Bloomerang

Pros

This product is characterized by accuracy in the analysis and management of all areas available within the institution, really wonderful.

Cons

Contrary to what is positive in its use, it cannot be negative

Pros

Intuitive and fairly easy to use. Integrated services with emails and email newsletters. Report system very good. Donations directly populated into donor profile, creates new profile for new donations. A time saver.

Cons

There is no address label feature or a way to directly print an address and name to an envelope.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Bloomerang

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Bloomerang

Pros

My team was not tech-savvy, so Bloomerang was easy to use and explain to my supervisors.

Cons

Bloomerang's features were pretty inflexible, so selecting features for a report became a fight. There is also limited opportunity to customize the fundraising pages.

Pros

Great out of the box, easy to learn CRM. Love the integrated email system that does almost as much as MailChimp. Reporting is SO easy - you don't have to have a strong understanding of queries, etc. - you just have to understand the concept of filters. Integrated Wealth Research, while limited, is also great.

Cons

Not the most powerful system, but it has what you need as a small nonprofit. Cons are worth accepting for the ease of use - it means employees will actually use it!

Pros

It is super easy to use and it does everything I need it to do. The chat help function is also very helpful and responsive. If I ever run into a problem, they usually have an answer for me within a few minutes. Definitely the best CRM I've ever used.

Cons

We had to create our giving form in another software as the form offered through Bloomerang was not ideal and didn't offer a lot of flexibility or visual interest.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Bloomerang

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Bloomerang

Pros

It was very user friendly! It doesn't take a lot of technical knowledge to dive in and start using the platform.

Cons

The data migration from our previous platform was tedious and lengthy, but I don't know how that could have been avoided.

Pros

We switched from Donor Perfect to Bloomerang for the ease of tracking groups and creating reports that are custom to our organization and couldn't be happier!

Cons

We did have some issues with converting Households over to Boomerang. This was due to the way we used Households in our old CRM.

Pros

I absolutely love how easy it is to customize Bloomerang to fit our needs. There aren't a million different products and service packages that you have to juggle to use your donor data. Reports are super easy to build. Donor acknowledgement is really as easy as a push of the a button!

Cons

We do have some issues with formatting emails and letters that we're working through. I also don't like that you cannot apparently schedule reminder emails for tasks or assign multiple responsible parties for tasks.

Pros

Very easy to use and reasonably priced. Works seamlessly with MailChimp and is easy to tailor to your agency.

Cons

Reporting is limited, but good overall .

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Bloomerang

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Bloomerang

Pros

Able to use it remotely. Reports are very easy to create.

Cons

App not as fully functioning as the computer versio.mn

Pros

Great work from the implementation team.

Cons

We have been on Bloomerang for 2 weeks. So far, I have learned that:The Bloomerang interaction dropdown is all donor facing - there's no way to describe interactions with students except "other" - and the menu can't be changed. There's no ability to pre-load brand guidelines (logo, colors, font) that would pre-populate letters & emails For events, there's no way to show sponsors or honorees on an event page. It requires self-hosting - which costs us $$ for web design services. On Kindful events, I can't set up discount tickets - I was told to set up A SEPARATE EVENT for free tickets, which is ridiculous. I can't change the order of ticket types without deleting and re-entering them (this is minor).There's also no way to track non-fundraising event attendance, as for one of our workshops. They can't have a $0 ticket. Even in the Year-End Tax Receipts webinar yesterday, when the presenter pulled up the template for that very letter on Bloomerang, it wasn't set up as he recommended but had to be customized. It seems like nearly everything in this program requires a workaround, and that it really is entirely a donor management program and not set up for constituents.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Bloomerang

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Bloomerang

Pros

Once we got it set up, Bloomerang is easy to use and makes it easy to keep up with our donations and donors. The Dashboard feature is helpful because it shows our retention rate and new donors immediately.

