Likelihood to Recommend 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.
Read full review For smaller organizations who don't have extensive data needs (i.e. not many audiences to segment) and who don't need robust reporting, this works great.
Read full review Pros 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. Read full review Integration with SalesForce Easy-to-use interface Technical support Read full review Cons 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. Read full review Translation from salsa engage into our CRM system Could use more modern email templates More restrictions regarding image upload. Currently, you can upload any size and insert it. The email will not send correctly but you do not receive an error message. Read full review Usability Easy to use interface, far superior to classic. You did this right.
Read full review Support Rating 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.
Read full review Support response has been swift and knowledgable, though not always the answer I've wanted. One huge design flaw is if I add a new
Salesforce field to sync, Salsa Engage will not sync it unless it has changed since the last sync, requiring me to fake an update for an entire database or re-sync the whole enchilada. Better to recognize it's a new
Salesforce field and perform the sync en masse.
Read full review Alternatives Considered 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.
Read full review EveryAction is a lot cheaper, but Salsa has more featured with targeting certain elected officials/better text messaging strategies
Read full review Return on Investment 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. Read full review Our event participants are always maxed out and Engage allows them an easy way to sign up and participate. Read full review ScreenShots Blackbaud Altru Screenshots