Excellent for Most Non-Profits

At a prior non-profit, I switched them from Raiser's Edge (desktop) to Bloomerang. I gained a ton of features and saved quite a bit. The conversion was painless. I've only had to contact support a few times and they have always been extremely helpful. In my current role, I set them up with Bloomerang as their first database. I have also recommended it on multiple occasions.

Pros

Bloomerang is intuitive and easy to use. Creating and reporting with custom field has never been easier and really allows you to customize it to your needs rather than using a standard field for something else. The ability to create embedded forms is a lifesaver. The integrated email capabilities save me from having to purchase another solution like Constant Contact. Plus, these interactions are automatically recorded in the donor/prospects data file. The integrated DonorSearch option is convenient, useful and cost-effective.

Cons

If my organization ran a ton of events, I'm not sure this would be my optimal solution. Currently, there is only one level of access - so I can't let a Board Member in to look around because any accidental changes they make would be permanent. I know that Bloomerang is working on this though.

Recommending bloomerang for Nonprofit Donor Management

We particularly like that we can easily manage all transactions and interactions seamlessly through integration with Outlook and sending emails, letters, etc. directly out of the system.

Pros

In the time that we have used bloomerang, we have appreciated a number of things about the software. The interface is extremely user friendly, we see regular product updates, there has been excellent customer service and communication, and the customer support through the chat interface is absolutely fantastic. Data has been easy to manage, reports are easy and reliable, and the ability to send beautiful emails, integrate with our website, and manage campaigns through the system is a real game changer for our organization. They worked hard with us to implement integration and onboarding in a reasonable time frame as well.

Cons

Occasionally, I will run into a more advanced feature that I'd like the system to do, but it's a rare occurrence. The one thing that I really wish bloomerang had was a more robust event ticketing function. The current interface doesn't do everything we would want to do, such as discount codes, and there are generally too many limitations to be able to use bloomerang for event ticketing.

Limited Options and Poor Customer Support

Pros

We sought this vendor because of its simple platform and reduced cost.

Cons

There are so many negative experiences, it's hard to identify what I liked least. 1. Revolving door customer support. Sales was very attentive, but after we purchased, we had difficulty getting ahold of our customer support. At one point she said she only worked 2 days a week, and then she called from a noisy street. Customer support didn't know about integrations with other products or setting the platform for automation, so it took weeks to allow her to put me in contact with engineering. He answered in a helpful email that took 5 minutes. Constant Contact support is much better than this - it doesn't matter to me who I get on the phone if they are knowledgeable and nice. Other platforms definitely have their support personnel better trained to answer questions. 2. Inadequate documentation for support - Videos, no Texts. As is common I think for startup companies, Bloomerang filmed short videos, but neglected proper text documentation. Our donation director would watch videos, then have trouble finding appropriate parts if she had any questions. Good tutorial documentation has text (that can be searched) and also screenshots to help people know what to do. 3. Poor default donation forms - the donation forms were ugly and not what someone would expect for a donation software. We had to go with MailChimp anyway and so there was the added cost. Bloomerang is definitely not a good option for emailing your list (others have mentioned). 4. Poor search of the donation database. If you wanted to select a list by a certain demographic - like donors of a certain amount or from a different state and some other feature and then email them, then Bloomerang couldn't do it. Although they will take some customization of the donor entry, we often found that adding different client details couldn't be searched. What is the point of adding more details if you can't find them later? We had used another platform with better search capabilities. 5. They do not search for duplicates or common typographical errors. As a result, you may be charged for a much higher number of people that are not truly in your database. Other mail lists like Constant Contact search for duplicates and also make corrections in email addresses (like a missed period between gmail and com). Nothing like that in Bloomerang. 6. They do not stand by their product. There is no customer satisfaction guarantee. Although we stated a desire to cancel the product entirely after the first year and asked the rep not to process our direct deposit, she did it anyway. Bloomerang told me that their policy is not to refund any money even though we will not be using their product at all. I was not contesting the 1 year that we already paid into, what I didn't want to do was pay for the future year because we would not use it because it had so many missing needs. Just using an integration with Mail Chimp would serve us better than Bloomerang. The communication piece with Bloomerang is extremely weak.

Bloomerang has everything we need.

Bloomerang has changed how we keep track of almost everything and put it all into one place. We are very pleased with it, and we are still learning more good things.

Pros

Bloomerang has amazing customer service. As a small non-profit selecting our first DMS, we reviewed many and then took the plunge and signed up for Bloomerang. Our chats and emails asking for help always receive prompt responses from knowledgeable people. There is no substitute for that level of assistance. We also love the ability to customize our data and all of the other things that can be done with Bloomerang. We have left behind our old systems for keeping track of donations, volunteers, trainings, newsletters, and more!

Cons

We are getting better at creating reports that show what we want to track, but this is an area that feels a little convoluted, probably due to my lack of experience. I have received excellent help from Customer Service to get what I need, though. I have a feeling that the large number of steps it sometimes takes to create a report is necessary and can't be changed. I would also like a smoother way to keep track of people who sign up for a free class, and then to track who actually attends the class.

Very Happy

My experience with Bloomerang has been very positive.

Pros

I feel Bloomerang is a good donor management software and works very great the the size of our organization. It is easy to navigate and the customer support is timely and helpful. They are continuously improving the software.

Cons

My biggest negative is not really the software but my ability to keep up with the changes/improvements. For example we have the system for several years and built a lot of our emails using templates that were donor concentric at that time. When you need an email you just copy them and adjust the content for the new email. What I found during the pandemic is the current new templates give a fresh look. I had time to rebuild some of this communication.