Cons

The integration process was a nightmare. We had been using Quickbooks and Salesforce. When they were combined we ended up with thousands of duplicate constituents. Bloomerang was not able to filter those effectively for us, and we spent weeks going through thousands and thousands of accounts to clean up our data. We really didn't feel we got the support we needed during the integration process. There are some email features that we wish we had with Bloomerang, like personalizing in the subject line and auto-responder. We've also had times when two different employees will contact customer support and get two different answers to the same question or will get an answer that proves to be incorrect. We haven't been able to do single entries for donations--we still have to enter in Quickbooks and Bloomerang. I feel like there are things we could do with Bloomerang that we're not doing because we don't have a highly technical person on staff to figure it all out.

Pros

I like the charts, reports, ease of use and features that link like Grativid

Cons

I don't really have a least favorite thing.

Pros

i like the CRM which is so user friendly, supportive customer care team makes me love the application

Cons

the application is working well for me, however their contracts are too short this needs to be addressed

Pros

My favorite thing about Bloomerang is the ease of use - it is extremely intuitive, especially compared to a product like Raiser's Edge. I also appreciate the Customer Service - every inquiry is responded to in a timely manner, and customer service representatives go above and beyond to help.

Cons

The initial sign-on period was a bit frustrating, as our representative did not seem that knowledgeable and did not give great advice. However, in the years since this, we have been impressed with the Bloomerang team and have not had any bad experiences since.

Pros

Our non-profit organization uses Bloomerang for maintaining donor records and tracking funding, running reports and sending mass communications. We are beginning to track grant applications and deadlines. Also implementing reports based on Tasks and Interactions. Bloomerang integrates well with QGiv - we used both for fundraising/ticket sales for events and end of year giving. All in all, this product provides most of the needs for our organization.

Cons

I need either Bloomerang or QGiv to research how to alleviate duplicates when a donor submits credit card information with a slightly different name (ex/ [sensitive content hidden]
). This creates a duplicate record in Bloomerang that requires additional attention (to merge records.)

Pros

A great facility and easy to navigate. Bloomerang is well designed web for any non profit organization so i liked most

Cons

Nothing is least but interface coloring could be better. Its a woks well

Pros

This app is really wonderful. I love this from bottom of my heart. All the features are very easy to understand and its really useful.

Cons

I could not find any demerit with this app.

Pros

Bloomerang has made it simple to track contributions to our organization. The customer service is convenient and friendly. Star Gospel Mission is glad we chose bloomerang!

Cons

It would be helpful to have the ability to import organizational letterhead for receipt letters.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Bloomerang

Pros

The support is knowledgeable and available when I need help either by phone or live chat.

Cons

Learning to set up reports but support is always helpful with those.

Pros

Bloomerang's user-friendly interface and comprehensive donor management features make it stand out among other fundraising software solutions. Its ability to track donor retention rates, send customized emails, and generate valuable reports helps nonprofits build strong relationships with their donors and optimize their fundraising efforts.

Cons

Bloomerang's pricing can be on the higher side, particularly for small nonprofits. The software's cost is based on the number of records in your database, so the more donors you have, the more expensive it can be.

Pros

it appears that we suffer from too many changes in users and they information has not been entered consistently correctly. i don't know how to fix this

Cons

reports are hard to run on your own, chat helps, but i feel like i am in the dark

Pros

Automated reporting. Automated data updates.

Cons

Many reports are not as robust as I would have liked.

Pros

I really like the reporting function. The reports are easy to create and even easier to download as an Excel spreadsheet. I also really like the dashboard function. This software is very easy to use and even easier to teach others how to us it. The customer service is great as well. They are very responsive and always ensure that you get an answer and not only that but make sure you understand how they arrived there. I also really like that this is an internet based platform because it makes it much easier to access the same information on any computer. I also found this great function that checks every address for each member that you have in your database to ensure that it is the most up to date. This platform is also super intuitive and easy to use. Bloomerang basically combined several applications into one easy to use platform. Bloomerang has amazing customer service that is second to none. As a small non-profit searching for a user friendly and powerful platform we had to look no farther than Bloomerang. We reviewed many platforms and did hours of research before finding Bloomerang.

