OneCause vs. GiveSmart – What You Need to Know
Whether your nonprofit is weighing alternatives for its current mobile bidding and/or online fundraising solution, or this is your first time working through the process, we know the stakes are high. Your fundraising efforts drive your mission – and being able to execute successful events and campaigns is the difference between meeting goals and falling flat.
This guide helps takes the guesswork out the fundraising software marketplace by comparing two leading solutions – OneCause and GiveSmart – head-to-head in key categories that are important to nonprofit organizations.
This way, nonprofit leaders can cut through the jargon and make the clear decisions to drive donations, host amazing charitable events, and raise more.
Let’s get started with these comparison essentials:
History and Stability
When selecting a mobile bidding and online fundraising software, it is important to consider company history. Entrusting your results and donor experience requires trust. Be sure to find a partner that aligns with your mission and values and can deliver beyond just their features.
GiveSmart is a product of a Community Brands 2019 merger of New York-based 501 Auctions, Chicago-based Gesture, and Atlanta-based GiveSmart. This fundraising conglomerate has experienced further change with their recent acquisition of California-based MobileCause in June 2021.
As a mobile fundraising aggregate, GiveSmart combines different fundraising platforms, customer bases, and processes into a software experience for its customers.
As for the overall success of this expansion and merger, you can check out customer opinions and reviews on both Capterra , G2 Crowd, and TrustRadius.
OneCause has been helping nonprofits raise over $3.5B since 2009 and since its founding, continues to be recognized as a top fundraising software provider and designated industry leader by G2 Crowd.
Over the last decade, OneCause has helped thousands of nonprofits realize greater fundraising success as a single company, owned and operated by the same consistent leadership.
OneCause owns and develops its proprietary award-winning Mobile Bidding, Online and Event Fundraising, Peer-to-Peer, Text2Give, and Payment software to offer nonprofits the latest in mobile fundraising technology with proven reliability.
TIP: Look for a company who has a consistent track record, deep event experience, and the proven ability to deliver results for nonprofits of all sizes and event types.
Easy to Use Software
If you’ve taken the time and money to invest in fundraising software, make sure the pre-event, onsite and guest experience meet your needs!
GiveSmart has Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Mobile Bidding solutions. However, GiveSmart offers limited knowledge base resources, or product trainings, to help customers understand their product. The lack of informational materials leaves customers to rely heavily on learning the software themselves. A lack of training leads to more time spent in the software and less on actively fundraising!
OneCause leverages easy-to-use and flexible software to make onsite execution seamless for your team and attendees. OneCause offers both Do-It-Yourself (DIY) and Full-Service (Staffed) Mobile Bidding packages, tailored to meet your nonprofit’s needs and budget. All customers have access to hub of product knowledge bases and an extensive library of training and product resources, to help with their event execution!
TIP: To maximize the success of your fundraiser, look for software that is simple and easy for your donors to use and provides access to onsite support if needed.
Onsite Staffing & Expertise
When looking to host an in-person event, having reliable and knowledgeable onsite support and expertise can dramatically improve your fundraising success.
GiveSmart recently outsourced their day of and onsite support help to third-party firms at an additional cost to their customers. Little is known about the certification or training levels of their third-party staffing. As a result, GiveSmart’s customers lack the opportunity to interact with them onsite the day of the event – potentially impacting their fundraising results.
OneCause, as the first to market more than a decade ago, has thousands of successful events under their belt, supported by hundreds of certified OneCause Consultants & Event Managers. With their DIY packages, customers receive live support, site reviews, and quality checks prior to your event. For Full Service Mobile Bidding customers, you have access to a Fundraising Consultant prior to your event, and onsite Event Managers to help you execute your fundraiser on your big day!
All OneCause customers have access to live OneCause support analysts, who have years of experience and are dedicated to improving fundraising outcomes of their customers.
TIP: Be sure to choose a partner whose event and support teams have a track record of success and require a high standard of event execution or fundraising certification.
Flexible Fundraising
Every nonprofit is unique – as are their fundraising events, auctions and campaigns. As you select your mobile bidding and online fundraising software, it is important to work with a partner who offers a robust solution – one that meets your needs but has the flexibility to grow with your fundraising over time.
GiveSmart specializes in events and mobile auctions, a point solution focused offering for nonprofits who are looking to tailor their fundraising efforts in the events and online fundraising arena. With a very basic and limited Peer-to-Peer fundraising optionality, called Champion Fundraising, GiveSmart continuously looks to acquire solutions to fill their limited fundraising capabilities.
However, it’s likely that your fundraising extends far beyond your signature auction or gala. Nonprofits need a solution that allows you to further your mission 365 days a year, and it’s critical that your mobile fundraising partner supports all your organization’s unique fundraising campaigns.
