How Texas Humane Heroes Boosted Donor Retention and Streamlined Fundraising with Bloomerang’s Giving Platform
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
Texas Humane Heroes (TXHH) is a private, non-profit animal welfare organization operating a no kill adoption center in the greater Austin, TX metropolitan area. They are 100% funded by donations, grants, and modest service fees, receiving no government funding. They improved efficiency and donor engagement by switching to Bloomerang’s Giving Platform to streamline donor management, volunteer coordination, and fundraising.
Since implementing Bloomerang, TXHH has improved donor retention to 43% and strengthened engagement with customizable donation forms. This includes a recent campaign to raise $5,000 to support 29 new arrivals. After reaching 75% of the goal in minutes, the target was raised multiple times, ultimately collecting $12,040 to meet the animals’ urgent needs. The improvements in donor and volunteer management have allowed them to focus on their mission of saving animals and finding them loving homes.
CHALLENGE
Looking for an easy-to-use, wholistic solution that consolidates all their tools into one place
Texas Humane Heroes was grappling with inefficiency and complexity in their previous donor management systems. Using a discontinued nonprofit CRM within Salesforce’s complicated interface made daily tasks cumbersome. They needed a more intuitive nonprofit software tailored to donor relationships, as well as a unified system to include fundraising efforts and volunteer management. “The app we used previously wasn’t user-friendly for the volunteer or myself, the coordinator,” said Beth Michel, Volunteer Coordinator. Looking for a better giving tool that could drive engagement and retention within their development team, TXHH landed on Bloomerang’s Giving Platform.
SOLUTION
Using Bloomerang’s Giving Platform to track donors, volunteers, and fundraising
The TXHH team chose Bloomerang for its donor-focused design and user-friendly interface. The unified platform enabled their development team to seamlessly manage donor relationships and focus on retention with actionable insights. Bloomerang’s cost-effective model, which supports multiple users at no additional cost, proved to be the perfect solution for their operations.
Since implementing Bloomerang over a decade ago, TXHH has used the platform to track donor interactions, generate data-driven reports tailored to retention strategies, and streamline grant management processes. More recently, they’ve expanded their use of the platform, leveraging it to coordinate volunteers and improve fundraising efforts with personalized donation forms.
“Bloomerang Volunteer has massively helped strengthen and grow our volunteer program,” said Michel. “Bloomerang’s desktop website is extremely easy to use and so far our volunteers have had nothing but positive things to say about the mobile app. They especially like the geo-location feature that allows them to check themselves in/out for a volunteer shift when on property instead of having to wait in line to sign in on some piece of paper.”
Jayne Whisnant, Chief Development Officer, also named Bloomerang’s customizable donation forms as one of its most valuable features. “Having the ability to create multiple forms has allowed us to present a menu of giving options tailored to different campaigns, programs, or needs,” said Whisnant. “This not only gives donors more control and clarity in how they support us—it also gives us insight into what our donors care about most.”
Some of TXHH’s custom campaigns have included raising funds for their Adopt a Kennel Sponsorship, an annual Tails and Trails event, and supporting new arrivals with monthly medical asks. One of their recent monthly campaigns had an initial goal of $5,000 to support 22 new dogs (including 19 puppies and 3 adults), along with a pregnant dog and five abandoned female cats.
“We were 75% to our goal 20 minutes after launching the campaign, so I increased it to $7,500, then $10,000, then $12,500 over 24 hours,” explained Whisant. In total, the campaign raised $12,040 to support urgent needs of their new arrivals. “By tracking which forms and campaigns receive the most traction,” said Whisant, “we’re able to better understand our community’s priorities and respond with more intentional outreach.”
RESULTS
Improved donor retention and engagement
Bloomerang’s Giving Platform has proven to be a game-changer for Texas Humane Heroes. The platform’s simplicity dramatically reduced the learning curve, enabling more team members to actively participate in donor management. Key features like the daily dashboard keep donor retention front and center, providing a clear snapshot of progress and motivating the team to focus on strengthening donor engagement.
“Bloomerang’s fundraising tools have made a meaningful impact on how we engage with donors and structure our fundraising efforts,” said Whisnant. “We’ve started sending more regular emails through Bloomerang and linking our donation forms directly into those messages. This makes it easy for donors to take immediate action and has contributed to a noticeable increase in donor engagement and retention.”
This has resulted in an overall culture of retention within the organization, including a higher-than-average 43% donor retention rate. The development team now actively discusses strategies to connect more deeply with their supporters and embed retention efforts into their workflow. This cultural shift has elevated their approach from simply managing donors to cultivating meaningful, lasting partnerships that support their mission.
“Bloomerang has streamlined our operations and made our fundraising more strategic, responsive, and donor-focused,” said Whisant. This empowers Texas Humane Heroes to spend more time on what truly matters—saving lives and finding homes for animals in need.
“Bloomerang’s Giving Platform has streamlined our operations and made our fundraising more strategic, responsive, and donor-focused.”
donor retention rate
of initial goal raised for urgent medical ask
