All BoardEffect Reviews
1-25 of 57 Reviews
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Susan Fieldhouse
Verified reviewer
Non-Profit Organization Management, 11-50 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed September 2018
Such a great tool
A joy to use...wish I had been able to use this in my last few EA positions. I learned about it when I moved to my current association.
PROSSupper responsive support team at BoardEffect, fairly intuitive to use, makes the workflow for assembling Board materials so much easier and saves a lot of time. There are a steady stream of webinars to keep users up to date on the platform, and the BoardEffect team is always happy to get suggestions for improvements. For any company concerned with security of its Board materials, this is a must-have product.
CONSI would like to download the agenda pdf with no formatting, so that I can create an annotated agenda for the chair - have not found a way to do that but I am hoping BE will come up with a solution!
Vendor Response
Hi Susan, it's great to hear that BoardEffect has made workflow easier for you! Thank you for taking time to provide feedback -- please know that we are always looking to make improvements to our platform, and have taken your feedback into account.
Replied October 2018
Carey
Non-Profit Organization Management, 501-1,000 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed September 2022
Don't just think about what your board is doing now, think ahead to what the future may hold
Clear, consistent communications across all membership has been achieved as well as access to mission critical documents to help members support the organization.
PROSEase of set up, use, some flexibility to "customize" in the manner that you use it. Security, ease of building meeting books, events, and communicating to users through the portal. The reports feature is amazingly helpful.
CONSThird party integrations and the ability to use Microsoft products does not exist at this time. As a nonprofit, can't afford to move over the ever evolving Diligent parent platform. The knowledge base is not helpful as it leaves those seeking information with more questions.
Reason for choosing BoardEffect
Security, ease of set up, customer service, cost.
Reasons for switching to BoardEffect
BoardMax was acquired by Diligent
Anonymous
51-200 employees
Used weekly for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed September 2020
BoardEffect review
BoardEffect is great a a secure file sharing system, and offers good ways to cooperate, but our board has been very reluctant in adopting it and is not really happy. For them it is another system they need to learn in their busy lives. We try to steer most board interactions involving files into Board Effect but it is slow going. They do not use the discussion forum to interact amongst each other but stick to email. For admins I wish for greater ease in creating meeting books and editing them to make them look the way we want to.
PROS- I like having a secure file sharing system that offers safe communication and file archiving features. - I like having a dedicated system for board management - Amazing customer service! Fast and competent.
CONS- having to build a meeting book to get a preview - meeting book design is tedious and could be more flexible - agendas become giant as soon as documents are added and there is no way to change that - saving an existing meeting book as a template would be nice - the calendar subscription takes very long to push into personal calendars, sometimes re-subscribing is necessary - zoom add-on only possible with autogenerated links, we work with a dedicated zoom link for the board - I need an option to invite guest directors to join committee meetings, currently I need to create a separate calendar invite
Vendor Response
Hello! Thank you so much for your feedback. We would love to connect on the items you mentioned as there are solutions within the BoardEffect platform for these issues. Our training team is available to walk you through this functionality, please reach out to us at training@boardeffect.com. We hope to speak with you soon!
Replied October 2020
Kelly
Non-Profit Organization Management, 11-50 employees
Used monthly for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
3
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed September 2020
Saves Time and Eases Board Service
We have used BoardEffect for over a decade. Board Members love it. Support is excellent. There are numerous webinars which remain available to assist. Helpdesk is responsive. While there are many new options that were not available when we selected Board Effect, they require much more work from the administrative side and do not have all the built in features available in BoardEffect.
PROSBoardEffect was easy to set up and is intuitive to use. New Board Members are able to quickly orient themselves with minimal support. Handbook makes accessing essential documents easy and with administrator attention, the most current documents are at the fingertips of Board Members as needed. Meeting book is easy to organize and distribute.
CONSemails don't look great. Can't format font, etc.
Reason for choosing BoardEffect
Ease of set up and maintenance for administrator. Ongoing product support.