OneCause offers a best in class mobile bidding functionality pioneered over 13 years ago. It has also broadened its product suite “beyond the ballroom” solutions, to include other fundraising offerings, such as comprehensive Online Giving Solutions, robust Peer-to-Peer Social Fundraising, integrated Payment Processing, and Text2Give.
OneCause products support everything from auctions, galas, ticketing, donation appeals, online giving campaigns, charity runs, walks, and rides, to Ambassador Fundraising.
TIP:Having robust product options that are designed to grow with your organization allows your team the freedom and flexibility to engage your donors with innovative approaches year after year.
Customer Service & Support
How a technology partner supports your organization is critical to your overall fundraising experience. Be sure to evaluate the available customer support and service offerings and whether they are included in your package.
GiveSmart has recently introduced a greater push towards email and online chat for their customer support. With limited access to live support and minimal knowledge-based resources, GiveSmart leaves nonprofits challenged to easily find solutions to their product questions.
OneCause offers nonprofits award-winning service and support. Their focus on client success has led to supporting 20,000+ events, scoring a running customer satisfaction (CSAT) average of over 96%.
As a partner, OneCause has proven its ability to scale over time, while maintaining its ability to support the one nonprofit that matters most – yours.
In addition to a dedicated, year-round Customer Success Manager and Fundraising Consultant, OneCause customers are equipped with a number of resources to ensure their success. Live phone, email, and chat (along with extended and weekend support hours) are available to customers no matter their time zone. Full Service Mobile Bidding customers also receive dedicated onsite Event Managers to help oversee your day of event.
OneCause University is a customer resource that offers self-paced learning, assessments, on-demand webinars, and Online Communities for nonprofit collaboration and sharing best practices. They also provide a full library of fundraising resources, that also includes live and on-demand webinars.
TIP: Ask for details on how your fundraising will be supported year-round. Also check what support hours are available and what online tools and resources your team can access to increase your fundraising success.
CRM Integration
The easy transfer of fundraising data is an absolute must for nonprofits. Without it, your organization risks either missing out on critical donor data or spending valuable staff time (when you’re already crunched for time) entering it manually. CRM integration is essential.
GiveSmart recently added a Salesforce integration to connect with their databases with this common provider. Though a new integration, this Salesforce connector seems to be one of the few integrations offered by GiveSmart at this time. Otherwise, GiveSmart provides basic dashboards for donor data and reporting, which provide a surface-level visibility to the overall data generated from your event.
OneCause has offered both Salesforce and Raiser’s Edge integrations for years, reaching both the leading CRM solutions for nonprofits on the market. Additionally, OneCause has a robust library of data exports that are compatible with most donor database and CRM solutions.
TIP: Ask for a list of all exports and integrations provided by your auction software before you buy. Having robust CRM integration and data access at your fingertips will save your team countless hours and improve overall fundraising!
What does this mean for you?
When working to pick an online fundraising software tool for your organization, maintain focus on the goals of your cause. Spend time evaluating your needs and answering the key questions:
- Are you looking for available, trained, and reliable onsite event staff?
- Does having access to expert support matter to your fundraising success?
- Do you want to leverage your donor base in new, innovative ways?
- Are you interested in having a reliable partner that can grow along with your nonprofit?
Having the answers to these questions can help narrow your choices and lead your team to the right platform – and the right results.
OneCause has been a partner to nonprofits of all shapes and sizes for over a decade – a single, stable company who has helped support over 55,000 campaigns and raise over $5B. When your nonprofit partners with OneCause, we put your cause at the center of everything we do.
Leveraging Social Fundraising
Let’s talk a bit more about peer-to-peer fundraising. In this new fundraising world of technology and social media, the social network of your donor base is a powerful tool full of untapped potential! When looking to expand your fundraising efforts, look for a software solution that helps broaden your cause’s reach.
The current GiveSmart peer-to-peer functionality does not fully address the multi-campaign need that nonprofits have. With their primary focus being events and mobile auctions, GiveSmart’s basic functionality in Champion Fundraising without robust social fundraising functionality.
OneCause offers best-in-class Peer-to-Peer software and Online Giving Solution that empower supporters to become active fundraisers with mobile engagement tools to raise funds outside of your signature event.
The OneCause Peer-to-Peer solution is mobile-optimized and allows nonprofits to execute multiple social fundraising campaigns within the same platform, as well as to spin up customer giving pages and online forms. Nonprofits benefit from features such as customizable participant pages, social integration, texting capabilities, matching gifts, and other features that drive participation and competition, making fundraising more social, mobile, and fun.
TIP: Make sure your peer-to-peer fundraising software is equipped to engage donors year-round and is mobile-optimized for anytime, anywhere giving.