GiveSmart

Score7 out of 10

219 Reviews and Ratings

What is GiveSmart?

GiveSmart, a Community Brands company, offers a full-service event management platform supporting event website, event registration, attendee tracking, donor management and data insights, and full customer service for entities wishing to raise funds via an auction or charity event. The platform also integrates technology from Community Brands brand Gesture to provide a comprehensive suite of services. GiveSmart replaces the former 501 Auctions, a platform to support charity auctions, mobile bidding, and general event management with automation for nonprofit fundraising.

Categories & Use Cases

Media

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Verified User

Administrative Assistant (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use GiveSmart for our nonprofit. We setup several different types of forms depending on what the funds are being collected for. GiveSmart allows us to tailor a form for a specific need or fund. It helps us to not only collect donations, but important information to follow up with donors in the future.

Pros

Customizable Forms
Able to integrate with other programs
Customer Service

Cons

There are a couple fields on the forms that are permanent. Would be helpful to make them optional.
A mobile app
The manage columns section could be easier to use, ie drag and drop

Return on Investment

Increased fundraising revenue
Made it more accessible for someone to donate.

Alternatives Considered

Bloomerang

Usability

Other Software Used

Bloomerang, QuickBooks Online

Verified User

Director in Professional Services (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use the product for fundraisers to help manage donations and donors

Pros

data review
help chats

Cons

call customer service
mobile use

Return on Investment

I have not seen ROI
Less cash

Alternatives Considered

OneCause

Usability

Other Software Used

QuickBooks Desktop for Mac, Donorbox

Bunny Rosenberg

Director of Marketing & Communications in Marketing at Muttville (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

My non-profit uses GiveSmart for our annual fundraising gala. We use it to create the website for the event utilizing the features of ticket/sponsorship purchases and auction item bidding. The night of the event we use GiveSmart to check people in, alert attendees via text of relevant updates, and for auction bidding.

Pros

Silent auction bidding
Easy follow up functionality
Intuitive UX

Cons

Opt out option for credit cards (some donors prefer not using credit cards)
Would love examples of best use cases from clients
Credit card swiping is never 100%

Return on Investment

Improved donor insights because we can run reports easily on all the data and compare to previous years
We used to record bids by hand, so would only capture the winning bid information and wouldn't have any insight into what donors bid on but didn't win and how many bids certain items got
Super helpful in providing insights into what auction items are popular and which don't perform as well.
Has made our work WAY easier as we used to design and print out auction item information...it took so much time!

Alternatives Considered

DonorPerfect

Usability

Other Software Used

Virtuous CRM, RaiseDonors

Maddy Lamers View profile

Development and Communications Associate in Marketing at Angel Foundation (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

At my organization, we use GiveSmart to create event pages for two of our largest development events each year, our golf tournament and our Gala, as well as for one of our largest third-party events. GiveSmart allows us to check in our guests on the day of the event, manage their purchases, create displays, provide them with easy-to-access information, and offer our silent auction and items-for-purchase. Recently, we have begun to use the early-check-in option for registration, which has been very helpful.

Pros

GiveSmart is a very easy-to-use platform that provides robust instruction on use but is so user-friendly that the instructions are mostly not necessary. I find it easy to update, change, and create all aspects of our page. For example, I first used GiveSmart without any instruction from a manager. She instructed me to look around and see what was going on. I was able to navigate the site effectively, and only found a few pieces for which I needed more instruction.
GiveSmart offers a well-made item section. Our gala has a silent auction made up of more than 170 items, and GiveSmart makes it easy to upload those items in bulk or add them individually. It offers every field I would want to have for an item and provides a comprehensive and adjustable front-facing-view for donors that is easy to manipulate.
GiveSmart's main page creator is easy to navigate and create the site you want. They provide helpful details like sizing for images and the ability to create buttons and links and different sections as our needs dictate. It's easy to adjust the colors and design to reflect our branding.

Cons

I think it would be helpful if we could use QR codes with the GiveSmart site. I don't understand why there's such an issue with the QR codes.
I wish the home page was almost completely customizable. I think it's pretty good, but it would be nice to be able to pull more than one display there and to have more linking options.
The display section is difficult to use and often frustrates me. I have used it 6 or 7 times now, and each time, I have to reteach myself how to use it by creating multiple displays. I am not usually slow with technology, so I feel this tool could be improved.

Return on Investment

I think that GiveSmart has given us more positive experiences with registration than the system we had before. Registration is as easy as possible because we are able to upload many of our guests before the event begins, which minimizing issues during the event.
We have also had more success with our auctions through GiveSmart. It looks professional, provides great tools like autobidding and texting, and promotes engagement with our items without us having to track them.
The data collected has been very helpful, especially for the auction. It's much easier now to pull reports from our events and use that information to determine future practices.

Usability

Other Software Used

Virtuous CRM, Race Roster

Amber Berkey

Fundraising and Development Officer at Michelle's Place Cancer Resource Center (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I utilize all three platforms GiveSmart offers: Donor CRM, Fundraise, and Events. Previously, our organization was using an event platform that was separate from our Donor CRM which caused duplication of efforts, data-entry and importation errors, and wasted time. Since implementing GiveSmart, each product integrates for a cohesive fundraising strategy, better donor communication, and a better giving experience.
Reports are a quick turnaround and I know the data in my CRM is accurate and timely!

Pros

Integration Options
Reporting
Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

Cons

Communication options could be improved- texting & emailing. The Event platform has an excellent interface for this. The other two do not.

Return on Investment

Improved internal processes
Improved event management
Improved donation strategy

Alternatives Considered

Slack and Microsoft Teams

Usability

GoFundMe Pro

Greater Giving

OneCause

GiveSmart

What is GiveSmart?

Categories & Use Cases

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Other Software Used

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