Little Green Light

Best affordable donor management software (and better than many more expensive options)

Commenti: LGL has made my work much easier (they all promise that you'll spend less time in administration and more time raising money, and in this case that is the truth). LGL has also helped involve more of our staff and volunteers in the fundraising process.

Aspetti positivi:

This software is the perfect price for a small or mid-sized nonprofit both in terms of the subscription fee and the transaction fees on their donation form system, LGL Forms. They offer unlimited users, which can be given access appropriate to their role (for example, a volunteer manager can use LGL and only see constituents who are volunteers). While the program may lack some of the automation more robust (and expensive) platforms offer, a little work on the front-end pays pretty big dividends in speeding up reporting, sending acknowledgements, list building - pretty much any standard development activity. The team at LGL are also extremely responsive to email and they seem to work around the clock on improving the software to fix bugs, add software integrations (such as Zapier and Constant Contact) and expand functionality.

Aspetti negativi:

There are some things that LGL doesn't do yet, or doesn't do as well as I would like. Depending on the payment processor you use (LGL forms only pairs with Stripe, PayPal, and ProPay) it lacks options for accepting ACH payments. There are some limitations in membership and volunteer management, and I would bypass LGL completely with a different software solution if those were major parts of our development operations.

Our Perfect Solution

Commenti: Coming from Blackbaud's Raiser's Edge ridiculously expensive and overly complicated system, every single thing about LGL is a breath of fresh air and a joy to use. From working with our consultant on data migration to every day use, it's intuitive and simple to use. I'm still learning new and impressive functionality and am pleasantly surprised every time. Updates that are rolled out actually fix issues or improve functionality ( they listen to their users!). Customer service is email only, but usually quick and very helpful. The Facebook community is a nice addition as well - sometimes I can get answers there without needing to contact support. I only wish we had made the switch sooner - would have saved our organization tens of thousands of dollars and myself so much frustration.

Aspetti positivi:

1. The price absolutely cannot be beat, especially compared to Blackbaud. 2. It's just so simple to use. Intuitive, quick, and easy, yet still packed full of useful features.

Aspetti negativi:

Initially, what I liked least was that there was no live phone or chat support; email only. But, the longer I use LGL and see how little I need support, the more I don't mind it at all. Plus email support usually replies quickly and has the solution I need.

Clunky, skinny, but cheap

Commenti: Customer service is friendly but I don't like that I can't reach them immediately.

Aspetti positivi:

This is great if you are a smaller organization--maybe no more than 2,000-3,000 donors. It features basic gift entry, pledges, contact info, etc. If you are a nonprofit just getting started, this could work for you.

Aspetti negativi:

Not intuitive. Hard to learn. Tutorials are complicated. I've been working with it for 4 years now and still not sure how to run reports. Not robust nor intuitive. Our organization has moved past the effectiveness threshold of this product, and we are looking at others.

Low Cost Effective Donor Management Solution

Commenti: I'm able to clean up a database that had become a hideous mess in GiftWorks Cloud. I'm able to identify and easily clear duplicate donors and duplicate gifts. (I've removed about 300 duplicate constituents so far … roughly 8% of my total database … about 100 more to go)

Aspetti positivi:

It's super easy to learn and use. Everything you need is built in -- the dashboard that keeps you focused on what you have (or haven't) recently raised against your goals, the basic reports (which can be customized). Donor record entry includes US mailing address verification -- yay! LGL is also clear about what it does and doesn't do. So it doesn't claim to link directly with a peer-to-peer product -- and it's also not messing up my database by uploading a duplicate entry for every single person who registers in the peer-to-peer product (which has a different default name protocol).

Aspetti negativi:

So far, I don't have any complaints. I'm already using features I didn't expect to (emailing directly through the system, which allows the Contact to be automatically logged in the Constituent record). I suppose LGL could be prettier. But given the choice between pretty and functional, I'll take a product that works any day.

Perfect for small to mid size shops

Commenti: My overall experience has been pretty seamless. Everyone is helpful and friendly when you contact them and it is very reasonable priced!

