Why Always Home Has Zero Regrets About Switching to Bloomerang

I’m Ashley Lane, the Donor Relations Manager for Always Home, a nonprofit with the mission of preventing family homelessness in Eastern Connecticut. For over 25 years, our organization has worked to keep families housed and help parents create lasting stability for their children.

Why We Switched from Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge

The main concerns we had before switching to Bloomerang were that we felt we couldn’t fully trust the data in our own database because Raiser’s Edge made it so hard to easily access and understand. We feared this was causing a disconnect between our organization and our donors. Even pulling a simple mailing list was a daunting task, and we didn’t want it to seem like we didn’t know our constituents, as making interactions personalized is at the heart of how we operate.

On top of this, it was concerning that for such a small nonprofit (five employees) so much time was wasted on what should have been very simple tasks. When you only have two employees who work on fundraising and donor relations, and only one who is dedicated to those functions full time, it is hard to get anything done when hours are wasted trying to pull a simple report or send an email communication to donors. Prior to switching to Bloomerang, we had been with Blackbaud for about 3 years, and prior to that, everything was still done manually using Excel.

“The NCOA option, the DonorSearch tool, and the engagement meter in each donor profile, all of which make it so much easier for us to analyze our donors, their giving patterns, and their gift potential.”

So many things drew us to Bloomerang, but at the top of the list was how user-friendly both systems were. Even the look of the dashboard and donor profiles was so much cleaner and easier to figure out than Blackbaud. We loved a lot of the features offered as well, like the NCOA option, the DonorSearch tool, and the engagement meter in each donor profile, all of which make it so much easier for us to analyze our donors, their giving patterns, and their gift potential.

For Qgiv by Bloomerang specifically, it was the event management tools that integrate with Bloomerang, so that we’re not doing double the work moving all our data over after an event. We had used a system called GiveSmart for the last 3-4 years, which worked well for us, but Qgiv just seemed so much easier to use. This was especially important for our donors and event volunteers. There is nothing worse than finding out about a hidden quirk in the system as your guests are arriving to check in!

Someone with Us Every Step of the Way

What’s really stood out to me about Bloomerang is the level of involvement we’ve gotten from the moment we submitted a demo request. Someone has been with us every step of the way, and they’re always checking in with us. We worked with Seth on the sales team in the beginning, and he had so much patience with us. We had a million questions and were wary of other systems after what we had been dealing with for so long. He was always willing to give us more time, set up another meeting, and even gave us sandbox access, which was huge for us to make sure Bloomerang was the right fit. We looked into a good amount of other donor management options, but I think because of all that he did for us, we knew it was Bloomerang from the start.

It all felt very personalized and not like we were just another sale. After that, we worked with the [Data Migration] team that does all the data mapping, and they were fantastic as well. They took the time to make sure we understood what was being asked of us and what needed to be done. Going into the data migration, I was really nervous, as we rely so much on our database. The data in Raiser’s Edge was so intense, but the data migration process was incredibly easy, with someone always there to help us if we ran into any issues. They were meticulous, and we were really happy with how smoothly this step went.

“The data migration process was incredibly easy, with someone always there to help us if we ran into any issues. They were meticulous, and we were really happy with how smoothly this step went.”

Bloomerang made our onboarding process so easy. Because we were just finishing up our data migration around the time our annual appeal mailing list needed to be pulled, I was eager to get into the system, and I did so without any formal training from Bloomerang. It was that intuitive! As you can imagine, being at the start of our busy season (appeal and events) when we got into Bloomerang was not the most ideal time to get started with a new system. But between the sales team, the data mapping team, and the training team, onboarding was so incredibly smooth.

Bloomerang Customer Support

Once we were in the system, I was also so impressed with the chat support function. I never even signed on for formal training because I didn’t feel it was needed, but it was there if I wanted it, and the free resources provided gave me that added safety net. If I ran into obstacles or needed help finding a search filter within a report, the chat support team was amazing and always helped me get to where I needed to go. This is a feature that I still use regularly, and the support team is always so pleasant, responsive, and takes the time to walk you through what you are asking for assistance with.

Bloomerang is solving the problem of time and complexity for us. It’s still such a powerful tool with so many interesting data points that can be added in and customized, but even with all that, it’s just so easy to use. Setting up and pulling a report that would have taken me hours in Raiser’s Edge now takes me just a few minutes in Bloomerang.

