Big or small, your Bloomerang CRM database is one of your most powerful fundraising assets. When your data is clean, concise, and consistent, the good stuff follows: donor conversations feel personal, reports come together fast, and every record tells the whole story. This class gives you practical tools and strategies to keep your donor data in great shape, so it's always working as hard as you are.
Why use a CRM?
Data consolidation
Data reporting
Targeted and effective fundraising
Establishing Policies and Procedures
Policies and Procedures Manual
Who is a part of the discussion?
Who has access to your database?
What training is required for different levels of access?
Development calendar
Scheduling time
Annual database audit
Recurring Database Management
Weekly
First-Time Donor List
Bloomerang CRM lists the top five first-time donors you should call right on your Dashboard. To see a full list of new donors within the last seven weekdays, from the First-Time Donor Calls tile, click View Full Report. For more information, read First-Time Donor Calls Basics.
Financial Reports
To create a report of transactions from the previous week, follow these steps:
Click Reports.
Click New Report.
Select Transaction (Start from Scratch).
Click Start Report.
In the Include section, click Add filter.
Search for and select Date. The date defaults to Last week.
Click OK.
Save this report.
The report will display results for the previous week whenever the report is run.
Acknowledgement Letters
To create a report of transactions from the previous week that have not been acknowledged yet, follow these steps:
Click Reports.
Click New Report.
Select Transaction (Start from Scratch).
Click Start Report.
In the Include section, click Add filter.
Search for and select Date. The date defaults to Last week.
Click OK.
Click And, then search for and select Acknowledgement Status.
From the dropdown, select No, then click OK.
Save this report.
The report will display transactions from the previous week that have not been acknowledged yet. You can reference this report when you run your acknowledgement letters.
Monthly
Financial Reports
To create a report of transactions from the previous month, follow these steps:
Click Reports.
Click New Report.
Select Transaction (Start from Scratch).
Click Start Report.
In the Include section, click Add filter.
Search for and select Date.
Click Last week, and select Last month.
Click OK.
Save this report.
The report will display results for the previous month whenever the report is run.
Campaigns Progress Report
Create a report to track the progress of each active Campaign.
Click Reports.
Click New Report.
Select Transaction (Start from Scratch).
Click Start Report.
In the Include section, click Add filter.
Search for and select Date.
Click Last week and then select Last month.
Click OK.
Click And and then search for and select Campaign.
Select a Campaign and then click OK.
Consider adding columns for Raised Amount and Revenue Amount. Raised Amount will total donations, pledges, and recurring donation payments, while Revenue Amount will total donations, pledge payments, and recurring donation payments.
Save this report.
You can export the report to Excel to send it to different board members, solicitors, or gifts officers who are working on specific campaigns and funds.
Funds Progress Report
Create a report to track the progress of each active Fund.
Click Reports.
Click New Report.
Select Transaction (Start from Scratch).
Click Start Report.
In the Include section, click Add filter.
Search for and select Date.
Click Last week and then select Last month.
Click OK.
Click And.
Search for and select Campaign.
Select a Campaign and then click OK.
Consider adding columns for Raised Amount and Revenue Amount. Raised Amount will total donations, pledges, and recurring donation payments, while Revenue Amount will total donations, pledge payments, and recurring donation payments.
Save this report.
You can export the report to Excel to send it to different board members, solicitors, or gifts officers who are working on specific campaigns and funds.
Appeals Progress Report
Create a report to track the progress of each active Appeal.
Click Reports.
Click New Report.
Select Transaction (Start from Scratch).
Click Start Report.
In the Include section, click Add filter.
Search for and select Date.
Click Last week, and select Last month.
Click OK.
Click And, then search for and select Campaign.
Select a Campaign and then click OK.
Consider adding columns for Raised Amount and Revenue Amount. Raised Amount will total donations, pledges, and recurring donation payments, while Revenue Amount will total donations, pledge payments, and recurring donation payments.
Save this report.
Tasks
View a list of all active tasks from the Dashboard, or run a report of all tasks from the previous month regardless of status.
Click Reports.
Click New Report.
Select Task (Start from Scratch).
Click Start Report.
In the Include section, click Add filter.
Search for and select Date.
Click Last week and then select Last month.
Click OK.
You can group the report by Status to put together tasks that are active, complete, or archived.
Save this report.
Semi-Annual
Financial Reports
To create a report of transactions for the last six months, follow these steps:
Click Reports.
Click New Report.
Select Transaction (Start from Scratch).
Click Start Report.
In the Include section, click Add filter.
Search for and select Date.
