What are GiveSmart users saying about the software?

The good stuff...

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.

We Are Beyond Grateful

I would recommend Givesmart to anyone looking to kickstart their fundraising and be more flexible with their events. Our nonprofit has seen unprecedented success using GiveSmart, even during such a turbulent year full of changes and unknowns. Our entire team of volunteers is thankful for this product and all that it has provided to us. Their platform, help team, resources, and webinars will motivate you to do more and be better for your organization and its mission.

Pros

This software is an incredible tool for nonprofits. Especially in a year with so many unknowns and endless virtual events, this software made it easier and less stressful to pivot, be creative, and fundraise for our cause. In 2020 alone, we have done five campaigns and have exceeded our fundraising goals. It is easy to use for both administrators and users, and is feasible for multiple different types of events (i.e. a golf tournament, a virtual auction, a gala, a 5K, a general fundraiser, a voting event, and so much more). The possibilities are endless with GiveSmart. In addition, their support teams and their resources provide tools for organizations looking for ways to improve and grow. I have yet to have a negative experience with the software.

Cons

The only issue I've had with the software is with a virtual auction. Anytime you share a link, be it to donate, or to view an item, etc., it just links to your general campaign and not to a specific component of that campaign. That being said, that's a minuscule detail in the grand scheme of things when planning and executing an event. This software is easy to use and navigate, and their support team is top-tier if you run into a problem or have a question.

GiveSmart Changes the Terms of Agreement without Notification!!!

I would never recommend working with GiveSmart. The customer service is awful and the company deceives their clients. We signed up on a year-to-year annual renewal and did for 3 years in a row. We chose to cancel our year-to-year deal this year and provided over 30 days notice of cancellation as per the terms of the original and annual agreement. GiveSmart asked us to renew 3 months early in 2021 and changed the annual agreement to a multi-year agreement without notification the terms had changed prior to renewal. They say we are locked in for two more years with this service. Our leadership is not happy with GiveSmart's business practices and the company should be ashamed for deceiving their clients into long-term agreements.

Pros

Importing items. Reporting is decent post-event.

Cons

Training could be a lot better. When asked if we could get help setting up an auction for the first time, the GiveSmart rep sent a video for us watch instead of personally helping us. The design templates are limited along with the graphics. It's not intuitive and their customer service is worthless.

The Best Choice

From beginning to end, my experience with GiveSmart was outstanding. I have recommended them to a number of other nonprofits. We will definitely continue to use them. They will do everything they can to make your event a success!

Pros

I was very nervous about setting this up for the first time. I'm a one-person development office, and I'm not extremely technology-savvy. But once I started, it was so intuitive that it practically told me what to do. And when I ran into something I needed help with, the tutorials were great, and if I still needed help, the customer support reps responded very quickly with exactly what I needed. There was no down time! It's also easy for our donors to use for bidding on our gala auction. We have received many compliments about that, so much so that we're using the software again on another fundraising program. The reports available to me during and after the event have been unbelievably helpful. There was no time lag waiting for results. I could watch the action results real time on my computer and send out appropriate messages. The software works seamlessly with Excel. There are great resources on their website from other organizations about how they used GiveSmart for their events. These were extremely helpful when we had to pivot from a live event to an online event. They took me from fear to excitement!

Cons

I wish I had set up our site earlier. I would have been able to use it for ticket purchases, sponsors and auction donations. I will next time!

Great resource and awesome personnel

The personnel and platform are excellent and make my job so much easier!

Pros

Givesmart is so easy to use and allows us to run different types of fundraising events. The more I use it, the easier it becomes, and I find myself thinking about new ways to use this platform.

Cons

The financial reporting can be a bit confusing but as I use it more, and with the assistance of Givesmart, I am able to navigate much better.

Virtual Auction Support & Success

Pros

GiveSmart allows you to retain auction item and participant information from year to year, saving significant time on data entry.

Cons

The label printing functionality needs to be expanded/further developed.

Best Investment Ever

I have nothing negative to say about this company, the platform or their employees, everyone I have had contact with has been more than helpful. The software is easy to use, but if you do have questions, the chat, email or phone availability of someone who can help you is amazing. They are prompt and efficient, which helps you to complete the task at hand and move on the next thing on your lsit!

Pros

What I like MOST about this software is the fact that people can participate in our auction from anywhere!!

Cons

HHHmmmm......the first year, the uploading process of the auction items was a bear, but they upgraded the software and since then it is SUPER user friendly!!!

