![Chris K.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Chris K.")
CK

Chris K.

Vice President, Development Services

Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.)

2/10/2026

"Flexible, Modern Advancement CRM That Scales for Higher Education"

4/5

What do you like best about Ascend?

I’ve found Ascend to be a strong advancement CRM because it’s built on Salesforce and designed specifically for the real‑world needs of higher‑education advancement teams. In our implementation, Ascend supports complex gift processing, reporting, and data migration while remaining highly configurable. Many adjustments can be made quickly without heavy development, even post–go live. We’re also building out the experience portal to extend engagement beyond internal users, and Ascend’s integration ecosystem allows us to connect tools like iWave for prospect research and Double the Donation for matching‑gift automation. Overall, Ascend provides a flexible, modern platform that scales well for large advancement operations and supports continuous improvement through iterative releases and integrations. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Ascend?

Kindsight Ascend’s architectural tendency to consolidate multiple distinct functions into a single object forces a heavy reliance on custom fields. Also, Ascend requires a lot of configuration, it's not plug and play. Additionally, the gift processing automation is not as good as Affinaquest’s Advancement RM, but it is catching up. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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

Kindsight Ascend leverages Salesforce automation to streamline gift entry and record processing, significantly reducing manual data management. Native Case Management flows optimize user support by routing internal tasks and donor inquiries through efficient, tracked workflows. Finally, its built-in Experience Cloud portal empowers constituents with secure self-service tools for event registration, online giving, managing giving history and personal profiles. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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Response from Bre Alexander of Ascend

[Editedit](https://www.g2.com/survey_responses/ascend-review-12340871/official_response/edit)

Hi Chris,

Thanks so much for sharing your experience with Ascend! We’re so glad to hear that the platform’s flexibility, integrations, and ability to handle complex gift processing and reporting are making a difference for your team. It’s awesome to know that you’re finding value in the configurability and the tools we’ve built to support your work.

We also really appreciate your feedback about custom fields and configuration. It’s insights like yours that help us keep improving and making Ascend even better.

Thanks for being part of the Kindsight community and for taking the time to share your thoughts!

Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite on behalf of seller

See what 3 reviewers think of Ascend

4.7 out of 5 · Verified reviews from real users

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