Aspetti positivi:

I implemented LGL at my previous school and inherited it at my current one after having recommended it to my predecessor. We have about 10,000 living alumni and it's the perfect software for small to mid size shops. The reporting isn't always as sophisticated as some others I've used in higher ed shops but it get the job done. And it has more features than one realizes so like any software you need to make sure you're utilizing them all as best you can. I used a recommended consultant when setting the system up and she was VERY helpful and talking through the implementation specific to my organization. I highly recommend investing in that service to get you off on the right foot.

Aspetti negativi:

Reporting isn't my strong suit, so I'm not sure if it's me or LGL but either way I think that area has the room for continued improvement, which is the nature of reporting anyways. And it still gets the job done right now. It's not bad at all!

A great CRM platform for nonprofits

Commenti: We used to have our constituents' contact info, contact report info, and giving data scattered across a motley collection of manually- and inconsistently-updated platforms, and none of it was integrated with Constant Contact or our email. It was extremely difficult to search for constituents or financial gifts or tag them in any useful way. All truly meaningful information was stored in our team members' heads, where it could be lost track of, and this was having a negative impact on our fundraising. LGL has enabled us to pull our many disparate forms of data into a single platform, unify them within each constituent's record, start sending out automated acknowledgements for donations, stay in close communication with each other about each constituent, and overall just improve our ability to provide a high-quality experience for our constituents when we reach out to them.

Aspetti positivi:

Its customizability; its absolutely top-notch and responsive customer support; its rich metadata and extensive set of features; its powerful import engine; its flexible report functionality; its integration with automated acknowledgement emails, Constant Contact, and webforms / online payment processing; its great support for task management and communication between team members; and the fact that we can download a comprehensive export of all its data at any time, which makes keeping backups easy.

Aspetti negativi:

Navigating through all of its complexity can sometimes be confusing and intimidating at first, until you learn its workflows; search is fragmented—you can't just search and get all records that might match: you have to search in one place to find constituents and search in a second place to find financial data and search in a third place to find activity data; the inability to hide UI elements for features we're not making use of; not quite as much roles & permissions flexibility as we'd like.

Satisifed Customer

Commenti: We are now able to effectively track:
-Donor history
-Donor relationships
-Send auto-acknowledgments
The entire dev team can now work from the same set of data--increasing our transparency with each and improve succession of responsibilities.

Aspetti positivi:

Has all needed functionality--especially relationship creation--for an absolutely affordable price.

Aspetti negativi:

Layout, aesthetics. In particular, the categories section of the constituent profile record is difficult on the eyes.

Ease

Commenti: Of all the software I use daily for my work, LGL is the one that consistently makes my job easier.

Aspetti positivi:

This product is incredibly easy to use. If and when I do come across issues or questions with the software, even my specific use (or misuse) of it, the LGL Help resources can usually direct me to a solution. If I can't find help there, the LGL support team always has a solution for me in a timely manner.

Aspetti negativi:

I thought that it was difficult to begin using the software, importing constituent data, etc. but that was simply because I hadn't ever used CRM before and was completely new to the system.

Awesome for smaller organizations or large ones that are pretty simple

Commenti: It's been great. Used it with two organizations now and it's fairly intuitive and well documented.

Aspetti positivi:

The price was the first great thing, but ease of use is another. You can easily teach yourself to be good at this platform vs more complicated ones.

Aspetti negativi:

I have no complaints with it. The box says it needs more characters...

A good product, just not excellent at any one thing

Commenti: Overall, it was an ok experience. We would have dealt with some of the idiosyncrasies if we didn't find another alternative that matched our organization better. I have friends in the industry who swear by LGL.

Aspetti positivi:

I liked the dashboard that included all of the financial details immediately when you log in.

Aspetti negativi:

I didn't like that memberships were so complex in inputting. We have volunteers who couldn't figure out how to manage the system without confusion. We ended up having some data entered in different ways and our database got mixed up.

LGL for Membership Tracking

Commenti: I can't say enough good things about LGL support. All the questions and problems I have had have been dealt with via their knowledge base, online training documentation and videos and their periodic online group training sessions. Anything that needed a support person to get involved was handled above and beyond my expectations. Any support request I submitted was responded to within an hour or so and if it had to be escalated for next level assistance it would never be more than a day for a response and resolution. The excellent support is not something I'm used to finding when dealing with vendors online these days, so kudos to LGL.

