Fonteva Reviews

Pros

Managing several organizations under a single business account has been a big advantage for our association/non-profit management company. We're able to support databases for as many as eight organizations in one place which makes it much easier for sub-teams to share knowledge, ideas and training. On the staff side, the interface feels much more engaging than many association databases which often come across as stiff, outdated and difficult to use. Another thing I really appreciate is the object-based, interconnected setup. Contacts, Accounts, Items, Sales Orders, Payment Methods and other objects all connect to one another which creates far more flexible use cases than a limited system. Instead of a basic static form tied to an annual conference page, members can go through a more interactive and customizable registration process. It's possible to build as many ticket types for an event as needed and link different registration forms to different ticket types. Tracking detailed data is also very useful. If I need to see which payment method was used for a purchase and at what time, I can drill into the sales order, then the related e-payment, then the payment method and review each piece of information directly. That relational database structure creates a lot of opportunity for stronger reporting and a better member experience overall. Reporting can be very powerful as well. You can combine fields from multiple objects to identify member companies that joined after January 2023 and are based in Florida, attendees with a certain certification who attended the last two annual conferences, members serving on committees and plenty more. The platform can handle most areas of association management, including membership, events, e-store, online communities and beyond.

Cons

That flexibility also brings a lot of complexity and at times it turns into a real headache. The system can be so involved that troubleshooting, glitches and other issues become overwhelming for both staff and members. Having a dedicated IT or technical staff person to manage the platform and act as the internal liaison feels absolutely necessary. We regularly deal with problems related to flows, especially when trying to trigger a chain of actions in the database, like having a membership purchase automatically activate the membership and send a welcome email. On top of that, there are random software issues that are hard to explain, such as the front-end purchasing page taking several minutes to load for members and event attendees. Reporting, while powerful in some ways, also has frustrating limitations because it depends on preset object templates. For instance, if you're using an "Accounts with Contacts" template, you can only pull fields tied to those object types. You wouldn't be able to include something like Attendee IDs, so staff has to be very careful to choose the right template before spending time building a report. When specific data requests come up, we often have to export multiple reports into Excel and manually sort or combine the information ourselves because the available report templates are limited. It would be much better if reporting allowed access to all relevant data in one place and reduced the amount of manual Excel work required.

Pros

Managing an association has become much more aligned for me since everything, from memberships to events and financials, sits in one place. I've found the Salesforce integration especially valuable for strengthening CRM capabilities and the reporting tools make it easy for me to track trends and pull insights when needed.

Cons

That said, the platform can be challenging to learn, especially for users who are not very comfortable with technology. Getting everything set up and customized at the beginning takes a fair amount of time and it may require hands-on help from the IT team. On top of that, some of the more advanced features seem a little expensive when compared with other options on the market.

Pros

What I appreciate most is having everything centralized in a single platform which simplifies my workflow. The level of customization available has been a big plus for me and working within Salesforce makes handling CRM data much more efficient.

Cons

Initial setup can be a bit complicated, especially for someone from a non-IT background or with little to no Salesforce knowledge. Because it has so many features and customization options, the setup process is also fairly lengthy, so implementation takes time and feels complex.

Pros

We've started building a strong base of historical data with this system and I've noticed that reporting is now something we can handle independently without relying on external support.

Cons

At this point, I really haven't run into any major downsides. We only went live in September 2021, so we're still shaping the system around our specific requirements and are currently in phase 2. The one area that could use more support is training around report creation.

Pros

Running our membership and event app through this platform has worked out well for me. The tools feel practical and easy to use and setting things up didn't require much effort from an admin perspective.

Cons

One thing that would make it even better is more documentation covering the different features in the community platform. It would also help a lot if the documentation were easier to search with a wider range of keywords.

Pros

Working within the Salesforce environment has been a major advantage for my team. I've found the flexibility extremely useful for solving different business needs and it has noticeably reduced the time we spend on routine tasks.

Cons

This isn't the kind of platform you pick up in a day or two. Your team really needs to invest time in learning the structure before taking on major configuration or custom work. In most cases, it's also smart to bring in a third-party expert to help align the setup with your business goals and make sure the platform is configured the right way. One other lesson: try to stay away from custom code whenever possible, because as you learn the system better, you'll usually find that Salesforce's out-of-the-box tools can handle more than you first expect.

