Classy

Avantages

We love how easy it is to create a fundraising campaign. Our users find it easy to customize their personal fundraising pages and share with friends and family.

Inconvénients

Occasionally we find that it is not as feature rich as we would like, but Classy support is always there to suggest a work around and we prefer an easy to use platform to one with all the complexities that make it hard to use.

Avantages

Classy is very easy to use, from the moment it is set up. Implementation was relatively straightforward, and had a dedicated Classy representative to walk us through the process. Upon set up, we were able to immediately reap the benefits of the platform, and the Support - from documentation, to regular training webinars, to the assigned Client Success Manager has been very useful.

Inconvénients

There are certain design features/elements that I wish had more customization, especially within the crowdfunding and peer-to-peer campaigns and email acknowledgement templates.

Avantages

When we moved to Classy in 2018, we were so excited for a better donor user experience and better backend use. The ease of setting up recurring gifts and managing them was great. Crowdfunding and P2P Fundraising was also a big win for us. But overall, it was the fantastic frontend UI and a great relationship with our account rep.

Inconvénients

Ever since being merged into gofundme, the quality of the product and the promised innovation have slowed to a crawl. Things we have been asking about for years and have been promised for years have gone unfinished. There are constantly issues around events where we have to keep reaching out to support to fix, rather than being able to fix them ourselves.

The fact that the email receipt comes from Classy rather than being setup to come directly from our organizational email causes receipts to go to donor's junk email creating a terrible experience for them. We moved from Blackbaud and even though it was a terrible ui setup and terrible backend setup, we could at least sell swag at events and have it tracked directly in our CRM. We've been waiting on this feature from classy for a long time.

The Salesforce integration is incredibly wonky. Not using best practices there.

We have a good account rep again, but for a long stretch, we were just transferred from person, to person, to person who each time had done no research on us as a customer, we kept wasting our time to get them up to speed, only to be told over and over that the things we were hoping to see in platform had been delayed.

I thought this merger with gofundme would increase innovation, but it's slowed it to an absolute crawl.

Alternatives envisagées 

Pourquoi choisir Classy 

Pourquoi passer à Classy

Avantages

Having a Peer-to-peer and crowd funding options is a nice tool to have under our belt.

Inconvénients

The transaction fees are too high. We have several donors that call us and mail us checks because, when they cover the fees for their $1,000+ donations, takes away from the money they have set aside for our cause. We wish the fees were a little lower for small charities like ours. We are already paying to have the software (which is not cheap) and on top of that we need to give from the donations.

Avantages

It's very easy to use, implement, and train on. Donors are very happy with the ease of transactions

Inconvénients

I wish they had a more robust donor database so it could be an all in one solution for us.

Avantages

Classy is the easiest and by far most customizable CRM software that we have used. It is ready to go right away to start to build and create campaigns. The look is great and it is easy for the end-user to use as well. It is also very multi-functional in using the platform for donations, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer or ticketed events. All in one platform and delivers.

Inconvénients

The current split of Classy and Classy Live (live event/auction) side of things is the biggest downside and separate but not a deal-breaker. They work together well.

Alternatives envisagées 

Pourquoi choisir Classy 

Avantages

Ease of making a personalized website that matches our brand and has all the functionality that we need. Our participants find it easy to navigate and use which is so important when you are asking people to voluntarily fundraise for your cause.

Inconvénients

I wish there was a way to highlight our sponsor logos in an upfront way so that participants and website visitors see them without it impeding their ease and ability to find information relevant to them. A sidebar or something?

Avantages

the organization and cleanliness (if that makes sense) of the program. It was relatively easy to use and was a great way to organize a fundraiser from the back end.

Inconvénients

lack of fundraising and donor options compared to a few other newer programs.

Avantages

We love being able to customize Classy to meet our specific organizations needs. Our Classy Support Team makes it extremely easy to get the most out of Classy!

Inconvénients

There are a few tools that we wish Classy could do - but we are always able to find a workaround that works for us.

Avantages

Classy was SO easy to launch, customize and implement for both our donation page and our fundraising campaigns. Their interface is simple and intuitive, and they are constantly innovating new features and functions. It was also easy for our schools to set up their own campaigns. We have saved a ton of hours using Classy for our platform. We no longer have to manually do tasks that are done automatically like: send donor recognition emails, fraud management, import donor data to our email platform, offer employer matching gifts, in honor of donation gifts...

