Bloomerang + Zapier: Automated Integration for Any App [Webinar]

Your Bloomerang database is the central donor management and fundraising platform for your organization, but Bloomerang likely isn’t the only app that you use day to day.

You might be using:

  • QuickBooks Online for accounting
  • MailChimp for email marketing
  • Eventbrite for event registration
  • Shopify or WooCommerce for your online store
  • Gravity Forms as part of your website experience
  • Slack for team communication
  • PayPal for payment processing
  • G Suite or Office365 for daily email and calendars
  • …or other apps, possibly even a combination of many apps

Instead of spending hours each month manually entering data between two or more systems or running tedious spreadsheet imports, let automation do the work for you.

Bloomerang is now connected to Zapier and Zapier connects to 2,000+ other apps. The combination of Bloomerang and Zapier offers an all-in-one integration platform for automating your day to day workflows.

During this webinar, you will learn:

  • Why integrations are essential to your Bloomerang experience
  • How Bloomerang and Zapier make integration with any app possible
  • Which integrations are most popular for accounting, communications, productivity, events, and website/ecommerce
  • How to get started with Bloomerang and Zapier

 

 

Webinar transcript (not including Q&A):

Good afternoon, and welcome to Bloomerang Academy! Thank you for joining us. My name is Diana Otero, and I am the Learning Experience Manager at Bloomerang. You might recognize me from attending Bloomerang Academy classes or listening to our release and help videos.

Today, we’re talking about “Bloomerang + Zapier: Integrations for Your Favorite Apps.”

[SLIDE]

I’d like to introduce our Presenter today, Jeff Haguewood.

Jeff is a Zapier Certified Expert and Bloomerang Integrations Consultant at Sidekick Solutions. Sidekick Solutions is a Bloomerang Partner, specializing in system automations for Bloomerang. Jeff has been a Bloomerang user since 2013 and most recently was part of the Bloomerang team that launched the Bloomerang Zapier app, which is the focus of today’s webinar.

We’re excited to have Jeff here today to share his expertise and explore the Bloomerang Zapier app.

Thank you Diana.

Hello everyone! It’s great to be here.

[SLIDE]

In planning this webinar, Diana and I brainstormed how to best approach the topic of integrations. As you might imagine, it’s a big topic. Today’s session will offer actionable tips and best practices you can apply to your Bloomerang database right away!

If we surveyed the group, we would likely find that in addition to Bloomerang, most of us are using various other software.

[SLIDE]

Tools for…

  • Email marketing
  • Event coordination
  • Online giving
  • Major gift pipeline
  • Volunteers
  • Accounting
  • Email and calendars
  • Tasks and to-dos
  • Peer to peer
  • Reporting and analytics

…and even that likely isn’t a comprehensive list.

[SLIDE]

Today, we want to show you how Bloomerang integrations and workflow automation streamline processes, save time, and reduce effort.

The more we can lean on technology to streamline the busy work of our day-to-day operations, the more time we can spend engaging constituents, decreasing attrition, and cultivating passion for our causes.

That is even more relevant as most of us have moved to remote work and virtual collaboration with constituents and among our teams.

[SLIDE]

Our agenda today will…

  • Introduce Zapier, how it works and what you can do with it
  • Explore popular Zapier-enabled integrations between Bloomerang and Eventbrite, QuickBooks Online, PayPal, and G Suite
  • Wrap up with some key details on how to get started with Zapier-enabled integrations for Bloomerang

And then we will open up for a larger Q&A at the end. As Diana mentioned, feel free to submit any questions. We’ll take a couple of breaks during the presentation to answer questions.

Alright, let’s dive in.

[SLIDE]

Let’s take a quick poll to see how many have heard of Zapier before.

[POLL]

Have you heard of Zapier?

[SLIDE]

What is Zapier?

Zapier is automation software. Zapier sits in between your Bloomerang database and any other apps, helping them to “talk” to each other. Zapier is the middleware that enables many integrations with Bloomerang.

