By Steve Lloyd, Foundation Magazine
Foundation Magazine speaks with Ann Fellman, Chief Marketing Officer, Bloomerang. The company began about twelve years ago in the U.S. as a donor management software to help nonprofits. The company was instilled with a vision to empower fundraisers to do what they love and build a world inspired by giving. As Bloomerang’s CMO, Fellman leads all aspects of marketing, including product marketing, brand development, corporate marketing, and demand generation for the company. She joined the company in September of 2021.
Over the following years, the company grew organically, supplemented with new investment, an expanding mission, acquisitions and now works with more than 23,000 customers in areas using CRM, fundraising tools, volunteer management, membership management, marketing & engagement, reporting & analytics, data management, and Mobile Apps.
The company acquired Ottawa-based volunteer management provider InitLive in March 2023 and expanded their Canadian operations. InitLive was founded in 2013 by longtime tech executive Debbie Pinard and her daughter Melissa. The Kanata-based firm’s main previous investor was Wesley Clover International, which is backed by billionaire tech entrepreneur Terry Matthews.
Foundation Magazine: Hi, Ann, a great pleasure to speak with you. There is quite a sea of change and development going on in the Canadian philanthropic sector, which is probably a good thing for Bloomerang, particularly now that you’ve strengthened your Canadian team.
Ann Fellman: Yes, it’s an exciting time. We’re thrilled to strengthen our presence in the Canadian sector. We’ve had a number of new developments that can benefit nonprofits in Canada. We’ve been fortunate to support the Canadian sector since the company began.
FM: Yes, Bloomerang has come a long way since it was launched about twelve years ago. And you had another significant new investment earlier this year, when you acquired Qgiv.
Ann: We did, and brought on a new investor too – an investment from Warburg Pincus, a leading global growth investor. The funding combined with JMI Equity’s investment in 2020 and the company’s acquisition of InitLive in 2023 and Qgiv earlier this year support the ongoing growth and success and help Bloomerang deliver a fully integrated giving platform. It’s been really exciting to get some acceleration and support of our business but most importantly more support for the nonprofits we serve.
FM: Does that also help the expansion into Canada, and scaling up?
Ann: Certainly. We see taking on an investment as a way to support business growth and ultimately to drive the success for nonprofits and help them thrive. We have a team in Canada, so a new investment helps us scale overall. We are a fully remote company and our team works across the US and in Canada.
FM: Your staff in Canada works remotely, I believe.
Ann: Yes, but we also have an office in Ottawa through our acquisition of InitLive (now Bloomerang Volunteer), a volunteer management software provider. In mid-2023 InitLive was rebranded Bloomerang Volunteer. We’re all now one Bloomerang Team, but we also wanted to keep the office space and team in Ottawa.
FM: The volunteer role has its challenges, I think especially in Canada. It’s open for immense potential for someone to scale up something that changes the way volunteerism works here. Many volunteer apps in Canada have features which work but their business model may not be structured to gain as much traction as needed to make a difference. Your approach in Canada, shows you know what the opportunities are, particularly sections that are more open to change than others.
Ann: We know strategically Canada is a natural extension for us. It’s definitely a different market but has similarities, in many ways, to the US market. There are about 1.9 million nonprofits in the US and perhaps 85,000 or so we can see in the Canadian market. There is plenty of potential to grow. We’ve got a strong presence in Ottawa and when we look at the overall Canadian nonprofit segment, we see that we can make an impact quickly on two of the three major sectors. Business philanthropy and households. Government sponsored services do have different requirements, so that sector is one we cannot serve immediately.
FM: What kind of status do you have in Canada, in terms of customers?
Ann: We have hundreds of Canadian nonprofits as customers today–these organizations are successfully fundraising and managing their volunteers. This is a natural extension of what we’ve done so well in the US. Bloomerang’s recent moves and product innovations address many of the common challenges that most nonprofits face today–finding new donors, growing existing relationships, and fundraising.
FM: Can you give us some idea of what the differences mean for circumstances such as the Quebec market with a strong French language element, whether that’s a challenge.
Ann: Certainly. Our products have a range of language capabilities to support those types of requirements. Our online fundraising forms and donation landing pages all offer several language options – including French – and that’s important. Additionally, Canada (like the US), has a diverse population with many languages spoken, so making sure that we have broad language options help us better serve nonprofits and the populations they serve–it’s important.
FM: Your core target market is suggested as small and medium-sized organizations, but those are different types of organizations in Canada versus the US. What is small in your market might be large here.
