ToucanTech Reviews

So happy we made the switch to Toucan Tech!

Comments: We are finding the Toucan Tech team an absolute joy to deal with. They know their stuff and are incredibly responsive and customer-focussed. I couldn't be happier that we have made the switch.

Pros:

Having everything integrated in one system has radically improved our working processes. I have a very small team and reducing our admin load means we can spend more of our time doing the really important stuff like meeting donors and creating inspiring campaigns - which is also what we enjoy most.

Cons:

We probably weren't fully prepared for the workload involved in verifying new members to the online community and this has made us review exactly when we fully launch the portal to our whole alumni community.

Alternatives Considered: Potentiality, Graduway and AlumNet

Reasons for Choosing ToucanTech: We found RE too complex for our needs and also lacking in other areas (i.e. alumni relations and events). It felt like we needed a data expert on the team in order to gain proper reporting value from it and this was never going to be an option. I also grew increasingly frustrated with the time it was taking to rollout full functionality to NXT. We had already made the decision to move before news came out of their data breach in 2020, but their handling of that situation made me even more certain we had made the right decision.

Reasons for Switching to ToucanTech: Having one integrated system definitely appealed. TT also offered great value for money and seemed the slickest product which was best suited to our needs.

A user-friendly one-stop solution for alumni communications, database, fundraising and website portal.

Comments: ToucanTech is a great product with a user-friendly front-end and back-end interface which is far better than other providers. I enjoy working with the helpful and knowledgeable support and data teams and would recommend Toucantech to anyone looking for a one-stop solution for alumni communications, database management, fundraising and dedicated alumni website portal.

Pros:

ToucanTech has made a huge positive difference on the school’s alumni relations, particularly through the well-designed email templates and database. The filters have a great user interface and are easy to use, especially for anyone with little/no database management experience. There is lots of training available via the support website, online training and events and overall, I’d say using Toucantech is fairly intuitive.

Cons:

I don’t have any negatives. My role is mostly marketing as well as covering alumni/development within a medium-sized school, so given the limitations on my time I’d say the only downside is knowing that there are so many useful modules and features available but I mostly use the basic functionalities.

Good for medium sized organisations

Comments: Amazing customer service

Pros:

Record filter options + galleries interface

Cons:

Design hub for newsletters is a bit clunky

Alternatives Considered: Graduway

Reasons for Switching to ToucanTech: Price

A pleasure to work with

Comments: I'm very pleased with my overall experience and would happily recommend ToucanTech!

Pros:

I love that ToucanTech are quick to respond to any queries I might have with everything from day to day matters and more complex situations like our fundraising pathway and event management. They are always encouraging and supportive; exactly what you ask for in customer support, if you ask me.

Cons:

The system is incredibly clever and is always being updated so my one draw back, if any, is that there are some functions which require a lot more time to get to grips with and require more attention to detail.

Alternatives Considered: Raiser

Reasons for Switching to ToucanTech: It was more affordable and housed all our needs - fundraising, alumni relations, data base management and events.

Toucan Tech Database, Website, Comms function and so much more!

Comments: The team at Toucan Tech did everything they could to support our site build. I was very keen to move quicker than perhaps they normally would, but they supported and backed me every step of the way. The support portal is incredibly helpful and I have found the support helpdesk to very responsive on the whole.
I have previously used Raiser's Edge, and this database is so much easier to use and understand - I was able to do most of the front facing site alone, and then use the included in person training session to drill down into specific elements.
I very much appreciated having one single person looking after our account and knowing that I could email them at any point if I needed clarification, and it was never a problem if it was something trivial or something I had already been told. Any tech issues were escalated quickly.
I'm looking forward to using the full functionality of Toucan Tech as the weeks and months go by and the developments they bring.

Pros:

Toucan Tech is an intuitive system to use with an easy interface. The reason I chose to go with TT was because of the multi functionality - comms, payments, website, database all in one. It really is a one stop shop.

Cons:

As with any platform of this nature, there are restrictions on things like images, you need to make sure they are edited correctly before uploading for example - once you get used to it, you just know that they have to be edited first.

Alternatives Considered: Potentiality and Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT

Reasons for Switching to ToucanTech: The one stop shop element that Toucan Tech provides and the positive reputation within the sector.

