Harness Reviews

User Friendly Platform that Doesn't Need Much Maintenance

Comments: So far it has been an overall great experience. There are a couple of kinks in the tool that once worked out will make it way better. And it would be much better with more email options inside the platform as well to function more a CMS. But the organization of the tool, the look of it, the reliable functionality, and the level of support is excellent.

Pros:

There was a lot of support to set everything up, the team even did a lot of the work on the front end for us. They followed up later with more suggestions for improvements. When I ran into issues, they were quick to help. Support is certainly a strong point for Harness. I also really like the addition of the "Round Ups" donations - which I haven't seen on any other platforms. The front end is user-friendly and the back end is clean and easy to use as well.

Cons:

It took a little while to get the change of how to set up and connect campaigns, impact amounts, and giving forms. It was a little confusing at first, but a decent system once you get the hang of it. Setting up minimus in campaigns does not pull over to the default donation form which makes it a little confusing on the front end and easy for users to get around the minimums (unintentionally). There aren't a lot of customization options for sending automatic thank you emails to donors. And not really any email options in general. The price is a little high (with both a monthly fee and a percentage fee - whereas some platforms only charge a similar percentage or only a monthly fee.

Helpful Support & Easy Implementation

Comments: Harness has made monthly giving easy for our donors and provided a great solution for a text to give option.

Pros:

Harness is incredibly user-friendly and is backed by an amazing support team, who helped us easily implement the tools for success.

Cons:

Because there are certain campaigns we don't wish to automatically include in our drop down options, that starts getting a little complicated, but the Harness team is always there to help if we try to get too advanced and make things complicated for ourselves. Harness does everything they can to keep things simple, which we like.

Don't let them pressure you

Comments: Not enough flexibility. Not easy enough to just capture donor info -- people are going to assume they have to make a donation first. Sometimes its nice just to get contact info so you can establish a relationship with your potential donors -- this is not the priority of this platform. We signed up the month before COVID. Maybe I shouldn't be so critical but it would have been nice if they discounted these months we've been putting all of our effort into our operation. I spent most of my time with the platform the first month.

Pros:

the coach who helped was informative. I got some ideas about what I'd like to do to reach my supporters and also some ideas that I would not like to do such as text them every time we have an announcement or we need funding.

Cons:

The campaigns are not that intuitive. I was under the impression when I signed up that we'd be able to capture donor information without prompting for a donation first via text to give. This is not the case. Many of the things they hail as features, I see as ways that would discourage people to give, such as keeping up via text messages (intrusive), recurring donation wall you have to opt out of in front of option to make one time donation, not easy to integrate campaigns with actual website (everything is an external link). $200 is a lot of money for features you can get separately, much cheaper.

Harness helped us quadruple our donations in 2 years

Comments: We've loved Harness from day one because the Harness team devoted such careful attention to our needs. They've regularly added or improved features, often in response to our direct requests. Admin is easy for non-techies to handle. Text messaging has really improved our interactions with donors. Couldn't be happier.

Pros:

Love the Harness interface and how it integrates beautifully with our website. The administration dashboard is well laid out and easy to navigate. The donation forms really encourage turning one-time donos into recurring donors, and this has really driven the increase in our donations. The customer support is beyond good. So responsive.

Cons:

Tax reports need to be easier and automatic.

Great for Roundups and Fundraising in General

Comments: We've loved using Harness so far and we continue to find more ways we can gain value out of the platform while they take care of our basic fundraising needs as well. We absolutely LOVE working with Customer Support (which is usually not the case). We worked with [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] who has been an absolute delight!

Pros:

We love the fact that it supports all of our fundraising needs and their customer service is the BEST! We initially started with Harness just to use their roundups fundraising feature. It helped us provide a new offer to our supporter base beyond their normal onetime donations. After discussing the platform with their customer support team (which is wonderful by the way!) we realized that we could use it for so much more than just roundups. We've now implemented the use of their texting feature, monthly giving and we also use it for our onetime gifts so that we have all our fundraising needs in one piece of software.

Cons:

There are still some small things that we wish the platform, such as better annual receipting. But, we've had a great experience when it comes to requesting specific things and Harness actually adding them. So, we're hopefully optimistic that a lot of the little things that we've requested will be available soon. Especially since they've already added some things we've requested in the past.

Simple. Easy. Fast. Results.

Pros:

Harness Giving is a donor-centric platform that is easy, professional, and engaging for both donor and our nonprofit. From the setup of the fundraising campaign, text and email replies/confirmations to donors that is built-in make it streamlined. Reporting is quick and easy because you set the parameters.

Cons:

Some of the reporting has been confusing, but am hoping this will get better using the system more.

Amazing!

Comments: Overall, absolutely love Harness and would recommend it for any Non-profit organization.

Pros:

I love how EASY Harness is. I love the excellent customer service - they're very supportive, personable, and informative. I love how easy it is to embed the donation code into your website and how sleek it looks. It's very easy to customize it. It's an overall seamless experience.

