Ellucian Banner Finance vs Foundant CommunitySuite

Ellucian Banner Finance is a cloud financial management system for higher education institutions. It covers procurement, general ledger, finance operations, accounts payable, fixed assets, internal stores, journal entries, budget development, sponsored research accounting, endowment management, and accounts receivable. The Research and Grants module supports grant work from initial proposal through project close, consolidates grant information, produces federal reports including the Federal Financial Report, and provides a grants ledger that can operate beyond fiscal year end. Staff can use My Finance Query for spend analysis dashboards, saved queries, and query sharing; My Requisitions to create and track requisitions; and My Journals to manage journal vouchers. Secure mobile access provides financial information and personalized self-service views, alongside web access. Listed integrations include Ellucian Spend Management powered by Chrome River, Ellucian Analytics, Ellucian Workflow, Ellucian CRM Advance, and Banner Document Management. The product also provides higher education financial statement reports for GASB and FASB. Pricing is on request; the product sheet does not list a free plan or trial.

Foundant CommunitySuite is a cloud platform that brings fund accounting, CRM, donor portals, endowment and fee management, events, and online donations together. Foundant identifies community foundations as its primary audience and also names college and education foundations, family foundations, and faith-based community foundations. The accounting tools track endowed and non-endowed funds, pooled investment earnings, administrative fees, and spending policies. Its CRM ties interactions for donors, advisors, grantees, and vendors to individual constituent records. Donors can make recurring gifts and print tax receipts through portals; advisors can check balances and statements and recommend grants. The system processes grants and scholarships itself or connects with Foundant’s grant and scholarship lifecycle products. Reports include filtered financial views, current spendable balances, batch fund statements, and performance and trend analytics. Listed integrations include Outlook, Power BI, Candid, Stripe, Mailchimp, Google Looker Studio, AlphaVantage, Salesforce, and Constant Contact, alongside an open API. Foundant lists security controls and compliance credentials, as well as unlimited support, a dedicated team, and the Compass peer community. Pricing is provided after Foundant discusses an organization’s needs.