2 year user

We had several objectives in mind when we chose Swell: 1. Increase event fundraising dollars year over year by 50%. 2. Introduce peer to peer fundraising to our events. 3. Improve our overall all event management and guest experience. We have accomplished all three and then some. Very pleased with the entire experience!

Pros

Ease of use. All fundraising events have a slightly different twist, Swell is very adaptable. Whether Team-based competitive fundraising or the traditional seated host/guest dinner, it does it well. Data is easily accessible. With the strong social media component, reaching out to donors "outside" the room is awesome.

Cons

Ability to customize email and email templates. Currently, an event's email templates must be submitted to the help desk in advance. The developer is very open to new ideas and suggestions to incorporate them a future release, if it improves the product for all.

Amazing product!

My overall experience has been exceptional. I feel like the entire team at Swell is invested in the success of my fundraising effort. Through the development of the software, they have become experts in the intangible aspects of fundraising as well and have provided great ideas and advice further propelling our fundraising efforts. They are incredibly accommodating and available -- second to none!

Pros

There are a number of things I like about the software -- From a design perspective -- I have found it very easy to add content, change content, etc to make the look of the website look how I want it to look. I am not a computer person -- but the functionality is super easy! From a campaign perspective - the transparancy of the transactions makes it easy for me to manage the campaign. It is easy to see who gave/when, etc. The reporting functionality is second to none. From a user perspective - I love that the fundraisers don't have to do anything to create their own pages. They do not have a log in/account type set up -- merely a dashboard for metrics.

Cons

Nothing specific -- there are constraints with customization of software that is consistent across the board with software. Swell does what it can to help think through what you are trying to do and come up with a way the existing software can accommodate.

Swell review

It was important for us to find a platform that we can use as we promoted our events. There are many variables being collected and Swell provided an easy, well organized way for us to collect this information. We've had some customization available to us that it might not have been available in the past but Swell has been extremely open and made themselves available to hear our concerns.

Pros

One of the reasons we moved forward with using Swell was due to the fact that it didn't require passwords for individuals to start a team and have a team fundraising page. The information collected on the back end it's easy to manage. Both transactions received and t-shirt information is tracked separately so it's easy to manage. Having customer service available was extremely essential in case of any problems or last minute changes.

Cons

We wished the site allowed individuals to register and make a donation in one transaction vs having to do it in two separate transactions. Donors have expressed concern about this and we have shared our thoughts about this with Swell. Last I heard, Swell is working on making this change which is really exciting and it just shows how attentive they have been to our concerns. We would like more customization available to us like changing the colors of the tabs and even being able to update a t-shirt size once the original registration comes through.

Event Management

The SWELL team has been great about responding to my questions and being available. They have been extremely professional without being condescending which can happen with IT professionals.

Pros

The product is easy to use and does a great job in handling attendance and tables.

Cons

There are a couple of areas that were not intuitive for me but once I talked to the support team and gained some understanding it was smooth from that point forward.