Keela Reviews

Keela has been highly responsive and quick to evolve to meet the practical needs of its customers.

Pros:

I like the simplicity of Keela however, it's important to point out that the simplicity doesn't compromise how useful the tool is. They've stripped down the CRM model to make it exactly what fundraisers at small and medium size charity need and got rid of all the extra widgets that just make tracking donor data unnecessarily complicated. We have also greatly appreciated the quick response time of the support team. Multiple features that we have suggested would be useful have shown up in new iterations of the product and the team regularly checks in with us to make sure that we are happy.

Cons:

The dashboard isn't the best. I would appreciate being able to customize it to be able to see the information that is important to you at a glance.

Very satisfied with Keela

Comments: Our experience with Keela has been amazing from the original sales presentation, to onboarding, to learning how to use the software, to ongoing customer support. Their team is fantastic and probably one of the main reasons that we continue to stay with them. The product is great but the customer support team is just as good. Always very responsive and helpful. Quick to listen to suggestions for improving existing features or adding new capabilities. The Keela DRM has also been extremely helpful to us as a small nonprofit because it puts every aspect of our fundraising, communication and donor management all in one powerful and easy-to-use tool.

Pros:

Keela provides all of the tools we need in one place. Not only can we manage all of our donors' information, interactions, and transactions, but we can also organize multiple donor campaigns, create various donor and subscription forms, send out all of our email newsletters and fundraising email blasts. Keela allows you to run just about any type of report that you can think of, set up multiple dashboards for monitoring various metrics, and gives us the ability to set up powerful multi-step automation sequences that can be triggered by various actions. Keela is very affordable and their customer service team is one of the best I've seen anywhere. They're very responsive and listen to their customers for new ideas, potential bugs, and much more. We are very satisfied with Keela and would highly recommend it to any other nonprofit that is looking for a DRM.

Cons:

There is not much that I do not like about Keela because whenever I encounter a problem or limitation, I just contact their support team and usually get a response very quickly. Probably my least favorite thing about Keela is their mobile app. It is good but is just a little limited in it's functionality.

A reasanably good software, with usability downfalls

Comments: It is positive, but definetely not ideal. The platform was sold to us as basic but powerful, in reality it is basic and need a lot of work, in some instances to get the basics correct (i.e. invoices, integration with payment gateways etc.). Keela lacks a lot of key features we already provided feedback on. We do feel that Keela priority has been in functionalities that are tertiary and not a necessity (i.e. have details of transactions going to stripe description, invoices being more customisable, being able to edit recuring donor accounts without having to recreate them etc ). Those can be very frustrating and we had went backwards in our internal processes, specially with accounts, due to the platform lack of basic business customisation, things we had in our previous software.

Pros:

Keela is happy to listen to customers. They are quick to provide support and the platform offer the basics needed.

Cons:

The basics are not well polished. Usability is a big issue and the navigation is clunky - we find ourselves going back and forwards a lot, some would be easily fixed with a simple "right click to open in new window" but that is not available. We end up using the export feature way more often than we should in order to get the data we need. We have provided a list of cons in the past.

User Friendly and Excellent Customer Service

Pros:

We love how easy it is for people to learn the system. New staff are up and running on it effortlessly. The customer service is also stellar. The team really listens to our needs and helps us find solutions.

Cons:

integrating our email provider with Keela's email function was difficult and managing unsubscribes has sometimes been a challenge.

Keela review to date

Comments: We have only just started using the software, so do not feel we have had enough time with it yet to review it. We have noticed a couple of glitches with the software which are unique to our two organizations, as mentioned earlier in this survey.

Pros:

We are very new to the software, so our focus so far has been on data entry and setting everything up and developing convention for entry to ensure consistency.

Cons:

We would love to see the ticketing software that integrates with Keela. We have been using TicketPeak and it is not a simply process to ensure we are accurately capturing contact info. One system for our CRM, fundraising and box office would be ideal. We would also like there to be a way in which we can issue tax receipts for each of our two charitable organizations without having to pay for two separate databases. They are essentially the same contact list, but donations are made to either or both organizations. It would be great to find a solution to this within just the one database.

A CRM that better fit our needs.

Comments: Keela and their team has been exceptional in their customer service and getting back with answers to my questions.