ToucanTech a breath of fresh air

Comments: It has been delightful. Sending mass emails has been a life changer and the ability to post meaning full article which our alumni can selectively look at has been useful

Pros:

It is a great place to store school memories and communicate with the alumni either in groups or as individuals. I also like the twenty four hour support.

Cons:

I can't think of anything. My experience has been so good.

Highly Recommended

Comments: The transition from our previous CRM has been seamless, with clear guidance and timely communication from the data and support teams. A really positive experience

Pros:

A logical system that enhances productivity, Toucantech offers an easy-to-use interface supported by an excellent customer service team. Highly recommended.

Cons:

It would be great to have more 'bite-sized' training videos to reference

Alternatives Considered: Potentiality

Reasons for Choosing ToucanTech: Ease of reporting and efficiencies. Consolidating tasks with one system - events , mail etc

Switched From: Access Server

Reasons for Switching to ToucanTech: Function and support offered by Tuocatech

Customer Service is Exceptional

Pros:

The Customer Service Team was exceptional

Cons:

Some design features could be more user friendly.

Alternatives Considered: Potentiality and Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT

Reasons for Switching to ToucanTech: They listened to what we needed and adapted accordingly. They have always endeavoured to provide what we need and if they didn't offer what we needed at any point - they would build it!

A really versatile alumni and development platform

Comments: 9/10 - I really enjoy using this product and as with many products like this. The more invested you are in it the more you can get out of it.

Pros:

It does everything we need it to do. Great as a database, newsletter facility, bespoke website, events & fundraising platform.

Cons:

When I’m not using functions every day it’s sometimes tricky to remember the source for alterations.

Alternatives Considered: Graduway

Switched From: Microsoft Excel

ToucanTech has been a gamechanger for us

Comments: Our move to ToucanTech was easy, and the more you use it, the more you realise its overall capabilities.

Pros:

It is an all-in-one system that we can use to engage further with our past students and donors. We transferred over 10,000 records, and each time we send an email out, our data gets cleaned up by people directly updating their details. The daily automated emails you can set up are great and the data stored is easy to access and report on. Their support team and the customer manager you are assigned are outstanding. They reply to your emails and are always available for a training session where required.

Cons:

I don't really have any cons; the only two things I think that could be improved in time are; when setting up an email ready for sending, you cannot send yourself or others in your team a test email directly from the template and the other would be to be able to add more than one picture in a news article without setting up a gallery. However, these are minor when you look at all the advantages you gain from the overall ToucanTech system.

An excellent, "one-stop shop" software for all your Development Office needs

Comments: Toucan Tech were extremely helpful during the decision making and transition phase and since we began using the software have been incredibly supportive and taken any feedback on board and further developed the product. We now have over 300 members of our online community since we launched it 6 weeks ago and the numbers are climbing daily. Communications with alumni are simple to use and look fantastic. Record keeping is also easy and efficient. We are absolutely delighted with the product and very happy to recommend it.

Pros:

One software for alumni relations, communications, donations records, moves management and online community feature Ease of use Excellent support and training Attractive user interface Continual expansion and development of the product following feedback from users Ease of migration from previous provider to Toucan Tech Commitment and knowledge of the product from all the staff from top to bottom An understanding of Development Office work and what customers want

Cons:

No major complaints - any queries have been dealt with quickly and efficiently

Best alumni website and fundraising database

Comments: This database gives us everything we need in one place. It is also constantly evolving and taking advice from customers to improve and increase its offering.

Pros:

It's very easy to use and the support Toucan Tech provide is very personal and they always resolve any issues you send. Having our alumni website, fundraising data and email manager in one database has been the biggest advantage. This allows us to much more effectively report on engagement, identify new prospects and link up better between fundraising and alumni relations.

Cons:

The initial move was tricky as our data is quite complex. However, the data team are very used to migrations like ours and helped us through the process. Any issues are very quickly fixed even when you've moved to the live site.

ToucanTech powers alumni relations forward

Comments: Feels like it has taken us a huge step up in managing alumni

Pros:

Database management and ability to track donations and produce appropriate reports.

Cons:

Have run into some technical issues that needed support's help

Alternatives Considered: Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT

Reasons for Choosing ToucanTech: Intouch lacked what we needed to go forward

Switched From: InTouch Tool

Reasons for Switching to ToucanTech: Felt like a much more modern product build for web browser access, with better user management.

