St. Mark's High School

Saint Mark’s, a college-preparatory coeducational Catholic high school, inspires young men and women to create a better world, one more pleasing to God and more helpful to others, by modeling faith, excellence, humility and integrity.

Challenge

Saint Mark’s High School was looking for a cloud-based, user friendly donor database that would be easy for staff to learn and use, but that also had a reliable and knowledgeable customer support team they could lean on when needed. “When I arrived at Saint Mark’s we had a database that no one could manage. We sent staff to trainings and they came back uniformed and simply could not manage the data. When we asked for help issues were put in a queue and were never solved the same day. In some cases it took weeks to resolve the problem. As a result data was not entered, reports were not run or took weeks to generate and even simple thank you letters were delayed or not delivered.

We wanted and needed a database that was user friendly for all and with support that could give us a solution in a timely manner. We also wanted a product that was cloud based, giving us the ability to access our data anywhere at any time,” said Pete Curcio, Director of Advancement at Saint Mark’s High School.

Solution

After getting a recommendation for Bloomerang, Pete was initially drawn to its usability, and data and relationship management capabilities and functionality. “We were involved in a funding program that recommended Bloomerang for not only data management but also relationship management. We found both in Bloomerang. When we got the system we found that everyone could manage the process. We still have dedicated people for specific functions, but truth be told anyone can pick up a process at any time because of the system’s ease of use. On a side note we dropped the funding program but are very glad that we were introduced to Bloomerang because of it.”

The team at Saint Mark’s High School was excited to see improvements with their donor retention and gift development processes by being able to manage and keep better track of their constituent data. With Bloomerang they could gain more power over their data to make more informed fundraising decisions. “We use Bloomerang on a daily basis. In the fundraising world data is king. We have found that with Bloomerang we can generate reports that are beneficial to our donors and Board members, and provide us with the right information to make the right decisions when approaching a donor for a gift no matter what the size. Through Bloomerang we can determine where the donor is in the donor cycle and make the right ask.”

Pete is happy to tout Bloomerang’s ease of use, reporting, functionality, and support as reasons to recommend it as a top donor management system for Catholic-based organizations like theirs. “When I made the switch I did it alone with no help or support. It was basically the administration daring me to make the switch. The changeover was seamless and the benefits to the organization immeasurable. I would encourage any organization to make the switch for ease of use, reporting, functionality and support.”

Results

Since implementing Bloomerang, Saint Mark’s High School has benefited from improved reporting functionality and gaining better access to their data. “Speed and good data have made our lives much easier. When we set up a report we can tailor it to the needs of the donor and the campaign. The program has the flexibility to add and change fields to provide the right data that we need in every situation. We recently ran a campaign and participants wanted different data points throughout the process. By using Bloomerang reports we were able to deliver every time.”

And since increasing their efficiency and gaining better access to their data, Pete and his team have been able to benefit from seeing the big picture when it comes to their donor retention rate and overall campaign progress. “When we begin the year we enter our goals into the system. Thus, on a daily basis we have a snapshot of where we are relative to campaign progress. The donor retention wheel also provides a good picture of where we are with individual donors throughout the year. These are key data points that give us the big picture.”

In addition to high number growth, the team at Saint Mark’s High School has also seen improvements in the quality and frequency of their reporting, data segmentation, and constituent communications. “We now use Bloomerang for all mailing both regular mail and electronic. Each week throughout the school year we send an e-newsletter to our alumni and through the program we can track reads and responses. As a result we are now able to do segmented emails and letters to constituents in our database with ease.”

All in all, it’s amazing what an easy-to-use and innovative donor database can do for the growth of an organization such as Saint Mark’s High School. “The product is great and it has evolved over the years since we began. Keep it going!!”