Mona
Hospital & Health Care, 10,000+ employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed August 2018
It's the Perfect Tool for our large, 7-Board Health System
Our individual health system began using BoardEffect in 2012. Then, last year, we became part of a large, 7-board private, non-profit health system. The decision was made to utilize one board portal across the System, which meant 5 boards had to migrate to BoardEffect. The transition has been amazingly smooth. Training of the new workrooms and top level administrators has been excellent; customer service has been very responsive. The new (and existing) users are pleased with the product! The organization of our boards is perfect and we are able to make sure only the "right" board members have access to the "right" board materials. I am not surprised by these results - the BoardEffect staff has been serving us and attentive to our needs for years!
PROSI love the user-friendly design and the appearance and ease of use for the end-user. Finding documents is easy; iPad app is great; building meeting books is easy; customer support is very good.
CONSThere's not a lot of flexibility in what the agenda looks like after being built (but there's not a lot with other board portals, either). I would like to be able to better tailor the appearance of my agenda to my Boards' liking.
Vendor Response
Thank you for your review, Mona! We're so happy to hear BoardEffect has been able to evolve with your organization as your needs have changed.
Replied November 2018
Tim
Verified reviewer
Higher Education
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed March 2018
In our third year, with over 30 Member Colleges using the platform and it has been just great.
Secure, online Board management and communication services designed for non-profits to be successful.
PROSIntuitive interface, very user-friendly, quick uptime for new users, a reasonable expense for a non-profit, ultra-secure data transmission and storage, and great people supporting the entire platform. Our non-profit member organization has endorsed this product (and this company) for over 3 years. We've grown from just 4 member customers of BoardEffect to well over 30 member customers - n just 3 years. I serve as a top-level administrator for a shared platform version pf BoardEffect and I find that this platform is so user-friendly to non-techies.
CONSEvery so often I would love to copy/print text from the screen but it is not always accessible as in the old days. This is probably the price for having a highly secure and intuitive interface.
Vendor Response
Tim, it's wonderful to hear that BoardEffect has been able to meet your needs! We so appreciate your endorsement, and love that we can provide support to everyone involved in your organization.
Replied October 2018
Gwen
Mental Health Care, 5,001-10,000 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed September 2018
Build a tool to make your board member successful
I love BoardEffect. It is the one place we can all trust to have the latest documents and tools to help guide our board governance. It has made our board feel successful individually and successful as a whole.
PROSThis software is our central point for documents for all 9 of our boards. This is easy to use and is very intuitive on where to find documents and items for upcoming board meetings along with surveys, and required annual documents like Conflict of Interest forms. We have a wide age range of board members - from the young to the very old that are not tech savvy, but this seems to be overwhelming a tool that all of them.
CONSThere are always new products/pieces/upgrades coming out. Knowing how to incorporate those takes me a bit of time.
Vendor Response
Hi Gwen, it's great to hear that you're enjoying BoardEffect! Thank you for taking time to share your review. Please let our team know if you ever have any questions about new products and features, and be sure to subscribe to our email newsletter so you can stay informed about upcoming webinars and training sessions.
Replied October 2018
Cassandra
Verified reviewer
Hospital & Health Care, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed September 2018
You need BoardEffect's Platform!
It's a brilliant platform! And the support team is absolutely incredible! I've never experienced such wonderful people, who are patient, informative and friendly.
PROSIt's EXTREMELY user-friendly, offers a VAST number of functionalities, app now mimics browser including offline use. It's customizable depending on the org's needs. It's secure. It flows. The platform is what one makes of it.
CONSI can't say I dislike anything about this platform. It's designed based on clients' needs. Everything works the way it should and in the 2 years I've used it, I haven't had one bad thing to say.
Vendor Response
Thank you for sharing this rave review, Cassandra! We're so happy to hear you've had such a positive experience working with us. It's wonderful to hear that we've created a product that makes your life easier as a board administrator.