Aspetti positivi:

Although LGL is promoted primarily as a donor database, it has built in features to manage memberships. We have been using it some 4+ years to manage the members for a very large Garden Club (300+ Active members and another 200+ guests/donors). As the main person that evaluated and converted their membership tracking, which was done on spreadsheets, to LGL, I found it to be perfect for what we needed. It brought organization, online automation and member communication capabilities for the members and donors that could never have been accomplished through their manual spreadsheet process. LGL provides easy migration/import capabilities so the conversion was very smooth. Advanced features like LGL Forms for creating online data input forms, personalized mailing/emailing and integrations with numerous 3rd party services like Paypal, have been easy to use and indispensable for administering the membership. The membership loves it because they now can do payments and profile changes efficiently online. The Club Board loves it because it has automated almost all of their manual processes and eliminated the data entry errors that were causing so many problems previous to LGL. What is so great is all theses benefits are so affordable. Any other online database alone would be prohibitively expensive for the Club, never mind all the additional functionality and support that LGL provides.

Aspetti negativi:

I can't say there is much of anything that is missing in LGL functionality for what we have requirements for. Over the years the few things we needed were eventually added throughout LGL's ongoing enhancements. Although LGL has some level of user access controls (Admin, Fundraiser, Volunteer, Gift Entry) I would like to see them add Read Only access.

Great affordable option for nonprofits!

Commenti: Little Green Light has everything you need, nothing you don't, and is an excellent value for nonprofits on tight budgets.

Aspetti positivi:

Little Green Light offers many of the same features as much more expensive donation management software/CRMs, at a much more affordable price. Small to mid-sized nonprofits often don't have the budget to invest tons of $$ in the big-name donor CRMs, and I've found that many organizations don't need all those bells and whistles anyway. It tracks donors and donations, there's are solid events and grants management functions, you can create custom forms for event registration, donations, and other purposes (honestly almost worth the price right there), it integrates with several other common tools used by nonprofit communications & development staff (i.e. Constant Contact, last time I checked)... what more do you need? LGL was designed with nonprofits in mind (unlike some other tools out there that were originally designed for sales and only later shoehorned into a nonprofit tool) and this makes a difference. The terminology/field labels, the customer service folks, everything - all nonprofit-centric.We switched to LGL from a more expensive, but in my opinion less functional, donor CRM, and the process was pretty smooth. The worst part was cleaning up the data from our old system before loading it into LGL because our old system had not been well-maintained. The LGL customer service folks were helpful and responsive whenever I had questions, and overall it was a pretty painless experience, aside from the tedious work of cleaning up my old data!

Aspetti negativi:

I don't really remember any major cons. When I last used it, it had a few integrations with the most common software/tools, and probably has more now. It may not have quite as many integrations as some of the more expensive CRMs, so if those are very important to you, it's just something to check before you buy. You can probably use Zapier to set up any integrations that aren't built in.Another small thing to know - not really a con, because I think this is totally fair for the price, but just good to be aware of - is that their built-in email tool is more suited to sending event reminders, donor thank-yous, etc. than to email marketing. That isn't its purpose. In other words, don't expect to use the email function for your e-newsletter. You can integrate with Constant Contact or MailChimp (probably others by now) for that.

CMS Lifesaver

Commenti: After taking over a messy, out-dated membership database from my predecessor, I decided to merge all existing information into LGL. And I never looked back! LGL has allowed us to collect far more information and data than we were able to do before. It has simplified our mailing process to the point where we were able to increase the number of mailings sent out each year (in a state where people LOVE mailed communications). Our ability to prioritize special donors through the "Groups" function has made all of our communications more impactful, and "LGL Forms" has turned donating online into a quick & easy experience. For a small organization like ourselves, LGL has been a lifesaver. We couldn't be happier with the system, and while we haven't quite figured out how to use all of the functions to maximize efficacy, we are looking forward to growing and developing with LGL.