Great product with multiple benefits

Comments: Really supportive team, quick to respond to queries and a very thorough onboarding. Our community are loving it!

Pros:

Database management and growth. Enabling us to utilise content to attract our community to engage with us further. A virtuous circle.

Cons:

Some of the user journeys could be further refined but I know the product team work continually on this with new improvements all the time.

Alternatives Considered: Graduway

Reasons for Switching to ToucanTech: Toucantech more suites to our community. Kore personalisation options in design.

Impressed and pleased with Toucan Tech for our school alumni online portal and database

Comments: Really fantastic - great database, online portal and brilliant customer service.

Pros:

I have used a number of member databases with online portals in my time in alumni relations and by a long stretch, Toucan Tech is the most intuitive and easy to use. It looks lovely with all the different colours and is clear and not overly complicated. If you can't figure something out initially , there is a brilliant list of resources on their support website. When we have had the odd further complication, the support team have worked through the problem with us on the phone until it is solved. The system really allows the administrator to feel like they have both ownership of and a brilliant overview of their data. Our alumni seem to find the online portal and interactive features easy to use and appealing aesthetically. When we have fedback to the support team that we would like a certain feature included, they have responded positively and actioned this when they can.

Cons:

There honestly isn't much to criticise! Small gripes are currently the list of member records does not come up with the most recenty viewed first, which I have found a useful feature in previous systems for instance if you working through a load of data entry. When you are embedding a video in a news article, you have to have a static image at the top of the page (and the video link beneath) whereas due to social media and Youtube users now expect to be able to click on the image and go straight into a video playing. That's about it!

ToucanTech Review

Comments: It has been an excellent product so far. The only exception is the app which I wish we had waited for as we are promoting half a product. We should not be paying for this.

Pros:

I like the user friendly platform. I think every organisation has different needs and TT are first class at customer service. We have not used it to the full, but are trying to engage our users and drive traffic to the platform. The database is excellent for segmenting and creating a pipeline.

Cons:

I do realise that I need to learn more on reporting to present to our board. I would like to see families recognised in the database for fundraising as we work with the family unit.

Great Software and greater support

Comments: fantastic, Our engagement with our community and accuracy of information is significantly better than our old Dynamics system which required very expensive and constant customisations as it wasn't fit for purpose for an alumni organisation.

Pros:

The overall SaaS solution is helpful in tht all new features automatically show up without any delay or work on our side. Donation and now membership management are the two most critical aspects of what we use Toucan for. Our communications strategy is also well enabled by toucan. Their support is second to none. Always responsive, helpful and ready to support Occasionally a design expert comes to us to show how they could help make things look even better.

Cons:

Toucan could have more payment integration to enable less costly payment methods like direct debit or bank transfers. Being able to mass update fields and custom fields would help remove administrative burdern. In general they are able to take on feedback and look to build into the platform what we need.

Concord College's Alumni Network - Powered by Toucan Tech

Comments: The overall experience is fantastic, and I feel that the more you engage with Toucan Tech's helpful support team, weekly emails, updates and webinars, the greater the possibilities become for your Alumni Network. It's very helpful to test out new features and understand how they can benefit you site. Any problems, the team are always quick and responsive to emails and calls, fixing or overcoming issues no matter how big or small.

Pros:

The design hub is extensive so you can really personalise your network, however at the same time, it is straightforward to learn and implement and helps to create a professional looking site. I particularly like the customisable layout of the homepage and the types of menus you can select. The recent update allowing drop-down menus is also beneficial in creating a more user-friendly network. Lastly, the content editor is simple and allows for excellent article-creation in no time at all!

Cons:

I feel there is further scope to boost engagement, such as enhanced capabilities to 'like', 'comment' and 'share' other users' content. There are often small bugs or technical errors when using the 'advanced filters' to organise records for emails etc.

How Toucan Tech transformed our ability to communicate with our alumni

Comments: Toucan Tech has enabled us to grow our alumni community, tripling the number of members we have online since we purchased the system. The package offered is affordable and the support from the team is second to none.

Pros:

It is an all-in-one product so we did not have to purchase a separate database. It is user-friendly making it easy to use and understand. It has revolutionised our ability to contact our alumni and store information on both alumni and current pupils . The support team are always willing to help and are constantly offering webinars and networking days. The analytics offered enables us to tweak our communications to meet our customer needs.

