Why We're Making Bloomerang Open To The Public During #AFPFC

When Bloomerang was founded back in 2012, our goal was to be disruptive.

We live that daily, from our product to our company culture.

That’s why we asked industry experts to help design our product. That’s why we look for nonprofit experience in our recruiting practices. That’s why we didn’t take VC funding to get started and will remain employee-owned.

So what we’re about to announce shouldn’t come as a surprise.

To celebrate the upcoming Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) International Fundraising Conference, we are opening up the Bloomerang software to the public.

Lots of vendors offer free trials and free versions, but only after you jump through hoops and tell your life story to a sales rep. We’re offering access with no hoops or strings attached. All you have to do is fill out this form and you’ll be using the real, full Bloomerang application within minutes.

Why are you doing this?

Have you ever signed an expensive, long-term contract for a product that you didn’t really have a chance to truly test drive first? Now’s your chance to look under the hood.

Nearly 1,000 unique nonprofit organizations have signed up to use Bloomerang since 2012, and we want you to experience the software for yourself. Most of our growth has been a result of referrals and word of mouth. Our marketing budget is largely spent on creating educational content, because our mission isn’t to sell software. It’s to increase donor retention in the nonprofit world. We just happen to also make a great donor management system.

People discover Bloomerang from other Bloomerang users who have fallen in love with our product, and this allows us to multiply that.

But most importantly, we want your feedback. We’d like to hear what you like and what you don’t like. Constant improvement and refinement is a hallmark of our company culture. Do we want you to buy Bloomerang? Of course. But your feedback is infinitely more valuable.

So if you want to get your hands dirty, just visit this page to get started >> https://bloomerang.co/afpfc

What’s going to happen after you fill out the form:

• You will be given a username and password to use a Bloomerang database with some pre-populated sample data that you can tinker with.
• You can do whatever you want in the database. Create new constituents. Input donations. Run reports. Craft emails and letters. Build online giving forms. Go crazy.
• You will have access to the (weekday) free email/chat support that all users get, standard. If you have a question about functionality, please reach out to them! Our head of support will also be at #AFPFC if you’d like to talk to him in person. You can also check our knowledgebase at any time.
• Access will be cut off at 12:01am on 4/1 (we’ll just change your password).
• You’ll get signed up for our monthly educational newsletter. We’re really proud of the free educational content we put out daily. You can unsubscribe at anytime.

Bloomerang is 100% cloud-based, so you can access the software from any device with an Internet connection, including (especially!) mobile devices.

Nonprofit organizations who raise less than $250,000 per year can purchase a $71 Bloomerang license for one year (94% discount) – details here >>

Why are you asking for contact information? Why don’t you just post the username/password right here?

We could, since want as many people to experience Bloomerang as possible. But we also want to know what people think of us, and this allows us to reach out.

• We’re asking for the bare minimum: name, organization and email address.
• You won’t get called incessantly by a Bloomerang rep (we’re not asking for your phone number).
• You will get an email from a Bloomerang rep a few days after you gain access. If you don’t want to pursue a purchase, no worries. We’d just like to know what you thought.

Won’t people first need training to use your product?

We are confident that Bloomerang is the most modern, intuitive and user-friendly donor management option out there for nonprofit in the market today. We designed it to be as easy-to-use as a smartphone app. Have you ever had to go through training for a smartphone app? No way. And we think donor management software should be the same way.

So if you’re at the AFP International Fundraising Conference please stop by one of our booths and tell us what you think. We’d love to hear your thoughts on what you like and don’t like about Bloomerang.

Can’t wait to chat with you!