GiveSmartvs
OneCause
OneCause: Direct competitor in mobile bidding, worth quoting against GiveSmart on both licence and event fees
GiveSmart
Mobile bidding and event fundraising for charity auctions and galas
As of 31 August 2026, GiveSmart's pricing is not published; the vendor quotes on request. Event fundraising software for auctions, galas and text to give campaigns, with mobile bidding as the core. Softwr lists it under Nonprofits. GiveSmart is made by GiveSmart, part of Community Brands, available on Web, iOS, Android.
Overview
What GiveSmart does
GiveSmart runs charity fundraising events: silent and live auction bidding from attendee phones, paddle raise and appeal moments, ticketing, guest check in and check out, text to give, and the payment capture that happens at the end of the night. It is used heavily by schools, hospital foundations, arts organisations and health charities whose income concentrates in a small number of large events. The operational argument is specific to event night. Mobile bidding removes the paper bid sheet, keeps bidding open across the room rather than at a table, and settles payment before guests leave, which is the point at which traditional auctions lose money to unpaid pledges. That is a real and measurable difference, and it is why organisations that run a serious gala rarely go back to paper. The counterpart is that event fundraising software is only valuable on the nights you use it. Ownership is worth recording. GiveSmart is part of Community Brands, the association and nonprofit software group that also owns MemberClicks and a series of other membership and fundraising products, and which is itself private equity backed. A buyer comparing GiveSmart against another Community Brands product is comparing two products from one owner, with the pricing leverage that implies. Pricing is not published, and is generally structured as an annual licence with event related and payment processing charges on top, so the cost per event for an organisation running one gala a year is considerably higher than the headline suggests.
What people use it for
- A hospital or school foundation running an annual gala with a live and silent auction
- An organisation losing revenue to uncollected pledges after event night
- A charity running several auction events a year that can amortise an annual licence
- A team wanting bidding, check in and payment settlement handled by one system on the night
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about GiveSmart.
- Licensing is annual while many buyers run a single event a year, so the effective cost per event is far higher than the annual figure makes it look.
- Pricing is not published, and quotes commonly separate the licence, payment processing, hardware and event night staffing, so the first number a buyer sees is rarely the total.
- On site technical support and equipment are usually extra, and organisations that decline them discover that event night is the worst possible time to be self supporting.
- It is event software rather than a donor CRM, so guest and bidder data has to be pushed into the CRM afterwards or the relationship built at the gala is not retained.
- Consolidation under Community Brands means several nominally competing products share an owner, which reduces the negotiating leverage a buyer thinks a shortlist gives them.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of GiveSmart
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- GiveSmartvsHandbid
Handbid: Often cheaper for smaller auctions where full event staffing is not needed
- GiveSmartvsQgiv
Qgiv: Better when auctions are one part of a broader year round fundraising programme
Pricing
What GiveSmart costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
GiveSmart
On request
- Quoted as an annual licence rather than per event
- Payment processing charged separately on funds raised
- On site staffing, hardware and additional event support quoted as add ons
- No public price list, so cost per event depends entirely on how many events you run
Capabilities
Features
Mobile bidding
Guests bid from their phones with outbid notifications during the event
Auction management
Item catalogue, packages, valuations and winner assignment
Ticketing and check in
Guest registration, table assignment and card on file at check in
Text to give
Keyword based donation capture during appeal moments
Paddle raise and appeals
Live giving moments with real time totals displayed to the room
Payment settlement
Charges cards on file at close so pledges do not go uncollected
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Is GiveSmart priced per event?
It is normally an annual licence, so organisations running one event a year carry the full cost against one night.
Who owns GiveSmart?
Community Brands, the private equity backed nonprofit and association software group that also owns MemberClicks.
Does it replace our donor database?
No. It captures bidders and guests at an event and needs to feed a CRM afterwards.
What is the actual benefit over paper bid sheets?
Bidding continues across the room and payment settles before guests leave, which is where paper auctions lose money.
Keep looking
Where to go from GiveSmart
- GiveSmart alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- GiveSmart pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- GiveSmart badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Nonprofits softwareThe full category
- Best Nonprofits softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Nonprofits software for
Compare GiveSmart with
- Handbid
- Qgiv
- OneCause
- Give Lively
- Raisely
- Classy
- MobileCause
- Candid
- SmartSimple Cloud
- CiviCRM
- InitLive
- Constant Contact
- Bloomerang Volunteer
- Bonterra
- Canva for Nonprofits
- Cause IQ
- Charity Navigator
- Candid
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for GiveSmart, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
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