Cons:

I wish there were a feature to see the source of the donations (social, website, google, etc.)

Love Harness Giving

Pros:

Love how easy this platform was for me to set up and how easy it is for our guests to use.

Cons:

None that I can think of off hand, they are always updating things so it just keeps getting better.

Pays for Itself

Comments: I have been nothing but impressed from the first sales call. The reps have been helpful and just perfectly responsive. Initial integrations were fantastic, with one-page explanations to kickoff particular aspects of the platform. I know that if I need help with any campaign, technical issue, or fundraising need, I can call the Harness team and schedule a support meeting that surpasses the standard.

Pros:

The donor interface is incredibly designed and user-friendly. The elegance of integrations and presentation makes it look like we have a dedicated team of professionals running our digital marketing, but it's just Harness and our office staff. Harness has allowed us to spontaneously capture donors through dedicated campaigns, as well as social media and website platforms. Further, as a community intermediary, we have been able to nimbly launch various cause campaigns with professionalism and speed.

Cons:

There is nothing I dislike. Everything is functional and continually improving.

Excellent platform with outstanding customer service!

Comments: Overall experience has been awesome!

Pros:

This is a very user-friendly online donation platform and the best part just may be how amazing their customer service has been. [SENSITIVE CONTENT], specifically, is one of the greatest associates I have ever worked with - if she does not have an answer to one of my questions already loaded into the FAQ's section, she customizes videos specifically tailored to my question. She is very thorough and easy to follow. ...not to mention that her responses are always in a timely manner. I also love that the platform is constantly upgrading and implementing new tools to assist us with our fundraising efforts. Bravo [SENSITIVE CONTENT]!!

Cons:

To date, I'm happy with everything. The initial setup took some time but all platforms do :)

Why Choose Harness

Comments: Why Choose Harness?
Like many not-for-profits, Support Connection must raise all its own funds while keeping fundraising costs to a minimum. We are an extremely busy organization that offers free breast and ovarian cancer support services nationwide. Every donation and every dollar count. It is important for our donors to donate easily and securely. We want people to have the opportunity to share why they are donating since many of our donors are giving to us because we have helped them or a loved one.
Last year, we were struggling to find a product that was affordable and accomplished our goals. Then came Harness. We were very impressed at how they reached out and gave an excellent presentation. It was easy to follow and not full of marketing buzz words and fluff. The customer service continues to be excellent.
We made the wise decision to sign on to Harness. The product is affordable. We raised enough money in the first two months to pay for the service for a year! We love the ease of donating, the monthly donation option and the way the receipts include any message written by the donor! We like the concept of the monthly Round-Up program but our organization must come up with a strategy to promote it. Last, but not least, the Campaign option is fabulous! It is easy to set up and track the donations. We recently had a company sign on to fundraise for us because of our easy-to-use campaign feature. Reporting features are easy to use and give us all info we need

Pros:

Please read the Overall Experience for details.

Cons:

People do seem to find signing up for the Round Up Program a bit confusing. Also, some people find setting up a user account a bit confusing.

Partnering with Harness is a grand slam homerun.

Comments: Harness is one of the most innovative and customer focused companies with whom I've ever collaborated. I would recommend Harness to any non-profit organization. The program simply delivers! And we've not even reached our potential with what we can do with the Harness capabilities. As we grow, I know Harness will help us every step of the way. The monthly giving and round-up technology is amazing and provides our donors with a very accessible way to give that is very engaging.

Pros:

The team at Harness completely gets that a major component of fundraising is the quality of the donor experience (Ease of use, proper stewardship, and engagement with the charity). Harness is helping us build more than just donation forms for every type of giver, they're helping us change how we connect with our donors. Harness customer service and support makes us feel like they want to help us be as successful as possible. I've not experienced that level of service and support and commitment to innovation like I have with Harness.

Cons:

There's not much to dislike, but if we've ever had an issue with functionality, the Harness team has always been very attentive to collaborate with us to address the problem and make it better.

Up and Coming Donor Platform with interesting new features

Pros:

Easy to setup, integrate, and get up and running. We were able to have the first money come in and import our old donor database within a day.

Cons:

Still missing a few of the more integrate features that our last platform had, but nothing that wouldn't justify the money we saved by switching

Great product for a small non-profit organization!

Comments: We love our customer service folks. They are the best around. Couldn't do this without them

Pros:

We love using this product for special events and various community drives. The keyword features are incredibly easy and convenient.

Cons:

As a small non-profit, we keep a very tight budget. We're always cognizant of our budget

Professional and Easy to Use!

Comments: We love making it easy on our donors and that is what the Harness software does for our organization. The customer service level is also right on point. I believe the team members go above and beyond to help us get the answers we need quickly, whether it is reporting, setting up a campaign or modifying functionality. Thanks, Harness!

Pros:

I love that this software seamlessly integrated into our web site in a professional and easy-to-use way. It makes it easy for our donors to contribute to the organization. We also love using the "text to donate" feature and have used it on multiple campaigns in addition to having the code printed on our business cards. I have been able to set up unique campaigns in the system to support certain efforts and the customer service team assisted every step of the way. The software links directly to our banking system, making transactions seamless as well.

