GivingTools

Pros: I think GivingTools is outstanding for both administrators and users. I love that:
• It provides for a 30-day demo that will not generate any real payments, but allows a potential customer the opportunity to both set up a customized look and feel, as well as experience the Donor’s side of transactions;
• Appeals are easy to set up, edit, or rearrange on the giving page;
• It provides the option for donor-covered fees, or they can be required to be covered;
• It provides the option to discourage credit card use - or not, such as when Stripe waived fees for non-profits at the beginning of the pandemic;
• It provides for customization of screen instructions, appeals, and thank-you emails;
• It provides immediate, comprehensive thank-you emails with the details of the payment, and the administrator(s) and others can be CC’d on the emails;
• It allows the giving page to be embedded in an existing church webpage;
• It allows customer definition of an easy-to-remember giving page URL, such as “giveto[organization]@gvtls.com�?
• It supports mobile device use, although not a mobile application, but we haven’t missed that.

It really is comprehensive and very easy to live with, once all processor setup is completed.

Cons: These are not show-stoppers from our view, but one should be aware of them:

• The low-fee option to “Bring Your Own Processors’ requires the Customer to deal directly with the credit card and bank ACH processors, which can be challenging during the set-up process;
• GivingTools only uses email for support. That puts the burden on the Customer to clearly articulate their problem or concerns (screenshots are helpful). It also opens the communication process up to misinterpretation of message “tone�? (Am I being dissed? Are they being condescending?)

Overall: Once we got successfully set up with the processors, it's been a very easy system to live with and one that very successfully meets our church's needs for E-giving.

Pros: Low rates provide great value for nonprofits using this tool. Lots of features including SMS donations. Solid security.

Cons: It takes a little while to get used to the menus and layout, but the customer service/support is excellent.

Overall: GivingTools is a must-have for any nonprofit, offering a highly customizable donation platform at very reasonable rates. Looks very professional, the customer support is top-notch, and the feature-packed interface and good security make this tool a winner.

Pros: Your system works so well--from the ease of it to the reports on it. It's an intuitive system and does not cause me to pull hair out of my head, always a good thing.
Thank you!

Cons: I once entered a donor's information on my computer through our website's donate button and that donor's information shows up constantly.

Overall: I haven't needed support which in and of itself is remarkable. I would recommend this company for its excellent prices, feedback systems, and the ease with which we can get information about donors.

Pros: - Customer Service (quick, friendly, and not hidden like other companies).
- Ease of Use.
- Options! It's like these folks know what donors are looking for.

Cons: Can't think of anything.

Overall: I recommend GivingTools to any non-profit that is looking for an affordable and easy way to collect donations from their supporters.

Pros: We're a non profit that has a lot of ACH bank transfers for our giving / services. Giving tools doesn't take a cut of these transactions besides minimal flat fees. Their rates for CC transactions are great as well. Best i've seen in my comparisons.

Cons: Not many once you get to know your way around.

Overall: They've created a simple and flexible interface for creating standard and custom giving portals. And their pricing model is the fairest I've seen for a small to mid sized operation.

Pros: Love the simplicity, both from the back end and from the user/donor standpoint. Clear, concise ability to create new Campaigns, make donations recurring or one-time. For smaller organizations, this incorporates all the minimum things you need to develop a comprehensive fundraising plan, at an affordable cost.

Cons: Reporting is inadequate, really not much there to work with, and most confusing are the cumulative amounts. Have to export data and work within another software package to get the information to present to the Board as well as to analyze effective campaigns.

Overall: This has been a great tool for NAGLY, allowing us to expand our sustaining donor base. Reporting, as noted above, is a problem, but the benefits far outweigh that.

Pros: Easy, easy, easy. Can create a campaign and have it live with little effort, no coding, and helpful tutorials. Customer service is responsive and helpful.

Cons: I find back end reporting to be cumbersome and have not found an all inclusive report of donors and giving histories.

Overall: Very positive experience using GivingTools. Design function is easy to set up and manage. Lots of opportunities to personalize site to meet your organization's needs.

Pros: We use it as a foundation for our fundraising. Easy to set up. Easy to set up alerts and both limited and complex claims. Most importantly, the fees are transparent. Customer service is also top notch.

Cons: Figuring out the UI can be a little tricky at first.

Overall: Will continue to use and recommend. It’s been a great too, for our organization. Highly recommend

Pros: I always get quick helpful responses whenever I email the team. Super user friendly and keep getting better features added to it!

Cons: Wish I could implement it on my website more so that donors didn't have to go to a separate page to donate

Overall: Overall I would recommend this product as it's been very user friendly. Great customer support and awesome interface!

Pros: The free Zapier integration was a huge selling point for us as we had multiple other platforms we needed to work with. Alternative products we looked at charged monthly fees for a Zapier integration, but not GivingTools! We also needed a system that would allow donors to choose to cover processing fees, make one-time or recurring donations, opt into our email newsletter, select multiple campaigns. GivingTools did it all and at significantly less than other services would have charged.

Cons: I have run into zero problems or complaints with the service so far.

Overall: Set-up was simple using the free demo account so we didn't pay a cent until everything was set up and ready to go live. Customer service has been fast and fantastic!