Givebutter Reviews

Pros

I love the interactive component to the platform, the ease of use and the ability to allow donors to contribute to cover overhead costs of managing the campaign.

Cons

I like least the functinality to change the templates.

Pros

I love how straightforward and easy to use the platform is! Nothing is particularly difficult to find/figure out, and while you can customize just about anything, there isn't SO much detail that it becomes overwhelming. It's both incredibly simple AND customizable, which is a feat to accomplish! Well done, Givebutter.

Cons

I would've liked more options for formatting our campaign pages (inability to center text & place two graphics side-by-side wasn't ideal), and more options for designing Peer to Peer pages.

Pros

Overall it is a very user intuitive platform. Very simple to understand and navigate.

Cons

When we were first looking at different platform, I was under the impression from the team that it would be able to easily handle live auctions. This was not the case. GiveButter is great for organizations that are running individual giving campaigns, peer to peer fundraising etc.. but not the type of platform I would use for Corporate giving, Planned Giving, or Live Auctions.

Alternatives Considered

GiveSmart

Reasons for Switching to Givebutter

We were sold by the pricepoint and ease of the product. It had a overall nice look and esthetic and the person that I met with assured me that it could handle all of the things that we needed (specifically support for our Live Auction/ Raise the Paddle)

Pros

We chose givebutter for several reasons but one of my favorite things is that we could see how much each team member was achieving with donations. Since we were two relay teams, the competition was fierce and givebutter helped us stay motivated and interested in fundraising!

Cons

Who likes fees? I also wish it were easier to integrate with other social media, like Instagram and Facebook. We just used a link but if there was a button or something that made it "intuitive" to share, that would be great! Without that kind of integration, it makes it hard for the campaign to spread like wildfire.

Alternatives Considered

GoFundMe

Reasons for Switching to Givebutter

Reputation & I had my accountant friend look it over and he thought everything was clean.

Pros

The resources made it incredibly easy to understand and navigate the platform. It's a really robust platform and to have it so accessible (low cost) is incredible.

Cons

There was a bit of a steep learning curve, but once I got how it worked I was good to go.

Alternatives Considered

GoFundMe

Reasons for Switching to Givebutter

the review from other similar companies who had found great success with givebutter and the low cost to us.

Pros

The ease of implementation was great. It is intuitive and offers a wide range of tools that makes fundraising easy to access for both the organization and the donor.

Cons

The learning curve was small for the nonprofit side but for some donors the amount of info required to bid or donate takes time and have seen it lead to them not bidding

Pros

Easy to track ticket sales

Easy to assign users to a campaign

Cons

Money from transactions had delayed availability

Pros

Givebutter is a user-friendly platform that allows full integrations with our CRM. I love the flexibility and options within the platform.

Cons

I don't have any complaints. Support is readily available if I have any issues, which I appreciate.

Pros

Ease of use. Reporting. Link to fundraising software.

Cons

I would like the thank yous to be handled differently

Pros

I enjoy being able to customize giving pages for campaigns.

Cons

The tip option takes away from the donor's user experience.

Pros

The interface is very easy to use and I love that we can incorporate Give Buttons and donation pages right into our website!

Cons

I can't think of anything I don't like at the moment.

Alternatives Considered

Cogran, Salesforce Sales Cloud and Sawyer

Reasons for Choosing Givebutter

Our former software was older and had not been updated by the developers for a very long time and it had no way to implement a one click donation solution.

Switched From

CivicPlus Recreation Management

Reasons for Switching to Givebutter

The functionality of GiveButter and integration with WordPress was the most attractive option. Plus the cost was right.

Pros

Givebutter's major selling point is that they do not charge anything for the use of their system. Givebutter is free forever for our non-profit. In a world where every other platform is charging based on the number of contacts in your database this is a game changer for us! This means we can use our Donor Management system as our primary CRM as well, at no additional cost.

I also love that they include a robust texting and email communication system. Making communicating with our donors a breeze.

