If you're looking for a nonprofit fundraising CRM, you'll likely come across Bloomerang, a well-regarded name in the nonprofit sector.
Bloomerang provides a user-friendly donor management solution tailored for small to mid-sized nonprofits. In contrast, CharityEngine offers a comprehensive fundraising platform designed to help any nonprofit scale their growth.
Whether you want to boost fundraising or streamline operations, both CharityEngine and Bloomerang are strong choices. However, this article explores the key advantages and disadvantages of Bloomerang and provides a detailed feature comparison with CharityEngine, helping you understand how each platform aligns with your needs.
Ease of Use: Bloomerang is known for its intuitive, easy-to-navigate interface, simplifying donor management and reducing users' learning curve.
Brand Recognition: Bloomerang is well-known in the nonprofit sector, serving over 23,000 organizations. Its involvement in industry conferences, events, and partnerships enhances its visibility and brand recognition among nonprofit professionals.
Oversimplification and Limited Functionality: Bloomerang’s focus on simplicity often comes at the expense of essential functionality. For instance, its event management tool lacks key features such as promo codes and scheduled ticket pricing.
Limited Customization: Bloomerang offers limited customization options. For example, forms have limited custom fields, and surveys cannot be modified.
Data Syncs Required: Bloomerang relies on third-party products and integration patches with its core CRM, which often requires data syncing. For example, its volunteer management tool requires manual syncing of constituent and volunteer information.
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| Best For | Sophisticated fundraisers who want a comprehensive fundraising platform to help them scale. | Smaller nonprofits focused on donor management. |
| Pricing | $$ to $$$$ | $ to $$$ |
| Differentiators | A complete fundraising platform that puts all your data in one place. | Donor management software that is easy to use |
| CRM & Donor Management | ||
| Membership Management | Yes | Yes |
| Major Gift Management | Yes | Limited |
| Donor Pipelines | Yes | No |
| Sustainer Management | Yes | Yes |
| SustainerIQ - Subscription Billing Technology | Yes | No |
| Fundraising | ||
| Custom Donation Forms | Yes | Limited |
| Payment Processing | Yes | Third-party integration with Stripe |
| Multichannel Marketing | ||
| Advanced Email Automation | Yes | Yes |
| Text-to-Give | Yes | Yes |
| Direct Mail | Yes | Yes |
| Multichannel Attribution Tracking (including DRTV) | Yes | No |
| CMS | Yes | No |
| Events & Volunteers | ||
| Event Management | Yes | Yes |
| Volunteer Management | Yes | Yes (Integrated) |
| Auctions | Yes | Third-party integration (Qgiv) |
| Peer-to-Peer | Yes | Third-party integration (Qgiv) |
| Reporting & Analytics | ||
| Out-of-the-Box Reports | Yes (90+) | Yes (20+) |
| Custom Dashboards | Yes | Yes |
| Query Builder | Yes | Yes |
| Other | ||
| Multi-Organization & Chapter Management | Yes | No |
| Case Management | Yes | No |
| Shopping Cart | Yes | No |
| Grant Management | Yes | Yes |
| Advocacy | Yes | No |
| Open API | Yes | Yes |
| Customers Say* | ||
| Pros | “The ability to generate custom reports and create custom dashboards allows us to easily compile relevant data and reports to share with our staff in a way that is easy for them to access and understand. Overall, CharityEngine makes it easy to streamline our work and lightens the workload of both our frequent and in-frequent CharityEngine users.” | "I like that Bloomerang has a very short learning curve: you do not need to have a member of your staff dedicated to learning the platform as you do with other CRMs like Salesforce.” |
| Cons | “As expected with a product as robust as CharityEngine, training new employees on the software can take some time. That said, their Client Services team is always available to help out when needed.” | “There are limitations in dashboard views and reporting. The dashboard cannot be customized per user, which is unfortunate. Their integrations with other platforms are iffy. I've used several and have continued issues with them.” |
*Customer quotes from G2
Choosing the right CRM for your nonprofit depends on your organization’s needs and goals. Bloomerang stands out for its user-friendly design, strong brand recognition, and affordability, making it a solid choice for smaller nonprofits focused on essential donor management. However, its limited functionality, customization options, and data syncing requirements may be a drawback for organizations needing more advanced features.
On the other hand, CharityEngine offers a comprehensive, unified platform that supports sophisticated fundraising strategies and is well-suited for organizations aiming to scale their operations. Its extensive features, including advanced reporting, multichannel marketing, and built-in fundraising tools, make it a scalable solution.
Both platforms have strengths, so evaluating your nonprofit’s requirements will help you determine which CRM best aligns with your objectives.