Greater Giving vs. OneCause — What You Need to Know
In the world of online nonprofit fundraising tools, there is no shortage of competition.
The incredible growth in technology and innovation in the industry has opened doors to a myriad of new competitors, which can sometimes make it difficult for nonprofit teams to know where to look for specific technologies.
After all, fundraising teams don’t have time to spend weighing the benefits of different solutions against each other – they just want the best tool on the market that will help them achieve their goals.
This post will attempt to answer some of the most pressing questions nonprofit teams often have about online fundraising platforms by comparing how two of the industry’s leading solutions, Greater Giving and OneCause, stack up against each other.
Intuitive User Experience
When nonprofits think about a ‘user experience’ there are two points of view that must be considered – that of the internal team and the donor. Organizations spend countless hours preparing for events, so having an intuitive platform to set-up and sell tickets, track item donations, manage tables, etc. in one spot is a life-saver.
With OneCause, you have access to:
- Event management
- Fundraising software
- Online microsites
- Guest management
- Reporting
- Payment processing
- Mobile bidding fundraising tools year-round (included in your annual subscription)
Greater Giving, also has a robust product set, but can have a steep learning curve (and a 100+ page users’ manual), and can require considerable time investment to learn system functionality, depending on how tech savvy your team is.
When it comes to the donor, it’s all about ease, engagement and visual appeal. It’s important to evaluate mobile bidding and fundraising software also from the front-end guest experience. Be sure to consider:
- Does the product look clean, simple, with modern graphics?
- Would you want to put your nonprofit brand and logo on the interface?
- Is it easy-to-use? Can you navigate the site without questions?
- Is it easy to move from page to page on your phone (e.g., next buttons, navigation arrows)?
OneCause has created a streamlined mobile experience for guests to purchase tickets, donate items, preview and pre-bid on auction packages, and make donations. Donors can access this site via text on their phone, on a tablet, or by computer.
This website or microsite (known as a Giving Center) is fully integrated and provides the same guest experience and site before, during and after your event.
While Greater Giving does have mobile bidding capabilities (and in the past, has partnered with various third-party mobile bidding companies to white label products), guests will experience two separate websites for one event – one site when registering and one site for bidding purposes.
In the end, to maximize bidding, donations and revenue, choose a mobile bidding and fundraising solution you want to use yourself. Chances are if you find the experience easy, appealing, and problem free, your donors will enjoy and use it too!
Donor Database Integrations
When purchasing nonprofit fundraising software and mobile bidding solutions, it’s important to consider how those products integrate with your nonprofit tools and tech stack.
If your cause is going to invest in a fundraising platform, true time-saving and efficiencies can lie in CRM and donor database integrations. With so many moving pieces that go into making a fundraising event successful, nonprofit management teams must be able move data back and forth with ease.
OneCause has both Salesforce and Raiser’s Edge specific integrations, as well as a full library of data exports compatible with most donor database and CRM solutions.
Greater Giving was built as an industry-specific CRM platform and has outsourced with numerous partners to handle the other aspects of the event process like registration and mobile bidding. Because these aren’t native solutions within the Greater Giving platform, the integrations do not necessarily provide a unified user or donor experience.
Product Suite Updates
OneCause rolls out product enhancements bi-weekly as part of their ever-evolving product roadmap and based on feedback directly from their nonprofit customers.
Greater Giving does provide system updates but it is unclear the exact timeframe or regularity of enhancements to outdated functionality.
Hands-on Service & Support
Support, training, and tutorials are huge value points nonprofits, and many causes look for exceptional support offerings from any solution they purchase.
In the world of nonprofit fundraising platforms, onsite support can be a big help down the road, but many nonprofits also want the capability of running DIY events with behind the scenes support whenever they need it — even during evening hours or on weekends. And for nonprofits that host multiple events a year, it can be difficult to staff fundraisers with people who actually know how to use the tools.
OneCause offers locally-trained onsite fundraising managers that can help guide nonprofit teams to success and also has a team that can answer questions via a quick phone call even during late night or weekend events, if you are planning to do your event yourself.
With thousands of events under their belts, the OneCause team also offers fundraising consulting and expertise included in most annual packages, to help customers increase bidding activity and raise more money at their events.
Offsite support services also help answer questions, concerns, and product inquiries.
The Greater Giving platform offers online support information and tutorials, but requires additional investment and custom pricing for onsite support and travel fees.
Bang for Your Buck
One final thing nonprofits always look for when choosing a fundraising platform solution is, of course, the price.
While most solutions charge a standard percentage-per-transaction (typically somewhere between 1% and 4%), there are overhead fees associated with using the platform. The worst thing that can happen is for a nonprofit to invest in an online fundraising platform only to be faced with multiple service fees and charges every time a new event roles around or new functionality is used.
Nonprofit fundraising is all about raising money for charity – not paying overhead costs to an online service provider. Looking at OneCause, its costs can seem like a premium price point at first, but it’s the big picture that’s important. Instead of charging per event or per transaction, OneCause charges a flat rate with no hidden fees. This means nonprofit organizations can leverage the functionality available on the OneCause platform, year-round, for unlimited events, as part of their annual contract.
With Greater Giving, on the other hand, hidden fees can add up fast and additional expenses are added on to the base pricing. Be sure to review the pricing outlined in the contract, adding up all fees and expenses when performing due diligence and calculating ROI for various solutions.
The Best Online Fundraising Experience
When weighing the benefits of one nonprofit fundraising solution over others, it all comes down to what your team wants out of a solution and a vendor.
The best events are all managed from a single, seamless solution, so that event planning, online fundraising, attendee check-in, donations, reporting and analytics, and post-event follow-up are all integrated and accessible in the same platform. This way, everyone is on the same team and nothing slips through the cracks.
To start maximizing your nonprofit event potential, take a tour of the OneCause platform today.
Wrapping Up!
Fundraising solutions should be easy. See the OneCause difference with the sources below.