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Blackbaud Enterprise Fundraising CRM vs. StarChapter

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Blackbaud Enterprise Fundraising CRM

    Score7.6 out of 10
    N/ADesigned for large, complex organizations as well as federated and international nonprofits.N/A

    StarChapter

    Score7 out of 10
    N/AStarChapter is an AMS from the company of the same name in Maryland, featuring a configurable website with ecommerce, role based permissions and access, and finally member management with dues tracking and collection, and event registration.N/A
    Pricing
    Blackbaud Enterprise Fundraising CRMStarChapter
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Blackbaud Enterprise Fundraising CRMStarChapter
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Best Alternatives
    Blackbaud Enterprise Fundraising CRMStarChapter
    Small Businesses
    Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud
    Score9 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    DonorPerfect
    Score7.5 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Enterprises
    Ellucian CRM Advance
    Score7.6 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Blackbaud Enterprise Fundraising CRMStarChapter
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.9
    (36 ratings)
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.1
    (8 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Availability
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    6.9
    (7 ratings)
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    7.8
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Blackbaud Enterprise Fundraising CRMStarChapter
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Blackbaud
    It works well enough for fundraising purposes and donor tracking. I think it would be less appropriate for instances or industries where you don't need so many data points on someone. You are able to attach a lot of information to a record so if you don't need that info (simply need contact info for example) you might want a simpler system
    Incentivized
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    StarChapter
    Once you understand how to use the system, it is pretty useful. But it has some definite areas where it could be brought up to speed with other modern tools. It is basic and could be better.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Blackbaud
    • Accessing in-depth data for a single constituent is easily done and customizable by user working with "tiles" on the home screen
    • Generating lists of possible prospects with specific similarities can be done with a few clicks and then stored for more research later
    • well designed relationship options allow for a a look at specific constituents and how they might relate to other constituents in the system leading to more effective prospecting
    • Screens can be easily customized by user or user group eliminating irrelevant data and presenting only truly relevant information
    Incentivized
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    StarChapter
    • The blast communications are clear and easy to read.
    • Reporting- the reports within StarChapter are very helpful and easy to use.
    • The tools for tracking attendee information are super easy to use.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Blackbaud
    • Certain aspects of Blackbaud are oddly non-customizable.
    • Blackbaud updates/support is slow and often ineffective - our organization switched to Microsoft 365, which is apparently incompatible with Blackbaud. Help/support recommended clunky workarounds that don't actually work, rather than proactively enhancing compatibility
    • There should be a flag in constituent search to show which people in the results list are deceased.
    • Query isn't very user friendly. It should be simple to locate the information that you want to pull, and add parameters to that information. Instead you have to write multiple queries to set parameters, then write a query that looks at those other queries. It's time-consuming and easy to make mistakes, and the knowledge/proficiency is difficult to explain or transfer to new staff.
    • Blackbaud generally just feels like its technology is outdated. It wasn't built for the needs of a modern organization, and its developers have failed to make the necessary improvements over time to stay competitive.
    Incentivized
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    StarChapter
    • Website's back-end could be more updated with templates that are editable like wordpress
    • Back-end email generator could function like a Constant Contact or MailChimp with features to make emails nicer and more modern looking
    • More customizable fields that could be added to any form
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Blackbaud
    We've covered a lot, but mostly because we are happy with the system overall. There are a few kinks, and sometimes it takes a minute to figure out the right wording to pull a report or the best way to code a new category that we want to track. But Blackbaud is always there to help us, and once things are figured out - they are super simple to replicate. It wouldn't be worth it to switch to a new system and lose of all our information and time put in to mastering the system
    Incentivized
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    StarChapter
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Blackbaud
    I have not personally had to reach out to Blackbaud CRM Support, because we have a central office that manages the Blackbaud CRM relationship. However, any time I've reached out to our support team, there is nothing they can't figure out by utilizing the support they receive from Blackbaud CRM. I've not had any issues that have gone unresolved, and they can always get things done in a timely fashion.
    Incentivized
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    StarChapter
    They create these long chains of responses. So for everything you write in they repeat what you wrote and then respond to it. It gets very confusing trying to figure out where the conversation is sometimes especially on a long trail of back and forth.
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Blackbaud
    Most of our issues were self-inflicted and related to BB's work. We did not "staff up" correctly, our data to be converted was not in great shape and we set some unreasonable goals. With BBs help we were able to clean our data and prep it for conversion and we adjusted the goals to be more achievable with the timeline we were given. We found the BB staff to be responsive and focused, especially when working on-site with us.
    Incentivized
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    StarChapter
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Blackbaud
    Blackbaud CRM is more robust and has better functionality. It is necessary for a bigger fundraising shop. Blackbaud Raiser's Edge and NXT worked well in smaller organizations with fewer users and fewer donors/prospects. RE was more affordable than CRM was for the smaller organization.
    Incentivized
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    StarChapter
    I have not yet used other products similar to StarChapter.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Blackbaud
    • Change is always expensive and painful, but CRM is worth the time and effort. One immediate benefit is improved transparency internally, especially for internal accounting, controls, and compliance departments.
    • Cloud hosting helps cut cost and demand on organization staff. Improves access and meets compliance on every level.
    • Ability to make global changes to recording donor phone communication makes it a one-stop resource for a well-run development team.
    Incentivized
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    StarChapter
    • It helps us to track revenues.
    • It helps us to track attendees’ information.
    • It is a great tool for sending email blasts.
    Incentivized
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