NS

Nicole S.

Marketing Communications Manager

Non-Profit Organization Management

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

12/12/2017

"FirstGiving is Okay"

2.5/5

What do you like best about Panorama?

When using FirstGiving, I enjoyed how individual users can create a campaign page, upload your own image, and see when donors, anonymous or not, have donated to your page. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Panorama?

When I used FirstGiving I thought it looked old school and not very updated/modern. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

UN

Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

12/12/2017

"Might be better with practice in the interface..."

2.5/5

What do you like best about Panorama?

Seems easy to use, easy enough interface to jump in and mostly understand right away. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Panorama?

It has several hidden things that can be confusing and mess up your auction and its results. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Panorama:

Make sure you are thorough in setting up your auction- really make sure you think about all the details they ask you about! If you do that, this works fine. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Panorama solving and how is that benefiting you?

We used it for a 5K auction, which was cool to not have to do it live and to let itself sort out. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

SD

Shawn D.

Marketing & Communications Director

Non-Profit Organization Management

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

12/8/2017

"Bidding for Good"

3.5/5

What do you like best about Panorama?

Accessibility and searching feature was more intelligent than others we have used. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Panorama?

It was messy for us to assign our own bidder numbers when tracking new registrants. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

AN

Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

1/14/2018

"Expensive fees and not user friendly"

1.5/5

What do you like best about Panorama?

Customer support was quick to respond and it had all the necesssary features. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Panorama?

Some features had additional fees and you could only get card swipers if you hire 2 night of on-site staff. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

AN

Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

12/12/2017

"Easy to set up"

4/5

What do you like best about Panorama?

Simple to manage auction items and set up is pretty simple. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Panorama?

It doesn't integrate with our software program so if we want to track the items/transactions in our main CRM we have to import. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

AB

Arthur B.

Blackbaud Database Administrator

Religious Institutions

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

12/10/2015

"Great service for supporter-driven non-profits, to create a supporter page community"

3.5/5

What do you like best about Panorama?

FirstGiving is a turn-key service, that does not charge the non-profit. All of the charges come from the donations, and the fee can even be billed to the donor. If non-profit supporters wish to fundraise on a non-profit's behalf, by setting up their own fundraising pages, FirstGiving is the right choice. They provide the platform, the tools to build the pages, and provide customer support. The non-profit just needs to accept the revenue that comes in. It's simple, it's well-designed, and the non-profit can download a transaction report, for import into their accounting system. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Panorama?

FirstGiving, at least prior to this summer, did not offer their non-profit clients the ability to tag pages with industry standard tags. For example, all non-profits use fund-based accounting. Most non-profits have a campaign, fund, and an appeal. Since the pages are set up by fundraisers, there's also the concept of solicitor. Again, these are all industry-standard. First of all, FirstGiving does not have these tags in their system. There are one or two fields that are customizable, but they have to be manually entered for each page. As a result, in order to import the transactions into non-profit accounting systems, such as Raiser's Edge, the non-profits had to either manipulate the files extensively in Excel, or invest in translation software that would match up the fundraiser's names with the related campaign, fund, appeal, and solicitor records. Second of all, FirstGiving does not have an approval process for new fundraiser's. Anyone who signs up, gets their own page. Once a few fundraisers have signed up, it's very difficult for a non-profit to opt out of the service. FirstGiving will simply keep sending money, even if the non-profit does not want to be on FirstGiving's platform. Finally, because there's no approval process, the non-profit does not have an opportunity to assign any codes before the page goes live, resulting in failed imports when new pages appear. While FirstGiving was very willing to listen to some suggestions, this was still an issue, earlier this year. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Panorama:

Supporters can use FirstGiving without a non-profit's approval. This is great on one hand, but too many supporters using it, to crowd-fund your non-profit, can mean that you can't turn it off, without upsetting your core supporters. If you don't mind using it, it's a great tool, and it's worth investing some time to make sure your logo, and information is correct, and to make sure there are plenty of links to your regular website and to your programs. Use it both as a revenue source, and as a way to guide donors to the non-profit's other revenue sources and communication channels. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Panorama solving and how is that benefiting you?

Non-profits don't have the resources to build out a website that enables its supporters to generate their own pages. There are other services, such as Luminate or Sphere, that have similar functionality. Those services, while giving the non-profit much more control over the functionality, also cost more in fees and resources, such as developer time, and customer support. The business problem is how to enable your supporters to fundraise online, on your behalf, without having the skills, time, money, or labor. FirstGiving does everything, including customer support, and takes a reasonable (less than 10%) fee to do so. The benefits include having a turn-key product, that requires very little time and effort, but allows the supporters a feeling of ownership of the cause - which makes them better supporters. It also enables crowd-funding of your non-profit, where the crowd is generated by the supporters. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

AH

Verified User in Higher Education

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

12/6/2015

"Firstgiving Review"

3.5/5

What do you like best about Panorama?

The best part of firstgiving is adaptable to many types of fundraising events. I like that I can go in and modify the event at any time. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Panorama?

Manually having to input outside donations as well as having to create categories that are so specific that you have to make many of them (example: adult registration plus 1 added purchase, adult registration plus two added purchases, etc.). I also don't like having to manually go into firstgiving at midnight to increase registration prices after the earlybird registration ends. There could be a timer function for this, which would make it a lot easier! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Panorama:

Firstgiving is pretty easy to use, you just have to manually go in and add donations that are received offline as well as modify registration prices for your fundraising event. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Panorama solving and how is that benefiting you?

Our nonprofit is trying to increase individual and team sign-ups for an annual event, and this year our registrations went down. Benefits include having one platform through which to manage donations, which is SO helpful for nonprofits. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.