Leap Patron Management

A 21st century solution for a growing arts organization

Comments: PatronManager CRM has helped us gain a more complete insight to our patron relationships, and is invaluable in recording details of our patrons, donors and members. We have used this information to grow our earned and contributed revenue. The tools provided by PatronManager have made several staff positions more productive, and more satisfied in their jobs.

Pros:

We worked with Patron Technology to migrate 12 years of ticketing/membership/donation transactions to PatronManager CRM in 2015. The technical staff, many of whom have direct working experience in nonprofit arts organizations, understood our goals completely and tailored the application for our unique requirements. The support team is knowledgeable, responsive and dedicated to our success. The power of the Salesforce software platform is its flexibility, and we quickly learned how to create custom fields, build reports, and modify data entry screens to make the system a perfect fit for our staff and volunteers. PatronManager CRM extends the functionality typically available in these types of ticketing applications by supporting the installation of Salesforce apps and plug-ins. This was never possible using our previous ticketing software, and opened new doors of possibility for our organization. We now use PatronManager to sell about 30,000 tickets annually, for concerts, theater and movie screenings, about 70% of which is done online. We used features of the product extensively to manage a $1.5M capital campaign, including wealth screening and a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised $120,000. Our membership has grown to over 1,700 members who receive special benefits such as discounts, presales and more -- all delivered through the software. We give a lot of credit for this success to PatronManager CRM and their talented employees for making it possible.

Cons:

PatronManager CRM requires a training investment by the staff and leadership to get the most out of the product. This is true of any new system -- but there is a terrific reward to making that investment of time. We offer a small number of arts education programs, and we wish PatronManager CRM had more extensive capabilities for student registration built into the native product. The system is updated with enhancements frequently and we understand this is part of the product roadmap.

Leap does it all for us.

Comments: Excellent. Leap handles all the basics of ticketing, donor history and patron records.

Pros:

We love that Leap is a comprehensive database, ticketing, donor management and marketing system. We can easily access a 360 degree view of our patron's information and history, and it handles all our ticketing and donation needs for all our events. It's also built on Salesforce, so there lots of room for customization. There's also a huge ecosystem of other products and communities so we can expand as we need.

Cons:

Syncing with other email marketing tools like MailChimp could be better. We would also love to have a festival type ticket option.

Incredibly poor customer care team, supporting a product they've never used (opinions my own)

Comments: PatronManager consumes almost 20% of ticket income, provides very little benefit over a non-integrated solution, and treats you like a criminal for encountering problems with the service (which are plentiful). I wouldn't recommend to anyone except small organizations who *NEED* an integrated CRM/ticketing solution.

Pros:

It's the most robust integrated crm/ticketing solution for businesses below a certain sales threshold; the best of a bad lot.

Cons:

Any customizations bring hidden fees. The software is only marginally accessible for blind users. The customer care team openly despises their customers, and has months-long turnaround times on business-critical issues - the company has lost sales totaling in the five figure range due to PatronManager's frequent errors and the customer care team's lackadaisical response times. It's frequently impossible to reach anyone at the company (no employee has publicly available contact information, so prepare to work on PatronManager's schedule). The system is rigid and inflexible. New features with limited application arrive with alarming regularity (and require significant investments of employee time to comply with), while desired features are continually pushed back to some nebulous "future release."

Leap Patron Management is a Solid CRM Choice

Comments: Positive. Leap offers a range of tools that allow my organization to manage patron relationships, track ticket sales, handle memberships, and oversee fundraising efforts. The staff and customer service is knowledgeable, responsive, and genuinely dedicated to ensuring that we get the most out of the software.

Pros:

I like the level security it provides. I also like the accessibility and the user friendly interface. There are also an abundance of training recourses. The software’s user-friendly interface allowed even non-technical staff to quickly get up to speed with managing campaigns, ticket sales, and donations.

