Hi Shelby,
I hope you're doing well. My name is Rob Odoardi, and I am the Director of Advancement Data Services at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). I wanted to take a moment to share some insights about our experience with Almabase, which we began using last fall.
Prior to partnering with Almabase, we were using Blackbaud NetCommunity (BBNC), but we found the platform increasingly inflexible and lacked the level of investment and innovation we were hoping for. After evaluating a dozen vendors and conducting numerous demos, Almabase consistently stood out as the solution that best aligned with our needs. What impressed us most was not only the team's transparency about the platform's capabilities, but also their commitment to listening to user feedback and implementing real-time improvements. This was a significant departure from our previous experience with Blackbaud and other software solutions, where such responsiveness was lacking.
One of our first major milestones was launching Almabase for one of our largest events-Families Weekend, which hosted over 1,000 attendees. The event management functionality worked seamlessly, and we were particularly impressed with Almabase's ability to allow guests to edit or cancel their registrations in real-time. This immediate synchronization of data was something we had struggled with before. Additionally, the ability to print itineraries for attendees who prefer paper copies has been an invaluable feature.
In our post-event survey, we included questions specifically about the registration process. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and we were thrilled to see a 4.7/5 rating from over 700 responses. Since then, we've continued to receive excellent feedback from our community and haven't looked back.
Before Almabase, we were manually transferring data between systems, which often resulted in duplicate records and mismatched information due to name variations. This process was both time-consuming and led to data quality issues. Now, with Almabase's direct integration with Raiser's Edge, we can sync data effortlessly and have been able to capture an expanded range of data points as our community engages with the platform.
Most recently, we've implemented Almabase's event workflow, which has revolutionized our invitation and RSVP process. The platform now automatically sends initial and reminder invitations to invitees, saving us significant time and reducing manual effort. This automation has not only streamlined our operations but also allowed us to allocate staff resources more efficiently.
Looking back over the past year, it's been remarkable to see how much Almabase has evolved in response to user input. The solution has grown substantially since we first started, and we are excited about the future of our partnership.
This fall, marking one year since we first began using Almabase, we've fully embraced the platform. We now have all the modules in place-Giving, Communications, Forms, Communities, and Events-and while we're still in the process of onboarding the Giving and Communities modules, we are already seeing tremendous benefits. We're excited about the opportunities these new features will bring to our community.
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to continuing our collaboration with Almabase.
Best regards,
Rob Odoardi
Director of Advancement Data Services
Rhode Island School of Design
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Rob Odoardi
Rhode Island School of Design
rodoardi@risd.edu------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 01-10-2025 07:35 AM
From: Leah Richards
Subject: Experience with Almabase
Hi Shelby,
We are also exploring Almabase in conjunction with RE NXT. This is part of an overarching CRM evaluation project here. I'd love to hear these insights on Almabase as well!
My best,
Leah
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Leah Richards
St. John Fisher University
lrichards@sjf.edu
Original Message:
Sent: 01-09-2025 09:32 AM
From: Shelby Gould
Subject: Experience with Almabase
Hello, all.
We are considering the Almabase suite of products for gift processing, events management and alumni online community. This would be a major investments, and we are seeking input from any institutions (particularly higher education but welcome all) who have engaged with Almabase since their partnership with Blackbaud. Also if you worked with Almabase previous to the Blackbaud partnership and left because of a negative experience.
I know everyone is so very busy, but we truly need insight from peer institutions before we make this significant commitment. Thank you in advance. Wishing all a successful 2025!
Shelby Gould
Associate Vice President, Advancement Operations
Executive Director & COO, TWU Foundation
940.898.3861 | office
903.920.2415 | mobile
sgould1@twu.edu
University Advancement
1605 N Bell Ave. | Denton, TX 76204
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