What are ClearView CRM users saying about the software?

Comprehensive Donor Database. Very intuitive. Very User Friendly.

Pros

We like that we are able to store all of our necessary donor data in one system and that it is very intuitive and user friendly.

Cons

We are still waiting for all functionalities that were found in the old interface of the system to be built out and completed in the new interface of the system. I also am not a fan of the reporting tool that comes with this interface. The reporting tool is very limiting in comparison to the one that we had been using, and still primarily use for our reporting needs. Especially the Ad Hoc reporting.

If only ClearView could do.....

We have a unique situation in that our direct marketing vendor sourced ClearView for us originally and at that time they "Shutoff" much of the functionality that makes a CRM like Clearview most effective. As we turn back on those functions we appreciate the system more. However, there are always seems to be limits - for example there is no easy way to link a gift to solicitation or an action; Opportunities' reporting is limited; you can't edit a connection; aliases have to be exact which limits the capacity to use this function to eliminate creating duplicate records and more easily finding records. ClearView doesn't allow you to pull one mailing list with organization names in a separate column while the org contact lines up with the individual record names. When you export a report to excel, there doesn't appear to be away to remove the auto link to ClearView, which can be very frustrating when our working solely in the spreadsheet. Perhaps there is a way but I wish it was more obvious.

Pros

User friendly, mostly obvious what fields you need to view to find data, easy to make a donor profile report, relatively easy to run program summary reports. Varying levels of my staff have been able to figure it out...

Cons

The payments versus gifts tabs - there is no one place where it seems like you find out the balance of a pledge or total pledge amounts while also seeing all the gift information in one place; organizations typically have more than one contact person and there is no place for this information. Searching for records is challenging because Aliases have to be created exactly the way someone might search instead of just looking for records that may contain the information.

I have been using this software since the transition from PMOL.

Pros

Many updates have been made to accommodate our particular ministry making retrieving and updating donor information easier and quicker. Jill Lemme is an excellent trainer. I've attended many of her webinars.

Cons

We've had lots of trouble with reports: running slowly or not running at all (particularly on dashboards). Getting problems resolved quickly has also been a problem.

Has lots of potential but current version needs someone with high level of SQL knowledge.

It stores tons of donor information and is very customizable. Valuable reporting features. Great dashboards.

Pros

Almost every screen is customizable. Dashboard doesn't fit your needs? Create a new one. Need to track different KPI's? Make a report and import it in your Dashboard. View only the most relevant gift info. Create tabs for donors that display only the info (and calculations) you want. Great stuff.

Cons

The software is currently in a great state if you have someone who's a high-level SQL programmer. It's in a decent state if you don't. This is especially true with regard to reporting, and it is not wholly user-friendly to those without software/database experience. To counter this, the ClearView staff have provided several "safe" domains wherein any user can create an accurate report, however they are very simple. All that said, the basic reporting module is limited. I don't know SQL and I've run up against limitations in this module. (An advanced version of the reporting module exists, however it is for those fluent in SQL. )

Great product - Fresh and easy to use

Pros

Love the look and feel and how easy it is to navigate and hop around without having to drill all the way back out. CV is an excellent product. The ability to label fields, hide fields, sort fields, etc.. as well as the screen configuration features is such a great selling point.

Cons

Software shouldn't hold you hostage. Allowing more flexibility in updating, inserting and deleting data (especially in bulk) should be easier. I am happy to hear lockbox and auto update improvements are on the horizon (already signed up to beta test). Would also like to see some new aggregates offered as standard features (on the screen) like: How much an event raised, how much a team raised, raised vs goal, event raised by year (same event held over multiple years) would be fantastic as would some list manager enhancements to really allow users to rely on it.

It has potential. Self-hosted product was better than PMOL.

Overall, I have been a pleased customer for 23 years. I feel like the company worked better when Dave Spacone was running it day-to-day. Things seem to have changed since then.

Pros

Overall quality is good and so it's ease of use and functionality. We were always very happy with Pledgemaker and PMOL retains many of the self-hosted features we were accustomed too. If anything, there are too many features, but since everyone is free to pick and choose, you can keep it simple or pile on the features!

Cons

I'm disappointed, of course with the cost since our annual bill for moving from self-hosted to PMOL will eventually jump by ten times! The report function is pitiful. It's hard to run a lot of SQL reports in a timely manner. I don't know what the problem is here. I'm glad I have Business Objects and can run that. Customer support is okay. This department could certainly be beefed up.

Easy to learn and use. Have had a great experience with Clearview.

Pros

I find Clearview to be extremely easy to use. It does not have a big learning curve. Great product!!

Cons

System can sometimes be slow but that may be because of the amount of data we have to parse. That's all.

ClearView covers most of our needs as an organization.