Cons:

I have worked for many years in non profit arts using Tessitura. There are things in Tess that are not available in PM. I've never seen a data tool that is equivalent to extractions in Tessitura.

User friendly with great customer support

Comments: When I started my current job, I received only three hours of training, which meant I had to navigate many aspects on my own while managing event setup and meeting daily demands. Thankfully, the system’s user-friendly design made it easy to get started, and I quickly found answers when needed. The community feature has been invaluable—everyone has been incredibly helpful and responsive.

Pros:

Having used several other programs, I find Leap Patron Management to be one of the most intuitive and user-friendly. When I need assistance, the community resources and customer support are prompt and helpful, making it easy to get the answers I need.

Cons:

As a non-profit rental venue, we sometimes encounter limitations with certain features when accommodating a wide variety of groups and events simultaneously. It can also be frustrating to use the Help tab only to find outdated or broken links—keeping these resources up-to-date would be incredibly beneficial. Additionally, we work with many festivals, and a more streamlined solution for festival ticketing would greatly improve our workflow.

Leap Patron Manager is great and keeps getting better!

Comments: As the box office manager, I use it everyday. Aside from creating events, selling tickets, creating memberships and subscriptions, and everything box office, I also enter all donations for our development dept. I am often asked to create reports for various departments and/or board meetings and Leap Patron Manager makes handling everything relatively easy for me. The Client Community is also a wonderful resource to ask questions and help others if I can help answer their questions.

Pros:

Setting up events, selling tickets, and all things box office work really well. I love how you accept product ideas and try to change things to accommodate requests if they are possible. Also, your help articles are really well done and everything is pretty much spelled out with examples that are easy enough for most people to follow. Adding Leap credit card processing was a great improvement, too! I also greatly appreciate the all the help I have received when I have needed to open a case. The speed of the response and the assistance I have received couldn't be better!

Cons:

We have made some changes to our two venues, we removed some seats from each theatre. Since there is almost never a time when we don't have something on sale, the $2500 cost to update our venues is cost prohibitive at the moment so we mark them as "not for sale" and have warnings for everyone buying seats that Row B is now the front row. However, I wish "not for sale" seats would look different from "sold" seats, perhaps appear black or something else to distinguish between sold seats and those that will never be sold. I realize other places may change seats that are not for sale based on other criteria which may change from production to production, but I should make a product idea that "not for sale" would appear different from "sold" or other various allocations.

A Reliable, User-Friendly Platform with Excellent Support

Comments: We’ve been using Leap Patron Management since November 2010, and it’s been a solid platform for our needs. Over the years, it’s made managing patron data, ticketing, and donations much more efficient for our team. What really stood out to us was how helpful their account manager and finance team were during the pandemic. They worked closely with us to navigate some of the challenges we faced, which made a big difference during that tough time. Overall, it’s been a reliable tool for us, and their support has been top-notch.

Pros:

It’s great to have everything in one spot—patron info, ticket sales, donations. At Jet City Improv, the sales reports in Leap Patron Management are key for us. They give us a clear picture of how each show is performing, which helps us make smarter decisions about marketing and scheduling. We can see which nights tend to sell out or when we might need to do a bigger promo push. Plus, being able to track revenue trends helps with budgeting and planning for future seasons. It’s really helpful for us to have all this data in one place, especially as a nonprofit where transparency and financial health are super important. Their support team has always been quick to help whenever we’ve had questions. Overall, it’s made managing everything feel way more organized and less stressful!

Cons:

While the platform is easy to use, there’s a bit of a learning curve with some of the more advanced reporting features. It can take a little time to figure out all the nuances, but once you get the hang of it, it’s solid.

Powerful CRM Solution

Comments: I enjoy working with Leap Patron Management for all of our box office, development, and marketing needs. New features are constantly being added to help support their clients' needs. The highly customizable nature of reports allow us to better understand our patron base and make informed and educated decisions for our organization.

