Almabase

Highly Functional, Modern Solution for Fundraising, Crowd Fundraising and Alumni Management

Commenti: Overall, I would recommend Almabase. Our organization took about 12-18 months to cutover from our legacy alumni website to NetCommunity in 2020-2021. We didn't anticipate cutover again this soon, but we were able to pull it off within five months of making the commitment. A lot of that is testimony to the support the implementation team and helpdesk at Almabase provide.

Aspetti positivi:

We were looking for a solution that could deliver a modern and responsive website for a team that would need a less technical, day-to-day interface for management, data-synchronization, and low-code/no code page design and development. Our organization liked that Almabase integrated with Raiser's Edge NXT and that it could deliver on a number of key initiatives. During our website development and cutover process, we tested the platform's capabilities with Crowd Fundraising and a very complex Event. While there were some synchronization challenges, the Almabase support team was very responsive and helpful in making the process very successful.

Aspetti negativi:

The donation/gift synchronization is well-developed, but the event module and community module will require some additional work to better develop an engagement score methodology. These weren't the highest priorities at the time of cutting over, but they will require significant time/resource investment on the part of our team to utilize to the greatest advantage.

Good Fit for Bridge City High School Alumni: Excellent Customer Service

Aspetti positivi:

From the first demo throughout our selection process and onboarding, I found Almabase customer service to be a great asset every step of the way. I love the feature requests that are actually voted on by their users and implemented!

Aspetti negativi:

Our Alumni group is from a smaller high school. So it's been a lot of learning on Almabase's part as well...getting to know our culture better and finding ways to help uniquely serve us. It's not really negative...it's just taken some time.

Awesome experience

Commenti: Very good. The team was very attentive.

Aspetti positivi:

Easy to set up and user friendly. Great feedback

Aspetti negativi:

Not sure I love how the videos display. Multiple videos take up to much screen space.

New but loving it!

Aspetti positivi:

We are still in the opening phases of using Almabase but are so grateful for the level of customer service and our alumni are very excited!

Aspetti negativi:

I wish we had more control over what the site looked like.

Chief of Staff, DARO

Commenti: The Almabase staff is very knowledgeable, helpful, respectful, and friendly.

Aspetti positivi:

I like the way it creates events in Almabase and one does not need to recreate the event in RE NXT.

Aspetti negativi:

It would be helpful to have additional security rite controls.

GSSM Transitions to Almabase

Commenti: I am so excited about our new alumni directory! It is much more user-friendly than our former database and has many options that I have not even had time to explore or set up yet like the job board. I have received rave reviews from the alumni who have updated their profiles in our new directory. It was worth the investment of time and money to provide a robust database for our community.

Aspetti positivi:

Almabase provides an easy-to-use, visually enticing database to house alumni data and a place for alumni to find classmates and make connections. The support received during the onboarding process was stellar and the resources provided were very helpful.

Aspetti negativi:

I have no complaints. There were parts of the setup that I needed help with because I am not as tech-savvy as others may be, but I was able to complete the onboarding process, migrate data for 2700+ alumni, and set up a weekend-long event with their great support. I hit some snags, but they were fixed in a timely manner and I always received prompt responses.

Exceptional Customer Service

Commenti: Phenomenal! Customer Success managers are super responsive, will always have an answer or follow up with an answer, they have designed features to meet our needs, and have been great partners!

Aspetti positivi:

Willingness to create new features to fit our needs.

Aspetti negativi:

Nothing. I love everything about Almabase!

Successful three-day giving event using Almabase

Commenti: Our institution successfully leveraged the Almabase platform to execute our seventh annual spring giving event, and our experience was overwhelmingly positive. Overall, we would highly recommend Almabase, especially for Raisers Edge customers who have struggled in the past with settling giving day data.

Aspetti positivi:

-The interface was very easy to use to build our giving event site -Our donors enjoyed the giving experience, including the functionality to share the campaign, the tribute wall, the page layout, and the ease of giving -Reconciling the gifts in Raiser’s Edge was as easy as it’s ever been for us - the process of matching the gifts to the appropriate records made this a very smooth process for our gift processing team. -The clear and supportive customer experience was unmatched. We had regular meetings to discuss our project; and questions were resolved quickly. -We were impressed with the go-live support - the Almabase team was very responsive when issues arose during our three-day event.

Aspetti negativi:

Tracking donor count and lack of joint gift functionality in tracking on the event page.

BFHS - Christy

Commenti: It has been a very good experience, especially when we have issues. The team works with you until you have a resolution.

Aspetti positivi:

All of the features available and tool for our alumni to engage.

Aspetti negativi:

We have never used it to it's fullest capacity. One reason is because our alumni do not want to sign up for "another" platform to check.

Great for alumni management

Commenti: I inherited our account three years ago and couldn't be happier. I've been able to add new records quickly, create specific pages, directories,and spaces for our alumni, and work with the Almabase team to refine the product.

Aspetti positivi:

We love that Almabase offers an easy to use contact directory and allows for event registrations. The customize pages also allow us to create content specific to our school.

