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.

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.

Great concept, but flawed and in need of significant improvement

Pros

Simple and intuitive on the surface. Donation/timeline entries are fast and easy. Letter generations is mostly easy. As long as you're not serious about getting legit data out of your software, and don't need to make major mass improvements due to the collateral damage of importing from other software, you might like it. Customer support is probably the best I've ever had.

Cons

No mass update option--has cost us dozens of hours of productivity. Some of their reports use bad math, but apparently they're working on fixing that. It's impossible to run certain kinds of reports that were easy in other software. They're apparently working on a big improvement to reports, but it's going to be months before it comes out. Email newsletter option is insanely feature-sparse--had intended to switch to it, but after trying to use it and discovering it's limitations, I'm sticking with MailChimp. There's not way to export letters in an editable form (pdf download is the only option). In general, I've lost SO MUCH functionality and productivity after my switch from eTapestry. I do believe they are genuinely trying to grow and improve this product. They at least don't stonewall some of the criticism and acknowledge things that need improvement, but their capacity to actually improve the product and fix bugs seems extremely limited. Fixes and improvements come out about as fast as molasses pours in Antarctica, and there's an obvious disconnect between what the developers think is needed, and what real fundraisers actually really need.

Love it!!!

I switched to Bloomerang after being with another database system for a little more than a year. I have never looked back and have recommended Bloomerang to so many other nonprofits in my area. I have never had a problem that couldn't be figured out or worked around.

Pros

The clean look, ease of use and ever-updating features are wonderful. The additional trainings on many topics related to non-profits are a bonus. I love that I never have to encounter the word "query" when running reports! I also appreciate that many features are automatically included so I don't feel "nickel and dimed" every time I need to integrate new features.

Cons

I wish there was an easy "shopping cart" feature that would integrate with my website so I could easily sell tickets to events without having to manually each purchase.

Bloomerang for non profits

Having bloomerang has allowed us to be able to have all of our data in one place instead of having multiple spreadsheets in various places. It helps when finding information for potential donation requests and providing back up. I like that all employees can access information for all of our constituents in one place so we can tell who talked to who and when. It has helped to streamline many of our functions.

Pros

The ease of use of the software, getting to the necessary information is very easy. I also like the on-demand tutorials, this allows the user to reference something they don't know how to do and watch a live example. I also like the support chat feature, you never have to wait very long and they always assist with finding the best option.

Cons

The only feature that I struggle with is that you cannot use the event registration feature if there is no payment. I know they can fill out a form that we can add to our website, but there should be a way to allow the use of a registration form without payment.