Neon CRM Reviews

We're a small environmental nonprofit with limited staff (4 FTE) and limited budget. We started using Neon about three years ago and it has proved a very capable, affordable solution. We use it to manage our membership files, mailing lists, credit card donations, event registration and our Birdathon (social fundraising like a walkathon). It was a HUGE improvement over our clunky old Access membership database. It also allows us to do all these things with one program, rather than separate programs for fundraising, event registration etc.

I also like that it is a cloud-based program, so if I am away from the office but need to look up a donor's email address or print out the attendance list for an event, I can do it from anywhere.

Of course there are downsides and occasional things that are a little clunky. Because it does so many things, there are instances where it won't manage a function as well as a program that is dedicated to that sole function. For instance, we would probably have more features in a social fundraising program that was ONLY social fundraising. BUT we don't have the budget or staff to manage multiple software programs and vendors plus multiple programs wouldn't be integrated like Neon is.

Our level of customer support from Neon allows us to submit help requests via email and get an email response. This took a little getting used to (there were times at the start where I just wanted to call up and get an immediate answer on the phone!). But the responses are usually very quick -- within an hour or two -- and on target. Once I got used to it, the email support system has worked fine for us.

I would definitely recommend Neon for other small or midsize nonprofits.

I've been mostly happy with the product. My disappointment, thankfully, have been very minor, and I can happily recommend this for anyone needing the advancved options that i did.

I wouldn't recommend Neon to anyone in fundraising. It is not only the volunteer module that we struggle with. In general we have a more limited capacity for pulling reports. The system tracks memberships and donations and soft credits. If you wanted to take a quick snapshot of all monies that have come into your agency between those fields it doesn't have a place that it's all collected, it's broken out in separate categories. In general the system is pretty and appears to have nice capabilities. If Neon was honest from the beginning we could have gone with a cheaper option and found something that works for our agency. Now we are stuck, spending thousands on a data transfer. If you are considering Neon, don't. Read their 'comments' in their support center - eye opening. This is a dishonest company with poor support and a subpar product.

Upgrading from an Excel donor database to Neon has brought our organization to a new level that I didn't anticipate. Beyond safely organizing donor information and easily exporting donor reports (expected), we now have a seamless donation process that allows us to quickly thank donors and keep in contact with them, showing our appreciation and cultivating long-term donor relationships (i.e., beautiful online donations forms, automated acknowledgement/thank you emails for donors, easy-to-use email marketing builder for donors and e-list subscribers).

Our overall experience with Neon CRM has been positive. I am excited to use the software creatively to diversify our revenue, and grow our social impact. Neon CRM was the exact "next step" we needed.

Above all, Neon CRM is part of our institutional memory efforts. Previously, we had one employee who kept all notes in his brain, on cocktail napkins, and in Arts People ticketing. I've seen other CRM interfaces, and Neon looks the best, works the best, and does its best to keep things simple.

So far, I have enjoyed the widgets and being able to see or not see what I am most concerned with at the time.

We haven't sent out our first invite yet - we are still getting things migrated to our database. I have high hopes that our emails will go out without a hitch!

I feel very confident using Neon. It has been a good fit for us, in tracking donors and maintaining their record of giving. Many are monthly donors, that are utilizing the e-check and credit card features on a recurring basis. We have seen growth in our fan base, and it is reflected in the financial support that we can see in Neon's documented record-keeping.

I used NeonCRM daily to manage memberships, events, and programming for a small nonprofit.

If your experience is anything like mine was, you are currently struggling with outdated software. You are having to maintain multiple databases manually in order to do all the things that are standard operating procedures in these fast-paced days, and you are working on a shoestring budget with a great but stretched staff.

For me, this is where Neon came in to help us. Is it perfect. No. Of course not. Unless you have a zillion dollars to house your own tech department you are unlikely to find absolute perfection. Is Neon, in my opinion, the closest thing to perfect for a non-profit organization? Yes!

Why do I think that?

1) Technology upgrades every 18 months (at the longest) which is almost impossible for a non-profit to keep up with while remaining competitive within today's business world. Neon is an ever-evolving system that shares functionality with all Neon clients; your membership database is always up-to-date with new innovations appearing and available to be customized to meet your needs for reasonable pricing (unlike other systems that, in my experience, started customization at around $25,000 a piece).

