Likelihood to Recommend I think there are better charitable relationship management platforms out there. BFPM serves a purpose, but it is an incomplete product for the hefty price tag it comes with. Certain aspects are billed as proprietary, like the MG EVI ratings, but they are inconsistent and often incorrect. BFPM has barely been updated in the decade I have been a user, which leads me to believe that the Blackbaud team is not innovating or devoting resources to enhancing/improving this product. It could stand a refresh to bring the entire product into the year 2022.
Read full review iWave is well suite for gathering a better idea of who you should focus on for major giving efforts. While it gives you a lot of good information, some of that information feels not very important and therefore, clogs up the data you actually need. iWave should not be used for something like direct mail list making. iWave seems to really be focused on the major donor aspect and it is not a tool to be used to help with regular annual giving
Read full review Pros User-friendly interface Accessible from anywhere Multi-level search and query functions Streamlined prospect data pages Read full review The 360search allows you to do a comprehensive search across the multiple data sources at the same time. You can stay organized during your research with the user-friendly and customizable Profiles and Labels. The PROscreen ranking system allows you to get a quick snapshot of the alignment of a particular donor with your mission in an easy to read format that can be exported for another colleague with little extra explanation needed. Read full review Cons "MG EVI" scores are a sham Doesn't seamlessly translate over to Banner in certain areas Clunky 'new tab' functionality quickly floods entire browser window. Read full review It's honestly tough to say what needs to be improved on a platform that I am a big fan of. The only time I am ever frustrated has more to do with the fact that some individuals are very adept at masking their charitable activities from public databases, and given that iWave can only show you what is publicly documented information I wouldn't consider that a liability of the product... rather it's a challenge of the field. Some areas of improvement could include more online filtering and searching of Foundation grant histories. My current workaround is to download the entire grant history as a CSV (another good feature of iWave), and use Excel to sort and filter my results. Read full review Support Rating iWave customer support is more responsive than most software platforms I currently use. My requests are always handled promptly, and support is incredibly responsive, friendly, and patient. Plus, I can always get someone on the phone immediately if I need a problem resolved right then and there. In addition to the live and personal support, the iWave knowledge base is frequently update with new content, including video webinars that help you become a more powerful user of the software.
Read full review Alternatives Considered BFPM has the advantage because it is designed to be user-facing and user-friendly. It is a simple website to learn to use and navigate, but that does not mean it is flawless. It helps me and my colleagues engage with the database in a more straightforward manner, without having to learn and remember various codes and queries.
Read full review iWave is affordable, offers current data, and is continually adding new data sources. They are the only product that offers international prospect information, which is helpful as our institution borders Canada. I was impressed when our sale representative went out of his way to teach me about how I could screen Canadian prospects in a way that helped us calculate an estimated real estate value for our prospects. We had no other way of getting this information as Canada does not provide the information publicly like tax assessor offices do in the United States.
Read full review Return on Investment MG EVI is not the end-all-be-all it was sold as Still requires use of Banner for certain info Helps streamline data entry by allowing gift officers to enter their own contacts. Read full review We have consistently been able to increase our annual donations year over year since using iWave. There was an 11% increase just between our last fiscal year and the previous fiscal year. Time spent on researching donors has decreased since all of the information needed is on one website rather than searching all over the internet for the information needed. Read full review ScreenShots