Excellent customer service and product was perfect for our 250 person fundraiser!

Streamlined auction process before, during and after event. We went "paperless" and didn't have to fuss with paper bidding forms and associated headaches. We raised more than $10,000 more than we ever raised before using an online bidding system. We look forward to using again next year!

Pros

Very easy to navigate the dashboard to build fundraising website and to upload pictures and descriptions of auction items. Bidders loved how easy it was to register for the silent auction, and we benefitted greatly from launching the website and opening the auction prior to the event. There were many easy tutorials for our volunteers to watch so that they could get comfortable with the online bidding system, and they were well equipped to handle questions from guests. We benefitted greatly from having an onsite specialist with us at the event. She was extremely professional, smart, highly capable and knowledgeable about the software, and she worked nimbly and confidently throughout the night to answer any questions and even offered suggestions that contributed significantly to the success of our auction - and on top of that, she was very enjoyable to be with! After the event, we were able to easily close our books and to process all payments (a significant improvement from many years of dealing with cash and checks and tracking down payments) and to run reports providing incredible data for us to review and learn from.

Cons

I cannot think of anything to improve this software. It was perfect for our event - simple to use and very geared toward serving a volunteer-based event!

HIGHLY satisfied customer for over 5 years now. Amazing customer support!

Nearly full event management by using this software.

Pros

Easy to use, customize and edit and update. Features offered have improved each year we have contracted with Givesmart. "One stop shopping" for event and auction management. We have utilized more features each year. What started as just utilizing auction management capability with limited effort into making the online auction site attractive has evolved to guest ticketing, table assignments, a highly customized auction site that reflects the event theme and with real time auction progress and bids scrolling on large screen ad televisions throughout the event venue to increase people's competitive bidding nature. After action information has been vital to determining what auction items had the most interests and highest profit margin. Has enabled us to better focus solicitation efforts for the next year.

Cons

Really very few cons for the software. Only limitation observed was limited printing options for auction item description for printing on card stock. There needs to be several options for the size and information/photo of the descriptive card tents.

Good event fundraising and mobile bidding solution

Good overall experience, we will use them again next year. Custom service for the software is very responsive. Most of the people they send to the event are very polite and professional, but we have had a couple of people that have not been the best at representing our organization.

Pros

We have used this software for two years now for our annual charity golf outing. It's a fantastic tool for mobile bidding at auctions and overall "day-of-event" fundraising. Easy to use and navigate. In addition to the software, you get actual people that run the software the day of the event.

Cons

One challenge I have found is that the information from last year's event doesn't carry over to the next year. Since we typically get a lot of the same donors, I have to re-enter donors from scratch instead of having the system "remember" them from last year.

BEST ONLINE AUCTION RESOURCE OUT THERE

Cannot sing their praises more. If you want to go with a group that honestly cares about wanting to make your event a success, use GiveSmart.

Pros

Customer service is INCREDIBLE. The organizations has utilized GiveSmart for 4 years and has never had an issue. When they assign an event representative to you, you can be assured that any question you may have in setting up the auction site or any technical problems that you may have will be resolved immediately by the assigned rep or they will ensure that they find the right person to correct the issue or answer the question if they cannot immediately help. In addition to the auction management, their pacakge allows for FULL event management; everything from

Cons

Cost of using the service would be the only negative, and not really a negative because their costs are actually lower than some other options that the organization looked into.

Everything I've been looking for

We have been looking for a mobile auction software service for a long time and finally found a good one within our price range. Although there are things that need to be worked on, overall i am happy with it and would recommend.

Pros

Online Auctions that you can make live before the event. onsite reps from the company that are very knowledgeable about the software and product. The site is easy to maneuver through and the reports are easy to find what you need.

Cons

There are things that you have to have the company set up for you that you should be able to set up yourself such as who should be receiving alerts for donations, etc. Also, since the tablets the reps bring to events run on data you'd think there wouldn't be any lag time but at each event we've had, they've kept shutting down which made for a back up at check in with guests waiting.
At our first event, we were supposed to have 2 reps show up and only 1 did. We had to wait for a refund as we'd paid for 2.

