CharityEngine Reviews

Pros

Clean and minimal overall with a solid range of features available right away. Once you get familiar with where things live getting around the system becomes manageable and the help articles are actually quite useful. Our onboarding team was great, special shoutout to them! They kept everything moving on our schedule and that made a big difference. Moving data over from our previous CRM did take a fair amount of effort on our side but the tech team was incredibly supportive and helped us get fully up and running.

Cons

It wasn't as user friendly as I expected at first. A lot of things take some digging to locate even though the search bar does help. Since most of us were trying to learn a new CRM while still handling our regular full-time workload it was a bit difficult to get figure out. The Academy also felt like a lot to take in and some of the terminology (like tags, groups, badges) wasn't immediately clear and took some time to understand.

Pros

One of the best parts is the level of customization along with the people behind it and the values the company represents.

Cons

I really dislike how white and clinical the interface feels and I'd love to see more drag and drop features. It also isn't as user friendly as I want it to be.

Pros

Keeping contacts and donations together in one system is a major advantage.

Cons

A few of the field and option names are inconsistent. For instance the review page is labeled as the error page which makes it confusing to know where to look and what to check.

Pros

It is very detail focused and can deliver a lot of reporting and specificity especially when users take the time to enter as much information as possible. It was also helpful that our rep was consistently available and responded to questions quickly whenever we needed support.

Cons

Even though it offers a lot of detailed features the overall layout doesn't feel very user friendly or accessible. It takes a long time to really get comfortable with the system, understand the features and know where to find important information. Some features also feel awkwardly designed since part of the setup happens in one area of the CRM and then has to be completed or connected in a different section.

Pros

Biggest strengths of this software include how effective and customizable it is. The platform gives us a lot of flexibility especially when it comes to creating dashboards that fit our needs and building detailed reports. That kind of personalization makes it much simpler to monitor the information that matters most to our team and adjust the system over time as our needs change.

Cons

Getting started with it takes quite a bit of effort especially for new users. Because the platform is so deep and complex onboarding is not quick and the initial setup can take a lot of time. The feature set is strong but it definitely takes substantial work to fully understand the system and configure everything the right way.

Pros

Having everything in one system has been a big plus for us. It covers newsletters events, CRM and fundraising so we haven't had to deal with multiple vendors or patch together extra integrations.

Cons

it was frustrating to not have clear picture of exactly what was included in the package we chose which led to changes later on. Specifically we didn't know that sending emails from our own domain wasn't part of it by default. That feature is still pending and the rollout has taken longer than we expected.

Pros

Right away the support team made a huge difference. Instead of having to search online every time I had a question I could reach out and get clear answers from people who were actually available. Since I started with zero knowledge about setting up a donor database they guided me through each step and process so I could understand what to do and get the information I needed.

Cons

At this point the only challenge has been adjusting to working in a different software system and that's really not an issue caused by the software itself.

Pros

during our training the staff have been excellent to work with. the usability and customer support have both been outstanding.

Cons

no negatives to point out. the only challenge has been my own need to keep learning and getting trained on the system which is more on me than the software itself.

Pros

There are a lot of positives and while I expected pricing to be the biggest advantage the real standout has been how knowledgeable and genuinely kind the customer support team is. One representative in particular was fantastic throughout our training and transition process. It would be tough for them to find anyone more capable or more helpful, she was truly awesome!

Cons

I really haven't come across anything that feels like a downside.

Pros

Feels user friendly and is simple to use. Whenever I need to update reports for password changes or fix something I can usually move around the system without trouble and quickly find exactly what I need.

Cons

Sometimes the reports don't seem to make it to our SFTP site consistently. Also when I have to rerun queries the system won't save the SFTP connection details which gets frustrating since I have to type everything in again each time.

Pros

There are plenty of useful tools available and they're simple to work with.

Cons

Since the system is very comprehensive it takes some time to learn how everything works.

Pros

One of the best parts is how much useful donor information it lets you capture. Having all of that relevant data available also makes it much easier to strengthen relationships and build better connections with donors over time.

Cons

It's not exactly a negative but the platform does require some time to get used to. It uses terminology that may be unfamiliar to new users and the setup process involves a lot.

Pros

After looking at several other platforms we switched to this one with a lot of doubt. Our current CRM plus all the conversations we had with other vendors made us question whether it could actually follow through on everything they promised. On top of that we were under intense pressure with fewer than 60 days to finalize a contract and complete a migration that normally takes months. Their team told us they could handle it and they absolutely did. Even better the platform has lived up to every commitment made during the demos and marketing process and it has given us even more than we expected.

Cons

Onboarding was detailed organized and very collaborative from start to finish. Our onboarding team really worked to understand our organization's goals, fundraising approach and daily operational needs instead of pushing a generic setup. They gave us clear direction, practical timelines and hands-on help through each phase including data migration, system setup, campaign configuration and reporting.

Pros

Getting everything moved was much more manageable because the conversion support team was extremely helpful. We also had the challenge of combining data from more than 10 different sources and they supported us well through that process.

Cons

Event management tools and the member portal still feel like they need more features and both could be more user friendly.

Pros

It is user friendly and does a really good job of keeping our donor data organized and useful. The customer support has been outstanding and having everything together in one platform is a big plus.

Cons

The peer-to-peer and auction features aren't as developed as some of the other platforms available. The query tools can also be difficult to work with and often need a lot of manual deduping before the results are actually usable.

Pros

Final deliverables come out clear and well formatted which I really appreciate. There are also plenty of features included and the onboarding process was handled very well.

Cons

Using it is not user friendly at all. Customer support has been slow to respond and while the integration itself was fairly manageable the usability still needs a lot of improvement.

Pros

From the sales demo through set up it has felt very well organized. Their onboarding team has been attentive, well informed and precise when handling our data transfer. I've also been really impressed by how quickly everything has moved along and how fast tasks have been completed. On top of that the customer service has been excellent at every stage of the process.

Cons

Naturally it takes some time when getting used to a new system. At this point I haven't come across anything I dislike.

Pros

The staff has been consistently friendly, supportive and genuinely helpful whenever I've needed assistance.

Cons

I'd really like the platform to handle all of my nonprofit functions in one place.

Pros

Best part of the software has has been the team behind it. They are consistently helpful, detailed, insightful and clearly know the platform well. Whenever something comes up they are quick to step in and help us work through it which has made the overall experience feel very well supported. I also appreciate that they genuinely listen to feedback and new ideas and in many cases they actually build those suggestions into the platform which has made the system even more useful for us. The query tools have been especially valuable because they make it possible to identify and manage groups of people effectively whether we are planning events or running outreach efforts. On top of that the integration with Microsoft tools especially Excel has been very beneficial for our internal reporting processes. Overall it delivers stronger features than many other well-known donor management platforms and it does so at a lower cost which makes it an even better value.

Cons

It's a very comprehensive system but it definitely takes a meaningful amount of time to learn because there are multiple ways to get to information within the platform. The initial setup was also more difficult than I expected largely because mapping data from our previous system was fairly complex. Having a database map to show where the old fields ended up in the new system would have made that transition much easier to understand.

Pros

Getting email campaigns up and running with this software is really fast which makes it convenient when I need to launch something quickly.

Cons

One frustrating issue is that I've been logged out of the browser quite a few times during the short duration of using this software.