Finally they seem committed to continuously improving their platform, adding new features regularly. I love this from a "free" system!

Cons

Because they are free for our ministry to use they ask your donors to make an additional donation to Givebutter on all webforms. It's possible to decline, but it's not easy, and the suggested amounts seem quite high. I cannot tell if that has put people off of donating to us or not. The alternative is to pay a flat %1 fee on every online donation which means that donors will never see the option to donate to Givebutter, but effectively means Givebutter is not a free system and the costs go up directly in proportion to the amount we make. TL;DR it's complicated.

At the present time Admins cannot edit or adjust a recurring donor's amounts or date of donation. The only option is to cancel a donation and have the donor restart their recurring donation on the date they want it to recur.

Pros

It is easy to use, lot's of great features, and it is mainly free.

Cons

Writing paper thank you letters is a little clunky.

Alternatives Considered

Neon CRM and Bloomerang

Reasons for Choosing Givebutter

It was too expensive. We didn't like that additional fees for events.

Switched From

Bonterra Giving Days

Reasons for Switching to Givebutter

The price. Givebutte was cheaper than the alternatives with all the features we needed.

Pros

The customer service is excellent. They were always available to answer my questions and hear my suggestions for improving the platform.

Cons

The online auction platform could use a couple of improvements, such as showing how many items have been sold for “fixed price” items, and allowing last minute bidding for people who landed at a tied dollar amount. We could have raised money if they had been given the chance to outbid each other. As it exists, the platform automatically assigned a winner to one of the bidders (most recent bid or first bid, can’t remember). This was confusing for our bidders who received an email saying “you’ve been outbid for X$$,” when that was the same amount they entered as their maximum bid. We had some disgruntled bidders.

Pros

The platform is very easy to use and user friendly.

Cons

I would like to see options for customizing reports for events.

The ability to delete events from the dashboard when they are over.

Alternatives Considered

PayPal, Givelify, Venmo and GoFundMe

Reasons for Switching to Givebutter

Givebutter had all the features we were looking for and it was free!

Pros

Givebutter is an incredibly easy to use platform that allows us to track donations, start fundraising campaigns, act as a CRM, and reach out to donors. There are webinars that Givebutter hosts to allow you to learn more of their features and benefits. It was also easy to integrate into our website. It is basically everything that we could ask for in a donation platform.

Cons

It's really been so easy to use that I don't have any cons to write about.

Pros

I have loved the easy setup, the easy access to in person support, and how much is included in the free version - especially the ability to create different types of campaigns, make different fund selections available, and add custom fields to our donor database.

Cons

The two biggest issues we have had are these: 1. the *optional* fees to our donors do not always appear optional and require several clicks to remove - we eventually elected to pay a fee for GiveButter in order to remove the fee suggestion to our donors who were growing offput. - And 2. I was surprised and disappointed that GiveButter does not have the ability to "soft credit" a donor who gives through some type of investment account, which is a common way for many people to give. This has complicated things for us significantly.

Alternatives Considered

Planning Center and BetterWorld

Reasons for Switching to Givebutter

Free, full-featured (campaigns, event management, donor CRM), easy access to in person support, and clear UI/excellent graphics - the latter sounds corny but it significantly affects my experience as an admin and our donors' experience as well

Pros

That is a free platform or that I can turn on some services for a small platform fee. I like that each campaign can be customized. It is easy to set up and navigate around and that there are so many features: text to give, multiple campaigns, donate when you purchase a ticket, talk on the platform.

Cons

When someone is checking out, the screen is a little confusing for some with the donation and the tip portion. I think it should be broken up with some headers/banners

Alternatives Considered

Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT and Little Green Light

Reasons for Switching to Givebutter

The price by far, the others have more automation but we are a non profit with many costs.

Pros

I love that it is free to use and in my opinion, rivals a lot of the software that costs thousands of dollars to maintain. I walk away from their webinars with something new I've learned in the fundraising space and their resource library is very comprehensive and visual.

