--- title: "CommunitySuite Reviews, Pros and Cons - 2026 Software Advice" description: "Reviews of CommunitySuite. Learn how real users rate this software's ease-of-use, functionality, overall quality and customer support. Talk to our advisors to see if CommunitySuite is a good fit for you!" source_url: "https://www.softwareadvice.com/accounting/communitysuite-profile/reviews/" page_type: "reviews" language: "en" --- 1 million+ businesses helped. Get advice Get Free Advice [Home](https://www.softwareadvice.com/) / [Nonprofit CRM Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com/category/4788-nonprofit-crm/) / [CommunitySuite](https://www.softwareadvice.com/accounting/communitysuite-profile/) / CommunitySuite Reviews Software Advice offers objective insights based on verified user reviews and independent product and market research. When our advisors match you to a software provider, we may earn a referral fee. [Overview](https://www.softwareadvice.com/accounting/communitysuite-profile/) Reviews # CommunitySuite User Reviews ## Reviews summary - Overall rating: 4.8/5 - Total reviews: 41 ### Secondary ratings - Ease of use: 4.5/5 - Customer support: 4.8/5 - Value for money: 4.6/5 - Functionality: 4.6/5 ### Rating distribution - 5 stars: 36 reviews (88%) - 4 stars: 3 reviews (7%) - 3 stars: 0 reviews (0%) - 2 stars: 2 reviews (5%) - 1 star: 0 reviews (0%) ### Most mentioned pros - I have used several ERP systems, but Foundant's CommunitySuite is by far the most user friendly that I have used. - I like how community suite has a help page, tutorials, constant updates, and how they take suggestions from its consumers in order to better their platform. - The fund accounting features make it easy to track transactions, allocate investment income, and administer fees by fund. ### Most mentioned cons - Seems like the auditors like that, and it's very difficult to reproduce in CSuite. ## CommunitySuite customer reviews Showing reviews 1-25 of 41 (page 1). ### A unified system that delights both internal and external users - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Verified Reviewer - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: April 2019 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review. Overall, a great experience. The team at Foundant is very responsive and the software is easy to use. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Unified solution, clean & simple interface, the dev team is very open to suggestions and using IdeaLab, users can submit and vote on desired features/functionality. Tech support and service is phenomenal. Going from a non-unified system to a unified system has been like night and day. Being able to offer our Fund Advisors an online portal where they have 24x7 access in a clean site has been a long-awaited feature for us. #### Cons That we didn't have it implemented sooner. It has saved so much staff time. #### Vendor response Thank you for your review! This will be greatly beneficial to others who are exploring community foundation solutions . Replied April 2019 --- ### Best tech decision we made! - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Leeann W. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 12 months - Reviewed: October 2023 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. CSuite has been a game-changer for us - we are now able to generate more robust reports and dig deep into our data. This software will enable our Foundation to grow at an exponential rate. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 3/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros We had been using Quickbooks and spreadsheets to do fund accounting. The transition to CSuite has been transformational for our office! #### Cons The software isn't the most inuitive and reporting functions are somewhat difficult to learn, however, Foundant has a great support team that is able to assist us as needed. #### Reasons for choosing CommunitySuite Strong history, many other Community Foundations in our area also utilize this software. #### Reasons for switching to CommunitySuite Quickbooks isn't structured for fund accounting. #### Vendor response Thank you for the review Leeann! We love to hear the CSuite has been a "game-changer" for your foundation! Replied October 2023 --- ### It's a frustrating system that is missing so much compared to other options. - Overall rating: 2/5 - Reviewer: Hank D. - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: July 2018 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 2/5 - Value for money: 2/5 - Customer support: 2/5 - Functionality: 2/5 #### Pros It is cloud-based. Unlimited Users. The accounting system seems to work, though I am not an accountant so who knows. #### Cons Donation pages are not customizable or user-friendly. There is no way to track the source of donations (even though the description says donation tracking). If you want to track ROI on your website, ads or communications, you can't. There's no integration with ANY other software(other than Stripe). They do not verify users by email address, so you constantly have to be on top of duplicate accounts from donations. The ticketing system is barebones and difficult to set up. There's no custom reporting. --- ### CSuite Makes Our Work Better - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: John S. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: February 2021 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review. Since implementing CSuite my ability to do additional work has increased greatly. The time I spend doing my normal work routines has dropped by over 30%, freeing me up to work on other projects. