The key to effective stewardship is to be organized and have a plan. There’s nothing like a great stewardship relationship database (CRM) to keep you organized and to assure that donor stewardship stays front and center.

Many houses of worship have already taken this crucial step. See the list for yourself.

Here’s a checklist you can use to enhance your stewardship giving.

1. Create a welcoming atmosphere

Encourage a warm and inclusive environment within your place of worship.

• Implement welcoming committees.
• Host regular newcomer events.
• Ensure that everyone feels embraced as part of the spiritual family.
• Be sure to practice good data hygiene by having a registration process for all congregants. That could be your congregation’s own App for each of their phones, or it could be a kiosk in your lobby—or both.

2. Embrace technology for outreach

Explore the use of technology to extend the reach of your spiritual community.

• Leverage social media platforms.
• Offer live streaming, and virtual events to engage congregants, especially those who may not physically attend services.
• Foster online giving, discussion groups, and prayer communities to keep the connection strong.

3. Personalize outreach and pastoral care

Nurture individual spiritual journeys by implementing a system of personalized outreach, ensuring that every congregant feels seen and valued. Assign dedicated pastoral care teams to connect with members, offering support during challenging times and celebrating milestones. Personal connections can significantly enhance stewardship giving. We give to people not to causes, some say. All this can be accomplished with a modern relationship management system.

4. Deliver engaging worship experiences

Having transformative gatherings revitalizes worship experiences to be engaging, uplifting, and spiritually enriching. Incorporate diverse forms of worship, including music, interactive sermons, and community-driven activities. When congregants feel a deep connection during worship, they are more likely to contribute to the spiritual and financial well being of the community. Most of all, it’s important to have a thoughtful request for support built into your services and programs that comes at the right moment when people are spiritually and emotionally moved.

5. Provide community service and outreach initiatives

Your work extends beyond the walls of your building. Encourage congregants to actively participate in community service and outreach programs. Your congregation may even have its own soup kitchen, or food pantry, or similar program. By working together to make a positive impact on the world, individuals can forge stronger bonds with each other and their place of worship. This shared sense of purpose often translates into increased stewardship giving.

6. Offer stewardship education and awareness

Cultivating a culture of giving is very important. Provide educational resources and messages that emphasize the importance of stewardship in supporting the mission and vision of your faith community. Clearly communicate where the funds go and how they contribute to the spiritual growth of the community. Knowledgeable and informed congregants are more likely to give generously. Consider issuing an annual impact report that shows in clear graphs the relationship between personal giving and the services you deliver. This report may provide support for your requests for renewed and increased support.

A tapestry of faith and generosity

As the new year approaches, let us weave a tapestry of faith, connection, and generosity within our congregations. By implementing these strategies, we can foster a sense of belonging that transcends physical boundaries, creating a spiritual community that thrives in unity and purpose. May the coming year be marked by strengthened connections and increased stewardship giving, enabling our places of worship to continue flourishing as beacons of hope and love.

What’s your experience on increasing stewardship giving? Please leave a comment below and let us know.

The post Strategies For Enhancing Congregational Connection And Stewardship Giving appeared first on Bloomerang.

Challenge

Jewish Fertility Foundation was looking for a powerful donor management system that could grow with them and help them get organized. “We grew fast as an organization and had to get organized with our donors and clients,” said Elana Frank, Executive Director and Founder at Jewish Fertility Foundation.

After doing some research for their first database and interviewing people who were using Bloomerang, Elana and her team knew they’d found an affordable solution that could grow with them.

Solution

Jewish Fertility Foundation had finally found an easy-to-learn donor database that could give them more insight into their donors. Collecting and reporting on different areas of fundraising is a breeze with Bloomerang. Elana and her team had found a solution that could help them easily pull up reports that they need for their “board, fundraising, and accounting.” Bloomerang is an evolving, versatile system for a nonprofit’s fundraising needs. “It is catered to not only our donors but board members, clients, and beyond.”

The people at Bloomerang practice what they preach and are knowledgeable about the product and fundraising. Bloomerang takes customer needs into account when building out the product roadmap every year. That versatility plus the experienced customer support staff were another reason why Bloomerang appealed to Elana over other options. “If I can’t figure something out, the customer service chat feature is a lifesaver. If I need something that doesn’t yet exist I know that it will soon.”

Results

Jewish Fertility Foundation has seen several fundraising pain points be alleviated since implementing Bloomerang. One such benefit is that the team now has a better understanding of “who gave what previously and when through which of our contacts.” Plus tracking their constituents and their needs and attributes through reporting is a breeze and has positively impacted their donor retention rate.

At the end of the day, the Jewish Fertility Foundation has been able to fundraise more effectively and the results they’ve seen reflect that. “Before we started with Bloomerang we raised about $8,000 year one, year 2 we raised $38,000, and by year 3 we’re already at almost $180,000 and the year isn’t over.”

It’s amazing what a donor-centric tool built for fundraisers can do for the growth of foundations such as the Jewish Fertility Foundation. “I sure wouldn’t be able to track donations, cultivation, and thank yous without Bloomerang.”

The post Jewish Fertility Foundation appeared first on Bloomerang.

Challenge

Platte Valley Youth for Christ was looking for a donor CRM that could replace their accounting software for managing their constituents. They wanted to be able to segment lists, track campaign progress, and manage online giving in a more holistic view. “When I took this position, this organization had no CRM and only managed their constituents using accounting software. We were unable to internally segment lists, track campaigns and appeals, or manage online giving,” said Jeff Randell, Executive Director at Platte Valley Youth For Christ.

