Neon One Reviews

Pros
The interface is easy to use, very similar to comparable CRM systems in terms of flexibility and customization, but built for fundraising. The customization, in particular, is easy to understand and flexible enough to work for a variety of applications in a variety of nonprofits. I like the automation features as well, such as with donation appreciation and membership renewal reminders.

Cons
The single log on functionality and link with Wordpress needs to be further developed, I think. Sometimes the integrations with other systems, like MailChimp, are not as robust as I would like.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
From the beginning, their customer service was outstanding. In our research phase to find a new CRM vendor, we contacted at least 1 dozen different companies. We provided the sales people with an extensive list that outlined the data that we collect, as well as our database needs. Some companies looked at the list and upfront said that they couldn't provide what we needed. Others never bothered to contact us at all. Most sad, the fundraising software/donation processing company that we've been with for more than a decade never contacted us to let us know about their new services, they only increased our annual fees and decreased functionality. So NeonCRM emerged as one of our top choices very early on. Best yet, in talking to their sales person, and now our account manager, as well as their data consultants, they work with us to discuss and figure out solutions. For example, for many years we have used our database as a way to check of tasks in the data collection process. NeonCRM helped us to figure out if we needed a combination of data points or a process document to ensure that all of our users entered consistent information. That kind of collaboration and solution-based thinking has been immensely helpful. More so, given that we have planned for our data migration to happen over 2 years, with specific benchmarks. It feels like NeonCRM will be there with us all the way. One of our Board members is an engineer, and the way that NeonCRM does consultation allowed us to invite our Board member and our web site builder and designer into the meetings. That way we could all learn and develop solutions at the same time. Best yet, we've been able to work with NeonCRM staff, from sales to data consultants, who actually understood arts nonprofits, so they understand what to do with our earned income. Other companies were best for health or educational nonprofits, or advocacy & policy nonprofits, or some other kind of nonprofit. To have a team that understands the work that we do, the size of our organizations, the ways that our events function, and is willing to work with us to meet our needs (instead of trying to cram us into their system), made all the difference.

Cons
There are bits of functionality that other companies have that we would like. Such as the ability to tweet or make facebook posts, and track that information, from within the CRM, something that Nation Builder does really well. We would also like to be able to integrate silent and online auctions into fundraising efforts, but this is not something that can be done just yet. Finally, we would like to have our ecommerce products tied to their makers, something that NeonCRM can't do. However, they provided us with an API integration solution that will work in the meantime.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
Don't have anything we don't like about it.

Cons
Software is great. The one and only issue is Customer Service. They do not take live calls so issue don't get resolved sometimes for days, weeks and we've even gone months trying to get things fixed.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 1/10

Pros
I like all the ways you can classify an individual and partner organization, how it gives us the option to create another webpage that we can link to our existing site for fundraising purposes, and how it syncs with other software (e.g. Outlook email).

Cons
I'm still very confused about how to do email campaigns with a segmentation of our contacts. Also, it's beyond me how to fix the background on the campaign webpage I chose because I have 2 campaigns (a basic campaign and a campaign that has a specific time length). The functionality takes more focus to figure out than I often have time for...

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 8/10

Pros
The software has a lot of really useful features, like email blasts and the reports are really customizable.

Cons
The software isn't terribly intuitive, especially with reporting, and the training videos on YouTube are hours long. I also could not find the answers I needed in the help section when trying to customize reports. I learned more from the user forums than the actual help feature of the software.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 7/10

Pros
I have had my NeonCRM system now for about four months, and what I love the most about it is probably its elegance. It's like the designers sat in my office, watched me work, and then designed a system that would not only take care of the many things I need when working with our donors, but also thought of a whole lot more! The system is very comprehensive, and while it is quite large and will take many more months to completely master, it is consistent. This consistency throughout makes it relatively easy to learn to work, even in the beginning.

Cons
The thing I have found the most frustrating is that I run a Mac, and this system is more compatible with PC. For instance, I could not run the tutorials on my Mac, so I had to haul out an old PC laptop for my training webinars. It worked out okay, as I could be working on the Mac in the program while watching the tutorial on the PC, but we Mac users get frustrated with these situations. Later, I learned that the internal mail merger program would not work on anything but Internet Explorer, which is unfortunately no longer available for Mac. It would have been nice if we could have at least had Firefox or Chrome, both very commonly used browsers, as an option. This is not a deal breaker for me, but for the price and quality of the system, I would have liked more compatibility.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 8/10

Pros
I won't comment on the other features NEON does that other systems do as well - or almost as well. Instead, I'll focus on the factors that set them apart from the other players on the market. FORMS! - how can any org look past the ability to survey their constituents via email and then have the responses post to the database? e.g. How did you hear about us? a - k / What most interests you about our work? a.b.c. d. free form response / How would you like us to communicate with you? a - d Events! NEON is the industry leader in allowing users to enter info via an org's website and into the database. I have one client using NEON that registers athletic event users via their website - all the way down to the waiver release form via a digital signature. All that info results in a paperless process that posts to their website on the back end. Training - online video training is FREE - you won't get that with eTapestry or DonorPerfect.

