Guilford Green Foundation
The Guilford Green Foundation creates unity through programming and philanthropy that advances equality and inclusion for LGBTQ communities. The Guilford Green Foundation seeks to courageously unite the community by fostering organizations that advance LGBTQ persons and issues.
Challenge
Guilford Green Foundation was looking for a donor management solution that could consolidate various fundraising-related tasks, keep their donor data organized, and streamline some of their development processes. “We were looking for a system that would integrate multiple systems (donor giving history, email lists, ticket sales, and online donations). We wanted a system that would keep all these data points in one place so we could create a profile of constituent engagement,” said Jennifer Ruppe, Executive Director at Guilford Green Foundation.
Solution
Bloomerang’s donor engagement focused platform was just what Jennifer and her team needed. They were originally drawn to “Bloomerang’s ease of use, intuitive interface and ability to integrate multiple systems.” But Bloomerang’s ability to seamlessly fit into their donor retention and gift development processes was what really sealed the deal. “The ability to segment constituent data and create more personalized appeals helps Guilford Green Foundation and the LGBTQ Center reach donors at many different levels. The customizable reports allow us to mine data so that we always have a clear picture of where we are on any given metric.”
After choosing Bloomerang, the team at Guilford Green Foundation hasn’t looked back. “I have used a lot of donor databases throughout my career. Bloomerang is at the top of my list. It is intuitive, has a clean look, tech support is helpful, and it easily integrates multiple systems saving us time and money. No donor database is perfect, but Bloomerang is pretty awesome. Plus they are always making upgrades and introducing new features based on customer feedback.”
Results
Since implementing Bloomerang, Guilford Green Foundation has seen several fundraising pain points be alleviated. Segmenting donor communications, sending personalized messaging, and focusing on donor engagement is a breeze now. “Measuring donor engagement is so much better thanks to the integrated email system and the ability to mine data. We can personalize information for major donors, event sponsors, special event attendees, and volunteers without crossover. Or, we can identify which constituents fit multiple categories and create a special message just for them.”
With increased insights into their constituents’ engagement with their organization, it’s no surprise the team at Guilford Green Foundation has seen an increase in key metrics like donor retention and dollars raised. “Donor retention and dollars raised have both increased since switching to Bloomerang. The increase in our donor retention rate has been the most notable because this metric gives the Board very tangible data that they can use to identify donors they need to connect with.”
Along with these improvements, Jennifer and her team noticed an improvement in both the quality of their constituent communications and their productivity. “The quality of constituent communication has greatly improved and we have been able to fine tune our communication content and timing based on data captured like open rates and links clicked. Bloomerang also makes entering information easy and the effort it takes to capture all information greatly improves our ability to share information among staff and board members.”
It’s amazing what a user-friendly, donor engagement focused tool can do for the growth of an organization such as Guilford Green Foundation.