Aspetti negativi:

I think networking is an essential function of the database, and there are a few bugs with Almabase. The industry/field section needs to be standardized/a drop-down so alumni can search quickly, like LinkedIn. Same is true for colleges and universities--the most annoying thing is when a user has misspelled "University" so there are several lists in the search feature.

This product makes my job easy!

Commenti: Overall, I enjoy this platform. It allows us the opportunity to engage alumni inside of the area and in states and regions outside of the DC Metro area. [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] is a guru when it comes to customer service and he makes everyone's day a bit easier when he's involved.

Aspetti positivi:

I really enjoy the communities feature on the platform and the fact that it is customizable to the needs of the client. We opt for a lot of mentorship and this platform makes that easy.

Aspetti negativi:

There isn't much to dislike about the feature. Sometimes I can forget how to do things, but that's more of a personal issue

All in one shop for Giving and Alumni Engagement!

Aspetti positivi:

Crowdfunding opportunities, email marketing and registration pages.

Aspetti negativi:

Onboarding process requires you to watch several webinars that were a bit difficult to follow. There are alot of capabilities and functions that help Almabase integrate with Raisers Edge NXT, however, there is room for improvements and adding better integrations.

Love Almabase!

Aspetti positivi:

Almabase has been such a great improvement for our Alumni Engagement as a small school. It provides great resources and benefits for our alumni, while allowing us to track engagement in ways we were never able to before. We especially love the communications center and events module.

Aspetti negativi:

It's difficult to find cons of Almabase, as the team is always working on and releasing product improvements. I've been very happy with the product for our use.

Almabase is a Game-Changer

Commenti: We are beyond pleased with our Almabase experience.

Aspetti positivi:

Aside from ease of use and 'off the charts' functionality, the support team is what sets Almabase apart from its competitors.

Aspetti negativi:

Have not encountered anything I don't like about the platform. The fact that the platform is evolving sometimes requires a check-in to make sure a feature or functionality will still be available when you plan to use it. So far, the team has been very supportive of every adaptive use of the platform.

Wonderful Almabase team and great product!

Commenti: Overall experience has been very positive, especially the face to face help when encountering website questions. Thank you, [SENSITIVE CONTENT]!

Aspetti positivi:

It is really easy to generate a mass email to send out to alumni, whether it be a fundraising campaign, event announcement, or alumni newsletter. There are also many design features available to be able to include links, photos, videos, etc. It doesn't take too long to build out new tabs or pages on your website, and Almabase provides so many resources for help, such as online articles and tutorials. Almabase also provides face to face help via Zoom. Shoutout to [SENSITIVE CONTENT], in particular, who has been fantastic and invaluable in every facet of helping us with our website. He is always available via email or Zoom to explain any user issues, solve website-building problems, or recommend new ideas for better engaging our alum in an accessible way.

Aspetti negativi:

There are some areas of the software that are not user intuitive, but the Almabase team is always available to help with any issues that might come up. It is also a challenge to have alumni consistently update their profiles, so it is helpful to remind alum to update their profiles in every email sent out on the platform, with links to the login page.

Well thought through platform to enhance alumni relations

Commenti: _Ongoing support_
Once our organization decided to partner with Almabase, we were transitioned to an operations team to ensure that our alumni data and site features were in order and functioned as we desired. The operations team adjusted to our needs and became much more attentive as our needs required. Currently, it seems like our admin team has continuous access to the Almabase support team. They are friendly, professional, and always strive to communicate clearly, even with feature requests that are not part of the platform. One benefit that showed how willing our Almabase support team goes above and beyond as a partner is how they initiated a regular quarterly review of the platform and features after we launched. They demonstrated how ongoing support is part of the fabric of their company. _Features_
The main reason behind choosing Almabase as an alumni relations partner was how they come alongside our efforts to keep our alumni information current. Our alumni benefit because they can easily stay updated on what’s happening with their alma mater and effortlessly network with one another. Our current students benefit because they can begin networking for future placement opportunities. Our staff benefit because this active directory, updated by each alumnus, enhances all our communications about news, events, placement efforts, and services.

Aspetti positivi:

- End user experience - user friendly and easy to navigate, not cluttered with extra features - Sign-on experience is elegant and simple - Admin portal (Data Studio, Communication Center are strong) - Directory and user profiles - organized, easy to navigate - Ongoing support - Almabase support partner with you to enhance efforts - Career Center - easy to use and maintain

Aspetti negativi:

- Career Center could use more sorting options for the end user

Almabase Really Helped Our Alumni Association

Commenti: Could not be happier. TO the overall look and ease of the site to the care that the staff offers... there is no better fit for us.

Aspetti positivi:

Almabase is extremely user friendly and easy to manage from a backend perspective. A lot of the site is customizable and the customer support team is always there to work with you through any issues you have. It is also extremely easy to integrate to our database at the school, which was super valuable.

Aspetti negativi:

There's honestly and truly nothin that I dislike. The team at Almabase is always on working on new ways to improve their site, and will even take suggestions when you'd like to see something happen.

