Doubling peer-to-peer fundraising with Bloomerang’s Platform

Key Nonprofit Highlights

The Pensacola Humane Society (PHS) first opened its North Florida doors in 1943. As the organization split into the Humane Society and Animal Control divisions, PHS grew into its mission to improve the lives of the 1,000+ companion animals it serves each year through advocacy, adoption, education, and sanctuary. The Pensacola Humane Society (PHS) transitioned from manual data tracking to Bloomerang’s Giving Platform, significantly improving their fundraising efforts. After receiving training and support from Bloomerang’s customer experience team, PHS utilized tools like email campaigns, peer-to-peer fundraising, and social networking to revitalize their Paws on Palafox 3k walk.

The results were impressive: they grew from 11 teams to 58, raised over $44,000 (doubling the previous year’s total), and streamlined event management with Bloomerang’s reporting features. PHS appreciates Bloomerang’s Giving Platform for its ease of use and impactful tools, making fundraising simpler and more effective.

Challenge

Overcoming Peer-to-Peer Challenges with Bloomerang

Before using Bloomerang’s Giving Platform, Pensacola Humane Society was using GiftWorks to track donations. It was a lot of manual data entry, a little outdated, and was simply too much work. They needed a user-friendly, time-saving way to run their events and track donations. There was a bit of turnover at the organization, and when Darra Flanagan took on her role as Event Coordinator and started using Bloomerang, she realized it had been underutilized. She immediately dug into learning how to use the system and was pleasantly surprised at the wealth of features available.

Solution

Improving peer-to-peer fundraising with donor communication

The Pensacola Humane Society called the Bloomerang customer experience team when they realized how much more they could get out of the platform. The team walked PHS through the system step by-step and showed them how they could expand their use of Bloomerang’s fundraising tools. “Bloomerang’s customer support is so incredible,” said Flanagan. “You can literally pick up the phone any time and somebody is there to help you. Every time I call, they’re happy to talk to me, eager to help, and want to ensure everything goes well.”

With Bloomerang’s Giving Platform, PHS utilized their donor management system as well. They decided to put a much-needed jolt into their Paws on Palafox 3k walk, which had started to lose steam over the past few years. They focused on the social networking aspect of the platform, instituted incentives, focused on the badge system, and used email campaigns—which quickly became one of their favorite features.

“I really enjoyed taking advantage of email campaigns,” said Flanagan. “I could send targeted updates with one click to everybody I needed. I didn’t have to go looking for email addresses. The night before the event, registration closed at 5, and by 5:15, I had already scheduled an email telling everybody everything they needed for the next day.” PHS frequently posted on social media about the event, where everything linked back to their event home page. They ran fundraising contests with incentives, including a prize of a party at a local beach bar. Participants, PHS staff, and board members were constantly checking the event site to watch the thermometer results rise.

Results

2x Peer-to-Peer fundraising growth in one year

Taking advantage of Bloomerang’s training and tools made a huge difference. They ended up with 58 teams and 566 walkers participating for their most recent event, an increase from just 11 teams the year prior. The top team raised $3,265, and the top individual raised $1,300, while last year, that number was just $467. In total, the Paws on Palafox walk raised over $44,000—doubling the previous year’s total.

They also heavily utilized the reporting system to keep track of store inventory, team captains, and participant fundraising totals for incentive distribution. “You can take those peer-to-peer participant reports and custom-sort them however you want—you have so much information right at your fingertips,” said Flanagan. “I kept my own Excel spreadsheet of participants before, and it just got out of control. All I had to do was pull up the peer-to-peer report and, boom, it was done.” Bloomerang takes the guesswork out of fundraising for PHS, making complex tasks as simple as clicking a button. “Bloomerang has made it look like I really know what I’m doing,” said Flanagan. “People ask, ‘Wow, how did you get that done?’ I clicked a button, and Bloomerang did it for me! It makes us look good, that’s for sure.”