Replied October 2018
Jennifer
Non-Profit Organization Management, 11-50 employees
Used weekly for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed September 2023
1 year post use
All of the features are great. Going from creating 30 binders with 50-100+ pages with last minute changes has been a wonderful time saver. Need to make an edit on the agenda super easy as well. Not to mention all of the templates. Make one agenda from each work room and you can reuse it for the rest of the meetings. Plus, all of the information is in one place. You don't have to keep separate records for historical or retainment. Support is always helpful.
CONSI have not used all the features that are available. At this time I don't have any thing that i feel s needs to improve.
Anonymous
11-50 employees
Used weekly for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed March 2018
We've been a very happy BoardEffect client for five+ years. A great tool for our board.
Some of our favorite things about BoardEffect include: it is available on a variety of platforms; easy to set up and use; provides an archive for historical information; everything our board needs can be found in one simple and safe location.
CONSThere is not much that we don't like about BoardEffect. One thing I'd like to have is unlimited groups without having to pay more.
Vendor Response
Hi there -- we're so happy to hear you have been a happy customer for more than five years! Thank you for taking time to write your review -- we really value your opinion.
Replied October 2018
Mark
Used monthly for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed March 2018
Solid software for boards with room for improvement
It does what it does very well. It is easy to get board materials loaded, the user experience for trustees is excellent, it is easy to use and the customer support is outstanding. There is every feature you really need to manage a board, but there are improvements that could be made to make it even easier, but it would require partnership with other software companies and a robust API. See below for more.
CONSThe one thing that nags me about this software is entirely not the fault of BoardEffect, but the lack of vision between this software and complimentary software platforms. Take us for example, we are a national private foundation. Our main business software is a grants management platform called Fluxx. All of the proposal for trustee review happen within this portal and it takes a lot of work to get these ,materials exported and prepared for upload into BoardEffect. Having a robust API and partnerships with software companies like Fluxx could allow a seamless flow of information between systems, which would negate the need for wasting time on export and preparation of documentation for BoardEffect.
Vendor Response
Hi Mark, thank you for taking time to leave us a review! We're happy to hear you've had a positive experience with our product and customer support team. BoardEffect currently supports external integration options with a range of services and technologies, but we are always looking to expand our integration offerings to support our customers. Thank you for telling us about your experience working with Fluxx -- it's invaluable for us to know about the tools and programs that are integral to the success of your organization, as we build out our product roadmap to create the best possible governance tool. If you are able, we invite you to share further feedback so we can better understand your needs.
Replied October 2018
Josephine
Non-Profit Organization Management, 201-500 employees
Used weekly for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed August 2020
Board Effect review Aug 2020
Using the Board Effect platform to house our corporation's governance and meeting documents created one location for all our users (in the US and worldwide). All our users are prepared for upcoming meetings and all users follow along together on the site when in meetings (whether in-person or virtual) - all of this is a positive.
PROSThe Board Effect product is easy to use; intuitive for all of our 30+ users. Really like the 'build an agenda' feature as it creates a clean, professional agenda each time.
CONSIf there was a way to offer "Minute Taking" feature as part of the annual cost versus an additional cost, that would be a plus! Nothing else comes to mind at this time.
Reason for choosing BoardEffect
User-friendly platform which provided ease of use to all on our staff and our Board and Board Committee volunteers worldwide. Also, the annual cost of BoardEffect is reasonable.
Reasons for switching to BoardEffect
Boardvantage was a klunky platform that our users felt was missing the professional look for Board and Board Committee meetings. The uploading of documents to meeting books along with removing/replacing documents to meeting books was just not an easy task to complete.
Jamie
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed July 2017
I am our organization's site administrator.
That the site provides one place for staff to post documents and information for our users to access.
CONSThat it takes a lot of clicks to access parts of the website. It would nice if that could be eliminated. Many of our users have a hard time finding things and it is mainly because they have to click quite a few links to find something and they get lost.
Vendor Response
We appreciate your feedback, Jamie! Thanks for leaving us a thoughtful review. We're happy to hear that BoardEffect has been well received at your organization, and we value your constructive feedback about the user experience. Our team is always working to improve the user interface to deliver the best possible experience for board members and board administrators. We will certainly take your feedback into account as we continue to develop our solution to support the work of boards. Feel free to contact our team with further suggestions at any time!