The best campaign based fundraising tool on the market!

Overall, we were very happy with our decision to move forward with GiveSmart. We recently renewed and extended our initial agreement for an extra two years.

Pros

The flexibility and detail that is offered with in the GiveSmart interface to admins is truly custom. We were able to set up our auction event and run multiple raffles, instant buys, and silent auctions along with our oral auction. The seating/reservations module was an amazing addition to the transparency and planning of our event. In the end, the team support from Givesmart made this transition and the overall event set up so easy.

Cons

The donor receipts are one per item and are not very custom or adaptive. This created additional work that should be captured in the software package.

Creat Experience

It was a much better program than our previous auction software. And the customer service is top notch! They even went above and beyond this summer with a webinar series that helped us share best practices across the country.

Pros

It is very easy to use, both on the admin side and for the users. It was very easy to customize on the back-end.

Cons

There are some glitches in entering donation items and I had some photos disappear after loading them, but they were minimal.

GiveSmart Review

Boys & Girls Clubs of Larimer County uses GiveSmart frequently for events and other giving campaigns. It is super easy to set up campaigns and run them yourself. The GiveSmart staff is incredibly helpful on event days.

Pros

User friendly Clean, presentable look Unlimited events

Cons

Setting up new users with passwords tends to be difficult for us

Make your auction run seamlessly!

Excellent! No complaints. We highly recommend this over similar products.

Pros

We have used GiveSmart for several years for our Gala auctions and we have had wonderful experiences with the software. This has made our auction seamless to run, and the checkout is simple to use. All of the reporting is very intuitive and the support staff is helpful is you have questions.

Cons

GiveSmart used to send staff to help run your events and we are told this is no longer the case. We liked having their team available to help at the in person events.

Great software for Online Benefit Auctions

They have a great costumer support team as well as on site team. Have had nothing but good experiences with their software and team.

Pros

I like that you can have multiple photos per auction item as well as items can be in more than one Category! These are GREAT features that separate their product from others.

Cons

The price is a bit too high for a lot of my clients, especially if its for a one off event.

JBWS GiveSmart Review

Our experience with GiveSmart has been extremely positive and I would (and do) recommend them to others. I would like to see more proactive information from GiveSmart for event planning in our new virtual world - the competition is in my email daily with free webinars and informative tips.

Pros

Indefinite access to past campaigns Reports and analysis Attractive event website Ease of use by participants (in most cases) Ease of uploading items (in most cases except for raffle items) Excellent support

Cons

- Inability to stratify sponsors - We have 5 tiers of sponsors but are limited to only standard & premium categories. Would be optimal to highlight them at their exact levels, especially title and top tier sponsors. - Inability to bulk upload raffle items. - Inability to bulk upload images. - Inability to reorder campaigns on the Campaign page. All our 2021 events appear first - I'd like to view active/current campaigns first. - Inability to copy an individual item from one campaign to another. - No log of sent text/e-mail blast messages. - Item title character limit is too short. - The term "User" for event participants/donors is confusing - they should be titled as participants/donors in their own category. It's confusing when every GiveSmart staffer who provided help is included in the list of event participants and donors. - If you are on the dashboard page of a specific campaign and want to get back to the main Campaign page, you have to click on your name in the top right corner. When you click on this, it gives you the options of Profile, GiveSmart Events, JBWS, Logout. "GiveSmart Events" is the intuitive choice but you have to click on the name of your organization (which for us is JBWS) to get back to the Campaign page. - Please add an option for guests to choose to be invoiced for donations. We have many donors give through foundations that need an invoice for the donation to be processed. We need to let them give through GS without our manual intervention.

Amazing Product

Most of our donors and guests loved the new aspect of our Auction, including switching to mobile bidding/checking in and out. Instead of the previous years of pen and paper bidding. There were only a few people that preferred the old method and just couldn't seem to get on bored. People were concerned that guests would be on their phones all night and no one would be interacting but it was quite the opposite. People had more time to mingle not having to go back and check the paper bid sheets since there were none.