Pros:

Keela's features were designed with non-profits in mind (versus business-based designs from competitors) that allow for easier organization of newsletter campaigns, volunteers, and interactions with contacts.

Cons:

Keela 1.0 is rough around the edges in some aspects. For example, the e-blast editor is difficult to navigate on a laptop or smaller desktop screen as some text boxes or drop down menus get squished or pushed off screen, and pressing one wrong button could lead you to lose your work.

Simple, fairly comprehensive but could use some upgrades

Comments: Overall we have been happy with Keela. We chose it above others because we could send our emails and keep up our mailing list in the same software. The emails are somewhat limited but do the job. I am not an experienced computer person, so the software needs to look inviting and be easier to understand and operate for me to like it. Keela was easier than most we looked at.

Pros:

It is fairly easy to do the basic functions on Keela.

Cons:

I don't often have to pull reports, but when I do it is cumbersome and challenging. It is better than the previous software we used but I like to use the Tags to identify different groups of people and it takes a while to figure out how to do this each time.

Amazing platform!

Comments: Amazing! Keela is a wonderful system and is extremely user-friendly. The data export and migration process was relatively straight forward and the platform is easy to use for those who are less tech-savvy.

Pros:

I love Keela’s user-friendly and simple interface and displays. They also have amazing customer service!

Cons:

Unfortunately, Keela’s mobile set-up doesn’t allow a user to see all the details of a donation.

A Quick, Low-ish Cost Solution for a Non-profit that lacked structure

Comments: Overall this software has (or will be) a lifesaver. Our staff have had difficulties adjusting to the new system, mainly because there is structure and specific data points where before it was a mish mash of data in notebooks, Excel files, and Post-It notes. I would like to see some additional development devoted specifically to customization of the system. Keela is very much a rigid cloud solution with little to no customization options. Having the ability to control the look and feel of the system, donor-facing data, and being able to control what inputs are allowed from users would be a huge help. At the end of the day, though, Keela is a great solution for a small nonprofit who is looking for a quick solution at low cost.

Pros:

-Easy to onboard donors and volunteers (the difficult part was organizing the data to make it upload properly which has more to do with the administration of the organization that the software. -Immediate, flexible training for the staff. -Relatively simple interface. I say relatively because sometimes its almost "too" easy and some members of the staff overlook the simple solution.

Cons:

-I am not fond of the analytics tool. Again, maybe this has more to do with the fact that its too simple, but as an analyst I find it difficult to get the information I want easily. -We have had some struggles with the integration with other vendors-specifically MailChimp. After following all the instructions for both companies, we still cannot complete a good link.

Make it easy for your community to give back to your organization

Comments: Fantastic. Regular communication with supporters, easy online donation forms and seamless fundraising templates have helped our organization to grow exponentially over the last few years.

Pros:

Before Keela, we had all of our contacts on various spreadsheets. Now I am able to find our donors, communicate with them and allow new volunteers and donors the opportunity to get involved as well.

Cons:

I wish there were a simple option to collect simple information via a form without the donation links.

A fantastic value for getting your business organized

Comments: Customer service has been incredible. Prompt, helpful and definitely above and beyond my expectations. I appreciate the newsletters Keela sends out - they are relevant and timely.

Pros:

I find the software very easy to use. The customer database is laid out very well and I love you can track emails through gmail. The email creator is a wonderful addition and it is very helpful to have a newsletter generator built right into your database software.

Cons:

I wish the dashboard was more customizable. I would like to see some automation available in the campaign section - to have emails triggered automatically would be helpful.

Great functionality - looking forward to UI improvements!

Comments: We really love using Keela and feel/hope that we're on the verge of seeing an interface that is jam-packed with functionality and more streamlined snapshots.

Pros:

Keela is straightforward, streamlined, and organized. I love having donors and follow-up notifications at my fingertips, and the integrations are great. I also really enjoy the 'big picture' view of a campaign, through which I can see which emails we've sent, who has donated, and how much we've raised. Plus, the support team is awesome!

Cons:

Not having a mobile app makes it very difficult to utilize the software for our needs. I am often on-the-go with my team when I need donor information or to check on the status of a campaign. Also, I find the landing page to be lacking. The basic format (multiple mini-dashboards in one) is fantastic, but I usually only look at the box that shows current donations for the month. I think having a snapshot of current campaigns in one box, donor follow-ups in another, and maybe top donors or most recent gifts in another would be much more useful.