Inconvénients

The cost is a bit prohibitive, but we were able to budget it for it once we compared Classy to other platforms and calculated the time we would save on their platform. Two big issues I have is that I need to download two reports to get all the accounting data for campaigns, and donor-paid fees show up in the fundraising total, which is misleading and has long been a user complaint.

Avantages

We had been using Classy for a few years and then decided to switch to a different platform. That was a HUGE mistake. We ended up switching almost immediately (even paying for two platforms at once). We love Classy's modern design for it's fundraising and event pages. We love how simple it is to edit the design of these pages and doesn't require any knowledge of HTML or really graphic design experience.

The best part of Classy is how smooth the integration is with Salesforce. While we have had some issues with certain data not being pushed in, the team is always responsive in trying to correct the error. The chat function is especially useful when I have small questions to ask.

Additionally, I enjoy their blog posts and resource emails and can always count on their site to have resources to download for all our communication and fundraising needs. Overall we have had a great experience using Classy and will continue to use their platform to manage our online giving.

Inconvénients

We do wish there was a bit more flexibility in the kinds of things we can edit when designing campaigns but it gets the job done well as is. For example, we often wish to customize certain colors on one button vs. a theme but are unable to do so.

Another small con is that we have donors who sometimes mail in their credit card information to us but with no email address. This means we have to use an email associated with our organization, which sometimes causes classy to join or replace users who have had that email associated with their record as well. This is just the nature of basing users off email addresses as well as our fault for not indicating that we need a donors email to process online gifts. This is usually pretty simple to fix.

Avantages

While I can spend all day talking about how wonderful the software is in its ease of use, aesthetic, and features, the most amazing part of Classy is the customer support. Every time I have a question, I am able to get an answer from the chat in minutes, and the support specialist is able to get me an answer or solution almost immediately.

Inconvénients

I truly can't think of anything I dislike, but I will say that if there is ever something you can think of that will improve the platform, you can let a Classy representative know and they may be able to find a comparable solution for you.

Avantages

The ability to peer-to-peer fundraise, crowdfundraise, and create multiple branded beautiful campaigns are a huge selling point! Everything syncs to your CRM and we gained over 100 new donors in our first Classy campaign.

Inconvénients

Classy is fairly expensive, so make sure to do the math to see how many of your donors are giving online or who are ready to mobilize in digital giving before purchasing. Peer-to-peer has an incredible reach but requires a lot of advanced prep to really be effective.

Avantages

We made the switch to Classy from another fundraising platform in October 2018. The year prior, from October to December, we raised about $80,000. This year we raised more than double that, and I know that a big reason for that is because of Classy. The site is much easier to use for donors but it also is more aesthetically pleasing. It invites people in and engages them. Creating a page that transitions seamlessly from our own website was very easy to do with Classy. Page setup is user-friendly and I like that you can see the changes that you are making in real time, instead of having to make a change, save it, then go preview it, then go back and change it again (which is what we had to do on our old platform). Classy customer service has been very helpful as well. They are responsive and knowledgeable, and finding answers to my questions, or solutions to my problems, has been simple and pleasant. We have integrated Classy with our Salesforce database, which is a huge plus for us. There were some kinks but their support team was very helpful. Though more expensive that our former platform, I feel that the investment was definitely worth it.

Inconvénients

The price is significantly higher than the platform we used before, both in annual costs and in transaction fees. We also need volunteer registration functionality, which Classy doesn't provide, so we do still have to use our old platform for that piece.

Avantages

Easy to setup, simple to use, and a great user-experience for our supporters.

Inconvénients

Wish there were some hardware features (such as card readers) attached to the software.

Avantages

- allows several tiers of fundraising with no additional cost (campaign-->teams-->individual fundraisers)
- includes events, which is a simple platform (and it should be simple! just tickets!)
- upfront cost is more, but fee for % of donation is less than competitors
- customer service has been mostly polite and friendly; it's also nice to occasionally talk to the same person when a problem presents itself multiple times in a day, so I don't have to get someone new up to speed.
- chat for customer service is convenient, as I can keep working on other things as I wait for answers.