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros We really like how the modules integrate with each other. #### Cons The custom reporting still gives us some troubles mainly due to us not really using much of this feature. I'm certain as we learn more about it our ability to use the reporting will improve #### Reasons for choosing CommunitySuite Community Suite made the most sense for our Community Foundation's work flow. We also heard many good things from several existing users prior to selecting it. #### Reasons for switching to CommunitySuite FIMS was outdated and cumbersome #### Vendor response Thank you for your review, John! We are happy to see that CommunitySuite has eased your workload so you can focus on other projects! Replied April 2021 --- ### CommunitySuite took us to a new level! - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Amy R. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 6 months - Reviewed: March 2021 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review. Professional. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros CommunitySuite has allowed our little non-profit to dominate our Donor Management process! We have donor information, gifts, pledges at our fingertips and can talk and provide statistics in real time with accurate, documented information. Gift letters are sent out within days of money being received and recorded. So much time saved! #### Cons CommunitySuite is not specifically for Non-Profits but it fit for our Donor requirements better than any other software. As the majority of non-profits do not use fund accounting, there are some fields that could be adjusted where right now they have to be filled in. But guess what? Foundant listened and is now working on a non-profit version! #### Reasons for choosing CommunitySuite Donor profile process - allows an organization to grow into other software elements without an increase in cost because it is an entire software package (example accounts payable). On-Boarding timing took into consideration the organizations skill level and was priced and timed accordingly. #### Vendor response Thank you for the review, Amy! We are happy to see that ComunitySuite has allowed your nonprofit to excel within the donor management process. Replied April 2021 --- ### Almost perfect database software for community foundations - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Gary W. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 51-200 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 12 months - Reviewed: February 2021 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros Relative ease of use. Cloud-based. The software integrates a CRM and financial accounting databases into a cohesive platform. It also works seamlessly with Foundant's Grantmaking software, GLM and SLM. #### Cons The CRM is still not as robust as say something like SalesForce, but it is improving. Also, some system settings can be a little more robust. #### Reasons for switching to CommunitySuite needed move to a more modern cloud-based financial and CRM database platform. #### Vendor response Gary, thank you for taking the time to review CommunitySuite! Replied March 2021 --- ### Promote transparency, ease of reporting, and accurate donation history with C-Suite - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Kathleen S. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Investment Management - Company size: Self-Employed - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: October 2023 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. We shifted from Quick Books and many spreadsheets to C-Suite in 2015, and have never looked back. The transparency for fund managers and staff alike has been wonderful over the years. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 4/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros Cloud based, ease of use, great integration of CRM with accounting and event management, and excellent history tracking for funds--C-Suite delivers. #### Cons A recent change to no linked chart of accounts when making vendor payments and other entries is the sole annoying feature of this program. #### Reasons for switching to CommunitySuite Another community foundation insisted we make the change as soon as possible. We found a donor to pay the initial fee, and went for it. We have never regretted this decision. #### Vendor response Thank you for the review Kathleen! We are happy to hear that you are satisfied with CommunitySuite! Replied October 2023 --- ### Worth the switch! - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Jean V. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: February 2022 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Our overall experience has been extremely positive and I would not hesitate to recommend the software. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros The best part of this software is it replaced the need for us to triple enter data! I also have to say the team that assisted us with migration and training were fantastic!! As well, the support they offer after implementation and their online help database has made this move so worth the hard work we had to put in to get where we are today. #### Cons The implementation and training process I found very challenging and there were days I thought I would never get it. However, their constant support and the extra training we arranged for to make sure we had the processes down right, made it all worth it in the end. #### Reasons for switching to CommunitySuite We made the switch because from the very beginning Income Manager did not get the job done and the support and training was extremely bad. #### Vendor response Thank you for your review, Jean! We are happy to know that the CommunitySuite software has made it easier for you to enter data and our online database has been a helpful tool. Replied February 2022 --- ### Community Foundation recommendation - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Tye S. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: October 2023 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Overall, we have had a terrific experience with this software and have no regrets at our organization for making the switch back in 2021. