Bloomerang CRM vs. Blackbaud TeamRaiser

If you are a small organization just getting started, Bloomerang can be a good fit. It is simple and straightforward for development staff who maybe aren’t super savvy with data management or analysis in spreadsheets. In the sales demo they will try to upsell a lot of extras that are ultimately not necessary unless your stuff is very unfamiliar with database software. The base price of the software is something like $300 per year, as long as you mix all of the training and phone support add-ons they initially present you with.

Incentivized

TeamRaiser is well suited for peer-to-peer fundraising activities, such as large pledge-based events like walks and runs or DIY fundraisers of many different types.

• Reporting: Once I understood the logic behind Bloomerang's reporting tools, I could not believe I'd ever worked a different way. Some of our funders request very complicated reports and getting the relevant data out of Bloomerang is SO much easier than it was with our previous CRM tools.
• Website integration: I love the tracking functionality that Bloomerang offers, as well as how easy it is to integrate event ticket, volunteer, and other forms into our existing website.
• Intuitive design: I've introduced total novices to Bloomerang and been very impressed with how quickly they've been able to figure out all the top level navigation as well as deeper functionality.

Incentivized

• Offers the ability to really customize a campaign on TeamRaiser.
• Provides milestones/badges that can be earned for participants.
• Provides custom pages that can be easily linked to a campaign.
• Gives the ability to send coaching emails to participants and for participants to send emails through the TeamRaiser system.
• Has a big support community.

Incentivized

• Some of the searches did not bring up the expected results. It would be good to see the logic be a little more "fuzzy".
• More pre-set reports would be helpful for small organizations who do not understand the logic behind how to get the results they are seeking.
• An ability to just page through donor records would be nice. Sometimes you just want to browse the data to get inspired.

Incentivized

• Too many options so it can be hard to navigate.
• Requires a deeper HTML understanding to really get the most out of it.
• Would be better if the interface was similar to other original Blackbaud products.

#1 - I am very happy with the product and support so far.
#2 - With significant data migration costs, I wouldn't even consider another option for at least 3 years no matter how much better it might be.

Incentivized

Continued use will ensure an ongoing increase in this type of revenue and provides an alternative way of raising funds for our supporters.

Data and settings are very customizable to fit the needs of our organization. We are able to not only keep track of donations, but also other interactions we may have with a constituent. Support is extremely helpful when issues arise.

Incentivized

It can be overly complex and requires a deeper HTML understanding than most outside of IT have.

Any time i had a problem or question it has been easy to find an answer or tutorial. When I cannot find an answer, it is easy to email or live chat with support and they resolve my problems very quickly.

Great and easy to access to get support to resolve issues immediately.

Having a better understanding of product and objectives prior to implementation would lead to more success.

We left DonorPerfect for Bloomerang. I had come from an organization that used Raisers Edge and there was no way I was going to stay with DP. RE is great for larger organizations with staff dedicated to the database, but we were a much smaller organization and needed to have something we could all use easily. We demoed Salsa and Neon and liked them both, but Bloomerang had better integration features and seemed to be the most user-friendly.

Incentivized

While everydayheroPro and CrowdRise are easy to set up, already mobile friendly, have great interfaces, and are customizable, they lack some base capabilities that come with TeamRaiser, such as the ability to control the donation form, email capability, database syncing, badges/milestones, and custom pages. The everydayheroPro system has great potential, and we use it for our smaller DIY campaigns, but its support knowledge bank and customization is still so limited and can be frustrating to use because of it.

Incentivized

• Because my organization has been using Bloomerang for only one year, we haven't yet studied what impact it has had on our ROI. We have, however, noted that we are able to more efficiently and more rapidly communicate with constituents now than we were able to before we had Bloomerang. We can quickly and efficiently generate acknowledgements and tax receipts - and do so - better than we ever did before.

Incentivized

• Introduced our constituents to DIY fundraising.
• Provided another revenue stream that provides nearly $100,000 extra a year.
• Gets our constituents involved in the cause in another way.
• We've found a niche by using TeamRaiser in companies.
• Has provided more donor interaction for lower-tier giving groups that might otherwise receive little communication and stewardship from us.
• Seen returning participants raise more money year-after-year.

Incentivized