Key Nonprofit Highlights
Safe Harbor, a Virginia-based shelter assisting victims of human trafficking and other social services, struggled with an outdated donor database that made reporting, donor segmentation, and moves management nearly impossible. They adopted Bloomerang for its intuitive design, donor-centric features, and excellent customer support. Bloomerang transformed their fundraising efforts by simplifying reporting, enabling confident donor segmentation, and making acknowledgement letters a breeze. It significantly improved productivity, enhanced their e-newsletter quality, increased open rates, and facilitated the growth of a successful major gifts program. As a result, Safe Harbor experienced a 50% increase in charitable giving and improved donor retention, with their team highly recommending Bloomerang for its flexibility and ease of use.
Challenge
Struggles with legacy systems: why Safe Harbor needed a new nonprofit CRM
Safe Harbor was looking for an updated and easy-to-use donor CRM. “Our old database was antiquated because it had not been updated in years. It was very challenging to pull reports. Running acknowledgement letters was very labor intensive. Segmenting donors for appeals was not possible. And moves management was nearly impossible,” said Mary Maupai, Development Director at Safe Harbor Shelter.
Solution
Bloomerang frees up time to refocus on fundraising
Maupai and the team at Safe Harbor were drawn to Bloomerang’s intuitiveness, donor-relationship focused features, and knowledgeable customer support team. “I am a visual person, so I like the engagement and generosity scores being front and center in color code. Bloomerang’s customer service is amazing. The task feature is amazing and not something we had with our previous database. I love to complete my tasks, and running acknowledgement letters and reports are a breeze.” In addition to its features, the mobile app and ease of customization have also been valuable. “The platform being cloud based and mobile friendly allows me to access our donors from anywhere. Being able to customize the platform to suit our needs was also important to us.”
All in all, Bloomerang has fit nicely into Safe Harbor’s development processes and has even allowed them to take their major gift fundraising to a new level. “Before implementing Bloomerang, we were starting to see growth in the number of major donors who were supporting our new human trafficking program, but we did not have any way to track moves management within our old database,” explained Maupai. “Bloomerang has allowed us to build and grow a very successful major gifts program, and moves management with Bloomerang is easy and effective.”
Results
Bloomerang improved core fundraising metrics like retention and donations
Since implementing Bloomerang, Safe Harbor has been able to alleviate several fundraising pain points around reporting and segmentation. “Reports are so much easier to pull, and segmenting donors for appeals is something we can now do with confidence. Running acknowledgements is actually an enjoyable experience. And this may seem like a weird thing to say, but Bloomerang is fun to use!”
In that same vein, Bloomerang has greatly improved the team’s productivity, as well as the quality of their constituent communications. “The quality of our e-newsletter has improved. We used to use Constant Contact,” said Maupai. “Having our e-newsletter integrated in our database and being able to look at open rates and what donors are clicking on helps strengthen our relationship with them. Our open rates have increased since using Bloomerang.”
Maupai and the team at Safe Harbor have already seen returns from using the system. “We have almost doubled our charitable giving. Since implementing Bloomerang, we have seen a 50% increase in our charitable giving, and our retention has also increased.” Maupai shared that other social service organizations like hers would benefit from using Bloomerang and investing in their growth. “The ease and simplicity of the platform works well for us, and I also appreciate its flexibility. I love Bloomerang, and I am happy to spread the love!”