“Bloomerang is solving the problem of time and complexity for us… Pulling a report that would have taken me hours in Raiser’s Edge now takes me just a few minutes in Bloomerang.”

In terms of Qgiv, we were initially drawn to the event management piece of the system and the fact that it integrated with Bloomerang. We had been on the hunt for a system that “did everything,” which, to us, meant providing a donor CRM but also allowing us the event management tools that GiveSmart did. It’s so nice to have two systems that communicate with each other so that we’re not doing the work multiple times after such a large event.

Bloomerang has made it so much easier to trust the data we have in our system and use it to bring a personalized touch to the way we communicate with our donors. Even prior to Bloomerang, we’ve tried to have Tricia, our Executive Director, contact anyone who gives a donation of $200 or more, and any new donors also receive a call or email from her. It’s so easy to run reports on metrics like this now, and Bloomerang even has the tasks area right on the dashboard that shows Tricia and me who the recent first-time donors are.

Ease of Use with the User-Friendly Bloomerang

Again, it all comes back to the ease of use and how much time it has freed up for us. When you have a database that makes it easy to find this information—or even hands you the information without you asking—you have so much more time to cultivate donor relationships. Sadly, I can’t even tell you what our retention rate was prior to the switch because that information wasn’t easily accessible to us in Raiser’s Edge. But if I had to guess, I would say we’ve seen an improvement [to 55% with Bloomerang].

Qgiv’s donation forms make it so much easier for donors to return to us online, as well as set up recurring donations with a specified start and end date if they choose. We’re now retaining donors without even putting the work in to ask them to donate again. We especially love that we can set up the prompts to gently nudge donors to make their donation recurring, and we can also enable Smart Amounts, which is such a cool feature.

Our team is exponentially happier that everything is so simple now. Our Executive Director thought it was so cool that she could send a personal thank-you email to a donor directly from the link in Bloomerang and have it show up on their timeline as an interaction without her having to log it.

“Our team is exponentially happier that everything is so simple now.”

She and I are the only two who work in these programs, but I can’t even begin to describe how easy Bloomerang has made my job. If someone wants a report on our monthly donations, it takes me two minutes to tweak and pull. If I need to create a new, customized donation form for our GivingTuesday campaign, it’s easy to set up, add graphics/videos to, and integrate into Bloomerang so that donations coming in via the form go directly to the specific fund areas they need to. I really can’t express how happy I have been with both systems.

Any features that have allowed us to better understand and communicate with our donors have been amazingly valuable. Donor tools have helped us find gaps in our data (e.g. vacation addresses, missing spouse names), while also allowing us to see what areas they are giving to the most and what organizations they are most likely to support. I’ve recently been working on cleaning up our data before we mail our gala save-the-date. The Engagement and Generosity scores in each donor profile have helped me immensely in deciding which donors Always Home should be cultivating and which donors may not need to receive mail from us anymore.

And then, of course, as I’ve already mentioned, the customer support features have been nothing short of amazing. Not once have I left a support chat without getting the exact answer I needed to help guide me through whatever I was working on. The reps are always so patient and friendly, even going as far as to make tutorial videos to visually walk me through what I’m trying to accomplish. I can’t even begin to describe how much that means to me when I am trying to set up a very specific report with detailed filters, and I can just follow along with the video made personally for me. It’s such a great touch and makes you feel so valued as a customer.

How Bloomerang’s Reporting Features Are Superior to Blackbaud’s

Words cannot even begin to describe how superior Bloomerang’s reporting features are to Blackbaud’s. I’ve used Blackbaud products for over five years between my position with Always Home and my previous position at another nonprofit. In my last job, I had two full days of formal training to use eTapestry, and the reporting was still not as good as what Bloomerang has offered me without any formal training. Raiser’s Edge reporting was, in all honesty, absolutely terrible. You had to jump through hoops to figure out how to manipulate your reports to show the specific data you were looking for.

The reason that Bloomerang’s level of customer service and support has been so crucial for me is because with Raiser’s Edge it was like pulling teeth. If I needed assistance with a specific reporting criteria, half of the time, the support agents had no idea what I was talking about and were unable to walk me through it. Or they would walk me through it, but then I’d run the report, and the data it gave me was completely incorrect.