Cons:

We haven't found any issues that have been a barriet at this point.

Simple but, powerful!

Comments: I've been very impressed with the software, the customer support, the sales team and the benefit it brings to my organization. It's worth the time, energy and effort to incorporate this to your website!

Pros:

Harness is a simple software... but, very powerful! My experience from start to finish has been awesome. From the sales pitch, customized to me and my organization... to the implementation and assistance from the outstanding customer service team. This has been a great experience!

Cons:

The only thing close to a "con" is that some months, we just don't get a donor to donate online... but, that is probably more on me and my team... than on the software. The software works and it's simple to use!

Harness is a great tool for Non-Profits

Comments: Overall, I think Harness is great and I referred the software to several of my colleagues in the fundraising business. It's an overall great tool to have.

Pros:

What I like most about the software is the ability to provide the text-to-give option, campaigns, and round-ups for our constituents. Our donors have several ways to make a donation. I like being able to text our donors directly through the app.

Cons:

An actual Peer-to-peer aspect would be nice to have integrated.

Easy integration with amazing impact

Comments: We've had a great experience with Harness so far! The support team has been helpful and as I mentioned before, and the software has been incredibly beneficial. I would absolutely recommend Harness to other nonprofits.

Pros:

It's hard to narrow down the best feature of Harness, but 3 things in particular have stood out to me:1. Easy integration. I'm not a tech-oriented person, but adapting and using Harness has been an absolute breeze2. Round-Ups. Although we're still in the process of recruiting more Round Up donors, this is a really great way to bring in some passive donations, even in small amounts, from people that may not otherwise give.3. The website pop-up. Utilizing a pop up that people see the moment they visit our website, especially one that encourages monthly gifts, seems to have had a huge impact on our donation volume.

Cons:

The only downside to Harness so far has been that it doesn't integrate with our current donor management system, Eleo. This hasn't proven to be much of a difficulty, though, and it's understandable that a company may not be able to integrate with every other software out there.

Donors Love It

Comments: The customer service has been incredible and we appreciate that the system makes monthly donations easy.

Pros:

Through Harness, we are able to easily communicate with our donors through engaging text messages, giving them live updates on our work. This has been a fantastic stewardship tool for us. Donors also love that they can log into their account and capture all of their tax information right away when they need it.

Cons:

We use DonorPerfect for our CRM and the one challenge we have had with Harness importing directly into DonorPerfect has been the duplicates. We regularly have to check for duplicates, as Harness use the email address as the unique identifier, whereas DonorPerfect uses the Donor ID as the unique identifier. When a donor changes their email address in Harness, it creates a duplicate record for them in DonorPerfect. Our team has to stay on top of this.

Harness is user friendly!

Comments: I like the real time giving piece.

Pros:

Harness is really user friendly, anyone that uses a computer can figure it out quickly. The dashboard basically does all the work for us!

Cons:

There isn't a permanent option for the donor to pay the full cc fee.

Ease of Harness

Pros:

I love the support that Harness provides. I am amazed at how quick and helpful the online chat is. Also, it is very easy to self-navigate.

Cons:

I would like to see more features for Events.

A new way

Comments: This software removes the Covid-19 barriers I was running into. I now have the ability to engage donors without having to put anyone's health or job site at risk.

Pros:

While it is EXTREMELY affordable, the text to "keyword" and round-up options are game changers. So much in life is becoming subscription based...why not non profit funding also. With Harness I now have the tools to access folks in a "modern" way.

Cons:

Running a small shop means it's me doing everything. I would like to have has a few more pre-made templates to get me started.

This software facilitates positive change for nonprofits who fundraise!

Comments: We have worked and recommended Harness to our clients who want to make an impact in the area of digital fundraising since 2017. We continually recommend the firm because their values and culture align with ours in terms of placing the donor at the center of all processes. This makes the software intuitive and easy to use. The product also is attractive to nonprofit clients because it does not require an annual contract which allows consumers to see the value from month to month.

Pros:

The product has a depth of features for the price which creates value for the nonprofits we work with.

Cons:

None at this time. We only wish more nonprofits knew about how the software can create a better donor experience and positive returns utilizing this software.

Wonderful Platform!

Comments: I love it. I would recommended to ANYONE looking to find a platform with ease of access to donors.

Pros:

I love the accessibility of this platform. Not only is it simple to use, but if you do need help, the help center is always there for you! I love being able to see/ utilize my donors in real time.

Cons:

N/a! I love everything. This platform is superior!

A game changer for our school

Pros:

Oak Creek Academy started out 2023 with a goal to build individual giving from the ground up to support scholarship opportunities for at-risk students. Harness exceed all expectations and we have awarded more than 4 scholarships since this year thanks to Harness proceeds.

Cons:

No cons - We love Harness!!! Anytime we run into a barrier or pain-point, their support team helps us power through.