Aspetti positivi:

We have found the many ways to organize and label constituents very helpful. Our organization has also moved to use LGL Forms for all of our online donation, newsletter, and volunteer information because of the multitude of ways that we can customize the forms to our specific needs. If nothing else, the availability of such a clear CRM is wonderful. The former Outreach Director's system was created in a database development system that was far beyond our in house capabilities to manage.

Aspetti negativi:

I sometimes wish that I had the ability to create certain categories or alter the organizational system to more closely meet our needs as a small staff covering communities across the entire state of Montana. However, I trust that any emails I send requesting certain changes will be taken into serious consideration by the LGL customer service team.

Little Green Light Shines Brightly for Constituent Relationship Management

Commenti: LGL facilitates the business-critical task of entering, tracking, and acknowledging gifts. It aids in segmenting donor groups and making 'touches' throughout the year as appropriate to each group. Customer support is outstanding, with quick response and helpful suggestions to achieve desired function or process.

Aspetti positivi:

Web-based product eliminates software maintenance issues. Great functionality, including integration with e-mail and physical letter production. Facilitates team management of data for multi-location or traveling workers. Most functions very intuitive. Customer-focused support staff very quick to respond to inquiries. Powerful query & data selection, great control for construction of reports and letters. Attaching documents & comments to record is easy. Tribute function facilitates handling of one-time gifts in memory of deceased constituent.

Aspetti negativi:

We have 20+ letter templates in LGL that we print onto an MS Word letterhead template that changes at least annually due to Board composition. We haven't yet determined how to have all the LGL templates point to a single Word template. For each change, we have to re-associate the new Word template with each LGL template.

Great Program with Amazing Support

Aspetti positivi:

Very intuitive, ease of use and great aid

Aspetti negativi:

I wish there was a better way to send emails and auto responses. Interface could use an update

Looking for a Reasonably Priced Comprehensive Donor Management Software?

Commenti: I have been in development for 30 years and used many donor management products from Raisers Edge to Harness. Our agency has been using LGL for 8 years. During that time, we actually tried other platforms. But kept it and came back to LGL for its ease of use and comprehensive tools that meet all of our needs. LGL was created from a donor management view. Many of the new platforms have been created from a social media view so they miss a lot of the critical elements that are needed to manage donors and help an agency be successful.

Aspetti positivi:

LGL is user friendly. Almost anyone with some database experience can work with this software in a very short time. It is forgiving. It is comprehensive. It does not have ALL the bells and whistles. But rarely does an organization actually use all of those. But it has what you really need to do a great job.

Aspetti negativi:

I would like to be able to have multiple contacts for a business or organization without adding another constituent for the same business.

Intuitive and easy to use

Commenti: Great customer service, and they are constantly evolving in response to customer need.

Aspetti positivi:

LGL is designed to think like you think. Instead of a system that makes the user think like a computer system, this one is designed to operate in an intuitive fashion. It is logical and even useful for right-brained people. Constituents are managed in groups which makes customization easy. Support is there when you need it (so important after a purchase) and the value for the cost is quite high. I’d recommend for any size organization.

Aspetti negativi:

Sometimes there are inconsistencies or anomalies which support can fix but can’t explain to me. This has happened occasionally and has made me nervous about the integrity of a report or which constituents are receiving a communication. I also wish it came with maps data, so cities and zip codes were preloaded. There is an optional address verification feature which we are considering.

Little Green Light Software

Commenti: I am pleased with it. LGL offers ways to automate processes. We're still learning how that works since we just started using it a month ago, but we will take advantage of it.

Aspetti positivi:

It's fairly easy to use. They have a knowledge base with training videos and written information along with live virtual classes. There's a Facebook users' group where one can ask questions. They also offer webinars where the max class size is four and the instructor addresses specific questions. They have been very responsive to my emails. The flex importer was great to have for importing all our donors. It took time to set up our spreadsheet, but it was worth it not to have to manually enter each donor.

Aspetti negativi:

Since I'm new to this type of system (constituent relationship management), there's a lot of new terminology to learn. It's not so much a 'con' as a steep learning curve for me. One piece of advise for the Flex Importer: be sure you understand the difference between a campaign and an appeal. I had to make corrections to our data since I misunderstood it. Fortunately, we're new and have few enough donors that I could make corrections.