In fact, Bloomerang’s Zapier app enables integration with over 2,000 other apps in Zapier’s directory.

I like to think of it like this. Zapier is throwing an integration party. Since they are hosting the party, those that join the party have to follow some basic rules (we’ll talk more about those in a bit). But once you’re in the party, you can connect to any other apps at the party. It’s a neat concept and makes integrations for your Bloomerang highly accessible.

[SLIDE]

Zapier is a builder that lets you design integrations using steps. Zapier integrations are like lego blocks, each block is a task in the integration workflow.

A single integration workflow is called a Zap. Zaps start with a trigger and then proceed to complete one or many actions.

Let’s look at this in practice with a simple Zap.

[SLIDE]

Let’s say I want to notify my team in a Slack channel when a constituent in Bloomerang has a transaction greater than $1,000.

In this scenario, the trigger is “a transaction from Bloomerang” and the action is the Slack channel message.

[DEMO]

Here is what that looks like in Zapier.

Every time a new transaction is entered in Bloomerang and matches the $1,000 criteria, this Zap will trigger to run and complete the action of sending a Slack channel message.

Zaps are linear flowing from top to bottom based on an initial trigger and then a subsequent set of actions.

[SLIDE]

The output would look like this. Our Slack message merges data from the Bloomerang transaction and includes a link so my team can quickly navigate to that transaction in Bloomerang.

[SLIDE]

Zaps can be simple like this example, but they can also expand to include:

  • Zaps with multiple steps and multiple apps;
  • Zaps with filters, paths, and conditional logic; and
  • Zaps with data transformation and formatting.

Why get excited about Bloomerang + Zapier?

[SLIDE]

Three reasons…

First and most important, Zapier connects to 2,000+ other apps. Any apps in Zapier’s directory can be connected to Bloomerang. Within the directory you’ll find a long list of apps that you likely use every day. If it’s on Zapier’s list it can be integrated with Bloomerang.

Second, Zapier was designed for anyone to build integrations. You don’t need to know how to code to build Zaps. Anyone can build and maintain a Zap.

Third, Zapier let’s users design their own integrations. You aren’t limited to one-size fits all workflows, mapping, or formatting. You can build the integration that is perfect for you and your organization.

[SLIDE]

How do you get started?

First, you’ll need a Zapier account and link Bloomerang to Zapier. The process is easy to do.

[DEMO]

Go to Zapier.com and sign up for a free trial. Nonprofits get a discount.

Once you have a Zapier account, connect your account to Bloomerang.

  • Go to the My Apps
  • Search for Bloomerang
  • Log into Bloomerang and select Grant Access

Now you’re ready to start building Zaps!

[SLIDE]

What can you do with Bloomerang and Zapier?

With the Bloomerang Zapier app, you can build integrations with data flowing out of Bloomerang and also build integrations with data flowing into Bloomerang.

Let’s look at the triggers, actions, and searches for Bloomerang that you can use as steps to build Zaps.

[SLIDE]

First, triggers…

A trigger is an event in Bloomerang.

When the event happens, the trigger starts a Zap. Each trigger event starts a Zap to run. If I enter three New Constituents, my Zap will run three times, once for each New Constituent.

The time it takes for a trigger to run in Zapier based on a trigger event in Bloomerang will depend on your Zapier plan, but generally your Zap will trigger to run in less than 15 minutes from the time of the event in Bloomerang.

[SLIDE]

Integrations from Bloomerang can start a Zap based on the following Bloomerang events.

  1. New Constituent
  2. Updated Constituent
  3. New Transaction
  4. New Transaction Payment

[SLIDE]

New Constituent will trigger a Zap to run when you create a new Constituent and save it.

[DEMO]

In Bloomerang, select Constituents and New. Create a new constituent and this trigger will run a Zap.

You can filter this trigger to run for Individual Constituents, Organization Constituents, or both Individual and Organization Constituents.

[SLIDE]

Updated Constituent will trigger a Zap to run when you update a Constituent and save it.

