A True Data Minded Individual would love this
Updated August 25, 2017

A True Data Minded Individual would love this

Kelly Norris | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Modules Used

  • Luminate Online

Overall Satisfaction with Luminate

It is being using by the Development Department to handle all of our online needs. We use it to send emails, build webpages, handle donor transactions and run reports.
  • House Donor Information. Easy report pulling. Queries and lists.
  • I like how everything is housed on one platform. Webpages, emails and donor profiles. User friendly.
  • It works nicely with other blackbaud products such as Raiser's Edge. Easy importing and exporting options.
  • I would say the layout of emails [is an area for improvement]. It isn't awful but I feel it could be upgraded and more user friendly. Making text and picture boxes as well as formatting text can be a bit of a pain.
My current organization was using Paypal to process online payments as well as in house payments. The reporting was horrible. You couldn't pull transaction history therefore not be able create different segments for future use. They had also used MailChimp which had a nice email layout and formatting option but the back end reporting function wasn't ideal for us. I wanted to have these methods all roped into one platform so they could talk to each other. It is a lot easier seeing consitituent information in one platform that traps transactions, interactions, bio and being able to create emails and webpages.
I feel the way Luminate handles donor information is very organized and full. I am a database/reports person so I love how easy it is to find and process information. Some portals don't allow that much information into donor's profiles but Luminate provides a lot of room for history and bio information that is great for reports.

Luminate Training

Blackbaud does a good job making detailed guides on how to use each option and tab Luminate has to offer. They also are available to help through chat which makes figuring out problems and learning new skills a lot easier.

Using Luminate

In my opinion, I think the platform is very user friendly. Yes, there are a lot of components one must learn to know that each component intertwines with the other. Once you do know how all the functions are used it is very helpful to have webpages, emails and transaction info all in one place.
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Convenient
Feel confident using
None
  • Performing transactions whether inhouse or using the donation pages.
  • Producing reports. Very user friendly in creating queries, reports and exports.
  • Designing donation webpages and surveys.
  • Creating emails is a bit of a pain. The system is very finicky. But it is worth it to have everything linked to one in one portal.

Luminate Reliability

Since Luminate is a cloud based product, Blackbaud is always making updates to better the experience. More options are always being added to make the program run faster and have more output options. No matter how much data you input or ask to output, it is capable of functioning at a fast speed with the correct functionality.