Luminate Online Rocks
August 18, 2014

Luminate Online Rocks

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Modules Used

  • Luminate Online

Overall Satisfaction with Luminate Online

Luminate Online is primarily used by the Communications department for PageBuilder, Email Campaigns, Teamraiser, Donation forms, etc. Development department also utilizes it to research donors, thank major donors, tribute pages, and development online appeals. It addresses our online constituents and ensuring that we are communicating with donors, volunteers, clients, and the general public that is interested in MSAA.

Pros

  • TeamRaiser
  • Donation Campaigns
  • Emails
  • Interests/ Group Categories
  • Pagebuilder pages
  • Sustainers

Cons

  • Import/Export
  • Merging
  • eTapestry,Salesforce.com,PIDI (Public Interest Data Inc)
Luminate Online has more options than eTapestry and easier to use. PIDI does not offer the same options and Salesforce you would need to add on additional apps from the exchange.
Definitely ask if the program is too robust for your organization. It may be able to do too much for smaller nonprofits. Currently we do not utilize the advocacy portion.

Using Luminate Online

5 - Communications and Development departments
2 - Communications Manager and Communications Coordinator support in-house Luminate Online.
  • TeamRaiser helps us connect to volunteers
  • Email campaigns help us generate additional funds and easy to use for End of Year
  • Donation forms are simple to create and manage
  • We use Teamraiser to create a virtual volunteer opportunity, and have been improving each year for the last few years.
  • We imported an email purchase group and created a separate group and interest for them.
  • Events calendar makes it easy to publish events quickly and update our website.
  • Not sure, it meets our needs right now!
We have had Luminate Online for over 5 years and are very happy with the support from Blackbaud.
  • Increased donor retention
  • Increased communication between MSAA and donors/clients
  • Streamlined process for sustainers
  • Automated receipt responders increase efficiency

Luminate Online Implementation

MSAA was happy with the implementation and has continued to work with the partner on other projects within Luminate Online - Teamraiser to be more specific.
Yes - I was not a part of the implementation process but it is usually lengthy, at least 4-6 months at other organizations.
  • Time
  • Layout
  • Website wrapper for pages
  • Email header consistency

Luminate Online Training

  • Online training
  • In-person training
  • Self-taught
Good details and explanation of various things you can do in Luminate Online.
Good video tutorials
Yes, some things were easy to learn from the FAQ.

Configuring Luminate Online

I think that it is just right for this type of product. There is only so much you should want to customize because it already does so much.
Be sure to work with a good implementation partner and ask questions before making any change to the system since it can change the whole thing.
No - we have not done any customization to the interface

Luminate Online Support

They are very helpful when you need them and answer any questions we have. However, sometimes during busy season, as with anyone, they get a bit behind which can be expected.
ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
No escalation required
Immediate help available
Support understands my problem
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
None
Yes - Yes, it was resolved within a few days!
We were unsure where to upload the information from our email append so we worked with our team from PIDI and Luminate at Blackbaud to help us import to the right fields.

Using Luminate Online

Very easy to use once you know the program. It can be time consuming to learn it at first because it is so complex and can do many things.
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Lots to learn
  • Donation Forms
  • Page Builder
  • Email Campaigns
  • Teamraiser - to set up
  • Import/Export
  • Custom Queries/Reports

Luminate Online Reliability

Luminate Online is a good product!
Do not have many issues with Luminate Online. Whenever we do, Blackbaud team fixes it almost immediately.
Luminate Online is a good product!

Integrating Luminate Online

Luminate Online is okay to integrate with but hard with some other platforms.
  • PIDI
Difficult and the integration is not seamless. Blackbaud purchased PIDI and did not create an easy way to integrate the two platforms.
  • Salesforce
  • Quickbooks
  • Peachtree
  • File import/export
Be sure that all of Blackbaud products integrate with each other.

Relationship with Blackbaud

I was not a part of the sale/purchase process
Blackbaud is fairly easy to work with and our account manager as well.
Not sure, I was not part of that process.

Upgrading Luminate Online

  • Bugs are fixed
  • Additional capabilities
  • Not sure, I am not in charge of the upgrade process.

Comments

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