New to Luminate
Updated May 29, 2018

New to Luminate

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Modules Used

  • Luminate Online
  • Luminate TeamRaiser

Overall Satisfaction with Luminate

Luminate Online is being used by our organization for online donation form capabilities - monthly, one-time, in celebration, in memoriam. It will also allow us to set up event registrations when or if we host events. TeamRaiser is being used by our organization for DIY fundraising - so allowing our constituents to create fundraising pages in support of our organization.

Pros

  • Tracks constituent preferences and interests
  • Many options for form customization
  • Reports on online giving trends

Cons

  • Options in the back-end of the system can be overwhelming - too many options in multiple layered lists
  • Organization gifts cannot transfer from Luminate to Raiser's Edge - the connector does not allow this type of gift to flow, so a manual process is required
The products I've used that compare to Luminate are also Blackbaud products- Blackbaud NetCommunity and Sphere: Friends Asking Friends. Luminate Online certainly has more advanced functionality but could still benefit from an interface update and modernization. The choices can be cumbersome and clunky and the out of the box features are sometimes too lengthy.
The reason for a lower recommendation rating is that Luminate Online is lacking a user-friendly interface in terms of straightforward options.

Using Luminate

3 - 

Communications specialist: designs email campaigns, monitors performance of email campaigns, provides design advice and recommendations

Fundraising coordinator: provides customer service, corrects errors in records and tax receipts and monitors TeamRaiser events

Database manager: manages configuration of database, data health monitoring, correction of tax receipting and data entry errors, improvements to overall functionality of system, including donation forms and do it yourself fundraising platform

2 - It would be beneficial to have in-house support staff that include skills in database management, graphic design, web design and HTML coding, understanding of donor personalities and behaviours. Luminate does require a substantial amount of web design and management knowledge and can be fairly overwhelming to the basic user. Blackbaud does provide implementation support and design but it leaves the users with a system that cannot be edited very easily.
  • Email marketing
  • Online donation management
  • Do it yourself fundraising capabilities
  • Personalized email campaigns
  • Do it yourself platform
  • Better management of communication preferences
  • Increased communication with constituents
We have committed to using and improving our use of Luminate over the next two years. We have now been using the product for one year, and this product has a fairly steep learning curve that we are still navigating. If given the opportunity to redesign and rewrite content, we would make different decisions, now with more working knowledge of the system.
  • Ability to communicate more frequently and effectively with online donors
  • No increase in acquiring new email addresses
  • Time-consuming to learn and navigate system

Luminate Training

Great information presented by knowledgeable trainers! Would be great if there was more variety of training available for Luminate Online, including how to get into the finer details of the system.

Luminate Support

Most questions are answered quickly through chat support - great resource.

Luminate Reliability

Luminate Online is a great scalable product as it provides various price points dependent on your quantity of email addresses. This allows both small and large organizations to utilize the product, which has strong email capabilities. It also means smaller organizations aren't forced to pay astronomical fees in order to have access to a quality product.

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