Cons:

I have nothing negative to say about this software.

ToucanTech for the Technophobe

Comments: As an individual who has never been in a role where I have had to use a data base before I have found the Toucan Tech software relatively easy to navigate. Also the constant improvements and their ability to react swiftly to software 'tweak' requests have made my job easier and me much more confident using a data base.

Pros:

It is aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate with clear and simple titles. The team are often improving the software and listen to the end users requirements. The 'Dashboard' gives and instant picture of activity within the alumni community and the statistics provided are clear and concise.

Cons:

I would like a spell check built into the system.

A Complete Package

Comments: The main advantage of the software for us is that everything is centralised and no longer disseminated throughout the school. We can create emails with the look that we want and confidently send them knowing they are compliant with data protection laws. It is simple to stay in touch with our members via the site or direct contact and there are a number of facilities available to them. We have increased our database tenfold since starting our site and we know that our members really appreciate being able to pop in and catch up or get involved.

Pros:

Not only does the software offer a secure space for our members to communicate but it provides a central database to pool all our contacts with all the relevant data protocols in place. It is easy to use with a handy dashboard in the ‘back office’ for an instant snapshot of activity and engagement.

Cons:

The software has developed as Toucan Tech have addressed the needs and requests of their clients so our site has grown with the software and if anything we have had to keep up!

Great product

Comments: I cannot imagine doing my job as alumni coordinator without it. This software has allowed us to enhance the alumni experience and meaningfully connect our community in ways that were not possible before.

Pros:

The human touch that is behind the company. From the sales representatives to the support team, everyone treats you with utmost care and attention, providing exceptional customer service. The product itself is very easy to use, you can customize and personalize the site so that it matches your needs. After much research I decided to go for Toucan Tech and I couldn't be any happier.

Cons:

There are no cons that stand out. There is a learning curve to learn how to use the product to its full potential but the tutorials and guides their support team provides are very useful.

Toucan Tech Customer Relations Management at Tonbridge Grammar School

Comments: My experience of Toucan Tech is very good.
We can now communicate with our school and alumni audiences and involvement on our online community is growing every day. Toucan Tech's customer support and other network opportunities is excellent.

Pros:

Over my twelve years experience of schools development and fundraising, Toucan Tech is the first software that I have come across and used that provides a communications and a fundraising capability under the same 'umbrella'. Toucan Tech is advanced, progressive, and highly responsive to user feedback

Cons:

Not much not to like. A few niggles to improve on but upgrades coming on stream regularly. The transfer of data from our old system to Toucan Tech, was more involved and took longer than expected. But Toucan Tech resolved all issues.

Intuitive CRM that has transformed our ability to connect with alumni and drive fundraising efforts

Comments: Thanks to Toucan Tech, we've finally been able to collate all membership records in one place (never been done before) which has underpinned an alumni relations campaign. This has also enabled us to run a 'get back in touch' campaign and really re-engage with our members, a critical step as we prepare to secure our future by fundraising.

Pros:

Easy design features to result in a professional looking website with no specialist knowledge. The ability to tag records to build up a comprehensive relationship history for each alumni member is great (and saves a great deal of time). We are just starting to the the fundraising module but so far it's been a great experience.

Cons:

Importing our database was a huge task but now that is done it's much easier. Understanding how filters work was a little tricky at first but after training and support it's now much simpler and v intuitive.

Toucan Tech new User / Administrator

Comments: The possibilities the Toucan system offers for everything from Event Management (an Eventbrite set-up), News Postings and Communications are only limited by the User/Adminstrator - i.e. me! I have enjoyed seeing ideas become realised on-screen.

Pros:

Being completely new to working with databases and similarly-based communication systems the most important aspect for me has been the great help from the Support Teams. They are always very willing to help; extremely patient; thoroughly professional and yet friendly and approachable at all times.

Cons:

Again given my inexperience in this area - and I find it similarly with Mail Chimp as well - I can't set up pages and the like in a way that seems obvious to me. Hence, I find the Support Team vital as I slowly learn what can be done and how to achieve it. Normally, I would have delegated such things to a competent professional. The Toucan Support Team has, with great understanding, taken on this delegated role whenever possible.