Pros

The range of solutions available for membership management has stood out to me and I've found it covers a wide variety of use cases.

Cons

At times, customization can be a little difficult.

Pros

Building a member community site has been much easier for me with this platform. I like being able to tailor the experience for different users, especially with features like role-based access that keep content relevant.

Cons

There's already a lot of flexibility when it comes to customizing the member community site but it would be even better if there were more customization options for membership dues.

Pros

Getting started was fairly simple for me, although I did notice that some features required additional customization to fully match our processes which can make upgrades a bit more involved.

Cons

One noticeable gap is the lack of membership retention tracking. Sending emails from within the database also has issues, especially when the formatting ends up getting messed up. We're also looking into using more of the available tools, like campaigns but at a basic level it can still be a bit tricky to understand and navigate.

Pros

Using the software day to day has been easy and I've been able to adapt it to fit our specific association needs without too much difficulty.

Cons

There's still some room for improvement. We've run into a few issues with the join and renewal processes that could be refined and the finance side would be better with improvements to scheduled payments and lockbox functionality.

Pros

Navigating the platform feels simple in my experience and I've benefited from both Salesforce training and the platform's own learning resources when building things out.

Cons

The IT environment does need quite a bit of ongoing maintenance, so it's important to have dedicated staff available to handle the weekly, monthly and quarterly upkeep tasks.

Pros

One thing I value is that it's built on Salesforce CRM which makes it easier for me to work within a familiar system.

Cons

Getting this system implemented took far longer than expected and ended up costing much more than we were originally told. Across nearly every area, the software has fallen short of expectations. Key functions like invoicing, event setup and management, reporting, renewals and eCommerce have all been unreliable. Support also doesn't really cover the full system anymore since their business model shifted toward using third-party companies for setup, configuration and advanced help. On top of that, upgrades are not included and the related fees are inconsistent and hard to predict. The eCommerce engine also doesn't meet normal standards for SEO or even basic online store structure. Email features and platform integrations either fail outright or take far too much manual work. Even renewal and invoice automations can break which creates even more issues.

Pros

The flexibility to customize different processes has helped me improve how our organization operates. I also had a really positive experience working with the IT team during implementation.

Cons

We haven't come across any real downsides yet. As a newer customer, every challenge we've faced has been something it helped us work through and resolve.

Pros

Coming from a Salesforce background, I found this AMS very easy to adjust to since it closely aligns with tools I was already familiar with.

Cons

That said, if your work goes beyond certification or association management, it might not cover every single need out of the box. In some cases, you may also have to pay extra to get the additional functionality you need.

Pros

After several months of using it, I've found it relatively easy to learn, even without a technical background. Customizing the join process has been a major improvement for me and the reporting dashboards have helped us make better use of our data.

Cons

Like any software, there's definitely a learning curve and I'm still looking forward to learning more so we can become even more efficient and take full advantage of everything the system offers.

Pros

Managing membership services has been efficient for me with this software and I like that staff can use it with minimal training while still accessing live member data easily.

Cons

One area that still needs improvement is handling duplicate accounts and identifying them early before they become a bigger issue.

Pros

Overall, it delivers what I need and includes a great range of features that support our daily operations.

Cons

We haven't run into any issues at this point and customer support has been quick to respond.

Pros

Right away, the functions could be adjusted in practical ways to match how our business operates, without needing much admin involvement or extra support.

Cons

Reporting isn't always very simple and for more advanced or higher-level reports, admin help is often still necessary.

Pros

As an association using Salesforce, this has been an excellent fit for us. It brings all of our needs together in one integrated system and also keeps us connected with other vendors and platforms, so everything stays in sync. If you're looking for a more connected and efficient workflow, I'd definitely recommend it.

Cons

The only downside is that the design can feel somewhat restrictive and making customizations isn't always the simplest thing to do.

Pros

Being built on the Salesforce platform is a big advantage for us and the customization options make it adaptable to different needs.

Cons

There are times when processing feels a bit slow.