Our go-to for Associations and others

CiviCRM integrates CRM functions for associations, affiliation groups and others as an add-on for the top GPL content management systems WordPress, Joomla and Drupal. We have been installing and hosting CiviCRM for several years and it has become a standard part of our toolbox. It is especially strong on event registration and membership management. CiviMail does an excellent job with bounce and subscription management, but it's not as user friendly as a service like MailChimp or Constant Contact for HTML mail composition. CiviContribute handles payments for memberships, donations and events. CiviCase brings case management into to application and CiviVolunteer helps you keep track of the eager beavers who want to help your cause. We have used CiviCRM for projects ranging from an international arts group to our son's Boy Scout troop. We have used it for camping registrations and conference registrations for thousands of users. The real gem, as in any CRM tool are the reporting tools. You can pull membership, attendance or other reports in minutes. Think of a data related question and get an answer quickly and simply.

Pros

Excellent event registration and membership management at a price that can't be equaled. Best of all, it works in and with our client's websites.

Cons

It's not an intuitive tool. You need to learn the logic of CiviCRM to get things done. It's not hard, but I wouldn't give it to a client without a few explanations and probably training.

A wonderful experience with CiviCRm

Pros

I work for a very small and relatively new non-profit organization and CiviCRM has been the perfect combination of intuitive/ user-friendly, as well as adaptive to our unique needs as we continue to define our direction, expand our scope, and grow to reach a larger audience. Civi has allowed us to track and maintain well-rounded profiles of our constituents, donors, participants, and volunteers -- many of whom fit into multiple of these categories. I have a lot left to learn about Civi and when I get stumped, I can almost always find the answer in the forums online or through our vendor.

Cons

I've had the most difficulty with CiviCRM integrating into our Mailchimp account and newsletter. Overall, it's worked quite well but there have been several glitches and several times where the solution or steps to take to fix a problem were not at all obvious (to me, at least!).

An open-source attempt to make CRM great

Hard to find a comparable in the open-source world.

Pros

It's an audacious attempt to make a CRM with no recurring fees while keeping the entire ownership of your data.

Cons

It's built on soon-to-be deprecated software, so investing in its deployment might be a little risky.

A versatile but clunky CRM software

Pros

CiviCRM is extremely versatile and customizable. We use it to produce letters to donors and large mailing lists for various functions. If you have a fair amount of technical web knowledge, you can integrate your database with other online software like MailChimp. It is also FREE!

Cons

CiviCRM is pretty clunky and not pleasing to the eye. While you can segment your database in almost any way with the search features, it's often nearly impossible to know which version of the search interface you should use: Advanced Search? Search Builder? Full-text Search???????

High functionality at low costs

Very functional so long as you don't need something new

Pros

Cost -- our volunteer run organization could afford it (we pay for hosting which includes administrator and user coaching) Highly functional and generally very easy to use Very flexible with extensions that are much more advanced than found in cost-comparable products -- membership, events, etc. Very good API Ability to fully get all data out of it

Cons

Import of large quantities of data using supplied import procedures is painful at best. That said, a person who understands the database can bypass the worst of it -- however, we could do this, and the closest competing product priced itself out of our reach by an excessive import fee. While existing reports are easy to use, creating truly new ones is nearly impossible (need to create a new extension) Sadly lacking documentation on creating extensions

Pretty fantastic for doing the essentials

It's not a terrible software to have and allows you to carry out ticketing and patron service management at a fundamental level. Wouldn't recommend it at the higher tiered levels of with theatres/spaces that are more complex and demand more.

Pros

While it is not the most integrated system, Civi's platform allows for the essential patron ticketing needs. The following being the strongest aspects: -Easily accessible patron accounts - Format is very fundamental in account management and ticketing management - Allows for seamless EOD reporting and comp lists

Cons

Here are the biggest drawbacks that I have seen with this ticketing software: -It cannot retrieve events/reservations once deleted. The recovery process of anything really is very difficult with regards to patron and account management. - Very difficult to change seating arrangements once reservation is secured. - Can be cumbersome with the website interface and do not allow for intuitive browsing.

The best CRM for nonprofits, and it's free!

Pros

The depth and breadth of functionality is staggering, and the community provides extensions that enrich the product even more. The software is highly configurable and can be adapted to almost any nonprofit organization's needs. And if a feature is not there, you can always add it as the full source code is available.

Cons

Setup and administration is quite technical, documentation is extensive but could still be improved. Users will feel lost at first due to the richness of the software, but with a little hand holding will get the gist of it and start exploring.

Powerful Contact Management for Nonprofits

Pros

CiviCRM is open source. There is no cost in getting started if you have the expertise yourself. There is also an excellent Eco-system of vendors that install, upgrade, migrate, extend and support CiviCRM.

Cons

Because the product is open source is lacking some of the features that other CRMs have. That said there is a large library of extensions and material on the Internet to help you make CiviCRM do everything you want it to.

CiviCRM is a great tool for campaign management

Pros

CiviCRM is free and open source, meaning the development is driven by a community dedicated to it's success. The community is fairly responsive and keeps an active release cycle as well as an extension community which build meaningful extensions to functionality.

Cons

Specializing in political clients, CiviCRM is not the most documented to reach these markets. However, I am working with others to expand this as I have personally tested several competing products and found CiviCRM to be the most versatile in this space.

Exceptional value

We have had a wonderful experience with installing/implementing CiviCRM for a nonprofit client. We're very thankful for the community's help when we needed help with an issue, which was quickly resolved.

Pros

Other than the fact it's open source, which is extremely beneficial to nonprofits, the community is vibrant and quick to offer sound advice.

Cons

It's truly an excellent CRM for nonprofits. What could be a huge step forward would be a templating system for front-end design.

