Sumac - Avis

User friendly interface and the customization feature "grow your own". Support staff are helpful and I love that training videos are provided as well.

I would love to see the development of connecting related emails directly to the database contact records so that the added steps of using the "communication" function were not needed.

Sumac provides a customizable platform for managing our programs and services, tracking communications and case management. We are planning to expand our use and utilize more modules and expand our use of existing ones. The software is growing with us as we move a team into an online Case Management model after 30 years of pen and paper. We have set it up so we master uses one at a time and have eased the transition of staff. This has been a blessing as I have worked with other organizations that have lost staff as an out of the can software full of bugs was implemented with little room for transition.

While for some the customization may be a challenge the benefit is huge. If you do not have someone to work with to complete the customizations there is an affordable option available working with the Sumac team.

The email component does not allow for, (or I have not figured out how to), multiple emails, so we only use it for mass emails as the responses can only go to one address.

Sumac is anti-intuitive.Functions do not follow a logical sequence. There never seems to be a video for what I need to do. Support has never recommended a video. The remote support doesn't work. One has to manage the telephone and manage the computer at the same time, while trying to follow instructions. There must be a better way. People learn in different modes, Sumac provides only one. Watching someone complete the sequence is not the same as performing it for a kinesthetic learner.

It integrates everything. With Sumac we can generate output to determine trends or targets, even deficiencies, by combining seemingly unrelated data. There's no data-based relationship we cannot explore and mine for fresh insights.
I like that it is held off-site so that we do not have to worry about additional data security. Of course, this also makes our Sumac data available anywhere, anytime.

Some of the modules have a steeper learning curve, but I don't see how that's avoidable. The biggest deficiency for me is that I would love an ap (application). Personally, I work with an iPad and right now I cannot access Sumac with that platform.

It is customizable to our needs (mostly). Some of the features we would find beneficial are not available.

We have encountered a number of bugs over the past few months in working with our trainer. She has been awesome in documenting and reporting them but the training time it ends up taking up in trying to find work arounds or confirm that it is in fact a bug is frustrating.

Excellent features and value for the price, especially for not for profit organizations who do not have a lot of funds but really need and can benefit from this software. Excellent customer support, not a long wait either.

Sorting and queries are complicated and not as automated or easy as I would like and there are some limitations.

Sumac is easy to use, their customer support team is accessible , and the software is affordable for our small shop.

We struggled to get used to the search function at first, though we're used to it now. I wish I could do a bulk upload of communication records, too.

Technical support have been wonderful! The Sumac team actually customized a search option to cater to our organization alone.

Add-ons can be pricey for smaller organizations, however they are worth it if it's in your budget.

Sumac is incredibly easy to use, is customizable, and the free support is outstanding. They are always happy to help!!

The only con I would say is that there isn't a built in email template creator, but it integrates with MailChimp and Constant Contact.

The system was easy to setup - very user friendly. Easy to change as requirements change. The custom support is very friendly and helpful. Training is a huge bonus.

Reports. I would like to create and save custom reports. The built in reports do not allow different optionss

I like the Membership and Donation platforms. Compared to our previous system it is very easy to update records, put in payments, and track donations with certain campaigns. Its also easy to run numbers for my director and give detailed stats.

There is not much to dislike but probably the search functions on the Contacts page. It would be great to have a search bar to search last name, organization name, province, etc...

A great way to manage show attendees, we like that we can track who has donated and who has seen performances and what dates; contact types are very useful, as is the search builder function.

Very difficult and time consuming to upload batch information, especially if we do it infrequently enough that we need to relearn each time. Not intuitive in that way, annoying that you have to go through and have events set up first before you can attach an email or campaign to them - not very flexible in that way and requires you to always remember how the system works and the multiple steps involved with each new data capture.

I have found Sumac to be the answer I was looking for to manage both clients and donors. After initial set up it was easy for my team to use and update information. The training videos are very helpful and available at any time.

Sometimes the glitches when updates happen, but IT support walked us through how to handle it and once we saved the process it was not an issue.

So easy to customize! I am not computer savvy and I was easily able to customize fields for a variety of programs and services we offer.

I find I need help building specific searches but thankfully tech support is always there to help me out.

The new reports are fine. The data entry is easy. I like that it is in the cloud. The telephone support is very helpful.

You can not export to excel. You cannot delete mistakes. You are not able to make custom reports, with name, address and donation amount.

The customer service was great; Brandon was very patient and kind with me and provided great support throughout the process.

The instruction manual was not helpful whatsoever and actually quite burdensome. I was given documents to help us begin our work, but they were scripts, not instruction manuals. Because of this, I had to literally work through a script word for word (even had to search for specific words), as opposed to simply an instruction sheet with headlines of simple things like "How to create reviewers... 1... 2... etc".

Further, the scripts informed me that I could watch video tutorials, but there was no video tutorial for Awarding Grants so I spent time searching through the videos and watching the wrong videos in the hopes that I could find this specific video. Only after I emailed cust support,I discover that the video was not yet available.

This was not only not helpful, but it set me back significantly. Instead of having an option to simply read step by step instructions, I had to continuously re-read and scan these scripts or email him for specific instructions.

Entering and managing all the contacts in the database. Being able to connect contacts and have all the history of each contact is very useful.

Lack of editing features for e-mail campaigns. The whole program lacks user friendlyness. It is hard to find easy ways of personalizing the database.

I can attest that improved efficiency in our data management and communications in the last five years is directly associated to Sumac. Most notably, it has assisted our strategies to more fully integrate audience development and private sector fundraising campaigns. When I recommend Sumac to colleagues at other not-for-profit organizations, the first thing I endorse is their terrific customer service which seems in tune and crafted perfectly for organizations with limited overhead and resources. Sumac support staff are responsive, approachable, knowledgeable, caring and willing to adjust programs so that they work for our organization, rather than our organization working around their system.

Nothing specific.

Software comes with loads of features including contact management, accounting, event management, and donor management.

Too difficult to access contacts, there didn't seem to be an easy way to find a group - say donors who gave once. I could always find what I was looking for eventually, but it always took longer than it should.

It's a good product overall. You can customize it to do what you need it to do. It takes awhile to get set up and going, but once everyone in your organization has been trained you should be clear sailing.

PCI Compliance isn't included which means each nonprofit is responsible for keeping up with PCI Compliance. This has been a nightmare for one organization I work with.