Such an upgrade from doing an auction on paper. Can't believe we waited so long to make the switch.

Ease of use and real time results. Also having GiveSmart employees at the event.

Pros

Having used this 3 years now, I appreciate being able to access previous years' info and descriptions. The reporting functionality is fantastic and I love being able to see results in real time.

Cons

1. I wish we could have several screens for the same item. Silent Auction packages are sometimes made up of a few items and it would be nice to showcase those items visually on more than one available page.
2. Similarly, the automated process of creating table tents/placards for your project is not ideal. The available space for an image is too small, as is font size. You don't want people squinting at your package descriptions.

The technology allows us to run great auctions and easy registration.

Pros

It makes every aspect of running the inside logistics so much easier. Auctions raise more money, texting keeps all communications flowing and ultimately drives revenue.

Cons

There's still some room to grow and some features that can be implemented that would be so helpful.

Excellent support for events!

Exceptional customer service, very responsive. We have been able to increase donations, pledges during our annual Gala.

Pros

Easy, user friendly platform for auction bidding. Their staff are super friendly and very helpful. They offer tailored support for on site event and booth exhibit hall for bidding. Their website platform for creating auction pages is very easy to use and allows you to run reports on lists of donors, pledges and outstanding payments. Their team sends out text notifications to donors who have outstanding payments. Donors receive text alerts when they have been outbid.

Cons

They could be a little pricey especially for out of state events so access your need for support based on whether you think you’ll get a good return on investment.

Mobile bidding is a great component to running a silent auction.

For the past two years, since utilizing the service, our revenues have increased by 20-35%.

Pros

Love the ease and user-friendly app. Also, our first year utilizing the mobile app netted us a 20 percent increase In auction revenue. Our guests love the option to bid two weeks prior to the event as well as sitting in their chairs during the event bidding on items.

Cons

There are no cons. This product is well worth the money! The system is easy to understand and operate.

Give Smart goes above and beyond to ensure all needs of the customer are met.

Pros

Give Smart is always working to improve their software to keep up with the latest trends. Give Smart listens to the customer's needs and requests. The post event reporting gives us a great picture of our donors so that we can continue to make changes and adapt our events so we can raise as much money as possible.

Cons

It would be extremely beneficial to have mailing address required on all elements of the site. Mailing address is crucial to us in order to thank our donors appropriately. This year, the Give Smart team worked with us to help us collect addresses when our guests were registering for the auction online the week leading up to the event, but we would love to see mailing address as a required field for the registration process also.

Perfect Program for Auctions

Pros

This program is great for our school auction. From set-up to closing the event, you have a lot of great features and tools to promote the event and get guests excited about giving.

Cons

When you need to send a donation letter to a donor, you can't customize the letter to fit your organization's needs. I've used other programs that allow this customization, but GiveSmart doesn't have that.

I think this was our 4th or 5th year with Give Smart. It has been a great tool to use for our auctio

I think we raised more money because we have it.

Pros

it is easy for me to use to develop our dash board and entering all the auction items. It is also easy for our guest to use their phones to bid and teh quick feedback. It also makes the check out of auction items go smoothly.

Cons

I can't think of any. We have used Give Smart for the past 4 or 5 years and have really like the product and there staff.

A great fundraising tool!

Pros

It's an incredible fundraising tool and has grown our fundraising efforts through online ticket sales, online auction, and donation ask.

Cons

I wish there was an app the guests could download and use year after year. The current platform is not difficult but I wonder if an app would be easier to navigate and store donor information.

Our experience has been great!

Increased funding, donor information, reports and ability to view at a glance who donates, what they donate etc.

Pros

The reports, the ability to learn as you go. Ease of use. Clarity and uploads. Ease of use for our donors. Mobile bidding has helped increased fund raising.

Cons

Regardless of the quality of the pictures we upload they are not good quality on the mobile application.