“The reason that Bloomerang’s level of customer service and support has been so crucial for me is because with Raiser’s Edge it was like pulling teeth.”

We tend to be pretty good at knowing our donors, so there were times that I would run reports omitting anyone marked as “do not mail” or “deceased” and it would still show me donors I know should not have been included on that report. Or we’d pull a report of top donors, and there would be individuals missing who, without a doubt, should have been included. This is what I meant when I mentioned that we felt like we couldn’t trust our own data.

Running reports in Blackbaud also required you to go into some antiquated backend of the system that was incredibly confusing to use. There were, in my opinion, way too many data points, and just when you thought you’d found the filter you were looking for, it turns out that that filter was not what you were trying to use. It was insanity, and it made my job so much harder.

I’ve faced none of that with Bloomerang. Every report I’ve set up has been so easy to fine-tune. Any time I have had issues finding a certain filter or wondering if the filter I chose was the best, chat support has been there to walk me through it. Gone are the days of me wasting two hours to pull a monthly reconciliation report or online donations report. With Bloomerang, I can take care of these tasks in a matter of minutes. This ability has allowed me to fine-tune our data even further and create nice visuals and reports that can be shared with our staff, donors, board, etc.

Improving Donor Engagement

Raiser’s Edge made it hard for us to even imagine diving into donor engagement metrics. Since we made the switch, I do believe we’ve gained some new recurring donors as a result of Qgiv’s “nudge” options. Donor relations is the only piece I can say for certain has improved with Bloomerang and Qgiv because we can track interactions and collect data for us and our donors with ease, freeing up so much time that we can better communicate with our donors. Profiles and households in Bloomerang are so much easier to understand and look at, so now we feel like we can really understand our donors, their history with our organization, and what matters most to them.

“I can say for certain donor relations have improved with Bloomerang and Qgiv because we can track interactions and collect data with ease, freeing up so much time that we can better communicate with our donors.”

Given how difficult it was to use Blackbaud, we didn’t use their tools for campaigns or events. I am so excited to use Qgiv for our gala this year because, based on what I’ve seen so far, it’s going to make the staff and volunteers’ jobs so much easier, plus be easier for our guests to use. Being able to mass enter paddle raise bidder numbers—total game changer! Having all the personal details right in the check-in tab in a very easy to use and searchable layout was amazing!

Setting up my event was so easy and customizable. I’ve been so impressed thus far, and I think my event volunteers will be thrilled when they come to my training this year. It will be so much easier for them to use and for me to manage. I’m also very curious to see if we’ll gain more auction revenue because the system will be easier to use for guests. Another key point for us is that you can turn the auction mode on and off. This is so cost-effective for our organization and makes so much sense when we don’t use these functions for many months of the year.

Nonprofits of Any Size Would Benefit from These Platforms

After seeing what Bloomerang and Qgiv can do, I truly believe that nonprofits of any size would benefit from these platforms. If you’re a huge nonprofit with an entire development or database team, Bloomerang and Qgiv will boost your metrics, reporting, and donor insights with ease. Qgiv will enable you to run powerful campaigns and events.

If you’re a tiny nonprofit like Always Home with a staff of five, Bloomerang and Qgiv will free up so much time for you in reporting, creating forms, collecting donations, and managing events so you can focus on growth and cultivation.

Bloomerang has also allowed a pretty significant cost savings compared to Blackbaud, without compromising on any of the features we needed and wanted. We are saving thousands of dollars per year by being a Bloomerang customer.

In my last position with another nonprofit, we were approached about Bloomerang, and I have to be honest—I was so used to eTapestry that I didn’t want to put the work in to make the change and learn a new system when I’d already invested so much time learning that one. But looking back, I would have 100% switched to Bloomerang for its powerful tools and ease of use.

To any nonprofit out there exploring other database options, make sure to check out Bloomerang. It’s an incredibly powerful system that delivers in-depth metrics in uncomplicated ways, and their entire team will make you feel like your organization and your needs are a priority. I have zero regrets about making the switch to these platforms, and I am so excited to continue learning about all the amazing tools they provide to help Always Home succeed in every aspect. We look forward to growing with Bloomerang!

“To any nonprofit out there exploring other database options, make sure to check out Bloomerang… We look forward to growing with Bloomerang!”