Cons

I don't like that you cant sort the letters in alphabetical order when creating them. This is a BIG pain when printing off 100s of them because you have to sort them by hand after you print. For some of our big letter runs like annual appeal and membership reminders, we use a program to create our address labels. Sorting over 5,000 letters in alphabetical order is very time consuming. Other than that there isnt really much I dont like about Bloomerang. I have used countless different applications in my career and this one definiteyl ranks high on that list.

Pros

Our conversion from a more expensive, less user friendly platform was extremely smooth. The training and support is phenomenal. Live Chat Online is highly effective! Other features I like most is the ease of entry, report functions, tracking campaigns and appeals, social media integration, and website integration to name a few.

Cons

Grant tracking is a function I would like to see improve in the system so we can set recurring tasks for reporting and overall grant tracking as a whole.

Pros

Ease of use; the user interface is very intuitive so you can navigate and explore without lengthy tutorials and training.

Cons

To update a donor’s profile, I have found it difficult to find what to click on to add a family member, to view notes on their donor story and giving history, or to mark them as deceased. That part I wish it was easier to locate.

Pros

Library of resources, trainng was solid, good knowledge-base.

Cons

Coming from Little Green Light, I was a little overwhelmed. Not the prettiest of CRM's, could use better integrations.

Pros

What I really like about Bloomerang is how easy it is to use. Its dashboard gives you a clear view of donor engagement and fundraising performance, which makes tracking and improving your efforts straightforward. The reporting tools are also very handy for analyzing your data and making smart decisions. Plus, their strong customer support and training resources make sure you get the most out of the software.

Cons

One thing I found less appealing about Bloomerang is that its customization options can be somewhat limited. It might not offer as much flexibility for tailoring features to very specific needs as some other platforms do.

Pros

Ease of use and implementation of giving and funding areas and opportunities.

Cons

Some of the forms and reports are overcomplicated.

Pros

I liked that there was an easy way to assign tasks to users.

Cons

The system was very clunky and not intuitive. It was expensive for us to keep bad data and we ended up switching to a platform that offered everything that Bloomerang did for less.

Pros

It is effective good good in everything very easy and also makes you feel confident and interested

Cons

It is distinguished from all platforms because it is very easy and makes you love challenges and constant enthusiasm

Pros

Easy to learn and use. Great for communicating with supporters and donor management. Good customer service and helpful articles/videos if you run into problems or have questions.

Cons

I wish there was an option to use it to communicate with constituents via text message

Pros

Bloomerang is a great way to track donations, run reports and track the pulse on how close you are to reaching budget.

Cons

Some of the reports are hard to run, but customer support is very helpful.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Bloomerang

Pros

It really encourages new skills. I have liked how easily compatible this software is to our operations. It has flexible features which really favoured us. It is easy to use and very secure.

Cons

None. No complaints. Am happy with Bloomerang.

Pros

When you have a question, help is there within seconds! I frequently need to pull reports based on a variety of criteria, and their guidance is phenomenal. They don't do it for you, they TEACH you how to do it yourself, so you become more skilled at it! You also can create tasks with due dates to help keep you on track.

Cons

I wish there was a way to temporarily "tag" specific donors when needed for a custom report or email. Instead, I need to create a new custom field that meets the particular need.

Pros

What I like the most is the possibility of being able to help many people through Bloomerang since many times it is more difficult to do this type of activities on my own, it is a very simple way with a few clicks without much effort

Cons

I have nothing to say that I don't like about it, so far it has been a good help program

Pros

Bloomerang rose to the top of my research in finding a CRM for our nonprofit because of the features, ease of use and reasonable cost.

Cons

No glaring challenges but a few glitches around the kindful integration that could improve like the functionality of the crowdsourcing and event pieces that are causing duplicates but also not allowing changes to be made to pages etc.

Pros

the person who recommended it to us was friendly and personable.

Cons

they could not keep track of our customer account, and when I personally set up a debit account and wanted to terminate it, they were unable to do so.