Pros

We were looking for an affordable and easy to use mobile bidding auction program and this one did not disappoint. The company sends a representative to the auction to basically be the point person and fix anything that might come up and help with check in, entering data, etc. They show up early and stay through the event. They bring tablets that are easy to use for our volunteers and staff. Entering items and bidders is easy and functional. Your event can go live as soon as you'd like it to so that even donors that can't attend the night of, can bid on items. This increases revenue tremendously. They also helped us with not having small items but focusing on larger items of value and only having around 100-150 silent items. The colorful pictures and descriptions are easy to view on mobile devices. And if guests don't have a smart phone, we can help them bid on our tablets. Guests receive notification of being outbid, but you can add am amount you are willing to pay and Gesture will continue bidding on your behalf until the amount is reached. Guests are also able to check out from their device, so it makes check out a lot faster and smoother. It is a lot easier to collect on balances as well because we collect credit card information before the event. Guests received notification of being outbid, but you can add am amount you are willing to pay and Gesture will continue bidding on your behalf until the amount is reached.

Cons

If the tablets go down at check in, it pretty much puts everything at a stand still. Even though the tablets run without wi-fi. There are certain aspects that have to be changed or updated only by Gesture, we can't do it ourselves. Such as adding the individuals who receive notification of a payment or donation from the event. But they are usually quick about their customer service.

Great for in-person events, still working out the virtual event kinks

Overall, I would recommend GiveSmart, especially as I know they will continue developing their software to provide better solutions for virtual events. It is really easy to set up your site and auction, and once users are in it is easy for them to use as well. The account managers are really fantastic and willing to help you through any questions or customizations you want to try. Unfortunately, in a virtual setting, it seems less risky to run the site and auction yourself on the day of the event. I appreciate their display, reporting and communication options.

Pros

This software is extremely easy to use from the administrative side. I like how easy it is to upload and edit auction items and do small customizations to the page to display information and even things like sponsor logos. The display for a live fundraising appeal with all the names and real-time amounts is great. I like being able to send texts very quickly. The reporting function is amazing. There are so many different types of reports to really be able to analyze the data. I like being able to livestream a youtube video with the presentation view. The customer support team is fantastic. I am excited to use the new Champions feature for peer-to-peer fundraising.

Cons

The switch to virtual events has created some kinks that need to be worked out. Whereas they typically were registered ahead of time by us as being on the guest list, or could register at the door, in a virtual setting they had issues registering themselves, especially if they were trying to register for a second event. It is not very intuitive to sign in if you forgot your password. I wish that you could customize the fonts and the order in which ads are displayed. I also would like to be able to send an email through Givesmart that would show up as coming from me so it would be less likely to be missed by event attendees. While the support team is fantastic, the on-site/day-of specialists can be hit or miss in their effectiveness.

501 Auction to GiveSmart

I have used 501 auctions for a few years until GiveSmart took over. This is our first year working with the new company since the change and so far we have had a good experience. We assigned one staff member for all of our events, so it is great to have the same person so they are able to get the feel of the organization and the population we work with. Rather than having a new GiveSmart team member every time.

Pros

A pro of GiveSmart is the flexibility of being able to have several different campaigns for all the different events you are hosting. We have 4-5 events a year with silent/live auctions for each so this is a great way to use online bidding for each event. With the online bidding we are able to widen our reach to individuals who do not attend the event . We have seen an increase in money raised from silent and live auction with this feature. This also takes away the annoying bidder sheets and having to text/email winning bidders. The system will automatically send them a text that they have won an item and provide the item number. Another great feature is you can customized tests that goes out to bidders and attendees. This is a great way to keep your guest up to date with auction information and send text to encourage them to donate.

Cons

One con is you can not batch checkout any accounts that are 1,000 or more. A good portion of our guests usually donate/bid over 1,000 at our bigger events of 300+. This is going to be time consuming to checkout all of these individuals. It would be helpful to select the amount for each event since the giving culture at each event varies.

Gesture is the real deal for mobile fundraising; intuitive to use, with great customer support.

Pros

The software is intuitive to use and streamlines so many of the processes that eat up your time when you have to do them manually; we eliminated so many Excel spreadsheets, thanks to everything being easily captured, managed, and tracked right within the software - from auction packages to ticket sales to even the seating and meal requests. Beyond the software, Gesture's customer service was incredible; from the initial sales call all the way through to the event itself, every single Gesture representative we worked with was attentive, helpful, and genuinely interested in helping us have a successful event - which we did. In just the 48 hours since the event concluded, I've received multiple compliments from guests who expressed how "smooth" the night ran and how "seamless" their experience was, from check-in to bidding on auction packages to purchasing raffle tickets to checking out when they won auction packages. We will definitely be using Gesture again, for next year's event!

