OneCause vs. 501 Auctions — What You Need to Know

For nonprofit teams looking to expand their reach with an online fundraising and/or mobile bidding platform or for those considering a switch to another vendor in the space, the time needed to conduct adequate research, interview potential partners, and make the switch can be time consuming and confusing.

This is article aims to take some of the guesswork out of the mobile bidding and fundraising solution marketplace by comparing two leading solutions—OneCause and 501 Auctions—head-to-head in several categories that are most important to nonprofit organizations like yours. With the strengths and weaknesses of each clearly outlined, nonprofit leaders can easily make the best decision to help drive donations and host amazing charitable events.

Repeating Events

The end goal of nonprofit organizations is to raise as many funds as possible for the charity. This requires partnering with a vendor that wants you to keep those hard earned donations and not spend those funds to host more events. While nonprofits might not have a unique event on the calendar every month, more opportunities to use software to raise donations throughout the year is a real need. And, although not every event requires solutions such as mobile bidding or onsite services, they do typically require event management, auction software and online fundraising (ticketing, sponsorships, online bidding).

While 501 Auctions has lower credit card fees for online payments and donations, there is an additional fee for any extra event sites throughout the year. Depending on how many events or fundraisers an organization hosts, these fees can quickly add up.

OneCause, on the other hand, allows users to create unlimited Giving Centers year-round without additional event fees —and keep them live as long as needed. When buying mobile bidding and auction software, it’s important to look at if you can use the software again outside of your event. OneCause offers a true year-round model that helps teams raise more money for the cause.

Real-Time Analytics & Insight

As nonprofit teams continue to work towards higher donation and event attendance numbers, the only way to track change and benchmarks is through data. While nearly all solutions—including 501 Auctions—have some sort of analytics built into the platform, it is difficult to find the level of reporting and insights available in the OneCause solution. With over 120 real-time reports available year-round, nonprofit organizations can quickly uncover donor trends and analysis without any number crunching or exporting required.

While 501 Auctions does allow customers access to event analytics while the event is going on and shortly after it ends, users don’t have continuous access to their data, which for most nonprofits is a critical miss. With OneCause, customers have 365 day data access and can easily go back and view data from both current and past events (even from those that took years ago) to compare fundraising trends and ensure the strategy is on par with benchmarks. Nonprofit leaders can also compare current events with past events to better understand donor attentiveness and audience profiles, and they’re always armed with data that can be shared with the Board.

CRM Integration

To translate the above data and reports into actual change, nonprofit teams must integrate their fundraising data and donor contacts with their CRM solution. Currently, 501 Auctions doesn’t have integrations with either Raiser’s Edge or Salesforce, the two leading nonprofit CRM solutions on the market, and their only current integration is with DonorPerfect.

OneCause allows organizations to simplify the fundraising process with Blackbaud and Salesforce integrations, and an easy-to-use import wizard and a multitude of other CSV export options. With OneCause, information is easily shared between donor databases, allowing for prompt follow up and access to critical donor information.

On-the-Go Functionality

In today’s world of always-on technology, fundraising software must be able to compete for the short attention spans of donors and event guests. This means going where the people are—to their phones. Without mobile functionality—both for online event registration and mobile bidding—online fundraising solutions just aren’t scalable long-term.

OneCause offers both mobile bidding and mobile event registration from anywhere without an app, whether it’s being used on a laptop, tablet, or smartphone. The user interface is mobile optimized, ensuring a smooth and easy donor experience. Nonprofits can also leverage OneCause’s Text2Give functionality to collect donations via text message—the ultimate on-the-go experience for donors.

Donor Experience

At the end of the day, the donor experience is what turns one-time givers into lifelong supporters. From the platform design and ease-of-use to seamless payment processing and receipt delivery, online fundraising platforms play a large role in impacting the donor experience. One of the most important factors for nonprofits to consider when evaluating fundraising software solutions is package flexibility.

Be careful that your nonprofit doesn’t get locked into a one-size-fits-all engagement or pay for services or extras that aren’t needed. With OneCause, flexible packaging options allow you to select the right solution and services for your needs and your budget. Small nonprofits can utilize the DIY solution while larger events can take advantage of the entire OneCause Full Service and staffed offerings. In order to reach your aggressive fundraising goals, your nonprofit needs quality software and flexible packages without having to make sacrifices.

Take the Guesswork out of Mobile Bidding Platforms

As you’re working towards deciding on a new fundraising or mobile bidding platform, keep flexibility and customization top-of-mind. Nonprofit organizations are constantly changing and updating to keep up with their donor audience, and their solutions should keep up as well. Look for platforms that offer ‘pick-and-choose’ options so you’re sure to get the right solutions for your nonprofit needs.

OneCause (formerly BidPal) has been a partner to nonprofits of all shapes and sizes for over a decade, helping support over 14,000 events and raise over $1.2B. We take pride in the company that we’ve built and the team of passionate experts that we’ve brought together. When your nonprofit partners with OneCause, you don’t have to worry about getting lost in the shuffle – we put your cause at the center of everything we do. As a built-from-the-ground-up solution, our expertise in the nonprofit fundraising world shines through in every fundraiser or campaign that you launch. And we’ll continue to partner with you and grow right along with your cause until its mission is accomplished.