LGL - a great first step!!!

Commenti: Overall for the price this is a great software to get you going. It is functional and integrates wonderfully with Quickbooks.

Aspetti positivi:

LGL is a functional donor management system that integrates with QBO quite easily!!! We are a small non-profit that has very, very limited funds for management functions/software and this is a great product for the price and has helped us get over the mess of spreadsheets. It integrates also with some email services and PayPal quite easily.

Aspetti negativi:

I would love to see an integration with Facebook donations like they have with Paypal. Exporting and importing does work, but takes time and requires a bit of training. With volunteer office help, this could be difficult to teach consistently. Also, I would like to see additional features added to the forms integration. While this does work, it has not integrated with our website or the forms have not worked that well in phone apps so we are not using to the fullest and still need other options.

Excellent CRM at a fair price

Commenti: Totally satisfied with LGL. It does everything I need to manage this 501(c)(3) Public Charity LGL also has many other features that I do not use, but may be valuable to others.

Aspetti positivi:

I like LGL because it was relatively easy to set up (all those many years ago) with just a bit of help from the Customer Service team. Today, it is an invaluable tool for me. Can't imagine life without it.

Aspetti negativi:

Quite frankly, I cannot think of one single deficiency with LGL.

LGL has made my life so much easier!!!

Commenti: I converted my organization's database from FundRaiser in July and have not once regretted my decision. We previously tried to convert to a different database and after 2 days of on-site training with that company, I couldn't even locate a sample record. On the other hand, not only did I (and I'm not a tech person) migrate our entire database myself and merge additional Excel documents in, after only a couple of hours of reading instructions and playing around, I already understood not only how to locate a record but how to enter, report, send an acknowledgement, etc. I occasionally run into things that I can't figure out on my own or by reading the LGL blog but when I reach out to customer service, they respond so quickly and always are able to resolve my issue. I really can't think of anything that can't be done through LGL. We're so happy with it that we're now looking at integrating our payment processing and e-newsletter system so that we have the best data on our constituents possible. I cannot say enough good things about this product. For a small organization like ours with no tech support, this has been a blessing since it is so easy to use and so reasonably priced.

Aspetti positivi:

Ease of use, built-in reports, customer service

Aspetti negativi:

It takes awhile to figure out which fields to use for what but I think that would be the case for any software and depends on a lot on how you approach development

LGL is the perfect fit for our organization

Aspetti positivi:

ease of use report running tiers of access

Aspetti negativi:

not necessarily a negative but we did choose to hire a consulate to help with the transition to LGL. She also provided training and answered questions. An additional expense we didn't budget initially.

User-friendly and useful for any sized organization

Commenti: The customer service is phenomenal and makes ease of use incredibly high. The training videos are plentiful and very useful. Personalized options are available and the system can be built to serve the needs of each individual organization.

Aspetti positivi:

LGL is very easy to self-train on, as its features are simple to learn and manage. The system can be set up with personalized features or can be used in its simplest form. Also, because it is all managed online, that makes it easy to manage a virtual office.

Aspetti negativi:

There is not anything about LGL that I think makes the software less appealing.

Little Green Light is Great

Commenti: Using Little Green Light has been a very positive experience. The company was very patient and helpful when we first set up our account - and has been consistently helpful in the years we have been using it.

Aspetti positivi:

I like that we can manage and track donors, as well as students and parents. I also like that it comes with a forms program - and that we can create forms that map to our constituents. The tech support responses are extremely fast and helpful.

Aspetti negativi:

There is nothing I don't like about Little Green Light.

Little Green Light Keeps my Fundraising on Track!

Commenti: I love Little Green Light! It keeps me organized and helps build relationship with my donors!

Aspetti positivi:

Little Green Light is easy to use and assists me in keeping track of my fundraising, donations, and constituents. I like that I can create mailing lists, emails, and generate thank you letters after my organization receives a donation.

Aspetti negativi:

Little Green Light is a little dated and is not as aesthetically pleasing as other CRMS.