Corporate social responsibility (CSR) software has become fairly democratized in recent years, in large part because the number of vendors has increased. These developments have allowed mid-sized and smaller companies the chance to embrace CSR and become positive forces in the world.
Having more options is a good problem to have, but it can still present some challenges if you aren’t sure what your organization really needs in corporate giving software. The team here at Groundswell isn’t here to tell you what the best option for your team is, but we like to present facts about our platform and how it relates to those of competitors like Submittable.
Submittable is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company offering social impact tools and technologies for organizations looking to make a difference. Its corporate social responsibility (CSR) CSR software can help manage community grant programs, organize employee volunteerism initiatives, and execute corporate giving projects.
As per Submittable’s website, the first step of launching a CSR partnership with Submittable begins with scheduling a live demo with their sales team. Submittable’s website has a sample demo you can view after submitting information about you and your company.
The Montana-based software company has been around since 2010. It acquired WizeHive, a CSR platform that focuses on managing scholarships and grant programs, in August 2024. According to Submittable’s website, it works with WeHero to implement employee volunteering “experience packages.”
Although Submittable and Groundswell share many of the same features, we can unequivocally say that CSR representatives who have used both platforms will notice a few differences. Making the right choice for your company can aid in retaining top talent, preventing larger-scale employee turnover, and implementing programs your employees look forward to participating in.
At the end of the day, the right social impact platform for you will be the one that best meets your needs for the lowest price. Below, we look at the facts about Submittable’s platform to see how they stack up to Groundswell so that you can make an informed decision about which is best for you.
Is a mobile app a feature or benefit? With Groundswell, it’s both. Unfortunately, it appears that you might not get either with Submittable. We searched both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store and found no mobile app for Submittable. While some language on Submittable’s site suggests there may have been a mobile app implemented at some point, it’s unclear whether the app is still in use. A cursory glance at Submittable’s features also seems to confirm that a mobile-facing interface is not a key capability the platform offers.
Groundswell is proud to offer a 5-star-rated mobile app that expands volunteering and employee giving accessibility to as many users as possible. We think it’s important for employees to be able to access their CSR programs no matter where they are. Having this mobile capability can also prevent work bottlenecks and backlogs by allowing employees to check in at off-site volunteer events.
Another feature we didn’t see prominently mentioned on Submittable’s website is the management of employee assistance funds (EAFs). These coffers can provide critical relief for employees who experience sudden, severe monetary losses. EAFs can come in handy after natural disasters and diagnoses of serious health conditions.
Submittable claims that its software is intuitive and easy to learn and implement. Indeed, some of the larger CSR software companies have notoriously clunky and even counterintuitive platforms.
However, Submittable’s August 2024 announcement of WeHero’s and WizeHive’s acquisitions mentioned that it had yet to offer one integrated platform for grant projects and one for employee volunteering and giving. It’s not clear whether or not the company has achieved that or if its recent acquisitions have made that effort more difficult to achieve.
We can vouch for the features and benefits of Groundswell’s agile and intuitive CSR software. Time after time, our team heard from figures in CSR spaces that many legacy platforms were too challenging to learn. On top of that, we learned that many executives could not justify the high costs of the platforms—especially when measured against the companies’ giving capabilities.
Groundswell believes that companies of any size should have the opportunity to perform CSR initiatives the way they prefer. Our many features, including grantmaking software, employee donation matching, and management of employee assistance funds (EAFs), don’t involve a cacophony of different platforms from multiple vendors.
With Groundswell, you can manage a host of social impact activities from one user-friendly platform, including:
We also don’t believe that top-notch customer service should be a luxury. Some companies charge you extra to ask questions about the product you’re paying for in the first place.
Our mission is making philanthropy accessible, which also means making the support you need to bring your social impact initiatives to life accessible. That’s why we don’t charge premiums for ongoing customer service.
We hope that you don’t need to speak with us constantly, though, because our software automates the majority of administration tasks to save you time and resources.
Groundswell was inspired by the idea that CSR programs should be easy to manage and inexpensive enough to allow corporate giving initiatives to have a real impact on the community.
Other options, including Submittable, can help you achieve some of those goals, though Submittable does lack many of the unique features you can unlock with Groundswell and doesn’t support several activities you may need. It’s mostly been focused on grantmaking and streamlining the grant application process, and they’ve just added the ability to get into employee giving, which means it’s not a comprehensive social impact platform.
If you’re looking for a single tool that can help you launch CSR initiatives from the ground up, only a platform like Groundswell offers the capabilities you need.
The team at Groundswell would be happy to set up a time with your team for a demo. Time is valuable, and we commit to making the most of our time with prospective clients. We look forward to showing you why we are increasingly becoming the preferred CSR software vendor for lean, agile organizations.