[DEMO]

In Bloomerang, any update to a constituent’s names, contact information, or custom fields will trigger a Zap to run, basically anything on the Profile page.

You can filter this trigger to run for Individual Constituents, Organization Constituents, or both Individual and Organization Constituents.

You can also set the trigger to bring in additional data for the Constituent’s Giving Summary, which includes the Constituent’s 10-year giving history, average giving, lifetime giving, and first, last, and largest transactions and the Constituent’s Household information if the Constituent is in a Household. These additional data pulls allow more capability when building Zaps. You can leave them as False if you aren’t using them.

[SLIDE]

New Transaction will trigger a Zap to run when you create a new Transaction and save it.

[DEMO]

In Bloomerang, create a new Donation, Pledge, Pledge Payment, Recurring Donation Schedule, or Recurring Donation Payment. Depending on the settings of your Zap, each transaction you create will trigger a Zap to run.

You can filter this trigger to run for different types of transactions, including Donations, Pledges, Pledge Payments, Recurring Donations, and Recurring Donation Schedules.

You can also filter on the range of amount with a minimum and maximum amount and like Updated Constituent bring in additional data for the Constituent’s Giving Summary or Household information.

[SLIDE]

New Transaction Payment will trigger a Zap to run when you create a new Transaction and save it, but only for Donation, Pledge Payment, and Recurring Donation Payments.

Unlike the New Transaction trigger which will trigger to run once when a transaction is created, the New Transaction Payment will trigger a Zap to run for each payment on a newly created transaction. Use this trigger when you need to run a Zap for each payment individually when a transaction has multiple split payments.

[SLIDE]

For example, if I have a donation with two payments. New Transaction Payment will trigger the Zap to run twice, once for the first payment and a second time for the second payment. The New Transaction trigger would only run once for the entire transaction.

[SLIDE]

The Bloomerang Zapier app also includes four actions.

An action is an event a Zap performs after it is triggered. An action is a task. You can think of an action like this. If you were to complete the steps of the Zap manually, each step in the Zap would be a task that you would be required to do. Zapier is automating that process by completing those same manual steps in an automated way. Each task is an action completed by Zapier.

The actions in the Bloomerang Zapier app are creating new or updating existing items in your Bloomerang database.

[SLIDE]

Integrations to Bloomerang can run based on the following Bloomerang actions:

  1. Create Constituent
  2. Update Constituent
  3. Create Donation
  4. Create Interaction

[SLIDE]

Create Constituent creates a new Constituent record.

[DEMO]

Create Constituent requires that you select a Constituent type of either Individual or Organization and allows the ability to define Constituent names, contact information, preferences, and custom fields.

In Bloomerang, the fields mapped in Zapier will be written to the new Constituent profile.

[SLIDE]

Create Donation creates a new Donation record for a specific Constituent. Create Donation has the ability to create single Donations or Donations with split payments.

Split payments might come into play if you take orders from an ecommerce store like Shopify or WooCommerce and want to log each item as a split payment for a single transaction in Bloomerang.

[DEMO]

You’ll notice the mapping for the Constituent ID here and the Designations area to create split payments.

The Constituent ID is what appends this donation to a specific Constituent’s timeline in Bloomerang. Like with Create Constituent, the fields shown in Zapier map directly into the fields in a Bloomerang donation record.

[SLIDE]

Create Interaction creates a new Interaction record for a specific Constituent. The configuration is similar to Create Donation.

[SLIDE]

Update Constituent updates the names, contact information, and custom fields for a specific Constituent.

[DEMO]

This action can overwrite data of existing Constituents, so be careful with it.

Important to note that writing a new address, phone, or email will promote the new address, phone, or email to the primary but will not remove previous address, phone, or email data.

Blank fields in Zapier are ignored and DO NOT overwrite by nullifying existing data in Bloomerang.

[SLIDE]

The Bloomerang Zapier app also includes a search step, which is essential to every Zap that creates Donations, creates Interactions, or updates Constituents.