Pros:

Leap Patron Management contains powerful reporting tools that look across the whole system and can run complex inquiries that combine both donation and ticket purchasing history. There are many prebuilt reports to choose from that are customizable for you exact needs/goals. As a Salesforce-backed program, there are many app and plug in integrations that makes it easy to store all or most of your organization's data directly in your CRM. Leap Patron Management supports a robust availability of help articles, webinars, and special trainings. Their support team is incredibly knowledgeable, helpful, and responsive and offer excellent client communication. They value their clients and their clients' input and offer a client community where we can learn from each other and offer product ideas to be implemented in future updates.

Cons:

As with any software, there is a bit of a learning curve to building more complex reports and ticketable events. While the system is pretty intuitive, it takes time to fully understand the innerworkings, but it is well worth the investment. For things like gala management and merch sales, there is not a direct solution (though there are work arounds). Importing data from outside events is cumbersome, but doable.

I Recommend Leap Patron Management

Comments: My overall experience with Leap Patron Management has been great. I can't say enough good words about their support team and their help articles.

Pros:

Leap Patron Management is very user-friendly and easy to learn.

Cons:

The only thing I do not like about Leap Patron Management is that Salesforce has still not updated some of their functions from Classic to Lightning experience, and it is exhausting to go back and forth between the two.

I like it!

Comments: It is fine usually. I wish it were easier to run reports that give just the information I need and nothing more.

Pros:

Front end usage is easy and clear for our customers.

Cons:

It isn't very intuitive. Running reports should be much easier, for instance and should be able to be altered without so much fanfare (adding information on or taking it away).

Leap Review

Comments: This platform is state of the art, and I would recommend to other organizations.

Pros:

This platform is state of the art, and I would recommend to other organizations.

Cons:

I really can't think of any Cons at this time since the device and software has been used by our company.

PatronManager Review

Comments: Very good service and the team is staying current with new releases and improved services. A very cool community of users!

Pros:

Best ticketing platform that integrates with Salesforce. Easy to use and great customer service.

Cons:

Does not have the full range of NPSP functionality but there are workarounds.

Very user friendly

Comments: Easy to onboard, but still learning the details

Pros:

User-friendly, customer support is great!

Cons:

Running reports can be tricky, depending on what you're trying to do.

Patron Mgr. Review

Comments: It's been ok because a lot of work has been doen but trusting the reports is tough for an accountant.

Pros:

That it has the capability to work with Accounting seed.

Cons:

That it is very easy to change a variable or miss a variable and get wrong information or numbers.

We've been using PatronManager for four years; the system has been nothing short of transformational

Comments: It has facilitated significant growth in ticket sales and fundraising by making it possible for us to have a 360 degree view of everyone in our database.

Pros:

Comprehensiveness: We now conduct all our business through PatronManager including ticket sales, marketing, development, education, and a national tour. This has been transformational for our ability to segment our audience and communicate in a truly personalized way with all our patrons and donors. Flexibility: The system is endlessly customizable. We now have custom objects that allow all touring processes from the first contact through the performance to live in one spot, including fees, workshops, lodging requirements, venue specs, etc. (all of which is able to be pulled into custom reports) Responsiveness: The PatronManager product development team is always listening to their customers and constantly making the product better. The flexibility of the Salesforce platform allows these updates to be seamless rather than disruptive to our daily use. Reporting: The flexibility of the reporting capabilities allow me to access everything from high level dashboards to deep dive data in minutes.

Cons:

Due to PatronManager's fast growth, there have been times when tech support response times have been extended. However, when that has happened, PatronManager has always moved quickly to make necessary changes and communicated with customers openly about the challenges and the timeline.

The best software! Makes my job much easier, with its ease of use and dependability.