Cons

I hope that they can get the "tap to pay" feature to work for iPads. That would take my event to the next level.

Alternatives Considered

Bonterra Giving Days

Reasons for Choosing Givebutter

They wanted to charge us extra for events.

Switched From

Neon Fundraise

Reasons for Switching to Givebutter

Ease of use and price. Other products want to charge extra for something that is already included with GB.

Pros

This is a very user friendly platform. We use this on our website and have received a lot of donations so far.

Cons

I love the ease of access to transferring funds however, the platform auto fills in the response to donating a percentage of our donations to 3%. I believe this should be auto filled to 0%

Pros

Givebutter is a great platform for small nonprofits. The software makes it easy to accept gifts online, send acknowledgement emails or letters, create fundraising campaigns, and track donor engagement. You can also manually add donations, which is helpful to our organization, as many of our gifts are made offline.

The contact import tool is easy to use. The contact profile has areas for notes and keeping track of donor communication. It is easy to see a snapshot of the donor's activity all in one place on their profile.

The reporting function is well-designed for basic reporting needs. The ability to track fundraising goals on campaign pages publicly is helpful, and donors can leave notes and images on a fundraising page when donating, which adds a personal touch.

Best of all, though, is their customer support. Their support team is super helpful and friendly, and their product development is always looking for ways to improve the software. You can "vote" for a product feature, and often, they are added over time.

Cons

Givebutter is a perfect platform for smaller organizations. At our organization, we have more extensive and complex needs, and have an additional CRM, so we've ended up needing to use both platforms. I would like to see the ability to create and print acknowledgement documents such as postcards for memorials, and the ability to mail merge the information needed from the donation transactions. At times, the interface can be too simplified, and make it difficult to find settings you're looking for. Also, there is currently no ability to track donations sent via text-to-donate codes- you see a total, but not who gave. The reporting could also be more robust. Right now, you can't run simple reports on people who unsubscribe from an email blast or bounced email addresses from the Engage module. You also can't customize the text that appears on donors' credit card statements with your organization name. It would also be helpful if a phone support number was offered to customers.

Pros

I love the accessibility and the ease of use with GiveButter. It has helped our small organization fundraise without complicated platforms or systems. People can donate using familiar to them tools like PayPal and Venmo. We can capture contact information without barriers. It helps us to build lasting donor relationships. The event tool is extremely useful for our organization as we seek to use events to raise funds and serve the community.

Cons

I find some of the fees to be challenging to understand in the back end and how they will be viewed by donors.

Pros

We used this for our big fundraiser and had a ton of customer service support leading into the event so we felt confident. The systems were intuitive and easy. We created efficiencies and ease with Givebutter and have also hosted a new online raffle with it as well.

Cons

There was not total functionality for tap to pay when we used Givebutter. I believe this has been fixed now.

Pros

It keeps everything nicely organized and you can find metrics and info you want very quickly and easily.

Cons

Once you set up a campaign is it pretty difficult to extend it or change the parameters of it, if you want to.

Alternatives Considered

Bloomerang and CharityEngine

Reasons for Switching to Givebutter

We liked the pricing and features offered.

Pros

At a very basic level, Givebutter works well as a CRM to guide your organization"s fundraising efforts. You can store donor contact and giving information. Create bulk emails and year-end acknowledgement letters. The zero dollar subscription rate was the biggest value for us. Comparatively, it saved us $3000 in annual fees plus $1500 in on-boarding fees.

Cons

Givebutter lacks the depth of function to strategize donor relations and grow overall giving. I've also found that some of the functions aren't reliable all the time, such as exporting only specific info columns for a spreadsheet. I've run that export a few times, designating specific info, but it would still export everything. I also find it annoying that it can filter and show you specific Transactions (or gifts) but it won't show you a total for the filter set. Example: I filter only Transactions for this month to date. I can see all individual gifts but no total dollar amount, total average gift or total number of donors. This simple information would be helpful to see at a glance.