Overview

Founded in 2012 and based in Austin, Texas, GivePulse is available on the web, Android, and iOS. The mix of volunteer management and student-facing capabilities gives it a wider role than a basic volunteer roster: it can serve community programs and educational engagement efforts, though some institution-wide capabilities require higher or custom-priced plans.

Key features

Engagement analytics and SMS outreach: Teams can track engagement and contact participants by text, useful when coordinating involves more than assigning volunteer work. These tools are relevant across community organizations and education programs.
Student surveys and LMS integration: These capabilities make GivePulse a stronger fit for institutions linking student engagement with learning systems. Teams that do not need student-facing tools may find this breadth less important than the core volunteer functions.
Plans built around organizational structure: Paid tiers vary in admin and subgroup allowances, while higher education and enterprise plans add options such as SSO, integrations, reservations, or grants management. This is useful for organizations with distinct teams or institution-level requirements, but makes plan selection depend on structure and feature needs—not just volunteer volume.

Pricing

GivePulse is freemium, with a free plan and a 7-day trial. The pricing note says paid plans start at $1.75/yr; the Platinum higher-education plan is priced per full-time equivalent student, billed annually, while the fixed-price plans below are billed annually at their stated monthly amounts.

Basic Free: Price not listed; includes 1 admin, 0 subgroups, and 5 custom fields. It is a sensible starting point for a single administrator with a small, simple setup, but the lack of subgroups limits its fit for organizations coordinating distinct programs.
Give Joy: 20.00 USD per month when billed annually, with 20% off the monthly price; includes 2 admins, 1 subgroup, and unlimited volunteers. This is the clearest fit for a small team that needs room for volunteers without a volunteer-count cap, though it allows only one subgroup.
Give Together: 100.00 USD per month when billed annually, with 20% off the monthly price; includes 10 admins and 10 subgroups. It suits organizations with several administrators and program groups, but costs more than Give Joy without stating an unlimited volunteer allowance.
Give More: 170.00 USD per month when billed annually, with 20% off the monthly price; includes 10 admins and 25 subgroups. The extra subgroup capacity over Give Together is the practical reason to pay more; the admin allowance stays at 10.
Department: Custom pricing for your institution; billed by contacting GivePulse. It offers custom numbers of admins and subgroups, SSO, OAuth with Google, LMS LTI, surveys, and onboarding. This is the relevant step up for departments needing identity, learning-system, or onboarding support, but it has no public fixed price.
Platinum (Higher Education): 1.75 USD per year per full-time equivalent student, billed annually. It includes Department features plus event templates, internships, API access, email templates, and video conferencing integration. Its per-student model and education-specific additions suit higher education institutions that need those tools; the price scales with student population.
Enterprise (Higher Education): Custom-scoped, full-institution pricing by contacting GivePulse. Reservation management, a resources database, grants management, applications, and custom integrations make it the broadest fit for campus-wide programs, but require a custom quote.
Silver: 1.00 USD per month when billed annually; includes 2 admins and 2 ERGs. It is a low-cost entry for a small team managing employee resource groups, with a narrow stated scope compared with the higher enterprise tiers.
Gold: Custom pricing for mid-to-large teams, by contacting GivePulse. It adds custom admins and ERGs, event submissions, administrative fields, onboarding, API access, and calendar integration. This fits teams needing more control and integrations than Silver provides, but requires a custom quote.
Platinum (Enterprise/CSR): Custom pricing for full-enterprise scale, by contacting GivePulse. It includes reservation management, SSO, whitelabelling, prioritized support, and custom integrations. It is aimed at organizations needing enterprise-scale deployment and support rather than a small team.

Platforms

GivePulse runs on web, Android, and iOS, so teams and participants can use it across desktop and mobile platforms.

Who it's for

GivePulse is a strong candidate for nonprofits and community programs that coordinate volunteers and need analytics or SMS outreach, and for educational institutions that use student surveys or LMS integration. Its multiple plan families also address higher education and enterprise/CSR needs. It is less compelling for a small organization that only needs a simple volunteer tool but would have to pay for subgroup capacity or institution-specific features it does not need.

Pros and cons

Pro: The free plan offers a low-commitment starting point, and Give Joy includes unlimited volunteers for a small team.
Pro: Student surveys, LMS integration, and higher-education additions such as internships and LMS LTI serve needs beyond basic volunteer coordination.
Pro: Separate institution and enterprise tiers add capabilities such as SSO, reservations, grants management, and custom integrations.
Con: Basic Free has no subgroups and only 5 custom fields, which can constrain organizations managing multiple programs.
Con: Admin and subgroup allowances differ sharply between fixed-price plans, so growing teams may need a higher tier even if their volunteer volume is manageable.
Con: Several institution and enterprise plans use custom pricing, making cost comparison harder before contacting GivePulse.

Alternatives

For a broader comparison, see Student Engagement Software, Nonprofit Volunteer Management Software, and Event Volunteer Management Software.

Rubric is worth considering if a freemium option with a free plan and web, Android, and iOS access is the priority; its Free plan is free for 12-month transaction volume below $200.
Zynvo is an alternative for students seeking a free student plan with discovery, events, and club features.
Modern Campus CMS is a paid alternative available on web, iOS, Android, API, and self-hosted platforms.
InScribe is a paid alternative with an Institutional plan priced by contacting its team about institutional needs.
Nearpeer is a paid option with an institutional annual plan priced at 15000.00 USD per year; its cost depends on eligible student population.
Pathify is a paid alternative whose Engagement Hub pricing is based on enrollment and optional add-ons, with current pricing available by contacting the provider.
Suitable is another paid alternative.
ConexED Retain is another paid alternative, available on web.

Verdict

Choose GivePulse if your organization needs volunteer coordination alongside engagement analytics, outreach, or student-focused tools, and its plan structure matches your admins and subgroups. Its breadth across community, higher education, and enterprise programs is the main reason to choose it; look elsewhere if you need a simple, predictable-cost volunteer setup without subgroup or institution-level requirements.

	Empower	GivePulse
Free plan		Yes
Paid from		$0.15/mo
Platforms	Android, iOS, Web	Android, iOS, Web
Free plan	No	Yes
Engagement analytics	Yes	Yes
Student surveys	Yes	Yes
SMS outreach		Yes
LMS integration		Yes

Empower vs GivePulse

Empower

GivePulse