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros The feature that our organization liked the most was the ease of use for the software. We apprecaite having the sandbox feature to "test" before submitting in the live system. #### Cons The feature that our organization likes the least would be the balance swap process. Still needing further understanding of this process. #### Reasons for switching to CommunitySuite Efficiencies and support. #### Vendor response Thank you for the review Tye! We are so happy to hear that you are satisfied with CommunitySuite! Replied October 2023 --- ### CommunitySuite is Perfect for Community Foundations - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Sherri R. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: October 2023 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. I am very happy with CommunitySuite. I'm a professional accountant and have worked in nonprofit accounting for 22 years. This is BY FAR the best software for fund accounting, tracking and reporting to donors and other stakeholders. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros This software is exactly what we need to track our funds, donors, and operations. Tech support is always quick to respond and willing to work through problems to help us learn. #### Cons The only thing I would add that would make it 100 for me as the accountant/CFO would be a payroll module. #### Reasons for choosing CommunitySuite We had seen two demos prior to 2017, but Foundant wasn't quite ready to handle our needs. We were pleased to see they continued to develop the product further until it was perfect for us. #### Reasons for switching to CommunitySuite Blackbaud announced in 2017 that they were going to stop all support for FIMS. At that point we were already looking for a replacement for FIMS, but the announcement shifted that search into high gear. #### Vendor response Thank you for the review Sherri! We are so happy to hear that you are satisfied with CommunitySuite's fund accounting! Replied October 2023 --- ### Todo en uno - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Lizbeth G. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Telecommunications - Company size: 5001-10000 employees - Product usage: Used weekly for less than 6 months - Reviewed: October 2022 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered En general es agradable ya que si tienes alguna duda el soporte siempre está disponible,al igual que me parece bastante sencilla. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Se logra asignar de manera sencilla y práctica la actividad de inversión,el equipo de soporte realmente es muy buen siempre se encuentra disponible y resuelven dudas de manera eficaz. #### Cons La búsqueda de organizaciones es un poco difícil y creo que necesita características más sólidas en cuanto al área de CRM. #### Reasons for choosing CommunitySuite Porque cuentan con mejor atención al cliente y me parece una plataforma sencilla --- ### Wonderful product - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Jodi B. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: February 2021 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review. The more I use it, the more I love it! Do I get frustrated...sure, but the support staff always comes through and works me through it! #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros The sandbox (practice site) has been extremely helpful to me. I am an office of 1 with the most knowledgeable user resigning without notice. Foundant/Community Suite support was the best getting me through the end of the year! Their support is the best they are patient and kind and they explain items thoroughly. The product is easy to maneuver and understand. #### Cons They are improving all the time from ideas that the we, the users submit through the idea lab. #### Reasons for switching to CommunitySuite Growth of the Foundation. #### Vendor response Thank you for your review, Jodi! We're glad to hear that you have enjoyed CommunitySuite and that our sandbox site has been helpful to you! Replied April 2021 --- ### Love CSuite - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Dean G. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used weekly for more than 2 years - Reviewed: October 2023 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. I'm so glad we made the switch. Much better and understands the nuances of community foundations. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros The newest updates to profiles puts everything at your finger tips. #### Cons It takes a while to learn the intricacies of the system and the new terminology but support is available every step of the way. #### Reasons for switching to CommunitySuite Data breach #### Vendor response Thank you for the review Dean! We are happy to hear that CommunitySuite is working well for your community foundation! Replied October 2023 --- ### Very Pleased with product and support - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Michael M. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Philanthropy - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 12 months - Reviewed: February 2021 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review. We were looking for an end-to-end solution for our foundation and CommunitySuite met and/or exceeded all of our expectations. