--- title: Blackbaud Luminate Online Reviews meta\_title: 'Blackbaud Luminate Online Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta\_description: Filter 65 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Blackbaud Luminate Online works for a business like yours. aggregate\_rating: rating\_value: 3.1 review\_count: 65 scale: '5' date\_modified: '2026-08-07' parent\_category: name: Nonprofit url: https://www.g2.com/categories/nonprofit --- ### Blackbaud Luminate Online Pros and Cons: Top Advantages and Disadvantages #### Quick AI Summary Based on G2 Reviews Generated from real user reviews Users appreciate the **organization of documents** within Blackbaud Luminate Online, enhancing their overall experience with the CMS. [(1 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/blackbaud-luminate-online/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1065081&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Users find the **clunky interface** of Blackbaud Luminate Online frustrating and not user-friendly. [(1 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/blackbaud-luminate-online/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2306391&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Users find the **limited customization** of Blackbaud Luminate Online to be outdated and not user-friendly. [(1 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/blackbaud-luminate-online/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2306394&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) ### Top Pros or Advantages of Blackbaud Luminate Online ##### 1. Organization Users appreciate the **organization of documents** within Blackbaud Luminate Online, enhancing their overall experience with the CMS. [ See 1 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/blackbaud-luminate-online/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1065081&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews ![Gwheyohn G.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Gwheyohn G.") GG Gwheyohn G. Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 3.5/5 "Great for intranet file sharing" What do you like about Blackbaud Luminate Online? I like the organization of documents within th ecms. ### Top Cons or Disadvantages of Blackbaud Luminate Online ##### 1. Clunky Interface Users find the **clunky interface** of Blackbaud Luminate Online frustrating and not user-friendly. [ See 1 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/blackbaud-luminate-online/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2306391&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews ![Gwheyohn G.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Gwheyohn G.") GG Gwheyohn G. Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 3.5/5 "Great for intranet file sharing" What do you dislike about Blackbaud Luminate Online? Outdated. very what see is what you get, but not in a good way. ##### 2. Limited Customization Users find the **limited customization** of Blackbaud Luminate Online to be outdated and not user-friendly. [ See 1 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/blackbaud-luminate-online/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2306394&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews ![Gwheyohn G.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Gwheyohn G.") GG Gwheyohn G. Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 3.5/5 "Great for intranet file sharing" What do you dislike about Blackbaud Luminate Online? Outdated. very what see is what you get, but not in a good way. ## Top-Rated Alternatives [ ![Bloomerang CRM](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/hd_favicon/bbbadb2cfe33347bec3bcdfc4544b51c/bloomerang-crm.svg "Bloomerang CRM") Bloomerang CRM 4.6/5(914) ](https://www.g2.com/products/bloomerang-crm/reviews) [ ![DonorPerfect](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/hd_favicon/97d98d389d1fa793bdbbdb50169fe1ae/donorperfect.svg "DonorPerfect") DonorPerfect 4.4/5(566) ](https://www.g2.com/products/donorperfect/reviews) [ ![Neon CRM](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/hd_favicon/055c9ab478d704cca7885bcd8db5650d/neon-one-llc-neon-crm.svg "Neon CRM") Neon CRM 4.2/5(438) ](https://www.g2.com/products/neon-one-llc-neon-crm/reviews) [ View All Alternatives ](https://www.g2.com/products/blackbaud-luminate-online/competitors/alternatives) ![Gwheyohn G.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Gwheyohn G.") GG Gwheyohn G. Digital Producer Non-Profit Organization Management Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 10/9/2025 "Great for intranet file sharing" 3.5/5 What do you like best about Blackbaud Luminate Online? I like the organization of documents within th ecms. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Blackbaud Luminate Online? Outdated. very what see is what you get, but not in a good way. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Blackbaud Luminate Online solving and how is that benefiting you? It was great for CRM purposes when we used it for email, certificates and ecards. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Our network of Icons are G2 members who are recognized for their outstanding contributions and commitment to helping others through their expertise.G2 IconValidated ReviewerSource: Organic Review from User Profile ![Verified User in Philanthropy](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Philanthropy") AP Verified User in Philanthropy Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 11/1/2023 "We are abandoning Luminate Online soon but should have long ago." 0.5/5 What do you like best about Blackbaud Luminate Online? Very little good to say about Luminate Online. Numerous other products have come into the same space that far outdo LO. LO has changed little since it was acquired by Blackbaud from Convio years ago. (You can still see the ghosts of this through out the site and in the url - secure2.convio.net). And because it was an acquisition, it is largely incomaptible with other BB products and not not been reengineered to work with them. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Blackbaud Luminate Online? Has not been updated in years. Is incompatible with other Blackbaud platforms (Raisers' Edge eg.). Data needs to be pulled and mapped through third party products (Omatic for us). In pagebuilder or teamraiser code continues to break when switching to WYSIWYG to source, so much so that BB advises not to use WYSIWYG. Donation forms, which are a key part of the suite, are archaic relative to what is otherwise available. Non best practices are incorporated into the forms. Users have to build them out from scratch and apply significant coding and styling to get them to look have decent and work to improve conversions. Email management is also way behind the industry. Clunky and awkward to design. List managment is all done through queries and imports from CRM to create audiences and supression groups. No internal synch to CRM to facilitate email automation. Support from Blackbaud in general is almost non-existent. They do not seem to care about their customers. Be aware of using Blackbaud Merchant Services and the very high rate of refused transactions. Existing users should run a transx report and compare the valued trasnction against the net transaction to find MANY transx failed for the most part because of BBMS CC validation check against CC address. If the address does not exactly match the billing address of the CC the donation is failed. Charities are losing thousands $$ because of this. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Blackbaud Luminate Online solving and how is that benefiting you? Peer-to -peer fundraising, donatsion forms, surveys (in past), Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerSource: Organic TT Tatiana T. