DonorPerfect

Pros

Donor Perfect has a lot of pros! It's a cloud-based platform so you can access it anywhere, even from your mobile device. There are a lot of add on features available, including ReadySetAuction and Constant Contact so that you can manage events and communications within one system. You have the ability to set up your own giving pages for various events, scholarships, or specific giving appeals (such as Giving Tuesday, Give Big Day, etc.) The reporting feature is extremely robust and can give you pretty much anything you want if you know how to ask for it. Another great feature is data import... if you have monthly payroll donors that may change one or two additions/drop-offs a month but need to regularly import large amounts of data with simply a check number and date change difference from the last import, you can do it all in less than 30 seconds after the initial document is set up. Overall, what I like most about this system is that it's affordable and offers all the bells and whistles that you get with the more expensive softwares, but for significantly less.

Cons

The system can be overwhelming for new users, especially if you don't have the paid support feature or the time to dig through their help pages. There are a lot of add on features, but they all come with a price. It can be pretty expensive for small nonprofits that only have a handful of employees or one or two people that are using the system. Reporting can be complicated and difficult even for experienced users. Events management is extremely difficult and complicated, and lacking a lot of features. We do not use it for events management as a result.

Pros

Tech Support is fantastic! Always friendly, helpful, knowledgable. They encourage you to call with any questions, not just problems. The training videos, knowledgebase articles and online community are great for learning, but when you need an answer fast, or can't find the right search term for the knowledgebase, Support will help you learn how to accomplish what you want to do. You can reach them via phone, chat, or email.

Cons

We would love to be able to use DonorPerfect for tasks beyond donor management - for all of our program and event registrations and payments, but need more flexibility in online forms to make that practical.

Pros

DonorPerfect provides for all your donor management needs, at a good a price. I have purchased this software for several of the organizations I have worked for and recommended it to many others I have consulted with over the years. It's easy to use and the company has always been open for client input to help better the product.

Cons

The only concern that I have ... and this is more about me than DonorPerfect .. is that I need to take more tutorials on running some of the more sophisticated reporting options. I can have 99% of my needs met with the standardized reports but every so often I need something a bit more custom. You have great tutorials, I just haven't found the time to go through them ... yet!

Pros

I like that I can add fields on the fly and be able to report on those fields. This is great for tracking anything you want to track with your donors. I love that I can have a multitude of thank you letters ready to merge at the same time. I've worked in software that only allowed a few letters. This way, a thank you letter with receipt at the bottom to a specific campaign can come out in the same batch as a regular thank you letter with receipt. We have total control over the look and feel of our receipt letters. I like that I can use a batch system so I can reconcile with our accountant but you can also enter gifts directly in a person's record if you don't need to track that way. I really love that I can add items to my batch file, like a consent sent in with a gift that we can publish their name. I can also have my batch file come out the way that is most helpful for our organization, and each organization can individualize it as well.

Cons

The first time through running year-end summaries for our donors took a bit of a learning curve to set it up the way we wanted it to display but support was very helpful when I "got stuck". In the few years I've been working in the program, that process has improved.

Pros

I like that it is incredibly user friendly and easy to learn. It's incredibly helpful when volunteers are helping or new people come on board. I also love the ease of pulling reports. They have so many prebuilt reports to chose from by I can also quickly and easily create my own and even better I can edit it if I don't get it right the first time. I'm constantly learning new tricks and tools as I gain confidence with the system and as our needs change as an organization. We've had the system for a little over two years and last year I didn't know I could easily generate different data and charts for our Annual Report, learning that made life so much easier. I also have to rave about the support team because so often I feel like I am calling with a basic or dumb question but they are always nice, walk me through it and then send a follow up email with the instructions in case I forget. They are so kind and patient!

Cons

It's never that I don't like the system but more than I have to learn how to get it to do what I need. My brain thinks it should work one way but they have the system programmed to operate another. It's more just spending time in the system and learning all the different ways it works and can work for you.
One thing that drives me out is when it logs me out. If I've been out of the program for a little bit I can understand, it's frustrating but I do understand. What I don't understand is when I'll literally be in the middle of entering a gift or something and it will log me out, forcing me to start over. Not the worst thing in the world but still vexing at times. I also wish that the Company Name & the individuals Last Name didn't pull from the same data point so it was a little easier to run mail lists but I've found workarounds in excel once the report is pulled.