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros For us, CommunitySuite addressed all of our needs as a community foundation and the customer support has been wonderful throughout the process. #### Cons There is nothing that I would identify as a negative with the system. #### Reasons for choosing CommunitySuite CommunitySuite is a cloud-based, integrated solution at a competitive price. #### Vendor response Thank you for your review of CommunitySuite Michael! We love to hear that you are receiving "wonderful" customer service. Replied March 2021 --- ### Strong financial management, but significant usability and CRM limitations - Overall rating: 2/5 - Reviewer: Verified Reviewer - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used monthly for less than 2 years - Reviewed: September 2026 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered My co-workers who handle the financial aspects of our organization consistently say how big of an improvement it is to be using Community Suite instead of the previous platforms they used. However, my experience with the rest of the platform has been considerably less positive. The CRM, marketing, communications, reporting, search, data imports, profile management, and integrations are less than satisfying. I have specific examples included in my list of cons. For organizations evaluating CommunitySuite, the financial functionality may be a compelling reason to consider the system, but I would recommend spending significant time testing the areas that staff will use day to day: particularly the CRM, marketing and communications tools, reporting, search, data management, and integrations. The financial system may work well for your organization, but I highly recommend you make sure to understand what the rest of your staff will be working with every day before you commit. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 2/5 - Value for money: 3/5 - Customer support: 4/5 - Functionality: 2/5 #### Pros CommunitySuite's financial management and fund-accounting capabilities are strong. That is the part of the product I would feel most confident recommending, which is based on the good reviews I get from my co-workers who handle the financials and prefer this system over those previously used, and not my personal experience. Other than that, the only pro for me is that their chat can quickly connect you to a human who is helpful. #### Cons From a marketing, communications, reporting, and profile-management perspective, the product often lacks intuitive design. The terminology and navigation are inconsistent, and routine tasks frequently require users to understand how CommunitySuite happens to organize information rather than following an intuitive workflow. For example, campaign-related reporting may use “event” terminology rather than campaign terminology. In custom reports, instead of an intuitive field such as “Campaign Name,” you may encounter something like “Event Date ID.” Many of the titles and relationships between fields don't make obvious sense without already understanding the underlying structure of the system. The same problem occurs with navigation. I recently needed to find files associated with a grant. Searching for the grant name didn't get me there, and neither did looking at the fund it came from. I eventually learned that I needed to click “History” in a separate area of the profile. Donor information, meanwhile, is accessed through a “Donor” section within the main profile area. Similar information is organized differently depending on the type of profile you're viewing. Data management is another concern. Imports can be risky because improperly matched fields can overwrite existing information rather than simply leaving existing data intact. There are also workflow quirks that make it difficult to trust what the system is going to do. For example, changing an address can give you the option to update that address across other profiles using it. In my experience, selecting that option results in nothing happening. Campaign setup has similar limitations. The campaign type you select determines what information you can record. For example, you can record attendance for an event, but a marketing campaign doesn't provide the same ability to indicate whether a communication was received. If mail is returned, there isn't an intuitive way to record that against the campaign, so you may have to structure the campaign as an event simply to capture the information you need. Search is also limited. Only certain fields are searchable; for example, an email address can be searched, but the description associated with that email cannot. The third-party integrations are another significant weakness. The Mailchimp integration is limited and primarily works in one direction. It sends email information to Mailchimp but does not provide data from other profile fields such as name and phone. If someone signs up for a mailing list through a website or Mailchimp form, staff have to manually add that person to CommunitySuite. Changes made through Mailchimp do not flow back into CommunitySuite. When I looked for a workaround, Mailchimp suggested Zapier. However, that would require a custom API, additional cost from CommunitySuite, and someone capable of manually coding the connection. I have not found clear evidence that this would work for my use case, and CommunitySuite indicated that they had no record of this type of connection being successfully implemented. Even the Help Lab documentation doesn't always resolve these issues. I frequently find myself needing to use the chat function to clarify how something works. None of these issues is necessarily catastrophic by itself. The problem is the cumulative effect. Staff spend time figuring out where information lives, deciphering terminology, checking whether an action actually worked, manually maintaining information between systems, and developing workarounds. I don't work in CommunitySuite constantly, but when I do, I regularly encounter these kinds of snags. --- ### Excellent Software and Customer Service!! - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Zach F. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Philanthropy - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 12 months - Reviewed: March 2026 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Overall, our experience with CommunitySuite has been positive. It has helped us streamline all the different organizations we operate under a single software system. Prior to Community Suite we had to use two different systems, which complicated everything. In addition, Foundant's support team is fantastic. They are always ready to help and are knowledgeable when you do reach out. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros I have used several ERP systems, but Foundant's CommunitySuite is by far the most user friendly that I have used. We use the software for our non-profit and foundation business. The AP, AR, and financial reporting features are fantastic. For example, when working with either AR or AP you it is so easy to process "vouchers" or "donations" and later unpost them if you notice a mistake. The previous system I used before Community Suite was a pain to unpost and correct entries. In addition, the trial balance and custom built reports are very useful for daily or monthly reporting. #### Cons The biggest criticism I would have would be related to looking up donors. There are times you do not know how someone's name was input in a system but have the address of the person. It would be nice to be able to search by address. A smaller criticism relates to posting pledges. There is no way to unpost a pledge once it is input. Quite an annoying issue. #### Reasons for switching to CommunitySuite System did not allow us to track both our Foundation and other non-profit entities under one system. In addition, the software looks outdated and lacks a modern UI. #### Vendor response Thank you for the wonderful review! We're thrilled to hear CommunitySuite has been a valuable tool for your organization. We appreciate the candid feedback and will keep it in mind as we continue to improve. Thanks for your continued trust in Foundant! Replied March 2026 --- ### You Put "Community" in Community Suite! - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Andrea B. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 51-200 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: April 2026 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review. I am very satisfied. O erall, it's easy tonuse and I can get the data that I need in a timely manner. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros I appreciate the fact that the development of CSuite software is a collaboration between Foundant and the client. Customer support is great, too! #### Cons When little uodates in functionaluty are made that are not significant enough to make it to a new releases webinar, it would be nice to have some warning. #### Vendor response Thank you so much for this thoughtful review! We're thrilled to hear that the collaborative approach to CSuite's development and our customer support have made a positive impact. Great to hear that the platform is easy to use and gets you the data you need! Replied April 2026 --- ### Real Time Money Management for Nonprofits - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Laura P. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: October 2023 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. I love that it integrates so well with the GLM and the SLM (Grant and Scholarship Management platforms) and that our accountant can send us the data reports we need instantaneously. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros I love all the data you can accumulate and process in Csuite. The reports are easy to create, they look nice and they are accurate. You can rely on them for new donors, investors and auditors. #### Cons That they use Stripe as a processor. It is hard to get reports out of and takes a larger fee than our other processor. #### Reasons for choosing CommunitySuite Ease of accountability, ease of conversion, ease of payments. #### Reasons for switching to CommunitySuite FIMS had the worst reporting (to Notepad) and produced unreliable data #### Vendor response Thank you for the review Laura! We are happy to hear that you are benefiting from CSuite's reporting features! Replied October 2023 --- ### Hello Foundant Goodbye FIMS - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Dori W. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: February 2022 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Our overall experience has been nothing but positive. The employees at CommunitySuite are smart problem solvers and with this software, we have been able to grow over 200%. Our efforts now go into donors and grantees instead of spreadsheets. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Foundant is very flexible. We have several users with different levels of computer knowledge all can navigate in Foundant. The training is great and the programmers are always looking to make the software more user-friendly. The time we save using this software allows us to spend more time in donor and community development. #### Cons There is not much that I don't like about Foundant. The only thing is new releases and it's really not a negative. It's just that so many good things get implemented that I don't always keep up. #### Reasons for choosing CommunitySuite Pricing, user-friendly, and support #### Reasons for switching to CommunitySuite FIMS had gone up in price and was very laborious. #### Vendor response Thank you for your review, Dori! We are happy to know that CommunitySuite training was helpful for you and the software allows you to engage more with donor and community development! Replied February 2022 --- ### CommunitySuite is a lifesaver - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Alicia C. