Transform your Education Nonprofit’s online fundraising game with actionable tips you can implement today! Join us on March 19th as James Goalder shares key insights and best practices from successful nonprofits. Learn how to make simple yet powerful changes to boost online donations, avoid common fundraising roadblocks, and confidently hit your fundraising goals.

Learning Objectives:

• Simple ways you can update your online fundraising process

• Common pitfalls to avoid when building your fundraising campaigns

• Insights from other nonprofits’ online giving experience and how that impacts donations

View this session’s slides here.

The post Raise More for Your Education Nonprofit appeared first on Bloomerang.

Challenge

LTSF had become dissatisfied with using eTapestry as their donor management software.

Solution

Since adding Bloomerang in mid-2013, LTSF has gotten their money’s worth out of the communications tools alone.

“We love to use the communication tools within Bloomerang, specifically the Donor-Centricity and Readability Tool, not only in our thank you letters but also with articles that we put in our e-newsletters.”

They even used our Communication Audit Tool on their organizational mission statement!

Results

“I appreciate the responsiveness of Bloomerang’s staff and their interest in making sure questions are answered timely and completely. Also, the continued development of new features makes me confident that Bloomerang will help me become a more effective fundraiser.”

The post Lawrence Township School Foundation appeared first on Bloomerang.

Challenge

Walden School was looking for easy-to-use donor management software that could replace Raiser’s Edge. They needed a solution that was more robust for cultivating and stewarding their donors. “My school has been using the base package of Raiser’s Edge for about 15 years. We needed something that produced more accurate reports and provided us better donor cultivation and stewardship opportunities,” said Ely Heard, Assistant Director of Development at Walden School.

Solution

After being impressed with a Bloomerang demo at a previous organization, Ely was excited to actually have buying decision this time around. She has come to appreciate how easy Bloomerang is to use, the integrations available, and how easy it now is to steward their donors. “I appreciate the ease of use, the focus on donor stewardship and the collaboration with TrueGivers and DonorSearch.”

Ely and her team were happy to turn their eyes to Bloomerang as a donor database solution that could improve their donor and constituent experience while also saving them time and money. “So far, switching to Bloomerang has been one of the best decisions I’ve made in my time at my school. Not only are we saving money each year, our constituents are getting a better experience from our school.”

Results

Since implementing Bloomerang, Walden School has alleviated several fundraising pain points in regards to reporting and stewardship tracking. “I have found customizing reports to be so much easier in Bloomerang. We also found Wealth Screening to be much easier and stewardship tracking to be more accessible.”

The team at Walden School has also seen improvements with their gift development processes, which has directly impacted the quality of their constituent communications. “Before Bloomerang we were lucky to send out donation acknowledgement letters in a timely manner. Now we’re able to easily send birthday letters to all constituents, my head of school is easily completing tasks I send her, and I can create giving by class reports.”

In that same vein, the ability to easily add personal touches, segment their donors, and have peace of mind that their donor data is correct and continually updated has increased their development team’s productivity and the results of their communication efforts. “I am able to track exactly how many interactions I’m having with our constituents on a day-to-day basis. I’m getting up-to-date address changes on a nightly basis and my constituent’s birthdays are accessible. I’m able to assign tasks to my head of school and director of development to keep them in the loop of constituents’ life changes and large gifts.”

All in all, it’s amazing what an easy-to-use, donor-focused database can do for the growth of an organization such as Walden School. “I love Bloomerang!”

The post Walden School 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.

Challenge

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School was looking for easy-to-use donor management software that could streamline their processes and keep all their data stored in one accessible place. “We had our data in too many places. Every time I wanted to mail or email something, I had to combine spreadsheets and never felt I was including everyone I wanted to,” said Missi Adami, Development Director at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School.

Solution

After getting a Bloomerang recommendation from a fundraising consulting firm, Missi agreed that it could be the solution to their donor data challenges. With Bloomerang, Missi also found that her day-to-day development responsibilities could be a little more manageable. “I am able to be much more consistent with my communications which helps our relationship with our donors.”

Missi recommends Bloomerang to other Catholic schools that could benefit from an intuitive system to empower their development decisions. “I do think Bloomerang is a good product for a small development office. It is simple to use if database management is not your strongest suit.”

Results

Since implementing Bloomerang, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School has alleviated several fundraising pain points through its reporting capabilities, which in turn has given them the ability to make more informed decisions about their donor data. “Bloomerang streamlined our donor database to one system. It also helps me remember when and how I have communicated with the donor.”

Missi and the team at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School have found that Bloomerang fits nicely into their current gift development processes while enhancing what they already have working for them by having an all-in-one system that fits their needs. “Truly keeping my data organized and allowing me to easily communicate with my constituents has been a lifesaver.”

Missi has also been able to see significant improvements in the quality of their constituent communications through segmentation capabilities, as well as increased productivity and efficiency. “Improved productivity and consistent constituent communication have truly made me better able to fill my role as development director. I feel I am able to be more organized and plan in my processes thanks to Bloomerang. I look forward to continuing to improve in this area.”

All in all, it’s amazing what an easy-to-use, fundraising-focused database can do for the growth of Catholic schools such as St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School.

The post St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School appeared first on Bloomerang.

Challenge

NUACS did not have a donor database and needed a way to efficiently track their alumni and donors. They were previously using Excel and a separate program to email their constituents.

Solution

When Bloomerang was implemented NUACS saw an immediate impact.

“We use Bloomerang as our alumni database. We originate all of our mass mailings, labels, thank you notes, and receipts in Bloomerang. We also use it to track all of our donations from alumni and friends. In addition, we generate email blasts out of Bloomerang as well as reports for our Board of Directors,” said Sara Rieland, Director of Development and Alumni Relations.

Results

“We believe we are reaching more alumni through email blasts sent via Bloomerang. It is especially nice that you can see, by the donor, all correspondence sent to them.”

“We have greatly increased our productivity in that we can easily email blast any communication via Bloomerang. In addition, we can easily generate reporting to assist in our mailing (we can use filters to identify a certain mailing group, then send that Excel report to our print to directly print labels. This has saved us a lot of time!)”

“Bloomerang makes donation tracking very easy. It also makes all mailing functions fast and efficient. Their support is also top-notch! No waiting on hold for someone to help you, your questions are answered instantly!”

The post New Ulm Area Catholic Schools appeared first on Bloomerang.

Watch the video below to see how the executive director of the Lawrence Township School Foundation uses the communication tools in Bloomerang:

The post [VIDEO] Lawrence Township School Foundation appeared first on Bloomerang.