Firespring

Cryptologic Foundation

Pros:

I like how easy it is to use Firespring

Cons:

I have not come across a feature that I do not like, yet

Firespring Is Not So Hot

Comments: Overall, Firespring is not a user-friendly software in my opinion. I find it difficult to customize templates and features I know how to add in on Squarespace or Wordpress (for example, expandable lists) are impossible for me to figure out in Firespring.

Pros:

I like the final product from Firespring. The website is appealing and pretty easy to navigate.

Cons:

I strongly dislike the backend of this software. There is no visual editor mode, so you have to make edits, save them, and then view the page to understand how changes will look visually.

this is my short experience with Firespring

Comments: My overall experience was bad. Even though I was not the one using it all the time, I know that the lack of flexibility made us try other softwares and platforms. There is a lot of competition out there, and Firespring was just far from what other products can offer for a cheaper or similar price. We ended up moving our website to Wix, after also trying Wordpress.

Pros:

I did not like this software much. I used it a long time ago and since then we switched between other 2 products. I guess the thing I could not complain was its integration with our then ticketing system. I believe it was brownpaper tickets.

Cons:

Their templates were not pretty, and there were not many options to choose from. We were very restricted to do changes. We had to call their team all the time for them to do the modifications for us, and their response time was not fast. This was the major issue: the lack of flexibility and user independence.

Love Firespring

Comments: I love working with Firespring and their support staff.

Pros:

I love the look of Firespring for our nonprofit. And, the ease of making changes is amazing for a non-tech person like me.

Cons:

Scheduling events - it's just a bit more difficult than other aspects of Firespring.

Great for basic website needs

Pros:

- Very versatile - Appearance on user side is great - Lots of different format options - Customer support is very helpful and knowledgeable

Cons:

- On the admin side, it is not clean and easy to use - it sometimes takes a long time to find something or add something. - Very outdated set-up on the admin side

Been using Firespring for years and am a big fan!

Comments: I have been using Firespring for about 5 years at two separate organizations. I first heard about the company when I heard their CEO, speak at a conference. He is a genuine guy who cares deeply about nonprofit work, plus he had some great tips on how to make your website more effective. So when I needed a website upgrade I thought of Firespring first. Their design templates are attractive and modern looking, very simple, and easy to easy to use even for those of us who are not HTML savvy. In addition, we use the Bloomerang DMS and Firespring integrates into it beautifully, saving us from having to manually enter online donations or registration forms.

Pros:

Easy to use, integrates into our DMS, customer service is fast and knowledgeable.

I was skeptical at first

Comments: My organization bought a Firespring website after our Executive Director attended a free online webinar put on by their CEO Jay Wilkenson. The content of his session was amazing but I didn't think their website would make sense for us. I designed the original website for our organization and thought that their monthly fee ($129) was too expensive. I can now say that I'm happy I was over-ruled because I couldn't have been more wrong. First off, we were able to cancel a bunch of other stuff we were paying for: our Wordpress hosting account, our email marketing tool (we used Constant Contact), our EventBrite account (which I learned was costing us waaaaay more than I realized), our Paypal account, and the software we were using to manage our members. It all added up to nearly $200 per month. So, right off the top, we were saving $70. That doesn't even take into account the fact that we've increased donations on our site by 350% after just six months. And overall engagement is up nearly 500%. If you sign up for Firespring, take advantage of Firespring's landing pages feature and attend their webinars on how to use landing pages and optimize your website for SEO. It will change the way you think about your website. Take this from a converted,skeptic who prides herself on being a computer nerd -- instead of building a website from scratch using free WP plug-ins, look at Firespring's Springboard CMS platform. I'm able to do way more for my organization using their platform than I was ever able to do stringing a site together on my own using Wordpress.

SO much easier than a no-service CMS and SO much cheaper than a custom site!

Comments: Firespring is totally worth every penny (and as a nonprofit, we don't have a lot of pennies lying around). You will never find yourself trying to learn how to code a plug-in into your website. They can do it all for you and it your website is always up, always accepting donations, and always sharing your mission. The best thing about Firespring for nonprofit organizations is that you get a really functional, professional, user-friendly website without having to go through all the crazy expense of a typical web development agency. They get how nonprofits work, and there's always someone there to help you with the technical things. And if you need a little extra, they're more than capable of doing custom programming, too. Firespring has been everything we've needed for multiple websites.

Firespring Addresses My Online Needs

Comments: The Firespring Springboard is super intuitive and easy to use. And if you ever forget how to do something or you hire a new employee/volunteer customer support is amazing at troubleshooting with you. The event management tool is awesome for most of our events but with a few of my more complex ones I have to get a little creative, especially when it comes to reporting. Otherwise it's awesome to have one central place for website, online marketing, events, and fundraising.

Simple to use, simple to style

Comments: Love using our Firespring website for Lincoln Children's Zoo. The springboard is organized and easy to navigate. The content is fast and simple to change, plus, I can style the text and insert graphics as much or as little as I'd like depending on the needs of the page.

Launch Leadership

Comments: Firespring is always ready to help with updates and technical fixes for our website. They help with our issues and to so in a quick manner.