We have continued to use more features over time

Good program

Pros

Flexibility. It can do almost anything for non computer people, that flexibility can also be a disability

Cons

It can be complicated. It has such flexibility that it can be daunting . Consultants can help but are costly.

Long user, secure software, lots of features

I really like to feel that CiviCRM is a successful free/open source software.

Pros

I like the fact the CiviCRM works nicely, have a lot of features I need and are integrated to my CMS.

Cons

Some translation to languages around still need, help everybody could help. Same to new payment methods to places different from Major markets.

Decent open sourced CRM

This is a free software program that can for the most part, make it do what you want it to do as long as you are experienced enough. If you have database experience with a limited budget, this would be a good route to go.

Pros

CiviCRM is an open sourced database, so there are no fees or contracts associated with it, which is nice. If you have previous database experience, it can be pretty intuitive on how to use for donor management. Although there is no customer service as it is open sourced, there are several forums that are helpful.

Cons

The open source can be a double edged sword. While it is nice that you can build yourself, unless you have a developer/script writer on hand things can get complicated and messy quick. The reporting is alright, but does not do anything extravagant (unless again you have a developer on hand that can help you write more canned reports). The import feature works okay, but often times still creates duplicates.

CiviCRM: Big help for accomplishing our goals

Pros

- Very broad feature set - Open source: makes us independent from a single provider - large community: Several professional service providers, and many voluntary helpers made us solve any problem quickly

Cons

- learning curve: Due to the broad features and complexity we needed quite some time to fully understand the capabilities

Great Value

Pros

Cost - our volunteer based organization is always looking for cheap solutions to complex problems. This coupled with ease of use makes a great software tool for non-profits.

Cons

Mass imports are painful to execute and time consuming. Existing reports are easy to replicate but custom reports are almost impossible without a consultant.

Excellent package targeted for the Non Profit Sector

Pros

The software is free, libre and open source. it is customizable and extensible and works seamlessly with the most popular content management systems. It has public support forums, chat rooms and issue tracker.

Cons

The software is free and open, you need to have the expertise (or pay someone) to install and customize it for you.

Great general use database

Still learning it, but it is a great tool for managing our volunteer and client database

Pros

Super flexible, can be used with nearly any type of data

Cons

it is not very user friendly / self explanatory

Specifically designed for a variety of Non Profits

The flexibility of working with a strong team that understands the business requirements gets the non-profit up to speed faster.

Pros

Great Business Rules, Forms and Integrations. The setup is complicated as the Non-Profit needs to understand its business processes. Being forced to understand what works and best practices is a significant benefit.

Cons

Be prepared to spend time on setting CiviCRM on the right path. The user interface is old fashioned compared to Program Management tools I'm used to for software development. Search is in the fashion of a database query rather than as a blob search. You have to know what you are looking for in a number of different areas rather than have the search self-develop,

Not a product that I could recommend.

The problem I had with CiviCRM was more due to the organisation I was working in trying to adapt it for their own sector, rather than using something that was appropriate to their requirements and location. CiviCRM reminded me of a ball of thread that could tangle and loop back on itself very easily, and was almost impossible to unpick.

Pros

It is adaptable to the requirements of the organisation.

Cons

This product isn't designed to be used in the sector that I was working in.

Quick-start CRM

Pros

CiviCRM includes everything you'd expect from a robust, comprehensive non-profit CRM solution: mailings, memberships, contributions, pledges, volunteer management, contact groups, activity tracking, events, and more. Its extensible, open-source nature means its always evolving and can be adapted to your needs.

Cons

Like most CRMs, it does draw upon server resources--and since it must be integrated with your site, that means it's drawing upon the same resources as your CMS-based website. I wouldn't want to use it on budget shared hosting, which is unfortunately the kind of hosting most small non-profits have.

CiviCRM is highly adaptable and able to fit our non-standard use case

Pros

Very active and helpful community around the CiviCRM. Lots of free intergrations.

Cons

I think it would have been very difficult to get the full value out of CiviCRM without Back Office Thinking to guide us. There is a lot of add ons and extensions that would be tricky to navigate for people coming to the product without expertise. It may be easier out of the box for more standard deployments but our needs were sufficiently different that we really did need a guide.

Used CiviCRM for donor database management as a part of a small non-profit

Integral to operations as a small nonprofit almost entirely funded by donations/member support.

Pros

I loved how expansive the system was. I liked that I could use it as both a record of donors and donations etc. and as a way to process and track payments/money received.

Cons

It sometimes felt a little bit "clunky" and wasn't always all that intuitive. Running reoprts on internal data was a little bit too convoluted and required a lot of data cleanup up, but that being said, was still a great tool and invaluable to our operations.

Excellent CRM!

We consolidated a range of spreadsheets into CiviCRM and use it for donor management and email management. We're growing into memberships and events now, and CiviCRM out of the box continues to meet our needs. We're not super technical, so there are times when we need support. The online documentation and community is responsive and helpful.

Jim's review

Pros

Fairly easy and straightforward. Haven't had many problems once I got to know it.

Cons

I have had some trouble using the scheduled mailings feature. Once the mailing didn't go out at all.

Gives a lot of basic features in a CRM tool

Pros

Best price, and meets a lot of needs out of the gate.

Cons

Lacks some advanced features, like advanced mailing list activities.

CiviCRM: The Future Of Political Campaigns Organizing

I would recommend with reserve. Still very useful, if you do not have the budget to opt for better services.

Pros

CiviCRM is free as compared to other providers (NationBuilder, NGP Van, other) who are really pricey. CiviCRM enables organization and campaign to build their lists, organize their constituent and ace their tools for campaign time.

Cons

The software is difficult to self-install on own servers. Some bugs. User interface is also not optimal.