iWave Alternatives – iWave vs. WealthEngine Comparison

iWave Alternatives – iWave vs. WealthEngine Comparison

August 16, 2019
Sharanya Venkatesh

If you’re looking for an iWave alternative, look no further than WealthEngine. WealthEngine offers a superior customer experience. Whether through rich data, predictive prospecting, or API integration.  WealthEngine9’s Engagement Science will propel your wealth-aware campaigns to greater heights.

What is WealthEngine?

WealthEngine is an all-inclusive solution. Clients are able to search, screen, analyze, model, as well as target prospects. With 20+ years in the industry, the solution combines data accuracy with convenience. You can gain actionable insights on your contacts. Insights include wealth attributes such as net worth, cash on hand, and gift capacity. The solution can also help you gauge a prospect’s propensity to donate, invest, and spend. Further, it also includes insights on demographics, lifestyle, interests, and affinities. What’s more, you can integrate all these in your CRM.

Clients have preferred WealthEngine compared to alternatives such as Blackbaud, Donor Search, or iWave as it’s of better value.

When it comes to iWave vs. WealthEngine, we have first-hand comparisons from users. A client recently switched back to WealthEngine from iWave. In their experience, WealthEngine was worth the price. They preferred it’s superior data and enhanced integration or “get score” capabilities. Overall, they found that it was a better analytical tool. The ‘underperformer report’ generated by WealthEngine was very helpful to gift officers. When comparing iWave vs. WealthEngine, the team felt that they gained better efficiency with WealthEngine.

More than Just an iWave Alternative

WealthEngine is much more than an alternative solution to iWave.  WE9 can offer you unmatched convenience. You can screen and prospect within the same solution. Plus, you can also conduct in-depth analyses. This means you can build models, generate insights, and benefit from predictive prospecting.


The seamlessness of using WealthEngine even extends to your own CRM. At the click of a button, you can add powerful wealth insights on your contacts. This is possible through our API integration.

For instance, an operations team at a national nonprofit used WealthEngine’s API. Their aim was to automatically screen donors and update donor profiles. They were able to achieve this without leaving their Salesforce dashboard.

Furthermore, these API powered insights are delivered in real-time. For instance, let’s say a prospect interacts with your website. The API can immediately tell you more about them, helping you deliver a personalized experience. Personalization is the key to increased engagement and lowered costs.

There are several benefits to adopting WealthEngine’s insights over iWave’s. Let’s explore how these benefits can make a difference to your data-driven campaigns:

More Data Sources Leading to Comprehensive Wealth Intelligence

iWave uses 14 data sources to provide 38 separate databases. Going beyond an iWave alternative, WealthEngine uses over 50 data sources. That is nearly 4x that of iWave. Furthermore, WealthEngine provides a 90% match rate, generating comprehensive profiles.

iWave has 1 billion data points compared to WealthEngine’s half a trillion data points. Further, WealthEngine has 165M+ charitable giving records and adds 500,000+ monthly.

Pre-Built Profiles Saving Your Team Valuable Time

Additionally, WealthEngine has 250 million pre-built profiles for prospecting. Profiles offer breadth and depth of insights as they are built from over 1,800 attributes.

wealthengine iWave

In comparison, iWave does not provide pre-built profiles. Instead, users must “customize” profiles. This means you will need to manually compile donor profiles from each of iWave’s databases.

What does this mean for you?

By choosing WealthEngine, your team does not have to go back and forth between various databases.  The platform curates all data and places it into a profile for you. A profile provides you a 360-degree view of your prospect. Your team can now focus on reaching out to the right people, instead of tedious tasks.

For instance, The Animal Humane Society needed a 360-view on 50,000 donors each year. WealthEngine was able to build profiles with several data points. This integrated view led them to double the number and value of major gifts.

More Predictive Wealth Scores

iWave provides past charitable giving data. This means that each iWave score fails to identify potential donors. Failing to identify those yet to give means missed opportunities.

When you compare iWave vs. WealthEngine, WE’s set of ratings and scores are a reliable predictor. They can help you forecast major gifts, planned giving, trusts, and annuities.

For example, St. Vincent’s Hospital Foundation was able to use WealthEngine’s P2G score. These scores helped them identify top prospects leading to a 62% increase in $10k gifts.

Superior Relationship Mapping via Inner Circle

WealthEngine’s Inner Circle makes it a strong iWave alternative. There are 2 billion connections linked to constituents. So, you can discover relationships within your existing contacts. To compare, iWave offers 7 million “influential” profiles for you to prospect from.

inner circle

For example, Center Theater Group decided to leverage this feature. They were able then to find links between donors and board members. As a result, they were able to build out a stronger donor pipeline. They gained a 36% YoY increase in donations. These dollars especially came from new gifts.

Benefit of API for Real-Time Screening

iWave does not have API enabled for real-time screening of donors. They offer an FTP. This means you will need to add your lists and wait for an email confirmation each time.  iWave’s FTP does not serve as an alternative for API integration.

WealthEngine has a self-service API that allows real-time access to wealth data. This means that you can get a wealth of insights as soon as someone interacts with a touchpoint. These could be instances like somebody visiting your website or registering for an event.

API integration

In fact, The Humane Society used WealthEngine’s API to gain great benefits. Their average donation amount grew by 100%! Similarly,  mid-level donations grew 20%, and their “Planned Giving Program” by 49%.

WealthEngine Offers More CRM & DMS Integrations than iWave

iWave offers 5 integrations: NXT, Salesforce, Neon, Tessitura, and Gravyty. In comparison, WealthEngine gives you the power to choose from over 35 integrations. Any of these can help integrate our solutions directly into your CRM and DMS platforms.

WealthEngine also has complete integration into Salesforce. You can find the connector app in Salesforce’s app store.

For instance, Loyola Health integrated WealthEngine into their DMS, BSR Advance. Through the integration, they performed daily patient reviews and validations. This allowed their prospect managers to receive actionable, timely reports on key prospects. Tony Englert, their VP of Development & External Affairs has said,

“Everyone knows that gratitude decreases with time; we have instituted a proactive strategy for moving on the data in a timely and integrated manner.”

iWave vs. WealthEngine- The Difference in Data Security

WealthEngine takes data security very seriously. The platform regularly undergoes security audits by independent third-parties. Plus, WealthEngine has SOC 2 Type II certification. This is above and beyond industry standard requirements.

Choose WealthEngine as an iWave Alternative: Personalize Your Wealth-Aware Campaigns

Still wondering about iWave vs. WealthEngine? This iWave alternative can deliver greater value and convenience. Power up your campaigns with the best-in-class wealth intelligence and analytics solution. Try it today!

iWave Alternative