Bonterra Guided Fundraising

Pros: Easy to use. I run a company and wanted to help out my local hospital. Using this sure helped me out to achieve my goals.

Cons: There are a few hidden costs using this program that I did not like.

Overall: Overall, it does what I needed it to do. It helps me get organized and pay attention to what is important. I sure like helping people.

Pros: I love the resources of Network for Good. The ability to:
1. create a newsletter with the creative features to make it interesting and unique.
2. create videos to raise funds, as well as thank donors
3. list potential donors with full descriptions of who they are
4. send email blasts, videos, etc. to several persons, organizations

I really appreciate the easy way to track and maintain donor contributions.

Cons: While I appreciate the newsletter component, I sometimes find it confusing and convoluted in trying to create it. It's not user-friendly.

Overall: My overall experience: fairly positive. Understanding the product takes time "playing with it."

Pros: I am a fan of NFG's platform because of its ease of use. Being new to the non-profit world, I found the team helpful when I was inquiring and upon my decision to use the platform, I found it very user-friendly. The resource library is also helpful when trying to create emails and newsletters.

Cons: I was unable to take advantage of the onboarding resources fully because it is time-sensitive. I have however been able to learn a lot on my own because of the intuitive platform features.

Overall: Overall, I am pleased and would recommend it to others looking for this type of platform.

Pros: Network for Good is a user-friendly application. It allows us to organize donors and stakeholder communications in one location. Before Network for Good, we used a separate spreadsheet, a database, a mass phone calling app, and a marketing app. Network for Good combines all these into one simple, accessible application.

Cons: I wish I could use it to create a website or a landing page.

Overall: The experience has been great! It's difficult to find anything to complain about.

Pros: I started with NFG because I knew our organization needed an online way to collect donor money. So we signed up with them just to collect donations in 2012. Fast forward, I learned a lot from NFG by watching webinars and donor management training. However, I didn't think we were getting enough donations to sign up for the donor management system. 2019 it became painfully apparent that I needed to do two things. Get a new state-of-the-art website and commit to getting NFG Donor Management System. I was able to get a new website built by nonprofit 48in48 at no charge. And we signed up with the NFG Donor management system.

The four-legged stool, 1. new website, 2. NFG Donor Management System 3. NFG training and technical support, 4. The NFG fundraising landing pages, where you can create specific fundraising campaigns. And yes, I asked myself why did I wait so long. We have had years of trust with NFG, and the Donor Management System complimented our website, and people see we have a professional presence online.

You are probably asking, did our donations go up? The answer is Absolutely!

Cons: The only Con which sounds partially like a Pro, I love that I can respond immediately, send an email and thank my donors for their donation. I would like a little more design ability to the email. Like playing backgrounds. I still use CC which is better suited for that type of feature. And there is a possibility to do those things I just don't know how to do it.

Overall: From 2012 till now our organization has grown in many ways. I have looked at other DMS briefly and nothing can touch what NFG has created for non-profits. Oh one last thing. I love the fact that they partner with Facebook and process the donations that come to us through Facebook.

Pros: I love the one-on-one coaching experience and the coaching sessions with powerful couples who are entrepreneurs with major companies. I appreciate the coaches helping us navigate the Network for Good software system.

Cons: Sometimes I didn't have much time to commit; however, I set aside the time. I would have liked a component to receive more suggestions on our campaign. I would have like for Network for Good to provide us with a database of potential donors to help leverage those that are participating in the sessions.

Overall: My overall experience was good. I appreciate the software to help entrepreneurs understand how to market their community programs and campaigns. It allows us to be business savvy and understand our target audience and approach. It allows us to strategically think about our mission.

Pros: Automatic donation receipts.
Scheduling.
Filter options.
Access to various templates.
Fundraising calendars.

Cons: Email templates don't always appear in the templates after they've been created.