Cons

Since our event is coordinated by a mix of paid staff and volunteers, it would be helpful to have an administrative access level in Gesture that is "view only" - currently, it's all (full admin rights) or nothing. It would also be helpful if raffle winners could be "drawn" right in the software, rather than needing to use a random number generator on a third party site.

The software is easy to use and provides a seamless experience for our staff and event guests.

Pros

The software is easy to use. It's intuitive and easy to navigate. It makes my job as an event manager much easier. Adding auction items, auction close out, and financial reporting are a breeze. It is also a smooth process for our guests. Bidding on auction items or making a donation is very easy for them, which means more donations for our cause. We set up our auction online in advance of the event. This gives guests an opportunity to start bidding on silent items, and become familiar with live auction items. All of this leads to more revenue to support our mission. I also appreciate the ability to customize our site so it looks like us. This creates a cohesive experience for our guests and helps us put our brand front and center. As a site administrator, I love the ability to download the generated auction sheets. This is a huge time saver. We also download the receipts and send to guests with a thank you letter after the event. It calculates the tax deductibility automatically on the receipt which is an essential feature.

Cons

There are a few custom queries/reports I would like which are not currently offered. It can be confusing as an admin to see clearly what funds have been paid and not paid. However, the staff are great and have helped me figure things out. They even created a custom report for me.

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!

Amazing event support

GiveSmart provides much needed day of event support as well as an easy to use interface for auction bidding. Reporting has helped ease the closeout process and assure everyone receives their items and we receive payment. They send continuous follow-up to donors for payment post event. You also have access to crowdfunding for 6 months after your event has ended.

Pros

Easily create auction website to link to your website. Bidders receive texts when they have been outbidded. You are able to create endless silent and live auction items for your page. Event support is so responsive and you are able to customize your support needs for in state and out of state events. Their team arrive to your event with ipads to complete donor bidder profiles on site. They will come to your booth in exhibit hall and encourage people to register for bidding. They are super friendly and outgoing and are great as live auction spotters. They raise far more than their cost and double our giving. You are able to even enter in different pledge amounts as donation items on the auction site.

Cons

They are a little costly however it's worth it for a smooth, successful event. I do wish the website was a little more attractive and grouped the silent and live items together. The items appear kind of small and cramped together.

The best product I have found in the online event fundraising market

I've worked with GiveSmart for many years -- from the time they were Auctions By Cellular, Gesture and now GiveSmart. I have also worked with competitors and GiveSmart is the best product on the market due to their easy-to-use platform, staff support throughout the event planning process, and their onsite staff teams.

Pros

GiveSmart has excellent staff support and they are always quick to respond to questions, timely with email responses, and most importantly their onsite staff is excellent.

Cons

Not a great platform for live auctions - still not good enough to substitute for an "old fashioned" paddle raise. Lack of customization (font size, spacing around images, content) opportunities for the auction displays.

VERY PLEASED AFTER 10 YEARS

I have used since the early days of the company (ABC) for several different nonprofits I ran. The ease of use and customer support has been terrific and is THE main reason I come back year after year.

Pros

Ease of use. Intuitive. GREAT support. Love the addition of the "Champion" fundraising option

Cons

It is a little costly but still in line with other "similar" software

Great resource for virtual fundraising

GiveSmart has been a great resource for our online fundraising. We used the platform prior to the pandemic, and have increased our usage since. With endless access to the platform during the subscription period, we are able to come up with unique ways to fundraise and know the platform will help make them happen.

Pros

GiveSmart is fairly intuitive and easy to use. There are a lot of guides that are easy to follow. The GiveSmart team has been very helpful in assisting our organization transition to virtual fundraising during the pandemic. GiveSmart has offered numerous webinars filled with tips regarding virtual fundraising. We love being able to customize many aspects of the platform to fit our fundraising needs and like that we have endless possibilities and uses for the platform. We are grateful for the ease of pulling comprehensive reports. This allows to easily and accurately move the data into our data collection system.

Cons

Be sure to read and understand each feature and ask questions if something is not clear. We had an issue thinking that a feature on the auction meant one thing, but in reality it meant something totally different. The GiveSmart team was able to help us easily remedy the problem the miscommunication created on our end.

Perfect Addition to Our Events

We looked around for awhile at a lot of different products before we settled on GiveSmart. Ultimately this one provided everything we needed with the perfect value for our money. So glad I found it!

Pros

Very user friendly, all of the features we were looking for in a software program.

Cons

There are certain things we cannot change/update ourselves. We have to contact support and have them do it.