Blackbaud DonorCentral vs. Ellucian CRM Advance

Specific scenarios where Blackbaud DonorCentral is well suited are definitely in regards to our Development team. They can quickly update our constituent's memberships and keep our communications team in the loop on current member emails and those who are in need or renewals. It also helps with their development and fundraising events. They are keeping track of the highest donors and those big prospective donors for future events. Scenarios, where it is less appropriate, are definitely in my meetings department. It does not sync with our registration database for conferences, so we have to do double work verifying if they are members or not.

Incentivized

SAAS or managed cloud scenarios would be best for new customers. Managed cloud seems to be the trend with existing customers to keep current customizations in place. Current Ellucian customers with Colleague or Banner make the most sense in using CRM Advance. Data doesn't need to be sent to a third-party application.

Incentivized

• Has great security and privacy settings. Keeps your donor information safe.
• Has a direct link with donors to our information. Eliminates a lot of double work and or hitting the same donor with multiple emails.

Incentivized

• Easy to look up info on our students
• Shared across the campus and other campuses

Incentivized

• Doesn't interface with our Aventri Registration system.
• Has quite a few advertised features like SKY and DAF that don't get used that much and aren't as impressive as they say that are.

Incentivized

• Reporting capabilities are limited.
• Navigation is not very user friendly.

Incentivized

I gave it a low rating because response times are slow. It does have multiple ways to reach support, but it usually takes a while before you "get in front" of the person you need to fix your issue. Also, problems seem to happen a lot, so it makes the process more frustrating.

Incentivized

CRM Advance is very efficient and overall a great product. We have been using CRM for many many years with really no complaints. It fits our needs.

Incentivized

I do not know of any other alternatives, as I do not work in the development department. Our Development team would have sourced alternatives to settle on this one.

Incentivized

Bryant and Stratton College chose to use both these programs. They are both so efficient for our company

Incentivized

• Helps development team keep a clear and concise donor relationship.
• Accounting can forecast money coming in more accurately.

Incentivized

• We are now able to do a more effective review of applicants and see overall trends of characteristics such as source locations. This helps to focus other efforts such as marketing to support those areas and increase others.
• There is now a full picture of the needs of our students. By being able to view information in a logical progression, trend data can be identified and reacted to.

Incentivized