Overall: What I love about Network for Good and the fundraising software is the automation behind my organization's giving page, the newsletters, email blasts. etc. It takes some of the work off of me because when someone donates through our giving page or from the newsletter they automatically receive a donation receipt that they can save for tax purposes!

Pros: Network for Good enables me to view creative ways for our organization to think outside the box and expand our knowledge for fundraising. It is an All-in-one system to assist with communicating with donors.

Cons: None at all with the system. We have no complaints about the system. Everyone is readily available if any questions do occur. It is an All-in-one system to assist with communicating with donors.

Overall: We are very excited and happy about Network for Good. It is an All-in-one system to assist with communicating with donors.

Pros: I recently switched to the Network for Good system and love that it seamlessly combined my donor management with communications. On the communications front, it's easy to send messages (and video!), see what's been read, and what outreach has led to donations. On the donor management side, I love that donations get automatically logged and that the pre-made filters make it easy to search for lapsed donors or recent donors, and the donor acknowledgment options are convenient and easy to use. I also love the easy customizable donation landing pages and the ability to have peer fundraising pages.

Cons: The sorting functions are slightly less robust than salesforce which we had used previously.

Overall: With the switch to Network for Good, I was able to cancel 4 other platforms, which not only saves us money but means fewer bills to pay and the convenience of having all my data in one site that's always open on my computer!

Pros: NFG allows everyone within our organization to easily use the program regardless of computer skills. We have a variety of computer skilled users and this program allows everyone to feel at ease. The available templates give you a starting point for all communications which is helpful for our busy schedules.

Cons: I wish a planning calendar was included to allow us all to stay on task throughout the year. I also wish there was a little more flexibility in design of newsletters.

Overall: This is the easiest to learn & use platform I have worked on. The comprehensive nature allows everyone within our organization to stay connected and our messaging to be cohesive. It also helps that NFG is always on hand to answer all questions.

Pros: NFG is a fairly intuitive product. Additionally, there is online training available to solve problems. In case of bigger problems the staff is highly responsive to our needs.

Cons: The email blast is complicated and limited in terms of what I can do with the shape of my newsletters. Does not seem to have a hard copy version if I wanted to do print in addition to emails.

Overall: Overall this program is better than what we had before. I would like to see some growth in terms of the email blasts. One of the reasons we switched to only NFG and away from Mailchimp is because we could do our email newsletters. However, it is not as easy to use nor as clean in appearance.

Pros: As an administrator and daily user of the Network for Good platform, I'm impressed with the ease of use and the availability of help when needed. I have found the entire Network for Good team to be very responsive to any questions I have -- from importing data to sending group texts. The data import went off without a hitch. There are many ways to get support and I have used most of them: guides, help articles, office hours, direct contact through email, our team leader and coach. It's also extremely easy to put together templates for communicating with our donors, board members, and grant providers. We had previously used a different platform and find Network for Good's to be much easier, faster, and user intuitive.

Cons: The only thing I have come up against that surprises me is the unavailability to send out End of Year tax statements to our donors. Many donors have requested this (I suppose they don't hold on to their receipts) and I find it difficult and time consuming to produce the statement. I have contacted the help department and expect I'll hear back from them today -- it's possible I just haven't figured out the right way to do it.

Overall: Overall, my experience with Network for Good has been very good. We have only been using this product since October 2021, but haven't run into any issues that have not been resolved. Our communications with donors has been easy to set up, both on the devising groups for mailings and the actual templates and texts. We were sad to see our Customer Service Manager leave -- she had been so helpful -- but we're sure that our new one will be just as responsive and informative. I think we have just scratched the surface of all that this platform can do and am looking forward to discovering what lies ahead.

Pros: Our coach Andrea has been amazing. She really took the time to understand our program and make suggestions that were attainable for us. She respected the fact that we're an extremely small business and that our time is limited.

