Is OLX a BB NetCommunity Replacement?

Hi Alan, we made this change last fall and we are glad we did. BB NetCommunity was just way too much for our technical expertise or lack there of. Now we can put up a page or send out an email very quickly.


It is somewhat limited in its options, but so far we have been able to make it work for us. The ease of use has far outweighted its limitations.


I will point out two problems we had that no one at OLX told us ahead of time; OLX produces javascript code that you imbed in your own website, where BB Netcommunity hosted the site for you. Our website was built using a platform that did not easily accept javascript. We had to pay our website developer to create new page templates for us to accept the javascript. Also, we had to get a security certificate for our website, where with NetCommunity that was not necessary, since donors were sent to BB's already secure website.


Maybe your group is more savvy than we were, but these were nasty surprises we had because no one told us!

We were using BBNC for our website and everything, but have since moved away from it for everything else.  We were still running it just for online registrations and donations.  I have just implemented OLX and shut down our BBNC.  There are a few limitations to OLX that bother me, but for the most part it is a decent replacement for online giving and registrations.  Couple things I'm missing from BBNC: 1) can't schedule publication of a form, so I physically have to go in and deactivate.  Have suggested they add this.

2) Can't add multiple events to one form. So, for example, with BBNC, I would put all Summer Camps on one form and they could register for multiple with on credit card transaction.  Now, each event has to be on its own form, requiring a credit card transaction for each. Again, have made the suggestion.  3) Withouth a login like with BBNC, there is no way for a constituent to look up their giving history, which was always helpful.  4) Can't preview a receipt.  Would like to know what it looks like.  But, other than that, so far I am liking it. Bit limited, yes.  But, very easy to transition to.  Very easy to create forms.  Very easy to customize your forms with things like color, font, etc.  Very easy to integrate it into your existing website.  If you are used to BBNC, you will find it extremely easy to migrate to OLX.  You'll probably just find these same limitation that I have, but for me, I can deal with them, but would hope Blackbaud would include in a future update.  We don't really use it for bulk emails, but we never used BBNC for that either, so I can't speak to that.We've always used Constant Contact. Previous poster seems to lay that out for your though.  Hope this helps.