DonorDock vs. Ellucian CRM Advance

DonorDock is probably the best nonprofit CRM for small to medium sized nonprofits, when you consider features, use-ability, and value. For most organizations, it’s going to have everything you need to get the job done. For very large organizations ($4 million raised through fundraising annually), or those where money is no object, and they want something 100% custom-built, it is not the best choice.

A potential student calls in and we can enter all the information in CRM right then. Ellucian CRM Advance makes it easy for when we go back a week later to see all the notes on the student rather than asking them all over again. Admissions takes the call and enters all info into CRM Advance and then Academics can just log in and see all the notes Admissions took on the student.

Incentivized

• Ease of Use
• Donor Profiles
• Email to Lists
• Integrated Communication System

• Ties fundraising efforts to alumni.
• Seamless integration from Ellucian Colleage or Banner.

Incentivized

• Does not include e-commerce functionality
• Does not include built in auction tools, but they can be integrated

• Some of the data is not in the most intuitive location.
• The initial learning curve of the system was a bit steep, but after working with the system exclusively, our users got proficient very quickly.

Incentivized

CRM Advance is very efficient and overall a great product. We have been using CRM for many many years with really no complaints. It fits our needs.

Incentivized

DonorDock is a better fit for financially challenged nonprofits that are still looking for a powerful tool.

We actually recently dropped CRM Advance and are now live with Raisers Edge. Raisers Edge was much more user friendly and built around the fundraising experience. Integration was possible through a secure FTP interface with Ellucian Colleague. Other Blackbaud products have since been purchased to further enhance fundraising and gift giving.

Incentivized

• Better donor retention
• More new donors through better donor tracking
• Increase in our monthly donors
• Increase in gift amounts through better donor relationships

• We are now able to do a more effective review of applicants and see overall trends of characteristics such as source locations. This helps to focus other efforts such as marketing to support those areas and increase others.
• There is now a full picture of the needs of our students. By being able to view information in a logical progression, trend data can be identified and reacted to.

Incentivized