Cons
The reports function features a URL for a particular report (dynamic too). This is is fantastic! But many board members and volunteers need to be reminded to access the url and it would be great if NEON would schedule the delivery of reports on an ongoing basis rather than the user having to schedule the delivery of the reports. A small thing, but one less thing the user has to think about doing.

Rating breakdown

Pros
NeonCRM has a decent amount of tools for automating processes and you can store most of the information you'll need about members/clients. If you/your company don't want to do webdesign, they'll set up a website for you. Kind of a one-stop shop. The Neon forum has good information for finding workarounds when you have issues.

Cons
NeonCRM's branding is that they're building software for nonprofits since they come from a nonprofit background. Cool idea, but I'd rather use a CRM built by software engineers. There is no easy way to integrate Neon events with a calendar on a webpage. The default is a list of events in chronological order. If you have a lot of events, repeat events, or events with different categories or audiences, this is not a good way to display the information. My team had to custom code a calendar widget that integrates with NeonCRM. The UI is not intuitive, which is fairly typical for CRM software but given that NeonCRM was built so much more recently than other major players in the CRM landscape, I expect a bit more. It is clunky. After the initial setup and launch, it felt like Neon wanted nothing to do with us. Their customer service approach is designed to limit how much you contact them and make it feel costly. I was not on the team that chose NeonCRM, but I'd have strongly considered a competing CRM like WildApricot or even Salesforce.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 4/10

Pros
I like that all the features are in one place. We are able to publish an event and receive registrations and payments in one place. Integration was slow but we are there. The Paypal integration is very nice.

Cons
Each component person setting up an area (IT, billing, Marketing) has a learning curve. Additionally, for the type of event, it would be better to be able to drill down registration types more. For example, a supplier booth that includes two people w/out doubling the registration. I am sure that there is a way to do this. Working through the newness.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 8/10

Pros
Currently, my favorite thing about NeonCRM software is their recent movement to update and improve on the software. Their informational videos are helpful in fully utilizing the software.

Cons
Creating campaigns and setting up an online store is very difficult and not intuitive.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 6/10

Rating breakdown

Pros
NeonCRM is very robust in its comprehensive capabilities to manage every aspect of fundraising, reporting, tracking, lead generation and just plain constituent management process. For Veterans Miracle Center Erie, the offerings of NeonCRM's full suite of modules was well-above our necessity at the time we implemented it, and at a cost that would make any non-profit cheer. The optional modules available for growth allows the VMCE to grow at a solid-yet-comfortable rate, with confidence that our CRM can grow with us. Additional features for mass-emailing and event management are just some of the additional options we look forward to. For those seeking to have organizational excellence, this tool will allow you to cross items of the "accomplished tasks" list every day and breathe a sigh of relief. There are countless videos, articles, and DIY options available should your organization not have the budget for one-on-one guidance from NeonCRM's support.

Cons
Filtering data down to a very specific subset of constituents, donations and campaigns for further analysis is key to the non-profit world. NeonCRM is very powerful for drilling down to mine out the gold needed. However, if your organization does NOT purchase the conversion support and general support, a person who is tech-savvy and patient ought to be selected to carefully read the very thorough SOPS and knowledge base articles provided by NeonCRM. It really isn't a complaint - just be prepared accordingly to either spend the additional funds for proper support, or know that you are at the mercy of someone to teach your remaining staff how to build and pull custom reports. Please note that the system does feature a TON of pre-fab reports, so you won't be at a loss even in your newness to NeonCRM.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 8/10

Rating breakdown

Pros
Seamlessly integrates event registration, social fundraising, online donations, volunteer scheduling, grant tracking and donor development all in one CRM.

Cons
Specific reports can be difficult to obtain. Trial and error to get the exact information you want. You also cannot create tickets for events-- registrants only receive email confirmations.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 7/10

Pros
It can do a lot in terms of membership: Allow new members to join, current and expired members to renew, membership discounts, etc. It's quite affordable, too, and the customer support seems solid so far.

Cons
Running reports can be difficult because there are so many possible data fields that a member can have. I've had considerable difficulty, for example, finding members who signed up--who didn't renew and weren't past members--between certain dates. It's probably just one or two fields in the report that I haven't included, but it's quite frustrating. And though the online help center has a lot of content, I've had to contact support several times because I couldn't find what I was looking for online. We set up our system in about a week and a half--significantly faster than the recommended timeframe. I have considerable experience with CRMs, and most small organizations would likely have substantial difficulty setting this up themselves. Most organizations will likely want to work closely with Neon to launch their system to its fullest potential.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 8/10

Pros
I did an indepth analysis of non profit CRM systems and this came out on top. We could not afford anything expensive so the price was right. It has all the finctionality we need so far. It did not have "installment due" automated reminders but a few months ago they added workflows which are unbelievable powerful tools to not just send out reminders based on various triggers but you can perform multiple actions based on the trigger. The communications ( eblasts) is very well thought out. In fact we are about to stop using MailChimp & save their fees

Cons
So far we have not had great success in using it for event registration and processing. There are two many payment screens and we had s few credit cards declined. But to be fair, we did not dig into the reasons. We reverted back to Brown Paper Tickets but are looking at other products for our complicated multi-table registrations.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
I've looked into several different donor relations databases, and Neon was hands down the best we've seen. The customer service was definitely above and beyond, and truly set them apart from their competition! The database is very user-friendly and customizable. I can't wait to full start using it!