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: February 2021 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review. Before migrating to CommunitySuite, my organization had to use two separate solutions - a fund accounting software and a CRM software - and staff had to duplicate work to get data out of and in to each system. The fund accounting software was antiquated and not user friendly, and the CRM software was great for donor management but terrible for accounting. Plus, the customer service was impersonal and not always helpful. CommunitySuite brings it all together in one package, which has streamlined our operations and allowed staff to spend more time on more productive tasks and projects. And, we feel like we personally know the folks at Foundant and can rely on them anytime for anything. We are planning to eventually purchase two other solutions that Foundant Technologies offers to have complete integration of our operations. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros Fund accounting is unique even by accounting standards. Using other solutions that weren't made to do what we needed them to in order to cobble together our operations was a nightmare. CommunitySuite brings it all together in one easy-to-use solution that is constantly being improved - and they take customer feedback to heart when making improvements. Additionally, the personalized training and the absolutely stellar customer service Foundant Technologies provides, coupled with the opportunities to meet and work with their team one-on-one, makes purchasing CommunitySuite a no-brainer! #### Cons CommunitySuite is great for fund accounting, but it's lacking a little on the CRM side. It works, but not as well as some other solutions (but those solutions don't have the robust fund accounting capabilities, which was the priority for my organization). However, Foundant Technologies is constantly working to make improvements on the CRM side, and I am confident that it will only get better and better! #### Reasons for choosing CommunitySuite It was pretty clear early on that no other solution could provide what CommunitySuite does, so to us there really was no choice! #### Reasons for switching to CommunitySuite FIMS was completely antiquated and not user-friendly (and was about to cease being supported), and Raiser's Edge could not provide us with the accounting solution we needed. And using two systems was inefficient and ineffective! #### Vendor response Thank you for your review of CommunitySuite Alicia! We're glad you've enjoyed our solution and that you're happy with our continuous improvements. Replied April 2021 --- ### Finally, A Modern Software Solution Catering Specifically to Community Foundation Needs! - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Aaron B. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 6 months - Reviewed: February 2020 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. We have what I would call "a beautiful relationship". Not only do we know our team at Foundant, we like them and enjoy hanging out with them. They are constantly seeking ways to improve their product and provide the best customer experience possible. They do that by seeking to better understand the way we function and anticipating industry trends. Additionally, they have made allowances for direct buy-in/investment from a number of community foundations, thus insuring that the company and the company's interests will remain true to community foundations for years to come. No other software provider in our field has taken that step so far as I am aware of. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros There are three things I like most about this software: 1) It is designed specifically for use by community foundations - they get "it"! 2) The customer service. Second to none. Responsive. Knowledgeable. Experienced. Resourceful. Caring. Oh, and they are a heckuva a lot of fun, too! 3) Migration. Rarely is the term "easy" used in close quarters with discussions of transitioning from one core software package to another. However, the good folks at Foundant specialize in this process. In fact, it may be the only company out there that has customers who consistently use the term "flawless" when describing their data migration (at least from FIMS to C-Suite). Basically, Foundant has built itself upon the idea that community foundations are their niche market. Make that "only market". Community foundations (CF's) are their only customers. What's more, a large portion of their staff have past personal work experience either with CF's or with the former industry-specific software, FIMS, from which the majority of community foundations have or are in-process of migrating from. #### Cons There is no perfect solution (yet) for community foundations. While Foundant comes fairly close by providing a ready-made solution, it is not as customizable as our particular organization would prefer. While it appears to be able to handle all of our required needs, we will be employing a few work-arounds and changes to our processes to make it fit those needs. Ideally, a software solution would allow the client to change the program to suit its workflow. Not exactly so with C-Suite. That said, it is a HUGE improvement in terms of integration and report generation over FIMS. It also increases functionality at least 10 fold. Not looking to purchase an additional CRM solution (cough...Salesforce...Raisers Edge...cough)? C-Suite is still a huge upgrade over FIMS. #### Reasons for choosing CommunitySuite Our pre-requisites included accommodation for all of our essential accounting functions. But, following that, customer service and price. #### Reasons for switching to CommunitySuite FIMS no longer fits the growing needs of our community foundation. However, the customer service is virtually non-existent (thank you, Blackbaud). Additionally, our donor portal software provider is closing its doors mid-2020. #### Vendor response Aaron, thank you for taking the time to share your experience. Your feedback is so helpful for others looking to understand our company and for us to continue improving our processes. As always, please let us know if we can help in any other way. Replied February 2020 --- ### Great for Community Foundations - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Erin B. