Bloomerang understands the unique fundraising challenges of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual or Ally, Pansexual (LGBTQIA+) organizations. There’s no reason for technology to get in the way of establishing respect, understanding, and nondiscrimination of LGBTQIA+ people. That’s why numerous LGBTQIA+-focused organizations nationwide have chosen Bloomerang’s donor database solution.
Below are just a few thoughts and success stories from organizations just like yours.
ONE Archives Foundation is the independent community-partner of ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries, the largest repository of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ) materials in the world. Today, the organization is dedicated to promoting this important resource through diverse activities including educational initiatives, fundraising, and range of public programs.
ONE Archives Foundation was looking for user-friendly donor database that they could consolidate their data into, as well as something with better functionality for growth. “We were looking for something that was user-friendly, had integration capabilities with our website, had a prospect research component, could manage events, and had some social media features,” said Jennifer Gregg, Executive Director at ONE Archives Foundation. After using Bloomerang at her previous nonprofit, Jennifer decided that it was the right choice for ONE Archives Foundation.
ONE Archives Foundation had finally found a system that could help them build a donor-centric philanthropic program. The social listening hub and integrated email marketing tool have been vital for Jennifer and her team to stay engaged with constituents. “Bloomerang really helps us focus on individual donor relationships.”
They were also drawn to how Bloomerang could help them with online fundraising and tracking donor engagement. “We also love the engagement feature that allows us to segment our donors around their engagement level. We can customize our asks, focus on different donor groups, and create tailored messaging around the engagement levels tool.”
On top of that, ONE Archives Foundation has been really happy with Bloomerang’s product innovation and customer service. “What we most appreciate is that Bloomerang listens to its customers and continuously adds features based on industry changes and demands.”
ONE Archives Foundation has seen several fundraising pain points be alleviated since implementing Bloomerang. One such benefit is that they’ve been able to consolidate all their data and use it in a way that’s generated better fundraising results.
Jennifer and her team have also benefited from improved communications with their constituents. Segmentation is a breeze thanks to Bloomerang. “The ability to easily segment our lists, provide personalized donor messaging, and report on various fundraising activities has been extremely beneficial internally and externally.”
At the end of the day, all of this has contributed to ONE Archives Foundation seeing an increase in online giving, donor retention, and their organization’s revenue. “Having Bloomerang increased our revenue in 2016 by 80%. Our online giving has increased by more than 200%. And our donor retention has increased by more than 50%.”
It’s amazing what a user-friendly, donor-centric tool can do for the growth of an organization such as ONE Archives Foundation. “Great system and company! User-friendly. Easy to navigate.”
The Pride Community Services Organization works to improve the lives of people in the sexual minority and gender expansive community of Central and Eastern Kentucky by enhancing visibility, empowering community members, and educating the public about issues impacting said community.
Pride Community Services Organization was looking to consolidate all the places their data was being tracked, while also being able to better segment on and communicate with constituents. “When I came into the organization our constituent data for donors and volunteers was being tracked in multiple places. Two separate databases were not being used effectively and that were not able to produce reports on activity. All donations were tracked separately in a spreadsheet. There was no way to understand a constituent’s overall relationship to the organization or to easily segment and communicate with our people on a variety of issues,” said Carmen Wampler-Collins, Pride Center Coordinator at Pride Community Services Organization.
At the end of the day, Carmen and her team needed a solution that could streamline their data while making it easier to interpret it. “I was looking for something that could bring all of our data together, would allow us to get reports on how people were interacting with us, was easy to use, and was affordable for our small organization.”
After stumbling upon Bloomerang, the team at Pride Community Services Organization quickly became impressed with how simple and user-friendly it is. “I really liked that it seemed simple and user friendly. I was attracted to the interface and that it was accessible and easy to understand. I have come to appreciate how it allows us to communicate with specific groups of constituents on certain issues and it tracks that communication. I feel like it builds a fuller picture of our interactions which is invaluable.”
Pride Community Services Organization was also happy that they had found a solution that could take their donor retention and gift development processes to the next level through constituent segmentation. “We benefit by being able to segment our people. For example, I can now easily send an email out to Gay Straight Alliances in our area about upcoming events at the Pride Center and I can track that communication and grow that outreach list as needed. It fits into our donor retention and gift development process by allowing us to segment donors and send appeals for specific gifts appropriate to giving history and relationship with the organization. We have not fully activated these features but we plan to use them in the 2018 end of year giving season.”
Since implementing Bloomerang, Pride Community Services Organization has seen several fundraising pain points be alleviated, such as:
- “Ability to track donations and other activity in one place.
- Ability to easily track our donor retention rate.
- Ability to easily identify our largest donors and to develop cultivation plans appropriately.”
Bloomerang has also fit nicely into the organization’s constituent communication and outreach efforts. “We have been able to communicate so much more effectively with groups related to the work we do at the Center. We have established lists for Center group leaders, local Gay Straight Alliance leaders, volunteers, etc that allow us to communicate more quickly and effectively and to have a record of communication. I feel like using Bloomerang has improved our outreach and gives us a better idea of how people relate to us as an organization.”
In a nutshell, if Carmen were to talk to another LGBTQIA+ organization about Bloomerang, she would have this to say:
“I would tell them that it is very easy to use. That it improves the ability to communicate with constituents, and that it’s very affordable.”
It’s amazing what a user-friendly, donor retention focused tool can do for the growth of an organization such as Pride Community Services Organization. “Overall, our experience with Bloomerang has been very positive.”
GGF creates unity through programming and philanthropy that advances equality and inclusion for LGBTQ communities. The Guilford Green Foundation seeks to courageously unite community by fostering organizations that advance LGBTQ persons and issues.
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 that we could create a profile of constituent engagement,” said Jennifer Ruppe, Executive Director at Guilford Green Foundation.
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.”
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.