Pros:

Love that we can customize almost anything to meet our unique needs. Ease of reporting, either using pre-made reports that come built in, or by customizing our own for specific details. Features are constantly being added - a highlight of any month is reading through Release Notes! Because my department is so small, I have come to depend on PM to house institutional knowledge that would otherwise be lost if even one member of our team left the organization. Building and managing inventory could not be easier. Love that I can customize email templates - has made invoicing directly from PM so easy. Chatter makes communicating with our student staff a breeze, and I love that I am able to work from home using PatronManager when weather or school closings are an issue. Have wifi, will travel. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

Cons:

There definitely has to be someone on staff who can be an admin that is well versed in most of the smaller troubleshooting issues, so that you're not constantly relying on PM Support. However, the online training and help modules are so robust, that this is not a problem. There is always help available, either online, or through the fantastic client services department that handles support requests.

We have been using PM for 2 years and learn something new everyday.

Comments: Increased sales. Online sales capabilities. Less human error in making reservations and a quick "checks and balances" with confirmation emails. No surprises at curtain of patrons being booked into the wrong night. Faster reservation making because there is no more handwriting. Much more accurate sales reporting. Sales that tie into our accounting figures.

Pros:

We have seen our single tickets increase dramatically with online capabilities, which we didn't have until starting with PM. Support staff has been very responsive. Having the system has cleaned up a lot of previous human error as we took reservations on handwritten forms for the prior TWENTY NINE years. With VoIP phones and this cloud based ticketing system we have the ability to allow BO staff to work form home when needed - answering phones and making reservations as if they were sitting in the office.

Cons:

Subscribers with flexible packages can not go online to make individual show reservations. That is very unfortunate for us with over 5,000 subscribers in non-traditional subscription packages. Reporting take a bit of time to get used to. We are still double checking each other's list pulls to be confident they are correct. I also find there are some traditionally standard BO operations that can't be done, which frustrates me. I don't think the system should dictate how we do business. I suggest you appoint or hire a systems administrator as your go to person on staff. They'll have a lot to learn, program and continue to maintain. Our Audience Services Manager dedicates, on average, 8 hours a week to system administration.

Using PatronManager has allowed us to integrate everything we do, despite having no central office.

Pros:

Truly an integrated CRM system that allows us to see what our members and non-members are doing. All-volunteer organization has some unique processes, and we have been able to customize PatronManager to accommodate our show attendance invitation system, for example. Also, because it's cloud-based and, once set up, most user procedures are fairly straight-forward, we've been able to decentralize a number of data management tasks. Committees manage their own data, rather than one database administrator (also volunteer) needing to be responsible for all collection and reporting. We also like the ability to clone donation forms (non-complex ones) ourselves, to customize them for specific purposes.

Cons:

Developing reports is more challenging than many of our members can handle technically, so that remains largely the purview of a very small number of people (1-2). Implementation was generally smooth, despite some (inevitable) resistance to change. If there are multiple people qualifying donations and ticket orders, that process needs to be actively managed. Without active management, qualification can get a back-log, which (appropriately) results in temporary dupes in the system.

Could not do my job without PatronManager

Pros:

Overall this is a great program. The CRM aspect is important and of course useful, but the most impactful part of the program for our organization is reporting. We would not be able to effectively run our business without the many reporting options available in this program. We can compare sales year over year, create campaigns for marketing and development, and so on. All layers of the database including ticket sales and donations speak to each other so we can pull reports for almost anything. Not to mention, if I do not know how to do something the support team will assist me. My background is customer service and the Patron Manager team exceed my expectations. They are extremely helpful and knowledgeable. They are great teachers. I also like how this program is customizable. There are tons of additional applications (some paid, mostly free) that can be added to PatronManager. These additional applications are very helpful. I recently downloaded one that will allow me to manage our volunteer program. Its truly a lifesaver.

Cons:

One con is the response time for support. We do have the ability to mark the urgency of a support request, and they will respond immediately for urgent requests, but it would be nice to get a quicker response for even non urgent matters. Sometimes the little issues are still a big deal.

