Life before Almabase

• Multiple tools used across departments created silos, leading to fragmented donor experience
• Guests had to fill out their information repeatedly for each sub-event, often leading to increased
frustration and drop-offs
• High-cost tools delivered limited ROI—draining budgets while failing to solve core challenges 
• Sending invites and reminders manually for each event was inefficient and time consuming
• Guests had to fill out their information repeatedly for each sub-event, often leading to increased
frustration and drop-offs

“Moving beyond GiveCampus, we got more without losing on any key functionalities”

For years, the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) relied on GiveCampus for online fundraising. The platform proved more complex than necessary and more expensive than the team needed it to be. 

Shortly after making the switch to Almabase, RISD launched its first-ever Giving Day on the platform. The transition felt seamless—the team found Almabase intuitive without losing any of the functionality they were used to with their previous tool. “We weren’t giving up anything at all by switching over to Almabase. The donor experience felt cohesive. It looked beautiful. And it worked,” said Rob Odoardi, Director of Advancement Data Services.

‍

“We wanted a first and last system that consolidated all of our disparate processes”

When Rob joined RISD, different teams were using a patchwork of tools to manage events, set up giving campaigns, or send out emails or texts — GiveCampus, NetCommunity, and Mongoose. Today, RISD leverages the unified platform of Almabase to consolidate its operations for email, events, giving, and text messaging, all in sync with Raiser’s Edge NXT. This consolidation has dramatically improved team efficiency, eliminated repetitive tasks, and empowered them with real-time data they can act on. The workflows that once required constant manual efforts—such as sending RSVPs or reminder emails—now run automatically, freeing the team to focus on strategy.


‍

“Almabase has given us game-changing efficiency in managing large events”

Previously, different teams at RISD used different tools for each event, leading to inconsistent guest experiences. BBNC was inflexible and highly manual — from managing guest lists to handling check-ins and syncing attendance data. 


With Almabase, RISD now manages events through a single, streamlined platform, designing branded pages with advanced sub-event control that enables attendees to register once and access their itinerary. Check-ins, which were previously handled manually through printed sheets, are now frictionless with QR codes, eliminating long queues and reducing volunteer overhead.

BBNC would create records for individuals who aren’t directly affiliated with the institution— like a +1 guest, resulting in a bloated database. With TrueSync, the team now sets sync rules based on their CRM workflows, giving them complete control over the types of records (name, email address, donations) that are updated between Almabase and Raiser’s Edge. 

Since moving to Almabase, RISD has  launched 35 events, and the team has saved 10s of hours each event, and much more during larger events.


Results

• $158K+ Raised in gifts from the  giving campaign
• 60.94% Open rate recorded on campaign promotional emails
• 120,659+ Engagement activities recorded in last one month