Solution

After researching multiple donor database options, Jeff was immediately drawn to Bloomerang and its simplicity. But something he wasn’t expecting was the personal, efficient, and knowledgeable customer support and data migration teams that he would interact with while getting onboarded with Bloomerang. “I researched many CRMs. Bloomerang’s simplicity was an immediate draw for me, but one additional factor was customer support. The data migration team was personal and efficient. They got us up and running quickly. I appreciate the continued innovation and updates, easy access to live customer support on chat, and the website integration.”

The team at Platte Valley Youth for Christ was also excited to see improvements with their donor retention and gift development processes through Bloomerang’s reporting and segmentation features. “Every constituent matters in running a religious non-profit. Reports and segmentation greatly help us maintain relationships with each household. We can watch for lapsed donors and take action quickly. The dashboard allows us to gain a quick glance at our donor retention rate, and we often set goals to raise this number.”

Jeff and the team at Platte Valley Youth for Christ are happy to tout Bloomerang’s simplicity, innovation, and customer support, as reasons to recommend it as a top donor management system for faith-based organizations like theirs. “I would definitely recommend Bloomerang to colleagues and have done so! I would tell them about the simplicity, innovation, and customer support.”

Results

Since implementing Bloomerang, Platte Valley Youth for Christ has gained power over their data and has benefited from making informed decisions. “After switching to Bloomerang, we gained power over our data. Instead of requesting reports from our accountant, we could now run reports and segmentation duties ourselves. We gained efficiencies in adding new constituents and even cutting disengaged donors from our list.”

And since increasing their efficiency and gaining better access to their data, Jeff and his team have been able to benefit from improvements to their dollars raised and donor retention rate. “Bloomerang has helped us manage a 10% growth rate for 3 years running. Many factors play into that growth, but managing our constituents is a key factor. Our donor retention rate hovers around 20% higher than the industry average, and we can attribute some of that to Bloomerang.”

In addition to high number growth, the team at Platte Valley Youth for Christ has seen increased efficiency since leveraging Bloomerang’s custom fields and segmentation abilities. “Our staff now manage their own volunteer and constituents which has lessened the demand on our administration. Our newsletters and appeals have benefited from segmentation greatly. Custom fields allow us to make it our own.”

All in all, it’s amazing what a simple and innovative donor database can do for the growth of an organization such as Platte Valley Youth for Christ.

The post Platte Valley Youth for Christ appeared first on Bloomerang.

Challenge

Chabad of Charlotte was looking for easy-to-use donor management software that could help them organize and keep track of all their donors. We needed a solution that’s “not too difficult for our staff to utilize even when not tech-savvy” while also able to help us with “keeping track of all our donors, past and present, and having all the info in front of us easily accessible,” said Rabbi Shlomo Cohen, Director of Operations at Chabad of Charlotte.

Solution

The team at Chabad of Charlotte soon turned their eyes to Bloomerang to help them with their donor retention and gift development processes. Shlomo Cohen likes that Bloomerang makes it “easy to generate reports and figure out who to target.” Donor segmentation makes communicating with their constituents much easier.

In addition to their development efforts, Shlomo Cohen has really come to appreciate how easy Bloomerang is to use and how convenient it makes tracking, storing, and organizing donor data. “Having all the history documented” makes the team at Chabad of Charlottes’ lives easier.

Results

Since implementing Bloomerang, Chabad of Charlotte has alleviated several fundraising pain points. Before Bloomerang, Shlomo Cohen and his team weren’t even able to look into a database to easily pull relevant donor information, especially before a donor meeting. Now, they no longer have “to call their bookkeeper to get donor history” information.

The team at Chabad of Charlotte has also seen improvements with productivity and the quality of their constituent communications. Not only does Shlomo Cohen “feel more productive” with Bloomerang, he’s also able to maximize donor meetings, even on the fly. He’s gained confidence in being “able to meet people on the fly and know what to ask them and what their history is” without needing to ask again.

All in all, it’s amazing what an easy-to-use, donor-focused database can do for the growth of an organization such as Chabad of Charlotte. “Good system — great start on getting your donor base organized.”

The post Chabad of Charlotte appeared first on Bloomerang.

Challenge

Adam Murray, Director of Development, was struggling with Giftworks’ non-cloud-version and lack of mobile capabilities. He was drawn to Bloomerang’s low-cost and simple design.

Solution

When STMCNC implemented Bloomerang it instantly revitalized Adam’s one-man development department.

“Our ministry is composed of four staff members and my focus is strictly development, meaning I am the only team member who uses Bloomerang. I use Bloomerang for all mailings, contact reports, transactions, end-of-year reports, receipts, thank you notes, and anything else associated with donor relations. The product interface is wonderfully easy to use, whether you work in it every day or once a month.”

Results

Adam loves the versatility that Bloomerang offers.

“I was finally able to access our database while traveling. For example, our old software required me to print out past contact reports as well as contact information for when I went on visits. After our switch, I am now able to call benefactors without even dialing their phone numbers! The constituent thermometer makes it very easy to see how connected each benefactor is.”

“Not only is the product easy to use, but customer service is also fantastic. The Bloomerang Academy offers a free weekly webinar that touches on all aspects of development. Bloomerang caters to every need of the customer!”

The post St. Thomas More Catholic Newman Center appeared first on Bloomerang.

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!!”

The post St. Mark’s High School appeared first on Bloomerang.

When you’re a small nonprofit with limited resources, having a donor database that is powerful, yet easy to use is critical.

Eric Howard
CEO at Outreach Indiana

The post Outreach Indiana appeared first on Bloomerang.

When you’re a small nonprofit with limited resources, having a donor database that is powerful, yet easy to use is critical.




Perry Hines

Director of Relationship Management

The post Shepherd Community Center appeared first on Bloomerang.