Replied October 2018
Allison
Hospital & Health Care, 5,001-10,000 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed September 2018
BoardEffect is awesome!
Very positive and all issues are resolved very quickly with a phone call.
PROSVery easy to use, I'm learning alot of new information at this conference.
CONSOnly issue board members have pains about is the app on an iPad, there is no log out option.
Vendor Response
Allison, thank you so much for being a customer and for attending our BE Savvy user conference! It's great to hear that you've had such a positive customer experience! As for the iPad app, we intentionally designed the app without a login/logout option for ease-of-use, and instead ask that users authorize their accounts each time they would like to use the BoardEffect app on a tablet or mobile device. This authorization creates a connection between the app, your device and your account, and helps keep board materials secure. Please note that all users are timed out when they are no longer using the app. Please let our team know if you have any questions. Thank you for sharing this feedback!
Replied October 2018
April
Mental Health Care, 1,001-5,000 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed September 2018
BoardEffect is a great board tool!
BoardEffect staff have been wonderful to work with from initial contract, to system set-up and to ongoing support. When I have questions, BoardEffect staff start with a yes in mind.
PROSBoardEffect does two things very well. First, it is easy for our board members to use and super easy for admins to administer. Second, BoardEffect continues to push the envelope in a great way to move board governance forward.
CONSI struggle to come up with this, but at the moment it is still difficult for some of my board members to log on, but enhancements are coming this year to allow for touch id log on. Can't wait!
Vendor Response
Thank you, April! It's great to hear that BoardEffect has been easy for your board members to use, and helpful for you as a Board Administrator. Thank you for being a customer!
Replied October 2018
Sarah
Philanthropy, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
3
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed February 2022
Not Bad, Just Not For Us
they had always had decent support. Once I let them know we were transitioning us over to a different product, they were still very supportive, worked out the contract end and showed me how to extract all of our data
PROSa range of features that came standard instead of having to be purchased separately
CONSthe whole thing just felt clunky. board members felt it wasn't intuitive to navigate. some management of features was hard, such as the meeting scheduler
Scott
Non-Profit Organization Management, 51-200 employees
Used weekly for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed September 2018
BoardEffect makes you and your team shine!
BoardEffect saves time! I've regained free time (after work hours) during "board prep" times. My organization(s), both The San Francisco Foundation and the California Health Care Foundation save resources, such as copy paper and three-ring binders - now that we've gone paperless.
PROSease of use. from day one (back in 2011), "out of the box," I understood BoardEffects features, and after review of BE's knowledge base, I was soon able to train other users - and even train the trainers. the features are evaluated and enhanced regularly, and BE listens to its customer base to make the product even better.
CONSI have no strong negative impressions to report.
Vendor Response
Thank you for the 5-star review, Scott! We love to hear that BoardEffect is helping make you and your team shine! And it's wonderful to know that we've helped you save time and paper at both of your organizations.
Replied October 2018
Mike
Automotive, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed January 2020
Keeping Board Current
Our board of directors are able to see all pertinent documents prior to any meetings . They are easily able to pull up financials, minutes and any correspondence before or after they need it.
PROSEase of seeing data. The fact that information both current and archived is available in a user friendly format.
CONSNothing. The software makes it possible to due away with all paper documents and have current information at your fingertip.
Rebecca
Non-Profit Organization Management, 2-10 employees
Used weekly for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed September 2018
Great Return on Investment
I was reluctant to take the plunge due to cost, but this tool has saved our organization (me, in particular) an enormous amount of time and hassle. I'm grateful we went this direction.
PROSBoardEffect is a fantastic tool for Board member engagement and an incredible time-saver when it comes to filing and pulling important information -- such as archived meeting minutes, financial reports, and the like.
CONSVarious technology upgrades/updates for all of the platforms being used.
