Click & Pledge, the online donation tool for nonprofits that integrates with Salesforce, has really upped its game with a new platform called Connect.
What Click & Pledge Does Well
The functionality of Click & Pledge, both on the payment processing and on the Salesforce integration end, has always been superior. The money goes straight to your bank and the contact data goes right into your Salesforce— keeping everyone happy. Particularly helpful is the sophisticated logic Click & Pledge employs to prevent duplicates. For example, when Paul Baxter gives $100 to your organization every Christmas for five years, the logic recognizes that the single contact Paul Baxter gave a total of $500, rather than five separate Paul Baxter’s donating $100 each.
What Click & Pledge Used to Do Less Well
Click & Pledge generates its own payment forms and receipts, and the problem was that the documents it produced looked like relics from the 1990’s. The concern wasn’t only that documents were unattractive; many clients were concerned that the payment form looked so different from the surrounding website that people would hesitate to enter their credit card information.
Pictured below: The old Click & Pledge payment form
Now Click & Pledge offers attractive, editable forms that satisfy the needs of even the most discerning Development Director.
Pictured below: The new Click & Pledge payment form template
No More Portal
If you’ve been using Click & Pledge for a while, you’ll be familiar with the Portal. Previously, one of the problems with Click & Pledge was that some of its functions were configured inside Salesforce, whereas other remained outside in the Portal. If you wanted to integrate Salesforce, create a payment form, or report on any Click & Pledge data, you had to negotiate this portal (pictured below).
Click & Pledge has replaced the Portal with Connect, a user-friendly, intuitive administrative screen. This new, sleek dashboard is pictured below.
Connect also integrates the peer-to-peer fundraising functionality into the Click & Pledge dashboard. Previously, the peer-to-peer functionality was only accessible through a separate app. This feature gives your agency not only additional income in the present, but the opportunity to attract additional ongoing supporters. It’s named The Free Social Fundraising Platform, shown below.
Updated Security
Finally, the whole package is protected by a new and more robust security system requiring two-factor authentication. Your donor’s money has never been safer.
Initially, Click & Pledge only gives access to the person who originally applied for payment processing credentials. That person must then invite additional Users. There is no limit to the number of users, but the system makes it so that an outside party is unable to access your organization’s Click & Pledge account without primary user authorization.
Here’s a step-step guide for adding users:
Step 1: The authorized user enters her email address
Step 2: She receives a code by email
Step 3: She invites other users, who then receive an email giving them access to the account, mirroring Step 1.
More improvements on the way!
Click & Pledge assures us that more improvements to appearance and functionality are on the way. At 501Partners, we’re eager to see where Click & Pledge will do with the new Connect platform. (Disclosure: more than 20 of our clients currently use Click & Pledge.) In the interest of the nonprofit sector as a whole, we are thrilled with where Click & Pledge is going.
