Classy vs. STPL Global FundRaiser (discontinued)

Well suited for organizations with large fundraising programs or many recurring donors, especially those who have the staffing to devote to reporting and fundraising data analysis. Variety of payment options is good for mobile-first or younger audiences who may be taking more frequent advantage of payment methods like Venmo and Apple Pay. Most useful if it is used in tandem as an event registration/event hosting platform (Classy Event Registration or Classy Live) as attendee data and fundraising is kept in a single place. Less appropriate for smaller organizations, or folks that will not be doing crowdfunding/peer-to-peer/events. There are other platforms that do standard donation pages well that have fewer bells and whistles but are accordingly cheaper.

Incentivized

I think FundRaiser is better suited for smaller organizations that do not have a lot of entries to make and a lot of tracking to do. Larger organizations that make more entries and need to do a lot more tracking might want an application that is a little more modern and user-friendly.

Incentivized

• The Classy platform is easy to use, both for the staff and our volunteer fundraisers
• It's easy to build a great looking fundraising page
• Classy support (particularly chat and phone) are attentive and responsive. Every one there is smart and nice!

Incentivized

• FundRaiser keeps a database for us of our individual, business, and organizational donors for future reference.
• FundRaiser keeps a database for us of our donors' contributions each year on an ongoing basis.
• FundRaiser has multiple reports that can be run to fit your specific needs; be it yearly contributions, donor addresses, etc.

Incentivized

• Campaigns lack customization options which can be limiting- while you can add code to make some changes, there is a basic framework that you can't always override.
• Slow to roll out some donor payment options like Venmo.
• Not inexpensive price point and on an annual contract, so the software is definitely an investment.

Incentivized

• If you enter a duplicate donor in error, the program will allow you to make one inactive, but will not allow you to delete one. This often causes confusion when going to post-donation payments.
• The system is also very basic and could be more user-friendly.

Incentivized

VERY easy to use, but lacks flexibility. But very easy to learn and master, even for someone with technical skills. They offer live chat which is a great help for on-demand support. At higher call volumes, you may wait 10 minutes, but I’ve never waited for more than that and the support if 90% of the time very helpful.

Incentivized

Classy's team was very helpful as we transitioned over, and helped us get everything set up quite easily. The few times we've had issues or questions, their online chat feature has been a quick way to get answers. On Giving Tuesday last year, the site went down, but Classy was quick with communication to its clients and had the problem resolved in about an hour. I know that if we have any problems or questions, the company and its team will be responsive and helpful. That makes a difference to me and our small team. We don't have time to troubleshoot or stay on hold for a long time waiting for support.

Incentivized

When I upgraded my computer I had to upgrade my FundRaiser software. I reached out to customer support, and they assisted me in easily switching the computer my software was on, and then making the upgrade. The customer service department was friendly and helpful. There was a minor glitch, but it ended up going fine.

Incentivized

I have not used any other platforms like Classy. Given I came into this organization after Classy was already chosen, I was pleased with how easy it was to learn the platform and how user-friendly the entire thing is. Although I haven't used any other platforms like it, I would highly recommend it.

• This has been nothing but positive. We use the basic version so there is no fee associated with it other than a percentage of each transaction. So everything that comes in is added revenue where the only investment is staff time, but there is no monetary investment.

Incentivized

• FundRaiser saves us time that we would be spending trying to keep track of donations and donor information on spreadsheets, which saves us money.

Incentivized