Foundation Directory Online (FDO) vs iWave

Likelihood to Recommend

Beyond any pros or cons, the simple fact is that FDO is the industry standard for grant prospecting databases. Others like GrantStation, GrantSearch, and more can offer some other functionalities or different UX/UI, but ultimately I've never found something that other search platforms had that FDO did not. If you are a non-profit organization, you need a subscription to FDO if you have any serious interest in prospecting (and getting) institutional funding.

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David S. Levine, CFRE

Development Manager

Christodora: Nature, Learning, LeadershipNon-profit Organization Management, 1-10 employees

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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

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Amy Melton

Development Manager of Annual Giving

Human Life InternationalNon-profit Organization Management, 11-50 employees

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Pros

Summarizing foundation information (contact info, funding priorities, geographic priorities, etc.) in a user-friendly format
Recommending similar foundations based on certain criteria, this is helpful when looking for new funding opportunities
Being able to search through organization's 990s using crtl + F

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Verified User

Program Manager in Sales

Non-Profit Organization Management Company, 51-200 employees

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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.

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Verified User

Program Manager in Sales

Non-Profit Organization Management Company, 51-200 employees

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Cons

As this platform grows, more data will be available and I'm looking forward to even further narrowed search results.

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Abby Landmeier

Manager of Community Funding and Volunteers

United Way of Mesa CountyNon-Profit Organization Management, 1-10 employees

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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.

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Dave Archuletta

Chief Development Officer

New York Live ArtsPerforming Arts, 11-50 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

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Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Entry-level set up fee?

No

Starting Price

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General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Starting Price

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Support Rating

Foundation Directory Online (FDO) 10.0

Based on 2 answers

Any question is answered within 24-48 hours, professionally. If one person can't answer right away, they will seek answers within their support group and find the answer for you.

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David S. Levine, CFRE

Development Manager

Christodora: Nature, Learning, LeadershipNon-profit Organization Management, 1-10 employees

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iWave 10.0

Based on 8 answers

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.

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Dave Archuletta

Chief Development Officer

New York Live ArtsPerforming Arts, 11-50 employees

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Alternatives Considered

I have also used Grant Station and GuideStar for foundation research and have found Foundation Directory Online to be the most user-friendly, provide the most detailed information about foundations, and to have the best search features in order to find the funders that I am looking for as well as to discover new funders

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Verified User

Program Manager in Sales

Non-Profit Organization Management Company, 51-200 employees

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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.

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Shannon Richardson

Associate/Assistant Director, Prospect Research & Prospect Management

St. Lawrence UniversityHigher Education, 501-1000 employees

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Return on Investment

We don't apply for many grants, however; we use look for resources to direct nonprofit when looking for additional funding outside of our funding process.

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Abby Landmeier

Manager of Community Funding and Volunteers

United Way of Mesa CountyNon-Profit Organization Management, 1-10 employees

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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.

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Verified User

Employee in Other

Non-Profit Organization Management Company, 51-200 employees

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Foundation Directory Online (FDO) vs iWave