Blackbaud Altru vs. Cvent Event Management vs. Virtuous CRM

Well suited for smaller organizations that want to centralize many systems. Smaller organizations will have less constituents to manage and fewer events (our organization has 100,000+ constituents, daily programs/events, and a large donor base). Many areas within Altru are not updated to be functional for 2020. Because of this, we do not use the merchandising feature, the volunteer portal, or marketing communications. It does a little bit of everything "okay enough" to be better than having separate systems. It's restrictive in many areas, but being able to do SO much in one database outweighs the negatives! It is 100% necessary to have a data manager who spends all of their time in Altru doing data cleanup, researching and writing policies and procedures, training new users, keeping staff up-to-date on new processes, creating queries and running reports, creating workarounds for "unfixable" issues within the database.

Cvent has been great for our large flagship conferences, roadshows, exec forums, and webinars. From registration and attendee management all the way to post-event engagement and everything in between. Its custom reporting has helped us present business cases when we needed to eliminate certain events and has also helped us navigate challenging recruitment times by calling out patterns and successes.

Incentivized

Virtuous is a great tool for fundraisers and nonprofit organizations that want to keep all their donor records, gift transactions, donation landing pages, and reporting in one platform. It may not be well suited, though, for for-profit businesses, organizations, and agencies.

Incentivized

• Ticketing and tracking many different types of admission sales including group, facility rental, individual tickets, and class registration.
• Membership management, including membership card mailing, recurring memberships, and renewal reminders.
• Being an all-encompassing database rather than forcing you to use multiple databases.
• Great customer service and client support, including ongoing updates to better the system.
• Has a merchandise inventory management system.

• Event registration - manages different registration types for different programming.
• Audience Segmentation - from sessions to event emails to push notifications, Cvent's audience segmentation saves us so much time.
• Training - Cvent has a vast library of help articles and community questions and answers to help both new and seasoned users.

• User-friendly CRM.
• Knowledgable support staff.
• Allows for email marketing on a mass level.

Incentivized

• Query system not user-friendly for management with limited database background.
• Limited company-to-user support outside of an online community of users. No long term account managers for program.
• No email analysis tools for eblasts.
• Limited merchandise capabiity for shop use, though the program does allow third party programs to work with it.

Incentivized

• Growth emphasis seems slanted towards trade shows and events vendor integrations (less so on educational/attendee features)
• Because of rapid incorporation of new functionality, documentation can lag behind the current platform
• Complexity is growing, so the platform requires a significant investment of time and coordination to fully leverage

Incentivized

• Virtuous only keeps track of contacts on forms for a given period of time, not the lifetime of when the form was deployed.
• Virtuous Customer Support can sometimes lag, and you end up waiting days for a response to your inquiry or issue.
• Virtuous reporting, while very detailed and segmented, can sometimes be a little overwhelming, and the terminology does not always translate to what you are looking to accomplish with your reporting outcomes.

Incentivized

We are very pleased with the features that Cvent gives us. The ease of use and the immediate support when something does stump us. Cvent provides us with everything that we need to run a successful event. The only reason I did not Rate Cvent as a 10 is the cost

Incentivized

Blackbaud Altru is a very integrated system, but training is lacking and the use of the system takes some getting use to

Super simple to use once configured. The solutions guide you through the process and the training resources and community fill in anything you can't figure out. Technical and non-technical users alike will be able to figure out how to successfully use the system.

Incentivized

In my experience, Virtuous CRM has great self-marketing, talented salespeople, and a half-baked CRM that shows glimmers of competence but the actual experience is more akin the the scene in the Simpson’s when Sideshow Bob keeps stepping on rakes.

Incentivized

There have been a few times when the system has gone down in the midst of registration. It can be frustrating but know that it does happen at times

Incentivized

When pulling reports and it can sometimes lag a bit and that can be frustrating when you are trying to get things done on a timeline

Incentivized

They are always available and very knowledgable. Many times I am able to come up with a solution before they've finished troubleshooting just by having talked through it with them. I really appreciate the Chat feature to answer simple questions in a timely fashion. The training I received was top notch and very detailed.

Incentivized

The company offers 24/7 customer support, including phone, email, and chat support, to ensure that we can get help when we need it. Additionally, the platform has a comprehensive help center and knowledge base, including user guides, tutorials, and FAQs, which help us troubleshoot issues on our own. Cvent also provides training and support resources, including onboarding assistance, live training sessions, and webinars, which help us get the most out of the platform. Overall, Cvent appears to be committed to providing excellent customer support and resources to its users, which can help ensure a positive user experience and successful events.

Incentivized

Our on-site trainer was very knowledgeable in the product and gave us very important pointers on best practices and how to perform tasks in the simplest manner

Incentivized

It was all self-driven and I had to do a lot of searching around in the community to get answers.

Incentivized

It would have been nice during implementation if we had received more pointers on how to organize our parked report folders, libraries, etc. to avoid the mess we find ourselves in today. If we had known ahead of time the limitations we could have planned better.

Incentivized

We switched from Raisers Edge in 2012 due to the need to have all processes in one database. Group Sales/Rentals had to use a separate database for their sales than the Members and Donors department. We also could not sell tickets for events and programs in one space. Being able to have all of these in one database is why we chose Altru.

There is no other tool that offers the same range of solutions as Cvent, all under one umbrella. With minimal reliance on APIs, client and associate data are more secure, making all stakeholders more comfortable with the software. All other solutions I looked at only solved one piece of the puzzle I was dealing with.

In my experience, the sales pitch and demos are slick, but upon actual use there is a quick realization that no small or medium charity should touch this software with a 10-ft pole. In my opinion, if you have a large org with lots of cash, and a dedicated database manager who is tech-literate, you can make this work. HubSpot is by far my favorite but lacks the nonprofit features needed to truly manage donor relationships and portfolios.

Incentivized

I can see how this can help small AND large companies as they continue to grow

Incentivized

• It has become very tedious to account for registrants in each session of a class or camp, because you have to "sell" them into each session in order to have an accurate class roster.
• It is very easy to process payment and entry fees to our Museum and programs.
• It is easy to retrieve accurate information and records of patrons.

Incentivized

• Cvent Event Management has definitely provided great value with our exhibitors. It's a well organized system that they all trust and utilize each year now.
• Cvent Event Management has also provided positive ROI on the app front. Our clients rely on the app to share information and it's saved us a lot of money in paper printing costs!

Incentivized

• Better donor management.
• Better predictive analytics on donors and giving numbers.
• Increases were seen in overall revenue since joining with Virtuous.

Incentivized