Great software for the price

Pros:

We love the Communications tools offered and the ease in which we can add forms to our website for registrations and donations.

Cons:

There is an issue with being able to link a business with the person connected to the business and being able to search by the person's name.

Good Program

Comments: Quick to respond to our questions, this is very valuable to us!

Pros:

Lots of users can have their own log-ins Reasonably​ priced Customer​ service is fantastic Easy to keep track of volunteers, donors, etc. Making 'forms' is simple FAQ section is actually useful!

Cons:

Sometimes​ it's a little hard to navigate. Lots of clicking to get to some sections.

I love Keela! is very organized, efficient and user friendly. I wouldn't use any other program

Comments: Saving Time, organizing how we manage our volunteers (I would suggest at Social Services to your industry category as it isn't there and thats what we do.)

Pros:

Visually appealing: good use of colour to organize categories and make it easy to find, images that help identify what category has what information. I had A.D.D and so many websites or programs are so text heavy and overwhelming and everything is shouting at you at the page to notice it. This program is superior in its use and look. User Friendly: I got the hang of the program easily. It is very detailed and easy to use. I like the fact I can email a volunteer and all the staff can see the email thread between us both. That is very convenient. My favorite is the interactions page. As I can see if there is a LOA posted, or if the volunteer only wants to volunteer in one program and not another. I am able to find out what is going on with the volunteer without reaching out to each one or calling a staff member as we all post our interactions in there. It saves me a lot of time and any program that can offer that is aces in my book

Cons:

I wish Keela could create a software program for inbound and outbound calls. The program currently being used is "iCarol" which is a great program, however it would be great to have another software option. Once upon a time Bell was the only company to monopolize the phone industry...now there are several ... Removing a volunteer: It is frustrating categorizing volunteer as "inactive" as they still show up with all the active volunteers, which clogs up the page. If you had a separate page as inactive (so they wouldn't show up with the active volunteers) that would make a MASSIVE difference. As volunteers honor their commitment and leave .. so we have A LOT of inactive volunteers with the active volunteer

Good "first-time user" system for basic needs

Comments: We had hoped to use Keela for grants and donation management, as well as the primary email blast tool to replace MailChimp and Salesforce. Our expectations exceeded the capabilities of the system. Still, I would recommended it to small organizations that are moving from Excel spreadsheets and other less sophisticated ways of managing contacts.

Pros:

The project management tool is exceptionally well done and easy to use. It's the feature I use the most. The online donation/payment tool is also very well done, easy to set up and manage, and user friendly for both the administrator and the donor/payee.

Cons:

There are some significant limitations in the contact management tool. It is not designed to link or associate individual contacts (persons) with organizations. This creates some difficulties in parsing lists for email blasts and analysis. As a basic contact list, it's okay, but not adequate for our contact and donation tracking needs. The e-mail form is limited. There are not a lot of design features. It's fine for basic messages, but don't expect to get too fancy with the layout and design.

Great for tracking and managing our contacts for our non-profit

Comments: It is a great CRM for our needs. It has increased the ability to share contacts and all associated correspondence and information. As we move to track our donations and volunteer connections, I think it will be an effective tool to manage and track them. I have also been blown away by the awesome customer service when I have a question.

Pros:

Keela is very easy to use. There is lots of support, training, and help available, both through a person, but also through online tutorial videos, etc. Makes storing donation (dollars and in-kind) and volunteer hour information easy. I love the smart list feature to tease out certain profiles and get some statistics. Being able to store correspondence information is great, especially for sharing the information with staff.

Cons:

Keela is very tied to Google products, which is great for Google product users, but is lacking for other browsers and platforms (i.e. Mozilla Firefox). A method to do a bulk volunteer hour/donation input within Keela would be great. The spreadsheets for doing this are a bit confusing.

We love Keela!

Comments: Keela has fundamentally changed how I manage my organization's donors and how I communicate with our community. The interface is so easy to use and affordable for a small community museum like ours.

Pros:

I love that Keela is Canadian based and offers a complete cloud-based CMS and donor management system. It's a great value for the money and their onboarding and customer service are fantastic. I know the name of the person who helps me when I run into problems.