A Non-Profit's Insight into Almabase

Commenti: My overall experience with Almabase has been phenomenal. I love the way my customer success manager is always there for me whenever I have a question or need help troubleshooting anything. I also love the skill workshops that ensure that I am a professional at what I do. Further, I truly appreciate their development team's willingness to make customized edits to suit our organization's needs. It really makes a difference.

Aspetti positivi:

I like most about this software is the ease of event creation. The templates make the creation of multiple events simple and efficient.

Aspetti negativi:

I don't like how their are certain aspects that are finicky. For example, when copying an event, the titles often remove your cursor as you are typing and sometimes it states that an event has that name already. Another example of finicky behavior is the time selection in an event. You need to make sure you click okay every time and you can't type it in: little stuff, but over time can be cumbersome.

Almabase platform and customer service is everything I was looking for!

Aspetti positivi:

When I became the alumni relations coordinator for Thomas Aquinas College, I immediately began searching for a replacement for a print alumni directory. This platform exceeded expectations in that it provides the directory service that I was looking for AND provides a full service engagement platform for all facets of alumni relations. From emails to events to chapters and more! Most of all though, the team at Almabase is 110% top notch. They are personable, responsive, and complete. Whether I have a question on hot to best use some functionality or have a suggestion from my users regarding improvements on the platform, the Almabase team is always helpful, thoughtful, and responsive. This customer support you enjoy speaking with!

Aspetti negativi:

There is little not to like. For myself, wearing multiple hats at our institution makes it difficult to use the product to its full potential. Also, our users are interested in sharing their directory information with each other, which is not a default setting. However, support has been very responsive regarding this feedback and we are working towards a solution. In all, I am very happy with the product and so are my users.

Perfect platform to start an alumni database management

Aspetti positivi:

user friendly database management system. Most of all good support team to assist with troubleshooting and problem solving.

Aspetti negativi:

Latest tranding features such as mobile app feature, e-membership, etc

Great Product & Even Better Service

Commenti: Our goal was to communicate with our alumni in new and more efficient ways, and we wanted to be able to see and track engagement. Almabase has made that possible and their team has answered every question we had in a timely manner. The people at Almabase have been very supportive and helpful.

Aspetti positivi:

Almabase has an outstanding communication center and data studio that allows the right people to see and get the information they need to communicate with alumni.

Aspetti negativi:

The website is not as flexible as it could be and we wish it had a few more options to show pictures.

A brilliant tool to stay connected to the roots of alma mater

Commenti: IMPRESSED is the word. I have started using this product since my under grad school introduced this to us one year after we graduated. Though I was apprehensive initially about it being just another variant of linkedin, I was proved wrong pretty soon. The sign up was pretty simple with the option of connecting with Fb or LinkedIn. Also, the profile was always synced and up to date. This is a simple, no-nonsense, to-the-point software which does what it says - "Alumni Management". There are no other strings attached. With the graph search(remember the facebook searches which go like "Who are my friends studying in California and are single?") and the various filtering criteria available, looking up for someone from my college is just a breeze. Also, masking of personal email ids put my fears of spamming to rest. The newsletter I receive from my college admins every month through this portal, brings a wide smile across my face along with a flurry of memories.
Well, the depth to which this software goes in finding the alumni is also pretty excellent. I was amazed to find alumni from even the early 1960s. Also, at my post grad, I got an opportunity to be part of the audience where AlmaBase was pitching. Boy was I surprised !!
<Tech Alert>
They implemented Machine Learning which took some seed data of alumni and used that to pull the details of other Alumni from Social Network spaces.
Also, the ease with which the alumni site can be customized is very good. Supported by a strong back end, the majority of look and feel is made up of pluggable components. It's totally up to you to decide how your alumni site would look like. </TechAlert> In short, having a strong alumni base is a low hanging fruit ignored by most colleges and this software solves the problem spot on. I do not see any major shortcomings, except that I wonder how'd they support the product with the size of the team they presently have. P.S: The total time they usually take to get the site up and running is around 7 days which is pretty cool !! :D

Best value for money alumni platform out there!

Commenti: This software help us consolidate our database, emailing and website saving us a lot of money.
Tracking emails and engagement has been very helpful.

Aspetti positivi:

-It is a website, database platform, and bulk email service. -Payments can be taken through the website, including membership payments. -The developers are constantly making improvements to the software and any improvements are made available at no extra cost. -The customer service is very responsive.

Aspetti negativi:

-Administrator/backend usability could be improved. This is something we have mentioned to them and they are working on. -Website pages could do with a little more layout varieties and features. I believe they are working on this also.

Great Team, Great Service!

Aspetti positivi:

The platform is easy to use and customizable for our needs. We use the platform extensively for creating events, fundraising pages, creating alumni directory and posting news and updates for alumni. Almabase team provides great service and is always available to answer our queries and helps us navigate through the best options for solving our requirements.

Aspetti negativi:

We have most of the features we look for in an alumni engagement platform. A mobile app would have been a nice addition so members have easy access on their phones.

This is a great company with an amazing product.

Aspetti positivi:

The team that we get to work with. They are amazing. I have really enjoyed my experience with Almabase and would recommend them to anyone.

Aspetti negativi:

There are no negatives about this company. They work with us to achieve anything that we are looking to do through the platform.