Using Mobile Video Acknowledgements to improve supporter engagement
Key Nonprofit Highlights
Mission to Ukraine is an Indiana-based nonprofit serving children with disabilities and women facing crisis pregnancies in the Ukraine. They transformed fundraising and donor engagement by moving from disconnected tools to Bloomerang’s unified giving platform to build deeper, more personal supporter relationships. By leveraging integrated CRM, reporting, and Mobile Video Acknowledgements, the team turned one-way outreach into meaningful conversations, achieving a 30% response rate on personalized video thank-yous. These stronger connections, combined with smarter segmentation and interaction tracking, contributed to a 43% donor retention rate. With clearer insights and more intentional engagement, Mission to Ukraine built a sustainable cycle of generosity that made ambitious fundraising goals feel not just possible, but within reach.
Challenge
Disconnected tools slowed donor engagement and fundraising
As Mission to Ukraine’s plans grew, the need for stronger donor systems became clear. Before adopting a fully unified giving platform, their tools felt fragmented. Event management, donor data, and fundraising efforts didn’t always work in sync, creating inefficiencies and missed opportunities to connect. As Associate Director Katie Gheen explained, event fundraising in particular was a challenge: “We had no good way of doing events and ticketing for our organization.” At the same time, donor engagement lacked personalization. Traditional email acknowledgements often went unanswered, limiting opportunities to deepen connection and build donor relationships.
Solution
A unified nonprofit CRM and fundraising platform that personalized donor engagement
Mission to Ukraine turned to Bloomerang’s Giving Platform to bring their data, fundraising, and engagement into one connected experience. With Bloomerang CRM and Fundraising tools, they streamlined event management, improved reporting, and gained a clearer view of every supporter interaction. “It’s just so well-designed for nonprofits,” said Gheen. “I didn’t even know it was possible for it to be as easy as it was.”
But the real transformation came through connection. Using Mobile Video Acknowledgments in the Bloomerang mobile app, the Mission to Ukraine team reimagined how they thanked donors, turning routine outreach into meaningful, human moments. “You send a regular thank-you email or have an automatic email go out and nobody ever responds,” shared Gheen. “But from sending the videos, we find people actually reply.”
These short, personalized videos helped supporters feel seen and valued in a way traditional emails never could. “It just takes about 30 seconds per video, so it’s so quick and easy to do on the mobile app,” Gheen said. “I sent about 20 or 30 in an hour, and it’s definitely helped personalize our communication. One woman told us, ‘I’m saving this on my computer so I can watch you talk to me whenever.’”
The team also used Bloomerang’s segmentation and reporting tools to ensure the right messages reached the right people, whether through personalized outreach from leadership or targeted follow-ups based on giving levels. “It’s been super helpful in Bloomerang to be able to pull up a quick report and see who we haven’t sent a thank-you note to or who we haven’t had a phone call with in this specific giving level,” said Gheen.
“One thing I’ve been doing is looking at how many people gave at a certain gift level and how many personal interactions we had with them, and if that number is not the same then clearly we’ve not had a personal interaction with every single person, so we can follow up to better develop those strong relationships.” By logging every interaction and leveraging insights, Mission to Ukraine strengthened relationships across the entire donor lifecycle—turning data into deeper connections.
Results
Stronger donor relationships, higher engagement, and powerful fundraising growth
With Bloomerang, Mission to Ukraine didn’t just improve processes, they unlocked a new level of impact and donor engagement surged. What once felt like a one-way communication channel became a two-way conversation. “I sent video thank-you’s to the 75 people who donated at our last fundraising concert, and we had about 20 to 25 people respond.” Where most thank-you messages never receive a reply, that 30% video response rate signaled something bigger: donors felt personally connected.
Those connections translated into real-world recognition and stronger relationships. After sending video messages to event attendees, Gheen saw the impact firsthand when “they were able to recognize my face, and I think a big part of that was from the videos.” Behind the scenes, Bloomerang’s reporting and interaction tracking empowered smarter strategy and consistent stewardship. “We’ve really been focusing on logging all interactions so that we know when we need to reach out to somebody again,” shared Gheen.
And the results spoke volumes. Their most recent concert fundraising campaign raised over $106,000 while bringing in new supporters and strengthening long-term engagement. With a donor retention rate of 43% and a growing base of engaged supporters, Mission to Ukraine built a sustainable cycle of generosity powered by insight and fueled by connection.
As Gheen reflected, Bloomerang didn’t just make their work easier—it made their goals feel more achievable: “We’re doing a lot of strategy for fundraising goals this year and using Bloomerang reporting to develop gift range charts. So it makes a huge annual fundraising goal feel a lot smaller when I see we only need more people at this level, or 20 more people at this level. It makes a daunting task feel a lot smaller.”
By uniting their data, simplifying their workflows, and personalizing interactions, Mission to Ukraine turned everyday outreach into meaningful relationships and lasting impact.