[SLIDE]

Find Constituent completes a search for existing Constituent records based on a Name and contact information duplicate check. If none are found, you can optionally Create Constituent.

The search looks for a single match.

[DEMO]

We recommend that you include as much information about the Constituent as is available from previous steps in the Zap or the trigger app. Adding multiple pieces of information will conduct a broad search for an existing constituent record.

Bloomerang then makes a search based on the data you’d submitted.

[SLIDE]

Those are the building blocks we can use to design Zaps that integrate Bloomerang with over 2,000 other apps in Zapier’s directory.

Zapier enables app integrations, go to zapier.com/apps to search for available apps.

[SLIDE]

This also opens a range of automation use cases that aren’t app specific:

  • Send follow-up emails to team members
  • Notify Board of major gifts
  • Set calendar events for to-dos
  • Run real-time dashboard in spreadsheet
  • Publish giving data on your website

[SLIDE]

  • Automate acknowledgement printing
  • Log surveys and forms to interactions
  • Send new donor welcome series
  • Process gifts with card swipers
  • Sync constituents to your email contacts

[POLL]

Which Bloomerang automations would you find most helpful?

[SLIDE]

We understand that this likely feels exciting and intimidating at the same time. To help you get into Zapier quickly, Diana and the Bloomerang team have developed a number of Zap Templates that you can use. We are going to look at a few of those templates next.

Before we do, let’s answer a few questions…

[SLIDE]

Alright, let’s take a look at some Zap templates that are pre-built and require little effort to get up and running. They include integrations for…

  • Eventbrite
  • QuickBooks Online
  • PayPal
  • G Suite (including Gmail and Google Sheets)

[POLL]

Which of these apps do you use?

[SLIDE]

First, Eventbrite.

We recognize that most organizations are not hosting in-person events. We went back and forth on whether we would cover Eventbrite, wanting to be sensitive to current events. We decided to include Eventbrite for a few reasons.

First, we are hopeful that we will be able to host in-person events safely in the near future because they are great ways to build community and engage with the constituents that are most passionate about our causes.
Second, Eventbrite can be used for virtual events. Eventbrite simplifies registration and check-in whether those events are in-person or virtual.

Zapier-enabled Eventbrite integration with Eventbrite makes event registrations and attendance a breeze. Instead of spreadsheets and paper forms, use integration to sync event data with your Bloomerang database so you know who registered, who paid for tickets, and who attended the event.

[SLIDE]

Eventbrite offers three triggers in its Zapier connection, each of which starts one of the three workflows with Bloomerang.

  • New order
  • New attendee registered (which can include guests)
  • New attendee check-in (day of event attendance)

These are what start the Zaps.

[SLIDE]

Zapier-enabled integration with Eventbrite generally includes three Zaps, each handled in real-time based on a new entry in Eventbrite.

Zap 1 – New order
Trigger: New order in Eventbrite
Action: Find or Create Constituent in Bloomerang
Action: Create Donation for the Purchaser

[DEMO + 2 SLIDES]

The Zap looks like this.

I want to highlight two pieces.

The Bloomerang app in Zapier lets you search for an existing constituent using a standard duplicate check. You can map in the registrant name and one or more other pieces of contact information to complete a duplicate check. Optionally, this Zapier action can create a constituent if none are found. That’s what ensures you append the donation to the right individual.

The event order is appended to the found or created constituent account with mapping for both standard and custom fields. If multiple ticket types are purchased, one donation can be logged per type so that proper Fund, Campaign, Appeal, and Custom Fields are logged to Bloomerang for reporting.

[SLIDE]

Zap 2 – New attendee registered (including guests)
Trigger: New attendee registered in Eventbrite
Action: Find or Create Constituent in Bloomerang
Action: Create Interaction (for registration), which includes guests

[DEMO + 1 SLIDE]

For registration, interaction records are logged to the Constituent’s timeline, even for guests. This allows you to run reports in Bloomerang on complete event rosters. Custom mapping is available for standard and custom fields so you can identify the event name, participation type, whether the record is a registered or attended record, and even who purchased the ticket for a guest.