Cons
I don't particularly care for the fact that you have to pay an additional cost for the extra training. I feel like this should be included. If companies don't have time to watch all of the youtube videos, or aren't great at being self-taught, then they will not be able to get the most out of the system, and will be more likely to cancel the services. If the customer doesn't understand the database and how to use it, then it will ultimately be a waste of money for the client (which means NEON will lose their business). Small non-profits like mine, who are looking to increase fundraising and donations, just can't afford that extra cost.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Rating breakdown

Pros
Operational efficiencies with the campaign web pages and the QuickBooks syncing.

Cons
Reporting - There are some canned reports and you can generate custom reports. However, the custom reporting features take some getting used to and sometimes are not able to do what you want. Dashboard - The dashboard could be more robust showing more information about donors and donations.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
The sales staff was extremely knowledgeable, responsive, and helpful. Once we made the decision and started working with the support staff I found them equally accessible, knowledgeable, responsive and helpful. It is very easy to find helpful and instructive written materials and video training modules to solve most problems. The program is fairly intuitive and responsive.

Cons
Exporting our data from eTapestry and importing it into Neon was a disaster. If I'd had any idea how difficult it was, I'd have paid someone almost any price to do it for me. Most of the problem is the way gifts export from eTapestry, but Neon did not have the ability to adjust for that. It took four months to clean up the data and begin enjoying the functionality of Neon. I'm "Old School" and living in the formal Deep South, so I have to make some adjustments to keep communications formal as Neon is developed for the less formal use of the younger set. But it can be done.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
I love that Neon allows for a great deal of customization in the account fields. As an organization, we have lots of specific information that we are tracking and Neon allows for this to easily be drawn into reports. Customer service is incredibly responsive and helpful. Each new update is a pleasant surprise because I have found that they significantly increase the usability of the program. The relationship function allows us to track the connections that are so crucial to our development process. The event-building page was exactly what we needed and allowed us to build out a 500-person luncheon.

Cons
Neon does not allow us to draw reports focused on the relationships between our constituents which would be very useful. Neon does not have a great selection of newsletter or email templates. Additionally, we have found that emails from Neon consistently go to spam. I wish that it was possible to transfer information from custom surveys to account custom fields. Same with event information.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
Full package offers all the options we need to organize and run our non-profit arts and education center. We need events for our performances and classes, donations are the core of our existence, the membership model is adaptable to our pass holders and we can track custom data about our patrons. The reporting feature is robust and works with Excel and Word. Neon integrates with our website and merchant account seamlessly.

Cons
It's hard to come up with many cons but the built in calendar needs upgrading to a more modern look. Some of the account fields are not available on all reports and past events need to be archived individually rather than in a bulk procedure.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
I love the membership and event management systems, and how easy it is to integrate with MailChimp. The price point is great for my small nonprofit.

Cons
I do not like the forms, even when customized. The buttons, fields, and fonts seem outdated. Also, creating custom forms is difficult. You have to switch back and forth between the Forms & Pages Section and the System Setting section, and as a non-tech guy at my small and scrappy non profit, I constantly forget where everything is and how to change things. The system should be designed for the "lay" user, especially for a database that is accessible to small non profits, who most likely don't have the money to hire a full time tech or database manager, but divide responsibilities between the ED, fundraising, and program staff.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 8/10

Pros
We've been using Neon for over a year and are generally happy with it. The biggest plus is that it handles multiple functions for us; we use it as our member/constituent database, our donation portal, our event registration software, and our social fundraising software. We used to use a homegrown Access database and had to manually input every payment that members made. With Neon, if members make a donation or payment online, it is automatically added to their record in the database. As a small organization with minimal office staff, we've found this helpful in saving time/work. We've found it very easy to print out mailing lists, email lists etc. for our mailings. (And we haven't even been using MailChimp, which is the third-party email program that integrates with Neon. We just download a list to Excel and then upload it to our email program, Vertical Response.) Being cloud-based is a plus; we can access our member records etc. when working from home, in the field etc.

Cons
As software that performs multiple functions, it probably doesn't have as many features as single-purpose software. (I.e. if you purchased software that JUST did social fundraising, it would probably have more bells and whistles than Neon's social fundraising module.) But then you end up spending more money and having systems that don't talk to each other.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 8/10

Pros
Ease of use Clear, easy to use screens Consistency across options - once I learn one thing, it is applicable in many different scenarios Online knowledge base and training videos Potential!

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10