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Financial Stewardship Comparison

How does Awarded compare to the alternatives?

Fund management is complex, but most tools only solve part of the problem. Tell us which parts you're solving for, and see what you'd use instead of Awarded, what those tools offer, and where Awarded goes further.

100+institutions>$80Bdonor funds under management95%fund utilization across partners100%fund migration done for you

Selected by 100+ campuses

Clarkson UniversityCase study : see the case studyAbilene Christian UniversityTexas State Technical CollegeCase study : see the case studyBrown UniversityCase study : see the case studyJohnson UniversityTestimonial : see the testimonialJohns Hopkins UniversityWebinar : see the webinarIndian River State CollegeTestimonial : see the testimonialColorado State UniversityDrew UniversityTestimonial : see the testimonialIllinois State UniversitySouthwestern Adventist UniversityTestimonial : see the testimonialSUNY OneontaUniversity of New Haven
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What do you want to solve?

Pick one product or several. We'll show the tools teams usually stitch together instead, and how each one compares.

1 of 6 selected ·

Your stack, two ways

With Awarded

One platform, one login, one record per fund

Financial aid, advancement and finance work from the same data.Syncs with your SIS and CRM: Banner (via Ethos), Colleague, PeopleSoft, Workday, Jenzabar, Raiser's Edge, Salesforce and more.
Without Awarded

What teams typically have to deal with instead

Scholarship AwardingBlackbaudorAwardSpringorScholarshipUniverseorSlateorSpreadsheets

Covers part of the job. The steps around it (gift agreement, compliance check, donor report) still happen somewhere else, usually in spreadsheets and email.

How each alternative compares

Filtered to what you picked.

Point solution

Awarded vs. Blackbaud Award Management (formerly AcademicWorks)

Blackbaud Award Management is a scholarship point solution for collecting applications and tracking awards, linked to gift records in Blackbaud's CRM. Awarded is a purpose-built platform with advanced award automation, compliance and donor reporting.

Scholarship Awarding: partly

What it can offer

  • Scholarship award tracking and record keeping
  • Links awards to gift records
  • Fits schools already deep in the Blackbaud stack

Where Awarded goes further

  • Advanced award automationBlackbaud tracks awards after people make the decisions; Awarded works from fund criteria and live SIS data.
  • SIS integration beyond the Blackbaud ecosystemBanner, Colleague, Workday, PeopleSoft, Jenzabar.
Johns Hopkins University
8 weeks → 5Scholarship matching time at Johns Hopkins after moving from Blackbaud.
Read the full comparison

Feature by feature

From our published comparisons.

Awarded compared with Blackbaud Award Management, AwardSpring, Ellucian ScholarshipUniverse, Slate, spreadsheets, InDesign, PDF proposals and Word with DocuSign, by product
CapabilityAwardedBlackbaudAwardSpringScholarshipUniverseSlateSpreadsheets
Scholarship Awarding
Online student application portalYesLimitedYesYesYes–Not compared
Application review and scoringYes–Not comparedYes–Not comparedYesSlate Reader–Not compared
Awarding logic built in, no custom buildYes–Not compared–Not compared–Not comparedLimitedBuilt from Slate datasets, forms and portals–Not compared
Apply-to, conditional applications and auto-matchYesYes–Not compared–Not compared–Not compared–Not compared
Scholarship-to-student matchingYesRules-based, in bulk–Not comparedYesYes–Not comparedNoManual, row by row
Advanced award automationYesNoNoNo–Not comparedNoEvery award by hand
Student text and email automation (with full customization)YesLimitedLimitedYesYesNoOne email at a time
Fund utilization dashboardsYesReal-timeLimitedNoLimited–Not comparedNoManual pivot tables
SIS / ERP integrationYesBanner (via Ethos), Colleague, PeopleSoft, Workday, JenzabarLimitedBlackbaud ecosystem onlyLimitedLimitedEllucian only–Not comparedNoManual export and import
Financial aid and advancement on one platformYesNoNoNo–Not comparedNoSeparate silos

Yes Limited No – Not covered in our comparison

Side-by-side comparisons

Read the full comparisons

Awarded isn't a CRM

Keep Raiser's Edge, Blackbaud CRM or Salesforce for fundraising. Awarded handles scholarships and stewardship, and syncs back.

We do the migration

Fund records, criteria, award history and gift agreements move over for you. We read each agreement to set up the criteria.

Start with what's right for you

Start with one product or several. Many customers start with more than one, and every product works from the same fund records.

Common questions

Comparing Awarded: frequently asked questions

Last updated

Can Awarded replace AwardSpring or Ellucian ScholarshipUniverse?

Yes. Awarded covers the student application and matching those tools provide, plus advanced award automation, gift agreement compliance, donor stewardship and reporting. Most institutions choose Awarded as a complete solution rather than running both systems.

Does Awarded replace our CRM, like Raiser's Edge or Salesforce?

No. Awarded integrates with Raiser's Edge, Blackbaud CRM and Salesforce rather than replacing them. Your development team keeps its CRM for fundraising; Awarded handles the scholarship layer (awarding, compliance and stewardship) and syncs data back.

We use Ellucian Banner or Colleague. Does Awarded still work for us?

Yes. Awarded connects to Ellucian Banner through Ellucian Ethos, and to Colleague, PeopleSoft, Workday Student, Jenzabar and other major SIS platforms through secure file transfer. Being an Ellucian school doesn't require using ScholarshipUniverse.

What does moving to Awarded involve?

Awarded's implementation team migrates your fund list, eligibility criteria, historical award data and gift agreement documents, reading through each gift agreement to configure the criteria correctly. You don't start from scratch.

How is Awarded different from DocuSign or Adobe Sign for gift agreements?

DocuSign and Adobe Sign collect signatures. GATO, Awarded's gift agreement product, covers everything before the signature too: intake, drafting from your templates, compliance screening, internal approvals and donor review. Donors can sign on GATO's branded signing page, or you can route the agreement through your existing DocuSign or Adobe Sign account.

Do we have to buy every product?

No. Start with one product or several, whatever is right for you. Many customers start with more than one, and every product works from the same fund records.

See Awarded for Scholarship Awarding

A walkthrough using your own funds and the tools you use today.

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