No frills wealth screening in a one-stop shop
August 04, 2018
No frills wealth screening in a one-stop shop
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with iWave
I use iWave in the Development department of our performing arts nonprofit organization. For the past two years we have subscribed to the 2-user license (5,000 credits) package. The tool has been invaluable for us as we assess the capacity of our current donors, ticket buyers, and personal contacts we meet in various networking or special events settings. iWave allows us to easily collect publicly available information across multiple databases. We also use the platform for Institutional Development, as the "Foundations" section of the tool allows us to research a foundation's giving history, board composition, and staff structure. This can be invaluable information when approaching a new prospective funder.
- Easily compare results across multiple databases, utilizing the "360 search" capability. This is the most common type of search for us, as it provides a snapshot of everything from real estate values, stock sales, political giving, charitable giving, and board roles of each individual.
- Foundation search allows us to research all information about a charitable foundation, including 990s, board lists, staff lists (including contact information), and giving history, all sorted by region and field. Having access to this information on the same platform as our individual giving research makes for a much more efficient workflow, and also enables us to see the connections between individual prospects and the foundations or boars they may serve on.
- Bulk data processing turnaround is very quick, often a short list will be processed within an hour and even long lists of 4k or more are processed within 36 hours. The results are sortable and filterable, allowing us to efficiently handle larger amounts of data that come with big lists
- Customer support is prompt, friendly, and always helpful when needed. We never feel like we have to wait very long for a response, and customer support is always available by phone.
- 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.
- Every year following our annual gala we run a list of all event attendees to learn more about their interests and giving history. This has led us to new board and/or major donor candidates.
- iWave helps us understand details and less-known interests of our current donors, which helps us with donor stewardship. In today's digital age, these personal details help craft relevant stewardship and communications plans with our existing supporters. With so many competing charities, these small differences can account for a supporter to choose your organization over others who aren't making that personal connecting to the donor.
Prior to selecting iWave, we used demo versions of WealthEngine and DonorSearch. While these products seem good as well, we ultimately decided to go with iWave for three reasons:
- 360 search across all platforms was the most intuitive for our users
- Foundation search in the same GUI was great for workflow and made it unnecessary to purchase additional foundation research tools
- Incredibly friendly and helpful customer service and no pushy sales people
Evaluating iWave and Competitors
- Price
- Product Usability
- Positive Sales Experience with the Vendor
The most important factor in my decision to purchase iWave for my organization was usability: The no-frills graphic user interface is intuitive to use and gets me immediate at-a-glance results across several public databases. The inclusion of the Foundation search tab on the same interface sealed the deal for me. I will add that the sales team at iWave was always incredibly friendly and diligent without being aggressive or bothersome, and the price level for what we get out of the product makes us happy customers.
I can't imaging changing anything about the evaluation and selection process, as we are still very happy customers. As I mentioned before, the hidden gem in iWave for me is the Foundation search capability, which I use as much as the individual "360 search" engine. Responsive, friendly, and helpful customer service is also a bonus.
iWave Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | None |
When I hire new staff members I can ask iWave to schedule live training. Even though this wasn't advertised as a product feature at the time, and may not even be in the contract, I have always found iWave customer support to be responsive and caring about our success as users.