Vendor Response
Thanks, Rebecca for taking the time to write this review. We're so happy to hear you¿ve found BoardEffect to be of value to you and your organization. In terms of upgrades and updates, we are always working to improve the BoardEffect platform, and try to keep our customers in the loop about any changes that might affect them. Please sign up for our email newsletter to stay in the loop!
Replied October 2018
Amy
Used more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed March 2018
Overall, it has been a good experience.
BoardEffect has greatly decreased the amount of time needed to put together materials for a board meeting.
CONSIt's difficult to get all of our Board on the same version. Not everyone updates as the versions come out and things move just enough that it's always a little bit of a struggle to help them. Since they want help right before the meeting starts, doing the updates at that time isn't really an option.
Vendor Response
Thanks for taking time to review us, Amy! It's great to hear that BoardEffect has overall been positively received across your organization. We're sorry to hear that board members aren't always updating the app before board meetings, and understand your frustration. Thanks for sharing this valuable feedback, we will certainly take it into account as we continue to make improvements to our customer experience.
Replied October 2018
Judi
Financial Services, 201-500 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed March 2018
Robust system with a secure platform that can be accessed through multiple devices.
An easier cleaner way to present Board packages to our Directors.
PROSThe platform is easy to use and Board Effect has many webinars to keep administrators up to date. Updates are made on a regular basis and communicated to the administrators.
Vendor Response
Hi Judi, thank you for the 5-star review! We're so glad you've had a positive experience using BoardEffect at your organization, and that you've been able to attend some of our webinars.
Replied October 2018
Heather
Non-Profit Organization Management, 1,001-5,000 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed September 2019
Great for Board Management
We have been using Board Effect since 2015 and managing board materials sn meetings continue to get easier and easier. The one stop shop for all board and committee meeting fmdates and materials has made my life so much easier.
PROSVery easy for Board Members to use One place for board materials Easy to find historical information
CONSAdministrator permissions- need more levels of permissions
Patti
Hospital & Health Care, 1,001-5,000 employees
Used weekly for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed June 2018
We have used BoardEffect since 2011 and are glad we chose them after looking at other options.
Ease of Board Book preparation; especially those last minute changes.
PROSWhen we do have a problem or a question, the customer support is very quick and always helpful. I have attended a few of the annual conferences and they are awesome. It is a great experience to network with other users of the platform. I highly recommend attendance if possible.
CONSThere is nothing that I don't like. When users have suggestions to make it better, the team always works hard to make it happen.
Vendor Response
Hi Patti -- thank you for the rave review! We love supporting our customers, so that you can continue to govern effectively and help those affected by your organization. Glad to hear you've enjoyed attending some of our user conferences, we hope to see you again next year!
Replied October 2018
Joy
Verified reviewer
Religious Institutions, 201-500 employees
Used daily for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed September 2018
Private Non-Profit’s 1st Year
As a new user I’ve had an excellent experience. Tech support is very helpful, and the resources available under the Help tab are very helpful.
PROSIt is easy to navigate the platforms and build materials.
CONSSome of the functionality can be enhanced to mirror non-board specific resources. However, having everything in one place is very convenient.
Vendor Response
Hi Joy -- thank you for your review! We're happy to hear that you are finding BoardEffect to be a valuable platform for your non-profit. It's great feedback to hear that you would be interested in tweaking the user experience. If you are open to providing more detailed feedback, please contact our team so we can take your suggestions into account as we continue to develop the platform.
Replied October 2018
Peggy
Used more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed July 2018
BoardEffect is very easy to administer and is easy for our board to use.
I appreciate the ease of use both from an administrator standpoint and from the board members' use.
CONSThe hardest thing to determine is the portal setup (folders in library, meeting rooms, etc.). This is not really a software issue. It just takes time to use the product to determine how your board members will best find and utilize the information in it.
Vendor Response
Peggy -- we're thrilled to hear that BoardEffect has been effective for both administrators and board members at your organization. As an administrator, we value your opinion about board member adoption -- please know that our customer success team is always available if you ever have any questions about how best to structure the platform for board member ease of use.
Replied October 2018