Virtuous coined this phrase and wrote a few books about it. It refers to the software helping nonprofits respond to donors in the most effective way. The message resonates and Virtuous is a popular choice for nonprofits.
This fundraising platform checks boxes for nonprofits hoping for forward-thinking technology. A/B email testing and automation are available out of the box, as are interesting features like a map feature to geographically identify a group of contacts and personalized ask amounts.
CharityEngine offers all core fundraising tools, including those missing from Virtuous, and they are native to the platform. This keeps data from every channel and source in one place, making it easy to pull real-time reports and launch effective automations and fundraising outreach.
Virtuous Pros
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Forward-Thinking Features: Virtuous offers automated A/B testing of email, 9 out-of-the-box automated workflows, automated task recommendations, and map features.
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Basic Functionality in One System: The platform offers a CRM and donor management, as well as email, events, and text-to-give.
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Responsive Methodology: The core tenant of Virtuous is designed to align with personal donor journeys, which drives effective communication.
Virtuous Cons
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Inflexible Email Marketing: Donors cannot program workflows to deliver personalized email responses based on their prior actions.
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Limited Modules: Virtuous does not offer custom donation forms, advocacy, auctions, or e-commerce, forcing clients to find alternate solutions and cobble together a system that works.
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Difficulty Pulling Actionable Reports: It can be hard for users to find information in a format they can use in reports, meaning they export and manipulate data to make it actionable.
Why CharityEngine?
CharityEngine goes beyond the basics, delivering more built-in tools than anyone else—custom donation forms, advocacy, auctions, and even industry-leading e-commerce, all seamlessly integrated into one platform.
While Virtuous offers useful features, only CharityEngine includes native payment processing and SustainerIQ—proven technology that boosts monthly giving by at least 20%. With CharityEngine, you don’t just get tools; you get a platform that’s designed to fuel your mission and increase donor engagement effortlessly.
Feature Highlights
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| Best For | Sophisticated fundraisers who want a comprehensive fundraising platform to help them scale. | Organizations that value highly personalized engagement with donors. |
| Pricing | $$ to $$$$ | $$$ to $$$$ |
| Differentiators | A complete fundraising platform that puts all your data in one place. | The only platform to offer “Responsive Fundraising.” |
| CRM & Donor Management | ||
| Membership Management | Yes | Yes |
| Major Gift Management | Yes | Yes |
| Donor Pipelines | Yes | No |
| Sustainer Management | Yes | Yes |
| SustainerIQ - Subscription Billing Technology | Yes | No |
| Fundraising | ||
| Custom Donation Forms | Yes | Yes |
| Payment Processing | Yes | Third-party integration with Stripe |
| Multichannel Marketing | ||
| Advanced Email Automation | Yes | Yes |
| Text-to-Give | Yes | Yes |
| Direct Mail | Yes | Yes |
| Multichannel Attribution Tracking (including DRTV) | Yes | Limited |
| CMS | Yes | No |
| Events & Volunteers | ||
| Event Management | Yes | Yes |
| Volunteer Management | Yes | Yes, acquired VOMO |
| Auctions | Yes | Third-party integration with OneCause |
| Peer-to-Peer | Yes | Third-party integration with OneCause |
| Reporting & Analytics | ||
| Out-of-the-Box Reports | Yes (90+) | Less than 10 |
| Custom Dashboards | Yes | Limited |
| Query Builder | Yes | Yes |
| Other | ||
| Multi-Organization & Chapter Management | Yes | No |
| Case Management | Yes | No |
| Shopping Cart | Yes | No |
| Grant Management | Yes | No |
| Advocacy | Yes | No |
| Open API | Yes | Yes |
| Customers Say* | ||
| Pros | ““CharityEngine is a comprehensive platform that has proven very valuable to us. We now have a 360-degree view of each of our supporters — from giving history to event attendance, to email views and much more.” | “The most helpful feature of Virtuous is the clarity offered by their gift import process. It allows you to see a snapshot of the donor record you're adding a new gift to in order to cross-check previous gift data without having to navigate to a new window.” |
| Cons | "While they have extensive documentation in their help center, it’s a little cumbersome to navigate if you’re trying to find something very specific, and I’m sure it’s hard for them to keep it up-to-date due to new features.” | “Their project management tools, moves management tools, grant management tools have much to be desired. They sell you on using these with your CRM data, but they are clumsy and ineffective. Plan on using outside tools for those things in conjunction with Virtuous.” |
*Customer quotes from G2
The Right Choice for Your Nonprofit
Virtuous and CharityEngine have some similarities, but it is important to think carefully about what your nonprofit needs. Smaller nonprofits seeking basic tools, a pleasing user interface, and some bells and whistles that make fundraising more responsive will fare well with Virtuous. If your team plans on sophisticated multichannel campaigns or robust marketing automation, Virtuous might not be the best choice.
If, however, you plan to run complex multichannel campaigns and need consolidated, real-time data to monitor campaign efficiency and have the tools to pivot when things aren’t working, CharityEngine might be a better option.