Concise reporting, an expansive database that makes it easy to log most of your donor information.

Pros

There are a lot of layers to the data that you see, and the reporting feature on the dashboard easily keeps track of YTD, MTD, and recent donations in a concise manner that makes reporting easy.

Cons

This program has most of what we need, but finding exactly where the information is or how best to utilize it can be difficult.

I use Clearview on a daily basis for tracking relationships for fundraisers.

Pros

The system is fairly intuitive and easy to use. SofTrek works closely with our database team to offer customization and is always looking for ways to improve.

Cons

Sometimes the language is not consistent - you may see something called one in a section, but called something different in another area.

I don't find it user friendly

It was an interim software we are using until we switch over to a New Database.

Pros

Writing List Queries. I find it easy to select the data that I want for the output. I also find it easy because the output comes in an excel spreadsheet.

Cons

It's reporting functions. It doesn't seem to have good report features I want to be able to compile a report and have it come out in a more readable format that I can present to people other then in an excel spreadsheet.

Clearview: The easiest to use donor relationship software I've used in my 25 years of development!

The GUI is so well done and intuitive making daily use of the program a pleasure to use. Unlike other systems I've used over the years, both server and cloud-based presented so many challenges that using them was anywhere from uncomfortable to dreadful. Clearview makes it easy to navigate to find the information we need to do our job easy and fast. I would recommend Clearview to anyone who asks my opinion about donor management programs.

Pros

Easy to use which increases the likelihood that I will. Use it that is.

Cons

Not enough training both live and archived (at least I haven't been able to find any). It would be helpful to have a series of videos online in 30 minutes time frames taking the new user through the features of the program. Live webinars would also help. The monthly webinars currently offered do not always match what I need to know.

It is what I know for CRM for non profits

I like Clearview as it is the only CRM tool for non-profits I have worked with. I can do my job and it is very intuitive once you get to start using it. Great for basic needs of a nonprofit organization, great customer support

Pros

it is good out of the box product, I like that the information is not clustered in one place. It is a good day by day tool. I like that in the case of my organization it is integrated with our finance and accounting system. I love the standardized address feature and you can save as much or as less data you have in hand. The customer Support from Clearview is really good, you are able to create rapport and share your needs

Cons

I still depend on Pledgemaker to do some of my work with it Reporting tools have a clunky user interface Hard to find merged records and search by similar sounding names or initials Needs better integration with Outlook Events Module needs improving

Very User Friendly

My overall experience with CV has been very positive. I am a customer service and admin person and use this program daily. It is user friendly and accessible.

Pros

What I love most about this program is the detailed information we are able to record electronically regarding our constituents. I love that you can set the privacy settings, as well record whether someone is under 18 or deceased, etc. I love that this system automatically assigns constituents to their local chapters. It's very user friendly and accessible to use.

Cons

We have some trouble with reports due to syncing issues from other databases to CV. Also, many of the reports have to be run by the national office, and are not run locally.

One of my most relied upon tools, used daily. I depend and can depend on ClearView!

daily reference

Pros

Very intuitive, easy to navigate, non-ambiguous descriptors and terms. Fast login and most excellent, responsive customer service/help desk system when necessary (and that's just when running reports). Also wish things were relative so we could use browser of choice, not just Explorer.

Cons

The only cons I have are related to the structure/access that must be in place for downstream users such as myself by our corporate headquarters. I cannot make simple address, spelling or phone number changes for my donors, but that is not ClearViews issue. I also only wish I had more time to dig in, play around and let the system flex its muscles for our Corps!

ClearView CRM

Action items were very easy to enter and retrieve and I used it as a true CRM, religiously. Continuing training would have been helpful; sharing best practices, etc.

Pros

Easy to use, easy to learn. Readability was good.

Cons

Never did figure out how or if I could set followups to a donor action that would pop up on my calendar. Google functionality from donor record could have been more user friendly. Why not populate donor's address in addition to their name - there are alot of donors with common names and would make look up of the donor from Google much faster.

Clearview is a nice tool for donor management

Pros

It seems to have a lot of functionality and makes donor management much easier to process. It's definitely a more streamlined version of its predecessor PledgeMaker. I like that every record is visible in certain views and pulling reports is also fairly easy.

Cons

As like much software, the updates are designed to make the software easier to use but I still find there's a lot of clicking from one page to the next to get to different elements within the same records. You need to leave one page to access something else entirely and I feel like it would be much simpler if everything were accessed on one page without all the extra clicks.

New ClearView User

Our organization started using ClearView in the last year. The system has been great for tracking interactions with participants. Being able to see who and when each person was last contacted has been valuable in streamlining interactions. Being able to create and assign tasks/action items is also great because you can see when they have been completed or if more follow-up is needed. There are much more great functions that I am still learning to use. The training and support provided have been in-depth and easy to understand. As with anything, there is a learning curve, but overall a great program!

