emails. I think we are better but to even see our ID I have to click and scroll to find snd the only way to double check for duplicates is to export a spreadsheet. Makes me wonder why you didn’t give us a way to use it. Sorry. I have sent a suggestion in but told you only let us put in the contact info but not be able to filter with this.

Functionality is Worth the Learning Curve

Comments: Donor engagement is improved. Donations are up 18% over the previous year. Our Fundraising Coach has been excellent in getting us up and running. Love that donor communications, appeals, logging and monitoring is all consolidated in one platform,

Pros:

The options to create professional looking e-blast templates, monitor response rates to appeals and emails has been a game-changer for our donor and volunteer communications.Quick and easy donor acknowledgements via email using templates that can be individualized to the donor and sent--saving so much time, printing supplies and postage, while giving better donor response.GAllery of other non-profit templates for inspiration.Access to support articles.

Cons:

It may just be my "newness" to the software, but the Create Filter feature seems a bit cumbersome. I'd like to be able to select an existing filter to use as a template rather than starting anew.

Excellent Service

Comments: Very efficient, professional and simple to use.

Pros:

Our non profit agency has used Network for Good for 10 years. We have received 100% of monies donated. Whether it was for fundraising or just a donor wanting to help, we have received donations on a timely basis. This year has been especially hard helping families due to COVID 19. Through the initiative Project Uplift program, we have been serving children, the homeless and seniors with daily meals, protective masks and in many cases, a place to stay. Knowing that Network for Good is a secure site to manage donations has made it really easy for us. So far, we have the Mission has served 8,000 meals since the start of this pandemic. We thank our front line heroes for the dedication in keeping our resources available for families in need. Hats off to Network for Good. We truly appreciate your honesty and your transparency in helping us be more efficient in our efforts in helping those less fortunate. They have expanded our program and allowed us to help seniors, the homeless and youths.

Cons:

Software is very easy to manuever. I never experienced an issue and when I did, customer service walked me through, step by step.