Item: Bonterra Development + Digital
Rating: 9
Author: Samuel Spalding

Overall Satisfaction with EveryAction

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

It is used primarily by the development (fundraising) department (including communication and marketing), and secondarily by the finance department (only by about 20 out of 400+ employees at this company). It was selected in 2018 to address the problems of donation data and donor records being kept in several different databases, online CC processing not connected to donor database with an API, some databases kept on on-site servers.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Keeps audit trails
Use of bulk uploads (integration) to add/edit data
Expansive donor biographical fields
Automated custom reporting, even to emails that are not users
Regularly adding new features in response to client requests/feedback
Has a feature that uses BCC fields to automatically add copies of emails to donors directly to their records

Cons

Help documentation
Customer support
Better testing of new functionality to eliminate bugs
Separate tracking of deductible portion of contributions
Householding of donor records feature

Return on Investment

Time saved in employee data entry and maintenance
Streamlines contributions testing for annual independent audit
Improved fundraising performance

Implementation Rating

It was implemented before I joined the company. At integration, certain data, pulled from various databases, was not adequately standardized (such as name formatting). Standardizing this after the fact proved to be a considerable task. Also, there was no way to indicate data provenance, that is, from which of the several databases any specific record had originated.

Reliability and Availability

Generally the availability has been quite good. However, persistent downtime, lasting for a period of several months in 2020, was a major barrier to full utilization.

Performance

Fundraising performance has improved greatly, largely driven by data-driven insights as well as digital marketing, including targeted emails and donor-initiated (peer-to-peer) fundraising. Having a single source of extensive donor data, including a record of all communications, has allowed for different teams (special events, planned giving, major gifts) to better coordinate efforts. While my organization does have an advocacy department, that department does not, as of yet, use EveryAction.

Key Insights

Do you think Bonterra Development + Digital delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Bonterra Development + Digital's feature set?

Yes

Did Bonterra Development + Digital live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Bonterra Development + Digital go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Bonterra Development + Digital again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Microsoft Excel, Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, Microsoft Teams

Likelihood to Recommend

Well suited for nonprofits with medium- to large-sized development departments that can take advantage of more of the communication features, such as targeted emails, acquisition list finder files, detailed tracking of all donor communication, online forms, etc. as well as modules like Wealth Engine integration and moves management. Less well suited to organizations that want a single database for donor and accounting records.

Comments

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EveryAction as a CRM for a medium-sized direct-service NPO.