Pros

Ability to track, assign and schedule tasks.

Cons

Continually created duplicates while interacting with DonorDrive. Lack of ease to input mass completed actions.

Clearview CRM Review

ArtsWave has used Pledgemaker since the early 90's. During this time we primarily used the accounting side of the software to track pledges, pledge payments, and donations. We also used the database to drive acknowledgement mailings. During this time the database has proven to be rock solid. Over the last five years or so we have continued to expand the use of the database to drive targeted emails and appeals as well as analyze trends. With the implementation of Clearview CRM we have again been able to expand our use of the data into the area of donor relationship management. The software now allows us to track every meeting or correspondence with our donors. This is very convenient and has allowed us to share this information easily with others in our company, much easier than sharing spreadsheets or personal notes. We have also been able to for the first time in recent years manage our entire campaign with one product. By integrating our employee pledging tool with Clearview CRM and making full use of both opportunity management and JasperSoft reporting, we have been able to produce meaningful real time reports detailing how the campaign is progressing on multiple levels against projections and goals. The JasperSoft reporting package is very nice. We have one developer license, and with that are able to develop complex reports that are driven by user input parameters. This is a vast improvement over the previous reporting package associated with Pledgemaker. The reports can be exported in excel, word, or PDF format, and can be simple lists or complex pixel perfect reports. The reports can be scheduled and emailed automatically as .PDF files also which can widen the audience without the need for additional licenses. Clearvew CRM is a big improvement over the previous generation Pledgemaker product. If it's been a while since you've considered Softrek for your fundraising and CRM software, you might want to give it a look.

CV Handles many functions in tracking information on a donor.

Pros

We use quite a few features in the system including recording gifts, tracking grants, recording event attendees and who they sat with. We are working to build our relationships between different organizations on companies. The software allows us to handle these and the soft credits when gifts from in from employees of companies.

Cons

Some of the set up of a report is difficult. You have to have a domain set up in order to select the correct fields. Some of the domains are preset. It would be nice of there were more preset so you didn't have a build a complex domain in order to do a full report on a donor.

Nice overlay of data with user-friendly reports and customizable views

Pros

Still figuring out all the pros and cons, but I appreciate the extend of reporting and ways to customize dashboard. Still have to get this set up.

Cons

I wish there was a way to catch duplicate records or at least make suggestions on what to merge based on multiple matching fields like address, phone, email, last name, etc.

An Opinion on ClearView

Overall experience with ClearView CRM is positive. We are a national organization, that has six regional centers. I don't think our staff has fully utilized the software to our full advantage. The customer service provided has been excellent, and we've been able to shape the software to fit our organization's need. There is more give and take with this company and software than some of the larger companies that provide development software to non-profits.

Pros

It's pretty user friendly, clear dashboards, connection with WealthEngine, number of canned reports.

Cons

Doesn't integrate with our online product as much as we would like. Also, the reports in CV not as easy to write as we had anticipated.

I've never had a bad experience, and when I get locked out, customer support is quick and helpful.

Pros

This software is very easy to use and has good features. I can usually find what I need and the reports are very helpful.

Cons

I used to use Pledgemaker and the transferring over of functionalities is taking a long time--lockbox specifically for what I need.

EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE

I recently phoned the representative at Softrek regarding a problem in entering a pledge payment which was rejected when I wen to post it. I received prompt and courteous service, and the issue was resolved by her within 12 minutes of my call. Thank you Clearview and Softrek!

Pros

It is simple to use while giving you a wide variety of reports and tracking of donations. The training sessions are extremely informative.

Cons

I can't think of a negative.

Great database that is always increasing in ease of use and functionality

Clearview is always being improved upon. User suggestions and requests are always considered during the upgrade process which makes for a product that is always meeting and exceeding user expectations. Support staff is always friendly and knowledgeable. Always a great experience!

Pros

the way the data is tied together across modules, ability to make changes and corrections, merging profiles

Cons

some of the reporting is a bit cumbersome. not always easy to go back and change an existing report

Overall I think that clearview is a good system. There are many features that make tracking easy.

Pros

The software is fairly easy to navigate and has the ability to add much detail to the prospect file.

Cons

Running reports can be challenging. I find that sometimes data is pulled that was flagged to omit. The prospect search function is not broad enough. You pretty much have to use the exact way that the prospect is entered. It would be nice if it was a little smarter. I often search by name then by address or other information that I have just to ensure I am not creating a prospect for someone that is not a new donor. Often I will do this search with no results, create a new prospect and then only after I have gone through the process of entering all the information, the system will tell me it is a duplicate.