Inconvénients

- We constantly have fundraisers confused on how to set up their page. This has been a huge pain point.
- In fairness, this is true with any platform: the fee for % of donation on TOP of the Paypal fee is painful. This is something that didn't occur to us when we started. Plus a monthly fee from Paypal to take the Classy donations.
- Customer service hasn't been particularly quick to pick up on problems, and we haven't been completely satisfied with some answers. We've been told on two different occasions that there's a "glitch" and to ignore something, instead of presenting a solution, or tell us the only solution is to refund a donation and ask the donor to re-donate.

Avantages

Easy to use, setting up campaigns is a breeze, the user experience of donating/buying tickets is seamless. Integrated with our Salesforce instance fairly easily. Customer support is prompt and always helpful. Classy lets our organization be empowered to create the best fundraising campaigns to reach our constituents.

Inconvénients

Our organization hosts several events throughout the year and currently Classy does not have a native check-in function, which is a pain depending on the size of the event.

Avantages

Classy is a great platform for our Dance Marathon because we are able to have both individual fundraisers and teams, adding an extra element of camaraderie during our event! Additionally, the versatility of the different campaign types for our other initiatives is super helpful, too. Classy has also redone their reporting system, making it much more dynamic and user friendly. Classy support is generally helpful, too! Overall, my experience with Classy has been positive and would definitely recommend!

Inconvénients

There is definitely room for improvement in some of the functionality. We've had a few donor complaints and I would like the ability to customize a bit more.

Avantages

Classy is a GREAT tool for fundraisers who need customized donation pages. Working with Classy is SO easy and the templates that they have are wonderful. I absolutely love how you can further customize the templates to match your branding or even your donation form needs. Not every tool is as flexible or robust as Classy. Plus, their customer support is incredible.

Inconvénients

When you initially connect with someone from Classy, it's obvious that you're working with someone from their sales team. They do call and email often, so if you don't want to use their service I highly recommend being upfront and stating that. Other than that, I loved it!

Avantages

Overall we have really enjoyed using Classy at our organization and using it has become part of our daily routine.

Inconvénients

Overall, there is nothing that comes to mind in regards to what I like least about this software.

Avantages

The Delta Sigma Phi Foundation uses Classy for our Fraternity chapters to raise funds for their communities. Since each chapter is so different and they choose different organizations to raise money for, it is nice to have different types of campaigns to choose from.

Inconvénients

There are some features available on certain campaigns that are not available on others and I wish that all features would be available on all campaigns with the options to turn them off and on as needed.

Alternatives envisagées 

Avantages

Classy offers an easy-to-use (back-end and front-end) software for our small organization. We have tried 4-5 other event softwares and Classy is our favorite by far.
Price negotiations were fair and the Classy staff was fantastic during our onboarding experience. It truly felt like they were intending the best for us and that felt great.
The customer support team is phenomenal. Any time we have had questions we have had them resolved and more in 20 minutes or way less.

Inconvénients

Sometimes I run into features that I think are missing (it is important to realize that one software will not solve all of your problems). Classy has a great "suggestions" feature though that you can add tips for their developers.

Avantages

Classy allows us to create various campaigns for different events. These campaigns can range from our general foundation funds, specific events (virtual or in-person), or campaigns such as GivingTuesday. We are able to design each campaign with their provided tools and also send out confirmation emails and email reminders. The second biggest plus, to us, is their immediate access to their customer support team (chat). We are able to get questions resolved very quickly.

Inconvénients

Some of their column criteria cannot be found in certain reports resulting in manual entries or adding/removing columns.

Avantages

Classy covers most of the bases in donor engagement/ management platform. It is well known and integrates with most other platforms. Most donors are familiar and the customer interface is pretty simple!

Inconvénients

No app. This was a huge disappointment for our organization. Also, customer service is slow and not always helpful. Classy is an investment and for small nonprofits might be too much and for large scale organization might not offer enough.

Avantages

We liked the interface and being able to add our logo and design to the page with ease. The presentation of the event was great, as was signing people up with ease.

Inconvénients

We purchased this software to help us with an event and felt like the salespeople understood our goal, but then (after purchase) they weren't really able to deliver what they said. The software wasn't able to adequately track our buyers and we had to keep a separate spreadsheet to track it internally.