Bloomerang...your new BFF in fundraising!
May 26, 2017
Bloomerang...your new BFF in fundraising!
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Bloomerang
I did not make the decision to get Bloomerang myself. It was a decision made by the executive director and myself with input from the board. I am the board chair. It's a small arts organization. I am employed at a large nonprofit in the human services sector, and we use Raisers Edge. All that is background because the answer choices on the last page were not exactly indicative of my true answers. At the arts organization, we did not have any constituent management database. I researched the field of offerings, and Bloomerang seemed ideal for our small nonprofit. Besides, their HQ is just down the street. We liked the simplicity of the interface, the training, the price, and the features of Bloomerang, without the complexities that other databases have. Our first task in using Bloomerang was to undergo as much training as we could and start entering our constituents into it. The assistance from the company was outstanding as was the online help and the user groups' various advice on matters that we were challenged with. The database is used by myself, the executive director, a volunteer, and our program manager. We do not yet use Bloomerang for most reporting and mailings though. We are very small and still learning the system.
- Well designed interface (system graphics).
- Easy to understand their tutorials.
- Quite comprehensive for our purposes as a small organization.
- For the purpose of our small arts organization, I do not see any need to improve it. I did arrange for a demonstration when my employer (large human services organization) was looking for a new constituent management database. We previewed Bloomerang, but it wasn't robust enough for our needs (20K+ records).
Ease of use, great customer service, lack of unwieldy complexity (a la Raisers Edge), excellent live and recorded training.
I have obtained eTapestry in 3 other organizations, and I am adept at using that data base, but I found Bloomerang easier to use and with greater functionality.
I have obtained eTapestry in 3 other organizations, and I am adept at using that data base, but I found Bloomerang easier to use and with greater functionality.
Using Bloomerang
4 - Executive Director (primary user), Program Manager (seldom user), administrative volunteer (frequently and under the direction of the executive director), Board Chair (a lot in first 6 months until we got the admin volunteer, and now occasionally).
2 - The admin volunteer is a retired secretary and is very adept at data entry. The executive director is very experienced in project management and fundraising and has worked hard to train herself in Bloomerang.
- Gift entry
- Tracking funds raised
- LYBUNT, SYBUNT work
- I don't think we have any! It'd be interesting to know other organizations' answers to this.
- Oh, we have a long way to go to be considered super users of Bloomerang. Basically, we are extremely short staffed with 2.5 paid staff. We are in a year of growing our organization tremendously as we have taken on the running of a 200 seat theater. We just launched a membership program a month ago. We run the theater year round, and as the only arts organization on the east side of the metro area, we are trying to cover a lot of programming initiatives in addition to fundraising. We aren't having trouble fundraising, but we are just short-staffed.
Evaluating Bloomerang and Competitors
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Positive Sales Experience with the Vendor
There isn't one single factor most important, but if I have to choose it would be the features of the system.
We wouldn't change anything. I think we did it right - reviewing numerous products in depth and speaking with users for their experiences and opinions when we could.
Bloomerang Implementation
- Vendor implemented
Change management was minimal - Not sure what you mean by "change management." We had no database prior to Bloomerang so there were no records of any kind to import into it. Is that what you mean by change mgmt? Hmmm...
- Bloomerang was easy to install because we had nothing to import. This was our first database.
- I suppose time was the biggest obstacle due to our small staff (at that time it was 1.5 people). As the person who recommended Bloomerang, I helped the executive director a great deal in the implementation process. But it was not a hard process. We were starting from the ground up!
Bloomerang Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | None |
Yes - The premium support is reasonable in cost and as new users, we find it valuable.
As I said, I am not the main user of Bloomerang. You should send this survey to our ED.
Using Bloomerang
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- gift entries
- search feature
- ease of changing erroneous entries
- The trainings are outstanding!
- I find reporting (the few I have done) are not at all hard to figure out. I am not the major user of the system, though.
- On occasion, I have found the online help person gives somewhat stock answers that replicate what I read in FAQ or recorded training. This isn't bad, but its the nuances of problems that someone can get stuck on that are less easy to convey via a text or emailed interface. Having a person in an in person training would solve such conundrums. Can't always have that, though!