Elvanto Reviews

Pros

One of the biggest strengths is how well it connects with Tithely and our website platform. The app integration is also really helpful and being able to send reminders, emails and text messages to church members and volunteers all from one system makes communication much more manageable. The scheduling reminders are especially useful and help keep everyone on track.

Cons

Getting new people onboarded can be a bit challenging because it takes time for them to learn how everything works. Some functions also are not as user friendly as they could be so there can be some difficulty at the beginning.

Pros

Using this software feels very simple and everything works quickly without slowing me down.

Cons

I really do not have many complaints since it is very user friendly overall.

Pros

Being able to organize contacts into groups is really useful and the email scheduling feature is another advantage.

Cons

Event registration setup feels pretty clunky and involves far too many steps. It comes across as overly complicated and I've had to contact support several times when something wasn't working only to learn that one small option hadn't been checked among all the settings.

Pros

Managing people with the software worked really well for me. The reporting options were useful I could keep up with all the information I needed and organizing people into groups and families was handled nicely. It also felt very user friendly overall.

Cons

The one way giving integration with Tithe.ly was frustrating and ended up being a bit of an annoyance.

Pros

It covers just about everything you'd want in church management software. You can handle weekly check ins during services, use the kids check-in feature, plan worship services and a lot more beyond that.

Cons

A frustrating issue is that the messaging doesn't work with its partner software Tithe.ly. Even though I have messaging set up in Tithe.ly I still can't use it through this software. Since they're part of the same network I expected them to work together but they don't. If you want to send text messages in this you have to bring in a third party messaging system.

Pros

Has been really enjoyable to use especially for financial reporting. The batching and donor statement tools are excellent and having the entire database kept together in one system is something I really appreciate.

Cons

Only thing I'd change is the email formatting which I wish felt a bit more polished and modern.

Pros

Now that they are involved with Tithely the platform has improved quite a bit and the people management side is especially really well done.

Cons

Service side and the check in system still need a lot of improvement.

Pros

Compared with other church management platforms this one was simpler to figure out and came with many of the features we needed. It also offered plenty of customization choices and a lot of strong options for managing the membership directory.

Cons

I do wish the interface looked and felt more modern. A few parts were still somewhat clunky, for instance I wasn't fully sure what my actual login credentials were since I always signed in through Tithely. It would help if the login process were clearer especially when coming from an outside source like Tithely. I also ran into a few bugs such as the expandable menus on the left side staying open even after I moved away from that section.

Pros

Covers a lot of ground and handles a wide range of tasks pretty well even if it doesn't truly excel in one particular area. It's a large all in one platform with plenty of features and most of it works reliably though there are still a few quirks here and there. The product definitely has the potential to become something outstanding.

Cons

Since the acquisition by Tithe.ly it feels like development on the platform has slowed down and the suite is no longer getting the attention it used to.

Pros

Program is simple to use and it doesn't take much effort to teach someone else how to work with it.

Cons

I'd just like to see more customization options available.

Pros

Whenever staff members have come to me with ideas for how they wanted this software to work I've been able to configure the system to fit those requests. That level of flexibility is one of its biggest strengths. It comes with plenty of built in features to help get things done and almost every part of the program can be adjusted to suit your specific needs.

Cons

That much flexibility also means there's a fairly tough setup and learning process. It took a couple of weeks to get everything up and running and then several more weeks of fine-tuning before it matched how we wanted to use it. If you need something quick to deploy or prefer very simple software this probably won't be the right fit.

Pros

Right away I appreciated how many different ways this software lets you manage things. It gives you the freedom to organize everything the way that works best for you which makes it genuinely useful. Overall I think this is a really good piece of software.

Cons

At the same time it can be a little hard to understand at first. There are situations where it is not very clear what you need to do in order to use the functions or tools correctly so getting the hang of it can take some effort.

Pros

Platform connected nicely with our website, didn't take much effort to get up and running and has been simple enough for at least some of our congregants to use.

Cons

Biggest frustration is the fees. Fees everywhere. Giving to the church should come from the heart and still fit within a person's budget so it's frustrating that every transaction costs 2.9% plus $0.30. In the end it feels like either the church loses out or the giver does.

Pros

Really valuable to be able to see both the big picture trends and the individual details in one place. I can track things like how many people are coming to church attending small groups and getting involved overall then also click into a specific person to understand how they're personally engaging. Having that macro view alongside the micro view helps pastors care more effectively for the church as a whole while also paying attention to individual people.

Cons

Because the platform includes a lot of features it definitely takes time to learn. It was not something I could just jump into and use right away. That complexity at the start also affects the rest of the users so I have to be intentional about training people well to help prevent mistakes when they're using the system.

Pros

Being able to add payment options directly into our website was a big plus since donors could give without being sent off to a different page. I could also customize the colors to match our branding which made the whole experience feel consistent and polished.

Cons

One thing that could be better is the app experience because users are taken outside the app to complete a payment. It feels like keeping that process inside the app would be a fairly simple improvement even if there may be more to it behind the scenes.

Pros

Even without much of an accounting background this software feels very easy to use. It's also simple to explain to church members which makes it even more practical.

Cons

At this point I haven't come across anything I dislike. I also haven't used it heavily yet so there may be things I notice later on.

Pros

Getting started on the admin side was pretty simple and the app itself is user friendly. It's also more cost effective than other platforms we've used before. Embedding it into our website has been simple for users and the interface feels clean and organized.

Cons

The downside is that integrating it with our ChMS takes more time than some other options. We also use SecureGive and their integration tool works better.

Pros

Using it has been very easy and the pricing is excellent. For a small church like ours it's very affordable and works well within our budget.

Cons

On Android devices it redirects you to a website instead of working like a fully native app so giving can't be done entirely within the phone app. That said we still haven't received any complaints about it.

Pros

Very simple to get started with and our members had no trouble using it. The platform looks really polished and I appreciate that it can either connect with a business website or be used through the app. It's also a big plus that churches can have their own branded app without a high setup fee or expensive monthly maintenance costs.

Cons

One small downside is that the name can be a little hard for some people to remember when they're trying to search for it online or in the app store. However if your church uses its own app or website this really isn't much of a problem.