Raising 6 times more donations by switching to Bloomerang Fundraising
Key Nonprofit Highlights
CROS Ministries (Christians Reaching Out to Society, Inc.) serves Florida's Palm Beach and Martin Counties through collaborative interfaith community partnerships, providing food for the hungry and food insecure through 10 food pantry sites, a hot meal program with homebound meal delivery, and “gleaning,” a produce recovery operation. When other giving platforms were costing the organization both money and momentum, CROS Ministries turned to Bloomerang Fundraising and got up and running with online giving in a single day. In their first nine months with Bloomerang, online donations grew by 6x, from $23,000 to over $152,000, and more recently, they’ve seen their online giving grow from $58,559 in the first half of 2025 to $75,632 in the first half of 2026—an increase of 29% YOY.
Challenge
Managing online fundraising with costly, friction-heavy platforms
Over nearly five decades, CROS Ministries built a strong foundation of supporters and community partnerships, but its online fundraising tools couldn't keep pace. The organization had cycled through several platforms, including PayPal, Classy, and others, searching for something affordable, intuitive, and easy for donors to use. Classy came with high costs and annual contracts that locked the organization in even when the platform wasn't working for them.
Worse, it required donors to create logins before giving—a barrier that Gibbie Nauman, Director of Development and Community Relations, knew was driving people away. "Donors were always having problems going in and making a donation," she said. Then 2020 hit. A website rebuild that should have been finished in a month stalled out just as the pandemic took hold. With in-person donations gone and the community’s need for food skyrocketing, CROS Ministries needed a website and online giving capability fast.
Solution
Launching online giving in a day with Bloomerang Fundraising
CROS Ministries turned to Achieve, a digital marketing agency specializing in nonprofits, which recommended Bloomerang Fundraising. The recommendation came with peer validation—every nonprofit Nauman consulted praised the platform for its simplicity, affordability, and ease of use. Bloomerang Fundraising had the team accepting online donations within a day, and Achieve had a new website built within a week.
More than six years later, Nauman still manages and praises Bloomerang Fundraising. She's built out sponsorship forms, created campaign designations for appeals like the organization's summer match, processed credit cards remotely, and updated monthly donor information all on her own. “I have more time now to plan things and think about our goals,” said Nauman. “I used to go from project to project without knowing goals to set, and now we understand how we can grow.” Real-time donation notifications opened up a new way to deepen donor relationships along the way. "The other day, I saw a dedication made in honor of a long-time supporter of CROS," she said. "I knew we would send him a letter about the donation but thought it was nice to also send him an email saying happy birthday."
Results
Raising 6x more online in less than nine months
The results came quickly. In less than nine months of using Bloomerang Fundraising, CROS Ministries grew online donations from just over $23,000 to more than $152,000—a 6x increase! “I’m seeing more people give because it’s easy for them to give,” shared Nauman. “I’ve just been blown away with everything. It's a breath of fresh air to make a donation this way."
More recently, they’ve also seen online giving grow from $58,559 in the first half of 2025 to $75,632 in the first half of 2026—an increase of 29% YOY. “One of the reasons the amount is higher is that we had two events this year that we didn't have last year,” explained Nauman. “The majority of the tickets were purchased through Bloomerang Fundraising, and I also set up sponsorship packages and a few were purchased online rather than by check.”
Monthly giving grew as supporters found it easy to set up recurring gifts without picking up the phone. "We have had more monthly donors in the past couple years because it's so easy for them to set it up,” said Nauman. And with their 50th anniversary approaching in 2028, what started as an urgent fix in a crisis has become the foundation for the organization's next chapter.
