CrowdRise

This site is extremely questionable. I raised funds on the site for Susan G. Komen Central and South Jersey. However, I wanted my company to match the donation so I reached out to Susan G. Komen to verify the donations with my company. After emailing them several times, I finally received a response only to tell me that they had no record of the donation. This was a donation that should have been transferred by Crowdrise's third party vendor which should also send a record of donors and contributions to the organization. Right now I am still trying to find out where the funds are after about 3 months. Although it is possibly Susan G. Komen is at fault as well, the customer service people Crowdrise have been responding with generic and vague answers. Find out where your funds are actually going!

I am pretty new to "crowd funding" and online fundraising in general. However, now that I am a Development Manager for a non-profit organization in Orange County, I am very involved with this type of outreach. I have been working with Crowdrise for a couple of years, and have had to reach out to them with questions, and they always get right back to me and are so helpful.

Just last week I messed up a page that I was setting up on the site (totally my fault) and sent an email asking for assistance. Their customer service rep responded in less than 5 minutes, with not only an answer, but they had actually already fixed the problem FOR ME!

This blew me away. They are obviously super human, or jacked up on energy drinks or something! Either way, I am now dubbing them the "Nordstrom of Crowdsourcing Sites!"

So grateful that I needed to stop and truly say... thank you Crowdrise!

Tracy, Costa Mesa, CA

Hello,
I am leaving this review here in case there is a Christmas angel in this corporation which would help me. CrowdRise purchased gofundme which means any issue occurring with gofundme is essentially a CrowdRise problem. I am helping my friend raise money for her son's emergency dental surgery. He has congenital rickets which leaves him in extreme pain and they have finally found a surgeon who can operate on his teeth. I have been raising money since the fall and now right before we were about to cash out the campaign the platform is missing. The funds are unable to be retrieved and her son has surgery next week. This feels criminal. It feels like negligence and abuse. I have written to GoFundMe 10 times in 2 days and there is NO response. I have escalated in to the BBB and their legal team but it is time for the company who purchased GoFundMe to get involved and help get our fundraiser back online so this poor kid can have his surgery next week,
Sincerely
Kimberly Johnston
Tofino, BC
Fundraiser which was deleted by GoFundMe:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/Dental-Emergency-Care-for-Sunny

Attached is a screen shot from someone named "Mac" at the company who assures our funds are still there but they are not. The whole page is gone including how to retrieve the funds.

I wanted to donate money to a non-profit but realized that the site didn't accept PayPal. In today's world, I'd like to avoid disclosing personal details. So I wrote to them and they replied right away. First, they thanked me for contacting them. They told me they were working to incorporate PayPal, and assured me that they have high security standards.

I haven't used them yet, but I always appreciate replies.

BTW, to those people who think they must donate, please READ carefully before you bash the site with a 1-star. You DON'T have to. It says OPTIONAL.

I understand that there's often a ~3% fee for credit card transactions (although I would like to hear that crowdrise has negotiated with credit card companies to reduce these fees for charitable donations), but where exactly is the additional 5-6% going? That seems like a very high fee for simply "processing" a donation. I'd like to see a clear explanation of what you guys are doing with your fees. People making donations on your side aren't doing it to enrich the middle man.

We had a friend in need, and lots of good hearts that wanted to help. In under an hour, I had a funding page set up through CrowdRise, vetted it with our friend and his wife for content, and rolled it out to a group of our high school friends - most of us hadn't been in contact for 40 years. Within days, we surpassed our goal, then a second goal, and a week and a half later, a THIRD goal! This site is easy to use, easy to track, easy to thank donors... easy, easy, easy - and the fee to use it was lower than another site we almost chose! (And our friend is so pleased with the outcome... together we did through CrowdRise what a few could not have done alone.)

CrowdRise staff cheered us on, offered help, answered my administrator questions, and were, in general, pretty spectacular. (Shout-out to Quintas, who was my sidekick for a few days there!)

This is one of the most exceptional product and customer service experiences I've ever had. I would use them again in a heartbeat!

I volunteer for This Old Horse in Minnesota a new, small non profit and for the second year I have easily surpassed my fundraising goal thanks to Crowdrise! This year when I sent out my birthday note I updated our non profit site and the founder started her own team page and sent my link to more of our volunteers who started their own pages! Thanks to your clear instructions the page is easy to set up and more important, it is so easy for our donors to use and they love seeing our pictures! Thank you Crowdrise for your quirky style that is really helping make a difference!

I would definitely recommend CrowdRise to small to mid-size nonprofits. My organization uses it for P2P fundraising. Technically it works smoothly, has good reporting capabilities, and the CrowdRise team has worked very hard to ensure that their platform gels with our org's vision and brand. The real deal clinchers for CrowdRise are value for money - a $50/month subscription gets you a great rate on donation fees (under 3%) - and the very excellent customer service. The representative who deals with me always answers my (many) questions quickly and helpfully.

Our grassroots nonprofit has been a big fan and a regular user of CrowdRise for 6 years. We participate in their annual fundraising challenges, plus we set up fundraisers throughout the year for specific needs, and our online donations go though CrowdRise.

The best thing about CrowdRise is the hands-on help. Ask a question, and they're on it. Have a problem with set-up? They'll walk you through it. Feedback is immediate and enthusiastic. They want you to meet your goal, and they have lots of great tips for making that happen.

Some reviewers complain about the fees. If you really want big expenses for raising money, try hiring a good development director! We can't do that, and neither can a lot of small, "impactful" nonprofits. CrowdRise is a bargain.

We'll stay with this fantastic group of can-do people. Fundraising can be a drag, especially if you don't have a clue about how to get started or how to follow through. It's a lot of work for your organization, and you do have to invest time and energy - but CrowdRise makes it fun as well as successful.

They wanted to charge $24.00 for a $300.00 donation, so i lowered it to $200.00 and the charge is $16.00 which tells me that they lowered their charge due to so many complains, is now 8%. But what I do not understand is why don't they have a flat fee per transaction if it does not exceed the $1,000.00. They are not a merchant transaction per say to charge based on amount. I wonder if they reduced 2% but is now charging it to the organization. I have donated thru justgive.org and they charge 4.5% and give you the option to you to add it or if you want them to take it from they donation, straightforward.