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: October 2023 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. We have been very happy with our CommunitySuite Fund Accounting purchase. It has facilitated more donor and fundholder engagement. It has also allowed us to move in the direction of a less paper office environment. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros The fund accounting features make it easy to track transactions, allocate investment income, and administer fees by fund. CommunitySuite Fund Accounting has the ability to create multiple allocation, fee, and cash management structures to meet the unique parameters of each fund. #### Cons Features are constantly being improved based on user-feedback. These upgrades are often helpful in allowing more flexibility and efficiency in our processes. Sometimes the releases are not relevant to our foundation, and that's ok. Occasionally, releases cause more work - either learning a new process, or on rare occasions, feel like a step backwards in product development. #### Reasons for choosing CommunitySuite We were impressed by the features of the software and the responsiveness of the Foundant team. #### Reasons for switching to CommunitySuite We were looking for a system that allowed more user access, donor and fundholder portals, and more intergrated donor managment. #### Vendor response Thank you for the review Erin! We are happy to hear that you are satisfied with CommunitySuite! Replied October 2023 --- ### Almost 100% spot on - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Eliese O. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: October 2023 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros SO much functionality in profiles and profile maintenance make it a dream for creating donor and other profile lists, and linking people, organizations, and funds together. Fund profile also has such incredible detail and linking.The ability to drill down on figures is also wonderful. #### Cons The only thing I miss from FIMS was the Columnar Fund Balance report. Seems like the auditors like that, and it's very difficult to reproduce in CSuite. #### Reasons for choosing CommunitySuite Easy transition; good value; great training and support. #### Reasons for switching to CommunitySuite Blackbaud was discontinuing FIMS. Since we were hosting it locally, we could continue to use it, but it was time to consider another product. #### Vendor response Thank you for the review Eliese! We are happy to hear that you are satisfied with CommunitySuite! Replied October 2023 --- ### Purpose-built, incredible, responsive customer service make this an easy decision to buy - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Merrell B. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Philanthropy - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: February 2021 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review. We needed a fully integrated suite without trying to cobble together multiple packages like QuickBooks and Salesforce. I have worked in ERP/Financial software for over 20 years with Tier 1 firms (BaaN, Infor) as an implementation consultant. NONE of these firms can touch CommunitySuite for responsiveness, rapid development of new features, ease of use and support. I have direct links at the VP Product level and feel that the corporate culture is first-rate. Community Suite (and the GLM module we also license) are growing with us and we look to adding SLM as well. Cannot imagine how we would have handled hundreds of business, nonprofit and individual grants during COVID-19 without this product and their team. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros CommunitySuite combines solid financials with good CRM/donor management and tightly integrated grant and scholarship management modules, if needed (extra cost). Extremely easy to implement and use. With excellent support from Customer Success Manager team, we were trained on key functionality and brought foundation from spreadsheets to state of the art systems in less than two months. That support has never waivered and after 2 years of use , they only keep getting better, with more features . #### Cons Donor management and integration with third party payers (Stripe) may not be quite as robust as a standalone boutique module, but it is steadily getting more robust. Newly enhanced custom reporting tools are also filling a gap that existed two years ago. #### Reasons for choosing CommunitySuite Too complex, too costly. The team that ultimately selected CommunitySuite had first hand experience with Blackbaud in a large foundation and found it cumbersome and did not want to use it again. #### Vendor response Thank you for the review, Merrell! We are glad to see that our support has remained consistent over the past two years and that you have enjoyed working with us. Replied April 2021 --- ### CCCF-Csuite - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Alexis W. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: October 2023 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. I like how community suite has a help page, tutorials, constant updates, and how they take suggestions from its consumers in order to better their platform. I'd rate my overall experience a 10 compared to the last software we used to use. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros I love how we can use one platform to manage funds, donations, grants, and scholarships. #### Cons A feature I would like to be incorporated is to be able to send payment confirmation emails for electronic/ach (like we do for grant payments) for the voucher payments. We have to manually send these emails currently. #### Vendor response Thank you for the review Alexis! We are happy to hear that you find our support hub and tutorials helpful! Replied October 2023 ## More reviews [Next reviews](https://www.softwareadvice.com/accounting/communitysuite-profile/reviews/?page=2) --- CommunitySuite Reviews, Pros and Cons - 2026 Software Advice