DonorPerfect vs. Kindsight iWave

I love that I can integrate with Donor Search to learn about a person's past giving history to learn more about their interests. DonorPerfect also lets us upload a photo of our donors so we can easily identify them when they visit us or Attend a function. I wish the photo upload offered a larger image and multiple images, some donors send me pics of their visits and pets and it would be great to also store those right in their DP account.

iWave is a great resource for getting a big picture understanding of a donor and their potential alignment to your organization. There may be times if you are wanting to dive deeper into a particular facet of the donor profile that you would need to continue researching through other sources. Overall iWave has a user-friendly interface and is a must-have program for any prospect researcher.

Incentivized

• Reports are clean and fairly simple to pull, as long as you're trained in how to use the filters. Especially coming from experience using a database where we had to write codes to pull reports, Donor perfect's report system is incredibly simple.
• DonorPerfect is SO user-friendly and simple to find the information you need. I believe anyone can easily learn how to use it.
• It's so simple to customize your DonorPerfect system. Screen Designer is one of my favorite parts. I have no background in databases, but I can create fields, calculations, set alerts for our philanthropy officers when certain gifts come in, and customize how the screens look. You can make so many adjustments in your DonorPerfect system to meet the needs of your organization.
• The staff listen to your needs! The community allows you to make a suggestion for how DonorPerfect can be improved. If your idea gets enough votes, they make it happen. The support team is also probably the best I've ever seen. Each person is so knowledgeable, personable, and helpful.

Incentivized

• iWave is very user friendly. It did not take long at all to figure out the most efficient way to use their website. There are many Training Webinars and a support center. Customer Support is very helpful.
• The credits you purchase are only used if you use a batch screening. Individual screening is unlimited.
• We have found that the information discovered in iWave about our donors is up-to-date and accurate.
• The Foundations/Charities search function is particularly helpful. You are able to see the financials, 990s, grants awarded, and the people connected to the organizations all in one place without having to search the internet.

Incentivized

• DonorPerfect lacks good reporting functionality. Our staff often have to export data to CSV or use other reporting tools so we end up with a lot of data outside
• DonorPerfect doesn't really do a good job of tracking the full donor relationship. It needs to have better CRM functionality. Our donor relations staff often resort to third party tools to track these things.
• DonorPerfect has an API for integrations but it is very poorly implemented and slow.
• We have a lot of security concerns about DonorPerfect. These stem from our experiences using their API and observing how it is implemented, but also through our conversations directly with the company. They refused to provide security compliance details during a routine vendor risk audit from a reputable security audit vendor that we engaged to evaluate all of our vendors.

Incentivized

• The biggest piece of missing functionality has been data integration with Raiser's Edge, but iWave is working feverishly with Importacular to make that an option for users as well. I expect that process to be more user-friendly in the next year or so.
• I love that iWave is always adding new data sources to their 360 Search with Database USA being the newest piece. I hope the "COMING SOON" section of that data source will be populated soon.

Incentivized

It is by far the most cost-effective

Incentivized

The software is very easy to use and to figure out. Someone using it for the first time would be able to navigate through it easily.

Incentivized

I think it's very usable, but think the variety of different search functions, search by features can get confusing and overwhelm the user. I would prefer a "master" search function instead of having the user need to figure out to search by company name, employee's name, employee's title, etc. The website is a great resource and my team utilizes its uses often.

Incentivized

It's always up when we need it. There are some errors that happen and are not reproducible and cannot be resolved. But [they are] very few and none that cause disruption for the organization.

Incentivized

DonorPerfect is as reliable as your internet connection. It is a cloud based application and therefore you cannot pinpoint where the bottleneck is should you have one. But for the most part the app runs quickly.

Incentivized

Support is so easy. We use chat most often - as we can get someone quickly. The support folks know the product and get answers quickly. If they need to escalate an issue, they do so quickly. The training is great and easily accessible. You can take classes over and over until you completely understand concepts

iWave customer support is more responsive than most software platforms I currently use. My requests are always handled promptly, and support is incredibly responsive, friendly, and patient. Plus, I can always get someone on the phone immediately if I need a problem resolved right then and there. In addition to the live and personal support, the iWave knowledge base is frequently update with new content, including video webinars that help you become a more powerful user of the software.

Incentivized

I was able to utilize the support team to train me in areas where I could not figure out how to use the application.

Incentivized

didn't get all of our questions answered in the first go 'round

Incentivized

DonorPerfect provides an extremely easy to use importing tool and the support team was awesome. You don't have to do it in house; for a reasonable fee you can get it done by them.

Incentivized

Although DonorSnap was less expensive, it did not provide the same ease of use. I purchased DonorSnap because of the price and very quickly realized I made a mistake. We used it less than 6 months before I converted to DonorPerfect. Not all donor management systems are the same... you get what you pay for!

Incentivized

W e originally selected iWave because w e believed the return on our ROI would happen faster than it would with Donor search. Looking back, I wish we had realized that is kind of how it goes with major giving in general. We also didn't have a system the linked to DonorSearch at the time and iWaves reports pulling seemed simpler for our database type.

Incentivized

[There have been] only two outages since we have started using it and they were extremely information proactive. This should scale easily based on your internet connection.

Incentivized

• I can't imagine doing my job on a daily basis without DonorPerfect, so the ROI is tremendous for me and my organization. Not only does it store our records and data succinctly, it is a one-stop shop for staying organized and on-task with the personal Dashboard feature, recording data (no matter how obscure), and generating reports.
• DonorPerfect is a huge time-saver for me, as it allows me to schedule tasks for myself and set specific reminders related to donors that populate on my daily Dashboard. I don't have to leave DonorPerfect, open up a calendar program, and duplicate my entry of data or tasks or reminders. I can do it all within each donor's record without leaving DonorPerfect or having to navigate elsewhere on my PC.

• Every year following our annual gala we run a list of all event attendees to learn more about their interests and giving history. This has led us to new board and/or major donor candidates.
• iWave helps us understand details and less-known interests of our current donors, which helps us with donor stewardship. In today's digital age, these personal details help craft relevant stewardship and communications plans with our existing supporters. With so many competing charities, these small differences can account for a supporter to choose your organization over others who aren't making that personal connecting to the donor.

Incentivized