The Benevity alternative for CSR teams
that care about the employee and nonprofit experience
Submittable is easier (for everyone!) to use and much quicker to launch than Benevity. Plus, we’re actively developing new features that spark deeper employee engagement and stronger nonprofit partnerships.
Benevity isn’t designed for how employees want to give—or how nonprofits want to receive
Benevity has cobbled together a huge platform with a ton of features thanks to a slew of acquisitions between 2018 and 2021.1
But it doesn’t matter how big your CSR platform is if employees and nonprofits don’t like using it. Benevity is known for:
- Making it difficult for employees and nonprofits trying to track donations: “They keep delaying the promised disbursement date without an explanation.” 2
- Making it difficult to find charities: “The search feature is completely useless.” 3
- Inconsistent and poor customer service: “We're not sure why they've made this process so difficult.” 4
Benevity recently bolted a grantmaking feature onto their giving tools, but their inexperience and lack of innovation shows through. Customers report limited functionality, difficulty reporting, and long back-and-forths to make simple changes.
Submittable is the full-suite CSR platform that employees and nonprofits like using
We’re actively building new technology that will redefine the employee giving experience and strengthen nonprofit partnerships for years to come.
Employees can give whenever and however they like
Employees should have full agency over who they give to and when. Submittable’s Impact Wallet brings opportunities directly to them, so they can:
- Receive giving awards for things like wellness challenges
- Search our database of more than 9.6 million vetted nonprofits
- Create their own giving and volunteering events
- Track all their giving and volunteering in one place, including all receipts for tax season
Simple UX that doesn’t add work to their plates
Giving and volunteering programs shouldn’t create more work for employees. With Submittable, employees get:
- Automations, like auto-logging VTO
- A simple way to find and engage with volunteer events, giving campaigns, and ERGs
- Integrations to meet employees where they work, whether at their desk or in the field
A trusted grantmaking platform
Our grantmaking tools make every stage of the grant lifecycle easier for everyone involved. Submittable gives you:
- A drag-and-drop form builder with options to vary forms across grant programs
- Built-in security and fraud prevention that doesn’t add friction for applicants
- The flexibility to create and edit forms on your own, no back-and-forth required
- Dynamic budget tracking and reporting, including funds disbursement
Benevity vs Submittable: Capabilities at a glance
| Submittable | benevity | |
|---|---|---|
| Grant application collection and review | ✔ | ✔ |
| Anonymized grant application review | ✔ | ✔ |
| Collaborative review | ✔ | |
| Ability to use different grant forms across programs | ✔ | |
| Autonomous editing | ✔ | |
| In-app communication | ✔ | ✔ |
| Automate review workflows | ✔ | ✔ |
| Funds tracking and disbursement | ✔ | ✔ |
| Database of vetted nonprofits | ✔ | ✔ |
| Employee volunteering | ✔ | ✔ |
| Dollars for Doers | ✔ | ✔ |
| Personal impact dashboards | ✔ | ✔ |
| Micro-actions and challenges | ✔ | ✔ |
| ERG and affinity groups | ✔ | ✔ |
| User gamification and leaderboards | ✔ | |
| Giving and matching | ✔ | ✔ |
| Automatic matching | ✔ | ✔ |
| Comprehensive reporting | ✔ | ✔ |
| Fundraising and donation collection | ✔ | ✔ |
| Connecting giving to employee engagement programs (e.g. wellness challenges and kudos programs) | ✔ | ✔ |
| A persistent wallet for all of an employees giving dollars | ✔ | ✔ |
| Overall Capterra rating | 4.8/5 | 3.4 /5 |
| Capterra likelihood to recommend | 98% | 57% |
| Capterra customer service rating | 4.6/5 | 2.9/5 |
| Number of Capterra reviews | 398 | 42 |
Benevity acts too big to fail
In 2020, Benevity became a “corporate unicorn”, reaching a $1.1B valuation.5 And ever since they’ve become known for: an acquisition spree, layoffs, and declining customer service.6, 7
Benevity acts too big to fail, but they’re failing their users on multiple fronts:
- On TrustPilot, over 50% of Benevity reviews were 2-stars or less.8
- Nonprofits don’t trust Benevity: “Benevity is terrible for charities—dismal service, harmful delays.” 9
- CSR programs meant to build community and employee trust are having the opposite effect: “I strongly advise other nonprofits to seek a more reliable and honest partner.” 10
Benevity is stagnating. They seem focused more on holding themselves together than innovating for users.
When evaluating CSR software, ask yourself:
Do you want a platform that peaked in 2020? Or one that can help you build a corporate giving program for 2030?
Submittable is the forward-thinking Benevity alternative
Here are a few more Benevity alternatives
We know we’re not the only CSR platform around. We encourage you to do your research and make the best choice for your team.
- If you’re considering Deed, you can check out our Deed alternatives page.
- If you’re considering Groundswell, check out our Groundswell alternatives page.
- If you’re considering Uncommon Giving, you can check out our Uncommon Giving alternatives page.