Cons: So far we haven't had any issues with this platform

Overall: Overall we've been able to reach customers that we may have lost touch with over the years. I appreciate the direct links to new information and Andrea sharing her thoughts and stories to help us get the courage to ask for exactly what we need from our supporters.

Pros: The 1-on-1 time with a personal coach was great. It really helped become familiar with the system. It has made managing our donors a lot easier to have all our information in one place.

Cons: The limited time with the personal coach, even though you could purchase more time.

Overall: So far so good. I cannot wait to see what our donations look like after using this system for a year.

Pros: Easy user friendly, really helpful staff, great campaign ideas, Auction site very useful for latest fundraising event, helpful tools for communication.

Cons: Donors for event/sponsors doesn't link to donation summaries for each contact.

Overall: Overall this has helped in our overall tracking of volunteers and proper reporting. Our latest event was a success due to online auction.

Pros: We found the transition to NFG bee easy. Some of the highlights are: The ease of use; the templates; the guides; the tasks series.

Cons: The reports are sometimes limited. We find it difficult to customize their pre-determined report suggestions. A lesson in that would be helpful.

Overall: The transition to Network for Good was seamless. The staff was helpful and patient. We have benefitted from this database.

Pros: The creation of a uniformed supporter and donor database. Additionally, possessing the ability to cultivate relationships among our donors, customers, and community partners will prove advantageous.

Cons: Finding the time to input all our potential donors into the database.

Overall: First and foremost, thank you for providing Henrico PAL with this opportunity. The Jumpstart Program has allowed us to structure our fundraising efforts and finally create a uniformed supporter database. Of course, cultivating relationships with our perspective and current donors is a work in progress. However, our Fundraising Coach has been helpful and accessible.

Prior to Jumpstart, we utilized an online funding portal named Flipcause. Despite continuing the utilization of their services as website manager, we see the Jumpstart as a better fundraising option going forward. Currently, a graduate intern and our office manager is assisting me with operating the program. Unfortunately, the pandemic has adversely impacted some of our organizational plans regarding development. Eventually, our plan is to hire a full time Director of Development & Marketing who will have the responsibility of managing the Jumpstart Program and our fundraising efforts.

Pros: NFG is user friendly. It offers great support through the chat option and with coaching sessions. The ability to text, email, and send video messages are great features!

Cons: There is no filter for undeliverable texts which would make it easier to group and remove people from system. There should also be an option to put organizations in NFG without having to create a separate individual contact.

Overall: I am new to NFG and have only been using it for a couple months. I'm still learning my way through filters and setting up templates, but overall it seems to be a great, user friendly system.

Pros: We are a nonprofit run by volunteers supported by a consultant who are located across the country. The NFG platform helps us manage and keep our donor database up-to-date as well as running multiple campaigns. It also processes online donations and supports input of donations received by mail.

Cons: As the organization's treasurer, I need to input info for donors as well as getting info for the distributions that are transferred to our account. This requires two separate logins. It would be easier for me if the same login supported users with different level of access.

Overall: After research by our consultant of alternatives in early 2021, NFG was recommended to our foundation as the most cost-effective solution for our needs. We began by importing our historical donor information which helped us to reach out to and reactivate lapsed donors. We have used it to reach out to donors by email, social media and US Mail with positive results.

Pros: I am new to working for a non profit and NFG has many resources that have really helped me learn! The zoom classes that I have been a part of have all offered me different tools. I also enjoy the way they have been set up, breakout rooms are nice because NFG caters to so many different kinds of non profits, you meet a lot of people and hear about methods you may not have tried.

Cons: When having others present based off their specific skills that they've applied to their markets, maybe have a wrap up or have them generalize the methods and tactics they've used. I think there is clearly something to learn from anyone because a business is a business. However, if the non profits serve drastically different communities, finding a way to utilize what they have shared might not be so easily understandable!

Overall: I look forward to more Zooms and classes with Network for Good! I think what they offer is not only incredibly useful but also deeply genuine.