To report on the last six months, click Last week, and select Previous number of days. Enter 183, then click OK. This will look at the previous number of days when the report is run.
To report on a specific time period, click During, and select Between. Enter the desired date range, then click OK. This will look at that specific date range regardless of when the report is run.
Save this report.
The report will display results for the previous month whenever the report is run.
LYBUNT Report
To create a report of constituents who gave last fiscal year but not this fiscal year:
Click Reports.
Click New Report.
Select LYBUNT.
Click Start Report.
Click Constituents and then select Household.
Edit filters or add columns as needed.
Save your report.
Note: This report references the fiscal year in your organization settings. To view of update your fiscal year settings, follow these instructions.
SYBUNT Report
To create a report of constituents who gave last fiscal year but not this fiscal year:
Click Reports.
Click New Report.
Select SYBUNT.
Click Start Report.
Click Constituents and then select Household.
Edit filters or add columns as needed.
Save your report.
Note: This report references the fiscal year in your organization settings. To view of update your fiscal year settings, follow these instructions.
Custom Field Reports
To view a full list of your custom fields:
Click Reports.
Select the type of custom field you would like to review: Constituent, Interaction, Task, Transaction, or Note.
Edit, deactivate, or delete custom fields, as needed. For more information, read Edit Categories, Custom Fields, and Values.
To run a report on specific custom fields:
Click Reports.
Click New Report.
Select the type of report based on which custom fields you would like to review.
Click Start Report.
Click Add Column.
Search for and select a custom field.
Add as many custom fields as you would like to include in the report.
In the Include section of your report, click Add Filter.
Search for and select Date.
Click Last week and then select Last month.
Click OK.
Save this report.
Annual
Full Database Audit
A full database audit might sound like overkill on top of all your other reporting. Good news: it overlaps with work you're already doing each year, so it's really just a few extra steps.
Start with the financial data from your annual report, then add a few database-specific details:
Total number of constituents in your database
Number of constituents with no activity on their records
Complete inventory of your custom fields
From there, have your team dig into any year-over-year data you have and map out recommendations for the year ahead.
You can download this sample template: Database Audit Template.xlsx
Annual Financials
You can copy any of the previous financial reports and change the date range to look at your fiscal year or calendar year.
Annual Campaigns, Funds, and Appeals Reports; update plan
You can copy any of the previous Campaign, Fund, or Appeal reports and change the date range to look at your fiscal year or calendar year.
Total Constituents Report
If you are an administrator, you can view the total number of constituents that count toward your license on the Billing & License page, or you can create a report to see more information about the constituents:
Click Reports.
Click New Report.
Click Start from Scratch.
Select a Constituents report.
To create a report that focuses on constituent profile information, such as address and email, click the Profile Starter constituent report.
To create a report that focuses on constituent transaction information, such as Last Fiscal Year Revenue and Latest Transaction Date, click the Transaction Starter constituent report.
Click Constituents and then select Household.
Save this report.
The report will show results for the previous month whenever the report is run.
No Activity Report
To view a full list of your custom fields:
Click Reports.
Click New Report.
Click Start from Scratch.
Select a Constituents report.
To create a report that focuses on constituent profile information, such as address and email, click the Profile Starter constituent report.
To create a report that focuses on constituent transaction information, such as Last Fiscal Year Revenue and Latest Transaction Date, click the Transaction Starter constituent report.
Click Add filter, then search for and select Has Transactions.
Click Has any, and select Has No, then click OK.
Click And, then search for and select Has Interactions.
Click Has any, and select Has No, then click OK.
Click And, then search for and select Has Notes.
Click Has any, and select Has No, then click OK.
Click Constituents, and select Household.
Save this report.
Audit Report
This is a numerical breakdown of everything used in your database.
Keeping track of the number of constituents in your database, along with the number of times each custom field has been used, the total revenue for the year, and a breakdown of every Campaign, Fund and Appeal is the foundation for development analytics.
When available, provide the last few years worth of like data (for example, your unrestricted fund) to compare how your organization is performing year over year.
Once your audit is complete, decide on what changes (if any) would improve your fundraising efforts for the upcoming year, and add these to the Recommendations section of the audit.
Audit Meeting
This meeting is where your team should present your database audit to all stakeholders. At this meeting:
Review the audit line by line
Discuss the recommendations section
Decide how to proceed on each recommendation
After the meeting, implement any changes, and deactivate all past Campaigns, Funds, and Appeals in the database.
Resources
Download the slides here.
Download the presenter notes here.
Related
Bloomerang Free Downloadable: Data Policies and Procedures Template
Bloomerang Free Downloadable: Development Plan Template