User Reviews
GiftWorks by Mission Research
USER REVIEWS - Sorted by Date
Purchased Date: April 01, 2008
Executive Director, Rowan Tree Foundation
December 10, 2009
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Pros
GiftWorks is a terrific product for donor management at a price that is affordable for any non-profit organization. The automated processes for mailings and receipts are exceptional. Reporting is feature-rich and built to suit the needs of our organization out-of-the-box. The additional modules for Online Donations, Events, and Volunteer Management have created a cohesive system for managing and organizing all of our data with very little data entry.
Cons
As an organization that uses honorarium and memorial donations, we have found GiftWorks can be cumbersome in this area as it relates to creating automated notifications for people when a memorial donation is received. The staff is very receptive to feedback, however, and has been eager to know what our feature requests are for future releases - excellent.
Overall
Overall, GiftWorks has been a savior for our small organization. Training has been incredible, support is available and quick, the program itself is very user-friendly and intuitive. We have recommended GiftWorks to all of the organizations that we encounter.
Purchased Date: September 01, 2009
Director of Development, Interfaith Partnership for the Homeless
November 23, 2009
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Pros
Great for tracking and communicating with donors. Great for coordinating mailings to donors. Perfect for keeping notes and tasks.
Cons
In kind gifts are a challenging to work with,
Overall
I would recommend Giftworks as the best donor software for a non profit. It's ease of use and online tutorials are very helpful to guide you through the program. Everything is right at your fingertips and helps you feel on top of things and in control of you data.
Purchased Date: October 01, 2008
Technologist, Turn To The Pros
November 23, 2009
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Pros
The power of this software is in it's simplicity. Enough features and options to get the job done and few superfluous bells and whistles that clutter and confuse the screens and require extra data entry and maintenance.
Cons
Would be improved by being a 2-tier data structure that aggregated reporting across organizations and households.
Overall
If you are still on Excel, this is an easy, logical and affordable next step. Easy to learn / intuitive.
Purchased Date: September 01, 2009
Database administrator, Esopus Creek Conservancy
November 19, 2009
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Pros
Useful right out of the box without attending expen$ive training classes. Superb, elegant, simple UI makes it easy for most people to figure out how to do what they need to without even looking at the complete and logical context-sensitive on-line help, tutorials, or downloadable functional topic guides. Killer feature set: one look at GW and one wonders why any small organization would spend thousands for a single seat of donor management software. Real live, real friendly, really effective English-speaking human beings answer the phone when you need support, but even better than that, there's a large and growing community of creative, experienced users who are glad to help you get the most out of the software and address unique situations or special needs.
Cons
Not easily extensible: no macro language, no documented API, no event "hooks" or entry points. Therefore GW is difficult to integrate with related outside services, such as credit card processors, mail hygiene services, email marketing services. While Mission Research offers some of these services, they are pricey and arguably not "best-of-breed"; that is, they do not match the very high standards set by the core GiftWorks software.
Weak letter editing functionality requires use of outside DTP for composition of fancy letters. Unwieldy letter generation when many images are included makes use of outside mail merge more effective for large mailings.
Overall
Nothing else comes close to GiftWorks for bang-for-buck, and GW can go head-to-head with software costing ten times as much in delivering the functionality a small outfit needs without creating training or management problems. For a small organization, overbuying is a bigger danger than underbuying; what makes the choice easier is that GiftWorks, even with its recent price increase, is a huge bargain.
I've used GW since the 2006 version. At each major upgrade I have re-evaluated the small org fundraising and donor management software universe to make sure nothing better has come along. GW is still out in front by a wide margin.
Purchased Date: April 01, 2007
Database Specialist, Karen Schaller Database Specialist LLC
November 19, 2009
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Pros
Easy to use, with the primary coding capabilities necessary for tracking and analyzing your development efforts.
GiftWorks 2010 improves implementation by adding the flexibility to choose your record identifier when importing data.
New SmartEntry pages help you speed up everyday data entry.
Cons
Moves management is limited without strong notations capability.
No grant tracking feature.
Overall
An effective product at a great price.
Purchased Date: October 01, 2007
Donation Specialist, SPCA of Northern Nevada
November 17, 2009
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Pros
I have had the opportunity to work with various databases in a multitude of arenas. Choosing Giftworks was the best thing our organization ever did. I have taken our meager database of 357 to just under 15,000 in a little over 1 1/2 years. Not only have we been able to build our database, but we have been able to track our donors and effectively enter all donations, generate thank letters in a timely manner and provide various reports on a moments notice. It's just FANTASTIC!! The customer service is OUTSTANDING!!
Cons
I cannot think of one negative comment with regards to Giftworks.
Overall
Buy this program. You will not be disappointed. It's user friendly and a pleasure to work with.
Purchased Date: October 01, 2009
Executive director, Communities In Schools of Auburn
November 16, 2009
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Pros
Best value in donor management for the price.
Cons
Cannot produce fundraiser statements unless the price of the event is static.
Overall
Best value in donor management software.