Very robust CRM system perfect for Non-Profit Theatre Company

Pros:

Patron Manager stores all of our ticketing and donor data in a single database which allows us to create reports and mailing lists from a single source rather than pulling records from multiple excel spreadsheets. Their customer service and online help is world class, and keeps getting better each year with additional webinars and added content. Their process for keeping the database 'clean' is very helpful and avoids the duplication of records. The product is stable. Downtime is almost non-existent - we've had perhaps 3 incidents over 5 years of not being able to access the database and even then it was for a very short period of time with minor-to-no impact to operations.

Cons:

The only 'negative' about the product was during our initial setup. The ease of data import was over-hyped. Templates were provided but the brunt of the work had to be done by us. This was five years ago and I'm going to guess they have found processes to make it easier for their customers to import data. All of this said, once they received the templates populated with our data the database was set up correctly.

350 delivered!

Pros:

The team at PatronTechnology is knowledgeable, collaborative, and has even helped our IT department understand and use the salesforce.com platform in new ways. We implemented nearly four years ago now, and we have very much enjoyed continuing to grow with them. PM got us that much closer to a true 360-degree view of our patrons, donors, alumni, students, parents, listeners, employees, and volunteers. Plus, it's on the Salesforce platform which means it's secure, fast, and reliable, as well as scalable and configurable.

Cons:

Honestly, there's not much to dislike. There are a few minor aspects that I wish were more configurable for our environment, but we have workarounds for them so not a large negative impact.

User with 3 years experience

Comments: It lets us run our entire company in Salesforce, keeping all our data in one place!

Pros:

This is an excellent, robust ticketing system that lets us run our entire company in Salesforce, the world's leading CRM. All our data are in one place!

Cons:

PatronManager has a big impact on your Salesforce instance. It will be the signature feature governing how your CRM works. While sometimes you will find this to be good and helpful, at others you'll find it can complicate development of your own Salesforce customizations.

PatronManager is a comprehensive CRM that lacks the ease of use that comparable programs have.

Comments: It is a great way to store all customer data in a comprehensive CRM.

Pros:

The CRM function is a great tool. The program holds all customer data and is organized by contacts, households, etc. Users can easily search by any aspect of the customer account (name, email, phone, etc). The multiple reporting features are also very useful.

Cons:

It is extremely frustrating that there is not an option to automatically connect online orders to an existing account. Instead, all orders must be qualified on the backend, which is an astoundingly time consuming and mundane process. For such a popular system, it is surprising that this issue persists. Additionally, the ticket sales function is not very user friendly and is extremely slow to complete. Each transaction requires multiple pages, and the web browser automatically reloads whenever a selection is changed. In addition, email addresses are required to make a sale, and the only way to get around this is very clunky and time consuming.

Can't love it enough.

Comments: We've seen immediate increases of both ticket sales AND donation revenue.

Pros:

Customization. If the software doesn't have what you need out of the box, they will build something custom for you (or you can build it yourself!) and they're always updating the software with new features to improve ease of use or give more powerful options.

Cons:

You really do need an admin on the staff who will be in charge of maintaining the software from your side. That staff person should learn as much about the software as they can to troubleshoot minor problems in-house so you won't need their support system for small things.

Glad we made the change Glad we made the change to Patron Manager

Comments: Easier access to data about our patrons. We can now make better fact-based data decisions rather than relying upon hunch.

Pros:

We took a long time (three years) in exploring ticketing/fundraising CRM options knowing that the shift in systems was going to be a major change for our organization. We are so glad that we chose Patron Manager and Salesforce. It is truly a system that will grow as our organization grows (and it is helping us in that growth!). We now have access to information and data in ways that were not possible with our previous systems. The support team has been very helpful in solving problems and guiding us in different directions as we test the limits of what we want to do. Our team is fired up to utilize Patron Manager and Salesforce and are eager to learn more.

Cons:

Reporting can be a bit of a challenge as it requires some very specific thinking about how to find what you want to know. Even after using the product for several years, I still feel like I'm not fluent in reporting.