Today, we delve into 2 Saas solutions: Minsh and Evertrue. Both solutions can help your alumni association on different levels. We will see that depending on your strategic goals and your association’s level of maturity, one solution or the other can be more adapted.
2 different visions:
Evertrue is using networking to serve fundraising. The main goal of Evertrue is to make the fundraising process easier and more efficient for alumni associations and other non-profit organizations. To this end, Evertrue is relying on the fact that their clients already have an active, strong community. They provide them with tools to help them better identify social networking patterns among alumni that correlate with big donations.
Minsh on the other hand is using networking to build a sustainable community. The main goal of Minsh is to help alumni associations and other organizations better engage their members. To this end, Minsh is offering value to the alumni themselves with a platform dedicated to networking. The platform also helps improve the communication process between the organization’s staff and their members.
How do they work:
Most alumni know Evertrue as the community platform of their association. However, the networking aspect is not the central value of the solution. In fact, the real added value of Evertrue is the complex social media analytics software that allows the association to identify donors according to their personal data.
Givingtree, the analytics software of Evertrue, is able to search through LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or in your own database, collect, and cross-check the data in order to identify patterns among alumni that correlate with donations. The platform is even able to track the association’s social media activities and monetize the hits of their content in terms of donated amounts. Thanks to Evertrue, Managing your alumni’s data becomes very easy and can lead to a more efficient fundraising effort.
Minsh on the other hand is much more focused on the alumni themselves. Adding value for the alumni is their key goal. Thus, their community platform is the central axis of their solution. The platform is a mobile-first solution to help alumni better interact, network, and ultimately, engage. The app is white label, so it gets personalized for each association with its own identity (color, name, logo, etc). The app and its content are secured within a private and safe environment, to which access is entirely under the admin’s control. Minsh apps are focused on optimizing members’ engagement: thanks to their push notification and email alerts systems, members can not miss any information from the community. They can also easily get in touch with each other with private messages, start group discussions, or post a public shout to make official announcements. The app also includes a wide range of features to entirely replace traditional social media: timeline, member directory, event calendar, etc.
Which solution should you go for?
Your choice really depends on your alumni association’s level of maturity. These 2 solutions have 2 different goals, each of them involving different needs very much present in all alumni associations. The solution you choose should be in line with your strategic goals. There are however 2 important points that can help you make an informed decision:
- Your community size and engagement
Evertrue is a very powerful tool that can help you obtain more donations. If your alumni association is large and strong, and the association is sufficiently staffed and financed, Evertrue is the solution for you.
On the other hand, if you’re just getting started, have a small team to handle the alumni and your first and foremost goal is to better engage them, Minsh is an excellent solution.
- Your budget
Although Minsh only focuses on alumni engagement, their pricing is clear and very affordable, starting at USD 289 per month.
Evertrue doesn’t disclose its pricing, and I assume it is different based on the tools and the level of integrations required. I would assume that the price is within USD 5 - 10K per year, but that’s only a hunch, I have not been able to find any input on this. If you have any insights, I’d be glad to incorporate your own experience or feedback into this article.
| Evertrue | Minsh | |
|---|---|---|
| Community size | > 5000 members | < 5000 members |
| Level of maturity | high, very engaged | young, just starting, limited engagement |
| Goals | optimize fundraising | community development, member engagement |
| Product | a powerful social media analytic platform + integration of other services such as a community app | mobile-first, white label community app also available on desktop and tablet, fully customised |
| Price | not disclosed but assumed to be > USD 5000 | starting at USD 289 per month |
The opinion expressed in this article is my own. As a member of the Minsh team, I wrote this article in the most objective way, with no intention to favor any solution. If this article is bothering you in any way, I would be very glad to further discuss it in the comments or by email.