Araize FastFund Online vs. Patriot Software

I have found FastFund to be a flexible yet easy-to-use accounting and donor support software. Of course, it does not have all the power of something like SalesForce, but then again, I don't need that and my more technically challenged users would be overwhelmed with something like that. FastFund allows us to track donor support, issue receipts for tax purposes, and even record notes of interactions with donors. We create mailing lists and can easily allocate donations to the specific project as designated by the donor. We use FastFund for our accounting software. We pay bills, make deposits, cut checks, and allocate expenses to the appropriate projects. We also use the newest module of FastFund which is the Payroll module. I am not involved with using that module, but I do know that it is great to have everything in one package.

Incentivized

Patriot PAY is well-suited to a company that has a 10-day window between the end of the pay period and the payday. The company size makes very little difference and it is easy to use for any company. It is also very progressive in development and improvement. If a company has a small window for turn-around, but fairly consistent payroll amounts (such as a lot of salary workers), Patriot PAY might also be a good fit for them.

Companies with tight turn-around times or payrolls that vary significantly in direct deposit amounts might have difficulty using Patriot PAY.

Incentivized

• Cloud-based so all our employees have access to it from their various remote locations.
• Fund-based accounting.
• Ongoing training on updates and improvements and tech support responses are quick and useful.

Incentivized

• It is simple, intuitive and straightforward in its design. Someone with little experience with roles in human resources roles, bookkeeping or payroll can quickly learn how to set-up the software and run payroll regularly by reading through the support portion of the site, or by contacting the helpful staff at Patriot. Patriot staff have walked me through issues or guided me on the phone as I learned how to use a function of the software.
• Patriot provides comprehensive quarterly tax filing records, including 941s, state unemployment compensation tax payments, state employer's tax and local employer's tax filings. You can also generate payroll or tax deposit reports over a specific time period or per employee.
• The support and FAQ pages available on Patriot are very practical and written in an easy to understand manner. Using the information provided there, I was able to properly set up new employees according to local and state filing requirements.

Incentivized

• Initial use of the new payroll features had several hiccups that had to be addressed.

Incentivized

• Connecting with outside software - we have an issue of Patriot not recognizing donors when connected to other websites when all the information is the same minus a middle initial
• Giving an error page when something small is off. Instead of giving an easy to fix error notification, Patriot brings the user to an error page and they have to reenter everything.
• Fixing dates easily. If a date is entered incorrectly, 8/13/21 instead of 2021, an error pop up appears but the user has to click enter/okay many times or refresh the page in order to fix this issue.
• Enter vs Tab key - Patriot loves the tab key but if the user clicks enter instead, many times it brings them to the home page.

Incentivized

We are satisfied with the software and on-going costs. Moving to something else would be an investment and cost that would be difficult to justify given our satisfaction with FastFund.

Incentivized

It works well because it is cheap for us.

Incentivized

I find FastFund to be easy to use and, for the most part, intuitive in its user interface and options. Sometimes new features are added or updates are made which causes some changes. Araize is good at holding short webinars to introduce these.

Incentivized

I think it is great once things are setup as for general user looking to look for simple things like a copy of a paystub or a current pay rate for an employee. However, to find specialized things like a state withholding number or payroll integration settings those do require a bit more digging to find or possibly a call to customer service for help.

Incentivized

I have always had my questions and issues responded to very quickly and addressed in a timely fashion. Araize is good at notifying us when the support desk will be closed for company holidays and the like. They are responsive to suggestions for new features and in helping when we have questions.

Incentivized

Generally speaking it is pretty good that when I need to call somebody up for a payroll question I can generally within five minutes get somebody on the phone and they can help me resolve the problem or specify where specifically I need to go or contact to find my answers. However, that being said, for my specific situation as a partner my assigned contact has not always been very responsive.

Incentivized

Araize FastFund was already implemented when I joined the organization so I cannot comment on how it compares to other products or why it was selected.

Incentivized

I briefly used Intuit Online Payroll, and it was expensive, had no support, and was very frustrating to use. I also used 3 local tax companies for payroll - they were extremely expensive and messed up all of the time. Their employee turnover was very annoying (and it seemed to happen every other month) and each employee did things differently. When I let one of my employees go, the last company paid them after termination (2 weeks of salary), and had to get into a legal battle because the employee would not give the money back.

Incentivized

• Our main users are in three different physical locations and Araize FastFund has allowed each user to easily have access to what they need.

Incentivized

• It boosts my time available for client-facing activities by not having to spend as much time processing payroll.
• It helps me deliver accurate reports to my CPA at tax time regarding employee wages and employer taxes.
• Through the online portal, I can easily track year-to-date taxes my company has paid.

Incentivized