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 10/23/2023 "Luminate Online is great for donation pages, gift receipting, email templates for E-Blasts" 3.5/5 What do you like best about Blackbaud Luminate Online? Blackbaud Luminate Online is great for donation pages, gift receipting, and email templates for E-Blasts. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Blackbaud Luminate Online? It has created lots of duplicate records and is not the best for merging feilds to spot pre-exisiting records. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Blackbaud Luminate Online solving and how is that benefiting you? It has capabilities to do the following: - create donation pages - gift receipting for gifts made online - email templates for E-Blasts - recepting for sustaining donors All of the capabilities above are vary valuable to my organization as well as very useful in everyday functionality. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: Organic ![Amy B.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Amy B.") AB Amy B. Database Administrator Non-Profit Organization Management Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 3/30/2018 Business partner of the seller or seller's competitor, not included in G2 scores. "Very, very powerful. More than a little complicated." 3.5/5 What do you like best about Blackbaud Luminate Online? I appreciate the incredibly wide variety of options you have for fund raising. It is a very powerful program but there is a LOT going on here. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Blackbaud Luminate Online? Luminate is a big, complex, sometimes overwhelming system. Can be way too much to work with. Takes a lot of training to get to a comfortable point with it. The CRM functionality is a little weird, but it is great for email management. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering Blackbaud Luminate Online: Learn everything you can about it after you get it. Be prepared to be slightly overwhelmed, and very challenged. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Blackbaud Luminate Online solving and how is that benefiting you? Many of the people I know use Luminate for peer-to-peer fundraising, online giving, email programs, and event tickets. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More 5/15/2023 Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite KV Kayla V. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 5/10/2023 "Luminate Online Reveiw" 4/5 What do you like best about Blackbaud Luminate Online? Luminate Online has the capabilities to capture and organize our online payments for all of our events in addition to all of our online giving pages. The integration that it has with Raiser's Edge is its greatest strength. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Blackbaud Luminate Online? The reporting in Luminate has to be refreshed quite a bit to bring up the report in a downloadable form. This can get a bit time-consuming when you have multiple reports to run. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Blackbaud Luminate Online solving and how is that benefiting you? Luminate Online allows for the creation of multiple web pages and forms for our Online donations that are customizable but also come with easy templates that have proven to work well. Not only does it allow for form customization, keeping all information and records within Blackbaud, and not having to use a third party which eliminates data risks. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: Organic ![Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management") IN Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 10/23/2023 "Luminate Online - more than it seems" 4.5/5 What do you like best about Blackbaud Luminate Online? I like that it's not just a system. It's many modules that can work together and / or independantly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Blackbaud Luminate Online? I dont like the lenght of time Blackbaud takes when you find an issue or oversight and they as for you to submit to the Ideas Portal for voting. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Blackbaud Luminate Online solving and how is that benefiting you? Donor database and duplications. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 Gives Campaign ![Verified User in Higher Education](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Higher Education") AH Verified User in Higher Education Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 12/6/2022 "learning curve, but works as expected" 4/5 What do you like best about Blackbaud Luminate Online? I like the reporting tools to send weekly reports from an event. The ability to turn on and off products in a store and the amount of options to customize the store to best fit the event. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Blackbaud Luminate Online? The overall learning curve to create an event. There are a lot of different steps that go into making the store. The interface needs an update, feels a bit older and clunky. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Blackbaud Luminate Online solving and how is that benefiting you? Event registration. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management") AN Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 6/14/2022 "Gets the job done but not much else" 2.5/5 What do you like best about Blackbaud Luminate Online? Luminate Online's email capabilities are adequate. Donation forms are alright. That's about it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Blackbaud Luminate Online? Terrible integration with other products, even products also owned by Blackbaud. No real social integration. Terrible customer service. The Events module is shameful. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Blackbaud Luminate Online solving and how is that benefiting you? We can send emails and accept gifts (most of the time). I can't say we're bringing in more money than we would using any other system though. I suspect probably less. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management") AN Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 1/14/2022 "Blackbaud needs to update its system" 0/5 What do you like best about Blackbaud Luminate Online? There is literally nothing that I like about this product. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Blackbaud Luminate Online? Where to begin... this product is straight out of 1998 and they haven't done much to update it since. It's clunky, difficult to use and doesn't easily integrate with other Blackbaud products. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Blackbaud Luminate Online solving and how is that benefiting you? We are able to create campaign donation forms. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Erica B.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Erica B.") EB Erica B. National Manager, Program Excellence Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 12/8/2021 "Great reporting" 3.5/5 What do you like best about Blackbaud Luminate Online? I love the reports feature of Luminate Online. It is easy to create custom reports for participant and donor information and to manipulate the data for your needs. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Blackbaud Luminate Online? Inputting data can be glitchy at times but usually resolves quickly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering Blackbaud Luminate Online: Take time to explore the reports section! It's really a great feature. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Blackbaud Luminate Online solving and how is that benefiting you? This system has worked great for tracking fundraising participants and reporting on their performance. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. 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