Ann: Our strength is supporting growing nonprofits regardless of size. We do really well with organizations We’ve been known to support small and mid-size nonprofits, but that could look different in the US compared to small and mid-sized in Canada. The best way to segment is based on fundraising revenue–an organization’s ability to fundraise. Whether starting out or really strong, we work with upwards of $25 million annually in US dollars. We see on the smaller end $100,000 to $250,000 USD and scale all the way up to more than $25 million–it’s a pretty broad range. In reality, that’s the bulk of the overall nonprofit segment when you look at just the sheer number of organizations.
FM: Your company describes itself as a community focused organization. How does the company bring that commitment to life?
Ann: Our central focus is to help all nonprofits thrive. So when we talk about community focus, we not only make great software but also focus on the nonprofit professional– what’s their passion? It’s delivering their mission. Their passion usually isn’t learning new-fangled technology, right? They’re not trying to figure out how to make it all work. They need something very, very easy to use, and it needs to be super intuitive. Great software is made of great technology that frees up time, helps staff finish up or get more done. And besides the tech, we also work to create content and resources that are accessible for all nonprofits–it doesn’t matter if you’re a Bloomerang customer to benefit from the great content and resources the team publishes regularly.
A great example beyond the tech, is we host a thought leader webinar series every Thursday. The thought leaders share best practices, tips, educational ideas, and resources that the broader market can use–all for free. Why do we do this? Because we believe in helping all nonprofits thrive.
FM: How do you see the technology evolving and specifically what do you forecast for the incorporation of AI into offerings across the board? We staged a conference in Toronto recently that looked at AI and philanthropy in Canada and how organizations were implementing this new consideration. What surprised me was the combination of the number of large organizations which had already incorporated AI in their service side, not necessarily their marketing or fundraising activities. Also it was apparent that many organizations had no deep knowledge of the potential in AI in software for fundraising, charity marketing and volunteerism. How do you see it?
Ann: Yeah, let’s break it down. First and foremost the role of AI, whether you’re a nonprofit, whether you’re in for-profit, whatever sector you’re in, whether you’re doing business or you’re delivering a service. AI is essential–no matter if you’re small or big or savvy or uncomfortable with technology, AI is going to be a factor you will need to consider. I personally use it, our team experiments with it, and thinking about what a marketer does or what a nonprofit fundraiser does–we build relationships; we all have to be effective communicators. Generative AI can help make all of it easier, faster, and even better.
Getting comfortable with AI is going to be crucial for fundraisers because they wear many hats, they’re overworked, and we see it in the news every day. They’re understaffed and the staffing shortage is not getting any better. So tools like Generative AI and the use of AI more broadly can help accelerate or help you accomplish more with the same team. Something that takes four hours to write, now only takes an hour. AI can be a real-time saver and game-changer for fundraisers. It can even be used to help build stronger connections. You can use it to personalize, or to adjust your messages, and other refinements to to build stronger, more relevant connections. It’s powerful, it’s already making a difference, and everyone who can, should use it. Think of AI as an assistant and also nonprofit professionals just want to be really clear where and when it’s appropriate to use and where it isn’t. And always have a human check the AI’s work!
FM: There are many challenges and opportunities facing the sector when it comes to staffing and the power of technology to alleviate or mitigate the pitfall. A shortage of staff and people wearing multiple hats, these are some of what was of interest among the attendees of an AI Conference we put together here in Canada this year. They were only now just trying to figure out who in the organization should learn this, who should be on top of it and who should be implementing it.
Ann: I hear that, you’re spot on Steve. Organizations need to think about the roles in the organization and the work that people are doing. It’s best to first identify a couple of cases or scenarios where Generative AI can help write an appeal, personalize a campaign, or craft a series of year-end fundraising emails. AI can also help fundraisers identify their next best donor or find potential major donors. But, they will need to make the time to think about the different ways they can use AI technology, define a use case around, start testing, and then refine. It’s an opportunity, too, to ask questions of the technology partners they have–what AI are they layering into their products and even ask them how they use AI in their business. You’ll get all kinds of ideas.
Another consideration with AI is that it changes quickly. I’ve seen what doesn’t work well today, might work really well in a few months. It’s always learning, so never write off anything completely, try it, and test it again in a few months.
FM: One of the surprising insights that came out of our conference was during the key presentation from an organization in Canada called Kids Help Phone. They’re a significant mental health service for young people and we learned how AI was handling, or conducting a form of triage, on all of their incoming phone calls and texts. And there’s a lot of text because today’s youth communicate by text, not by phone particularly. All of those communications, all of the first calls that came into Kids Help Phone pass through an AI system and the AI system is able to determine how the organization should respond. What it meant for them was they discovered they could trust the technology. It meant they can free up staff who were the actual first responders, making their contact with callers more effective because they were dealing with true emergencies or difficult circumstances. Kids Help Phone has scaled up immensely with it.