Pros

Easy to migrate our database to Bloomerang. Basic features work well.

Cons

The forms are extremely difficult to embed on your website and look terrible. They advised us to hire a web developer, but we worked with two and they could not work with the forms. Very disappointing as 95 % of our donations are online. Overall the software is clunky and needs to be updated. Customer service was terrible.

Pros

Bloomerang is a great tool to manage our donor interactions, gifts, preferences, and fundraising efforts. We love the task and note functions as it reminds us when we need to follow-up with a donor and gives us the ability, in one central location, to make notes on how we have completed the task or any other communication with the donor.

Cons

It is a bit tricky to import our direct mail sends into Bloomerang. The first time I did it I wiped out the whole system, but luckily support got me back up and running asap.

Pros

Bloomerang is easy to use, reports are easy to build, donations are easy to enter and donors are easy to manage. Bloomerang provides free trainings that are very useful and can be shared with your team based on function and need, as well as excellent customer service and support.

Cons

The only thing I'd like is to be able to download letters in word format rather than PDF as we often will make minor edits to personalize.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Bloomerang

Reasons for Switching to Bloomerang

Pros

Bloomerang has all the pieces we need to manage donors and donations. The customer support is superb. While the FAQs and help pages solve most problems, the phone support is better than most software firms.

Cons

Any time new software comes along, the way the authors view the world is different than what users have been doing. It takes a while to get the new gestalt.

Pros

I enjoyed Bloomerang’s purpose and execution. I felt the platform fit its needs.

Cons

I do not have any complaints from my time using Bloomerang.

Pros

Bloomerang is very easy to learn to use and takes donor’s payments

Cons

Their customer service was okay. Not bad

Pros

The software is easy to learn and use. Training on the product was thorough. Customer support has been helpful when it is needed. You can tell Bloomerang wants the user to be happy!

Cons

There isn't really anything I don't like. Just a little inconvenience on the input side...when adding a new donor with a spouse, you have to set up two accounts, join them together as a family. Too many steps! It isn't a deal breaker though!

Pros

Easy access to historical donor record by the individual

Cons

I would like to see the comprehensive list of donors in the database and not have create reports to see the all

Pros

In my last job we used Raisers Edge which is an amazing product but was much to much for us. Bloomerang is completely right sized for a small to mid-sized organization without a huge or complex development team.

Cons

I would like the more control over the merge functions and I this this is on the product development list.

Pros

Website presence is impressive - BUT you don't have to be a customer to take advantage of the research and information.

Cons

Everything about Bloomerang was problematic once we committed to the contract and paid in full. The simplified platform was met just as equally with a terrible onboarding process that involved a painful weekly meeting with little progress. Our sales contact did not return calls or emails and we were supposed to be guided by a project coordinator/manager who did not know the platform himself. We heard "My job is only to get the data over. You will have your other questions answered in the next stage." The inherent problem with that is that we consistently found data fields missing even though we gave complete access to our current database. They could have easily looked at records to determine what was missing. We never even got to the stage of working with the data.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Bloomerang

Reasons for Switching to Bloomerang

Pros

I received a great customer service when I had challenges in using Donor Management software. The customer service team was so helpful and very polite and gently in guiding me through the whole process. Right now I am using it without hiccups! Kudos to Bloomerang team

Cons

The software is at first difficult to use and intergrate in my line of work but as I was taught by the team, now it seems easier.

Pros

Donor retention, donor cultivation, moves management, strategic plan goals and the ability to track progress against goals. Ease of use, graphical user interface is colorful and elegant. Displays highly useful information right where you need it.

Cons

They Bloomerang customer support team and the tech team are very responsive and always making improvements based upon customer feedback. One niggly problem is that you cannot email to multiple email addresses for a given constituent. You can store them, but it will only email to the primary email. Also, you can't report on and download multiple emails for a given constituent. With many married couples who are together in a single record (not a household) there are often several different emails.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Bloomerang

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Bloomerang