Return on Investment
Every dollar you put into Bloomerang is a dollar working to help you reach 125,000 meals a year. Here is what that actually looks like.
The Case for Change
Spreadsheets, Dropbox, PayPal, and Auctria are four separate systems that share zero data. Every donor interaction, every volunteer shift, every event registration disappears into a different silo. You cannot build recurring relationships on disconnected tools.
Your fall benefit and giving season are approaching. The board has committed to a decision by Labor Day. Every month without a platform is a month of uncaptured donor relationships, missed recurring gift prompts, and volunteer data that lives only in someone's memory.
Bloomerang is the only platform built exclusively for nonprofits that unifies donor CRM, fundraising, and volunteer management in one place, with Penny AI built in to tell you who to talk to and when, without requiring a full-time administrator to make it work.
Where Things Stand Today
Multiple spreadsheets with no single source of truth. Up to 1,000 documents in Dropbox, no one knows which file is current. Donor relationships depend entirely on tribal knowledge.
PayPal button with extra steps and fees on every transaction. No recurring gift prompts, no donor records created automatically, no connection to any other system.
Auctria runs your fall benefit in isolation. Every attendee and bidder is a warm donor lead who never makes it into a database. Two events per year, zero follow-up infrastructure.
Pen and paper sign-in sheets. No application workflow, no interest tracking, no background check process, no automated communication. Hours tracked manually.
No newsletter exists yet. Outreach only happens when money is needed. Donors have no reason to feel connected between asks, and no system exists to change that without a large manual lift.
Dave estimates 5 to 7 hours per week on data management tasks. The board is doing work that should be automated or delegated, leaving no time for the community relationship strategy that actually drives growth.
Your Numbers
Conservative net return
$128,476
Conservative figure. Top 20% of customers see 103% lift.
The Numbers for Your Board
At $25/month per donor, just seven people committing to a small recurring gift pays for Bloomerang in full. You currently have no system in place to ask for or retain those commitments.
At 84,000 meals per year, the $2,778 first-year investment breaks down to 3.3 cents per meal. At 125,000 meals that drops to 2.2 cents per meal. The more Bloomerang helps you grow, the cheaper the overhead gets.
There is no way to reach 125,000 meals on the current tools. Every month without a platform is lost recurring donors, untracked volunteers, and event attendees who never get a follow-up. Status quo is not free.
18-Month Recurring Donor Goal
Combined recurring goal: $12,125/month from 230 donors across four giving tiers. Bloomerang's donation forms, journey automations, and recurring prompts are built specifically to help you get there.
The Other Side of the Equation
At $4 per meal, every $1,000 in missed donations is 250 meals that don't happen. Without a system to retain donors and grow recurring giving, the gap between 84,000 meals and 125,000 meals does not close.
The industry average for first-time donor retention is under 20%. Bloomerang customers see 154%+ improvement in first-time donor retention. Every event attendee who doesn't get a follow-up is a relationship that ends at the door.
At 6 hours per week on manual data tasks, Dave alone is spending 312 hours per year on work that should be automated. That is the equivalent of 8 full work weeks not spent building the community relationships that drive your fundraising strategy.
Why Low-Cost Apps Fall Short
| DIY / Low-Cost Apps | Bloomerang | |
|---|---|---|
| Donor CRM + volunteer management unified | Separate tools, no connection | One record per person |
| Automated donor retention and journey tools | Manual follow-up only | Journey automations run in background |
| Recurring gift prompts on donation forms | Static forms, no prompts | 22% average increase in recurring gifts |
| Event registration connected to donor records | Siloed, no CRM link | Auto-logs to constituent profile |
| AI that tells you who to contact and when | Not available | Penny built in at no extra cost |
| Wealth screening to find hidden major donors | Not available | DonorSearch integration included |
| Multi-generational communication (email, letters, text) | Email only or manual | All channels, per-donor preferences |
| Volunteer application, background check, hour tracking | Not available | Full volunteer journey, kiosk check-in |
| Onboarding and data migration support | Self-serve, no guidance | Smart Start: live in 5 weeks or less |
| Built exclusively for nonprofits | General-purpose tools repurposed | Nonprofits are our only customers |
Built for Everything You Need
Every gift, communication, volunteer shift, and event in one place. No more spreadsheet hunting.
Organizational records with contact history, relationships, and engagement timeline for every church partner.
Customizable forms with meal-tied giving amounts, Apple Pay, Venmo, and recurring gift prompts. 58% increase in conversion on average.
Templates, segmentation, donor newsletters, and physical letters with merge fields for every communication preference across generations.
Event registration and auction tools that feed directly into the CRM. Every fall benefit attendee becomes a followable donor lead.
Online volunteer applications with custom fields, photo release waivers, background check integration, and document uploads.
Replace pen and paper sign-in with iPad kiosk check-in. Automatic hour logging, year-end statements, and grant-ready volunteer impact reporting.
Automated welcome series, recurring gift prompts, birthday acknowledgments, and milestone recognition that run without anyone doing anything.
DonorSearch scours public data to surface volunteers and one-time donors who have the capacity to become major gift supporters.
Organizations Like Yours
"Our Place NH went from scattered donor records to a retention rate that now funds consistent programming year-round."
Our Place NH"The Bridge used Bloomerang's human services and volunteer tools to build a donor base that keeps coming back, not just showing up once."
The BridgeGetting Started
Dedicated conversion project manager. Review your existing data and map it to Bloomerang's template structure. You define what comes over.
Populate the provided Excel templates with your donor records, transaction history, and interaction notes. Bloomerang handles the technical load.
Submit files, review the data load, and complete one feedback cycle. Any adjustments are made before go-live, not after.
Go-live support from your PM on launch day. Your team is using the platform before your fall benefit planning needs to be in full swing.
The Investment