Cons:

Some features are still in development. I'd like to be able to customize receipts and automatic replies a little more than currently offered. However, Keela's development portal makes it easy to submit recommendations and see what's next for product roll out.

Vertile Foundation

Comments: It's been good. One other thing, your [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] offered to donate money to us when we first signed up. This never happened and we weren't credited that amount either. It would be nice to get that as a credit for next year.

Pros:

It's very easy to use. I really like that we can put in recurring donations easily.

Cons:

Right now, we're mainly using this software to help with time-consuming tasks like sending tax receipts. It would be really helpful if you had a very customizable template for these letters. I would only like to show the necessary info - date, amount and customer name. They don't need anything else from the database and if it's messy and include too much info, we'll have to do it manually. Also, we prefer to not to put dates in there, so it would be nice to send a receipt that a cumulative amount for the year or one that lists out all of the dates and amounts. Some people want all of the amounts and dates but 95% don't. As we start using Keela more for targeting larger donors, your reporting features will be nice. It would be great to see top donors by year and then compare them by year. This allows us to see if someone is donating more or less than usual. This also helps us identify potential larger donors. You have a total donations amount listed in the contact summary. It would be nice to have a list by year for the last 3 years so we can easily see a trend and a report that shows this would also be great.

Pros and Cons of Keela

Comments: This program is great. I'm only 6 months into this program. I would reccomend this to others. But it will take time to learn how to run it properly. I am still learning.

Pros:

Its easy to enter the contacts. Once you set up an e-blast, its easy to choose the recipients. Once you learn to create the e-blast letter, it looks great.

Cons:

It can be difficult to log in. It will redirect me from log-in to setting up a new account. It can be challenging to learn how to work the e-blast letters and setting up the campaign. Its difficult to get answers quickly. It takes a while to reach someone, and it usually is only email communication. It can be difficult to create the email body for e-blasts.

Great for Overstretched Staff and Good Value

Pros:

Keela's simple design makes project management and customer relationship management very easy and for the value it cannot be beat. I would recommend Keela to any young start-up organization where principals are doing multiple tasks yet need an easy platform for synchronizing information and tasks.

Cons:

I would prefer that the reporting function be simpler and more flexible. I have been unable to run some reports currently.

Good value for the money!

Comments: We made the switch from an overpriced, under-utilized database software to Keela. The switch pretty smooth, not without a few learning moments, but all the data was imported. It meets our needs for receiving and tracking donations, receipting, e-blasts, reporting, and it comes with an affordable price tag! Customer support has been great. Overall, we are very happy with the software after using it for 6+months.

Pros:

The software is straightforward, fairly intuitive and does most of what we need it to do. The setup for donations through the software was simple. The email platform saves us from having to pay for a separate email service. Most of all, I appreciate the helpful customer support. They answer questions in a timely fashion and have made the overall experience really good!

Cons:

The sidebar is limited and should include a quicker link to things like donations, e-blast, etc. In order to use the CRM platform, I have to click through 3 pages to put in a note about a donor. Adding some quicker links for this, including putting an interaction link on the "+" at the top of the page would up my rating of the software.

Great for a small to medium sized nonprofit

Comments: Fabulous and very responsive team.

Pros:

The contact management piece is very easy to use--especially the import process. It provides for a way to quickly spot duplicates. The value for money is great especially for a small nonprofit that is starting to become more strategic with its fundraising. In fact, after using this for a year, I can't imagine how we managed without a searchable donor database. The contacts tool is tied in with eblasts so you can note all interactions with each contact, electronic or otherwise.

Cons:

The eblast tool for newsletters is pretty limited. It's a limited pallet so to speak. The keela team has taken our feedback and released upgrades to the tool but there's still some ways to go before making it truly user friendly.

Great Option for Beginning Non Profits

Comments: Overall, I've most enjoyed the amazing customer service with Keela!

Pros:

Keela offers what we as a small non-profit need without all the overwhelming features that others have and at the best price.

Cons:

Keela is great for what we need but still lacks many necessary features other software programs offer.

A great CRM!

Pros:

What I really like about Keela is the organization. It offers many tools for CRM management that benefit organizations with small teams like ours. The best tool in Keela is the Projects Tab, Keela Forms, and Email Blasts.

Cons:

This software does lack integrations with certain software; some that are highly important. I also believe their email blast section could use some upgrades to make the design aspect more modern.