2) When hosting our own CRM on-site, we were responsible for maintaining our server; with an aging server and without a hardware specialist on staff, our data was always at risk, even though it was backed up. With Neon, our system is now a cloud-based system, leaving the hardware support to the experts at Neon. This was not only a worry off our backs but also a fiscal savings.

3) In order to keep up to date, we were maintaining multiple databases. We had our member database, our event database, our website member-only database, and our email database. This doesn't include the QuickBooks upkeep and our area membership lists that had to be maintained and exported separately on a monthly basis. Needless to say, this ate up a lot of time and was susceptible to human error. With Neon, everything was in one place (Please note we chose to use Neon's email because another service would mean we once again would have to import/export data and not have the tracking material on the records where we wanted them). This was a huge benefit. Having everything available in one place freed up our staff to work on other projects and spend time on long-term strategic planning as opposed to just working in the moment.

4) With our old system, we were the experts. We were all alone. If we wanted customer service, the vendor could sort of help but the service teams wouldn't take time to understand the way we were using the system and could only provide generic answers. With Neon, we have experts at the end of a chat or a phone call (depending on your needs and service package) who can log into your system, see what you are seeing, and team with you to find an answer to your issues.

5) With our old system, our volunteers and members had limited abilities and options available to them. With Neon, our volunteers and members have a greater level of interaction with their own records, as well as with each other.

So with all that said, my overall advice is get Neon. But when you do jump in also be realistic and patient with both Neon and your staff. Remember change is always hard. Expect that the transfer of data will be stressful. Expect that the first six months will include hiccups. Expect that in a year you will be an expert in NEON. Expect that your "sophomore" year experience will make it all worthwhile.

My experience, again, has mostly been positive. Initially, I encountered a learning curve but I am appreciating that curve now. I also appreciate the customer service I've received from Neon CRM. In addition to the private sessions that have been enormously helpful, I can join various courses on specific aspects of the software. I can also sit in on "Office Sessions" which has been informative. And it helps to have access to various tutorials that I can reference repeatedly if need be. All in all, it has been a very positive experience.

Overall my experience has not been great. In particular I have been extremely disappointed by the technical support or lack of support. We pay for telephone support but can never reach anyone or get anyone to return calls

We are a small charity and had never used crm before so we decided to jump in, primarily at first to register people for an event. It is not intuitive or user-friendly. There are training videos you have to watch before you can call in, but 45 minutes into them, they only answer the most basic questions. Forget customizing your forms or registration. We are not IT people who spend all day writing code so we find it difficult and sometimes impossible to use. The social fundraising has been a nightmare as people who set up a team find themselves unable to join their own team! I don't know what we're doing wrong but we find this really hard to use. We've tried our best for over a year now so feel like we gave it a good chance.

We benefit by being able to use the software to upgrade our database and access details swiftly. Connecting the events to our website has been especially useful, making our registration process much more efficient.

Overall our experience has been positive, and we would recommend Neon! It's a great way to organize our events and ticket sales, as well as track income from those same constituents and more. The volunteer projects and timesheets are seamless, so it's easy to tell how many volunteers have worked with the organization during the year and how many hours they've put in.

Since we adopted Neon this Spring, our organization's approach to data collection and historical information has completely revolutionized. Now, we do not have to reinvent the wheel every year. I am responsible the maintenance of the account and report creation and I could not be more pleased.

NEON has allowed us to streamline our systems from 3 different platforms into a single place to remove duplication of efforts.

I like Neon. The CS team is great, but, like I said, I wish I wouldn't get the "no service representatives are available" recording when we've paid for phone support. We also had to drop the Web integration. Only one support person at the time.

Overall good experience, and the staff has always been kind, helpful, and responsive.

The reason that I gave 4 starts for ease of use is for the implementation process. Other software would get the same number of stars because the implementation of anything like this is always very complex and takes a certain kind of person to complete. The system administrator needs to be very comfortable with computers and feel comfortable with teaching themselves how to use it and figure out any issues or solutions. The configurations, customization and importing of previous data can be difficult for someone that isn't comfortable with new software, or someone who doesn't take time to read all the instructions. The Neon CRM is working perfectly for us. One of the free webinars on QuickBooks actually helped us figure out how to more efficiently and effectively use QuickBooks. Our members love being able to log into the system and update their profiles and see their membership history.