Ann: Yes, the key is to get curious about the capabilities, and we will always need to be open to using new technologies. Make sure you’re empowering someone on your staff to take a deeper look at it, evaluate it, and come up with a few use cases…as you said, with Kids Help Phone, a use case that helps them triage needs and address true emergencies faster.
FM: I noticed that in the US you conduct nightly NCOA (National Change of Address) updates for your data files. Do you have that in Canada?
Ann: Yes, we do offer a similar service for Canadian data. It’s a separate service than the NCOA update. Regardless, having a good strategy and approach to keeping data clean and up-to-date data in their applications is essential.
FM: Is there any other aspect of Bloomerang’s work in Canada that you wanted to address?
Ann: The AI implementation will be key for all of us now and moving forward. Put a team behind it or a couple of people thinking about it because the technology does wonders for a lean organization from a staff perspective and from a donor personalization perspective. We still see high numbers of organizations who unfortunately miss the fundamentals when it comes to communication and personalization. You’re going to increase the likelihood of getting a second gift by four times when you thank a donor within 48 hours. You don’t have to be too elaborate, so just start by looking at the simple things – the basics are so important. Make sure your organization is doing that well.
Outside of new tech like generative AI, when we acquired Qgiv, a leader in fundraising solutions, we got really excited about our shared customers and the success they experience. They’re raising more year-over-year and they’re beating the industry averages of their peers. While there are conversations about fundraising being harder these days, we see nonprofits customers outpace the sector. Nonprofits who use both Bloomerang and Qgiv, their recurring donations are 25 percent higher. We also see higher average one-time gifts, up to 50 percent, and the average recurring gift is 400 percent larger than the industry average.
The recurring donations are higher and they’re just raising more. Bringing Qgiv and Bloomerang together on a single giving platform will help us deliver our vision of helping nonprofits raise more from donors–whether it’s raising time, talent or treasure.
FM: Anything that helps Canadian nonprofits manage their donor experiences and produce more effective fundraising is a big plus. When you get beyond the largest organizations, too many have only one person (or someone doing several roles) in their team to manage that function.
Ann: We touched on volunteers at the start of our conversation and the combination of volunteer management plus donor management, plus fundraising is a crucial combination. Volunteers are among the most likely to become future donors; so it all needs to be connected in ways that are effective and not intrusive. We call them super supporters. People offering their talent, their time, and their donations, brought together in a single place to help a nonprofit. Our clients see the power of the relationships that they have and want to be able to tap into that time, talent, and treasure among volunteers and other supporters. It comes down to having the tech to help you put relationships at the heart of your fundraising.
FM: Definitely a strong message.
Ann: And what we see they end up raising so much more and build life-long relationships. The organizations benefit holistically.
FM: My own volunteering experience shows me how much we’re inclined to donate, and a simple question, request or story will prompt a donation.
Ann: It reminds us of two things: one, people stop giving because they weren’t reminded or asked again; and two, they didn’t think the organization needed their donation. We want to make sure nonprofits invite their volunteers to support the organization financially when the time is right. This ask can come from an appeal and just sharing updates about the good work that is being done by the organization.
FM: You must have experienced this yourself.
Ann: Right before I left to head up to Toronto for AFP ICON in April, I received a letter in the mail. I saw the envelope and thought “I bet there’s an ask for a donation.” It was an organization that I donated to at the end of last year, so I opened it just to confirm my suspicion. I was pleasantly surprised because it was just an update on their work. It wasn’t an ask, there was no appeal. It said they wanted to keep me informed of the impact of my donation and shared news about their next major project. This type of establishment of trust in a relationship can be a powerful step toward securing future donations from donors.
Nonprofits can’t forget about the impact of timely ‘thank yous’. Communications surrounding the work that you’re doing, the projects that are next, and where you need help in the future. It’s about cultivating the relationship and investing in communications. As I shared earlier, this was an example of an organization doing a really nice job of making sure the basics are covered.
FM: Building expectations. If every time you get a piece of communication from an organization, they’re asking you for money, you might be a bit less inclined to open it right away, if at all each time. But if you know they’re also just as likely to be communicating information or saying ‘thank you,’ you’re more likely to open it. That’s the traditional strategy of direct mail. The number one challenge was, and is, to get people to open that envelope and not throw it out. That’s still true of email, and digital.
Ann: You’re absolutely correct. We’re excited to continue to share these learnings as well as bring you updates on all of our new product developments coming later this year. We’re excited to continue to serve nonprofits based in Canada and are proud to say we also have a fantastic team based in Canada.
FM: We hope all goes well and that we can help where needed. I appreciate your time today.
Ann: Of course, my pleasure.
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