[SLIDE]

Zap 3 – New attendee check-in
Trigger: New attendee check-in
Action: Find or Create Constituent in Bloomerang
Action: Create Interaction (for attendance), which includes guests

[DEMO]

This Zap is the same as registrations except a different Eventbrite trigger and we would likely want to flag a custom field on the Interaction for Attended to differentiate it from the Interaction we created for registration.

[SLIDE]

In total…

  • There are no more post-event imports or data cleanup projects
  • Log both the primary registrant and guests as separate accounts in Bloomerang (if you run events with guest registration, you’ll likely agree that creating accounts for guests in Bloomerang is a gamechanger)
  • Use mobile apps for registration and check-in
  • Start reporting on registrations immediately
  • Manage paid and free events all with Eventbrite and a single automation system in Zapier

[SLIDE]

But the power of Zapier-enabled integration doesn’t stop there. In addition to the core Eventbrite setup, you could also tag subscribers in Mailchimp as registered and attended for communications to your event roster, add registrants to a real-time roster report in Google Sheets, notify staff of new registrations in Slack, send custom confirmation emails to each registrant, and draft invoices in QuickBooks Online for registrations that are sponsorships all within the same integration workflow.

It is hard to over emphasize how powerful this tool can be when we consider multi-app automation in Zapier.

[SLIDE]

Next, QuickBooks Online, which is an important integration for many Bloomerang users.

[SLIDE]

QuickBooks Online integration for Bloomerang has one goal: sync transactions so that development and accounting are on the same page.

The Zap adds revenue transactions from Bloomerang to QuickBooks Online as customers and sales receipts.

[DEMO + 4 SLIDES]

The workflow starts when a new transaction is created in Bloomerang. We will use the New Transaction trigger to create one sales receipt for each transaction in Bloomerang. We could optionally use the New Transaction Payment trigger for a slightly different configuration.

From there, we generally need one or multiple custom mapping steps to convert Bloomerang Fund, Campaign, Appeal, Gift Type, and custom field values into corresponding income accounts, classes, and payment methods.

You can map any field from Bloomerang to any field in QuickBooks Online, so even if you do things differently in Bloomerang Zapier supports custom mapping for any use case.

You can see that we are converting the Bloomerang Campaigns to Product/Service, which is synonymous with Income Account, and we could convert Campaign to Class codes for QuickBooks Online.

With the mapping fully defined, the integration find or creates a customer profile. This is generally done with a duplicate check in QuickBooks Online of the Customer Name.

And then the integration appends a sales receipt to that customer and tagged with the proper income account and class. By default sales receipts added to QuickBooks Online go to the Undeposited Funds asset account awaiting deposit.

[SLIDE]
At which point, when you’re ready to make a deposit, you can select sales receipts to deposit, subtract and fees deducted from payment processors, and now your deposits will reconcile with your bank statements every month.

[SLIDE]

In summary, with this integration…

  • There is no more double data entry, sync in real time
  • Map any field from Bloomerang to Class and Income Account, not limited to a cookie cutter setup
  • Deposit and statement reconciliations are faster and easier
  • Reporting can be run immediately from both systems
  • Accounting and development will have the same data

The great part about Zapier-enabled integration for Bloomerang to QuickBooks Online is that you can customize the mapping for your Income Accounts and Classes. This ensures that everything sent from Bloomerang to QuickBooks Online is coded properly and reconciled accordingly.

[SLIDE]

For those that would like more control over their data, a more hands-on option is available.

Instead of going straight to QuickBooks Online from Bloomerang, you can adopt a clearinghouse approach. This integration would require two Zaps.

One Zap will write transactions to a Google Sheet (i.e. the “clearinghouse). The second Zap will take those Google Sheet items and write them to QuickBooks Online as customers and sales receipts, but only when a user approves them to be sent to QuickBooks Online.

[DEMO]

The two Zaps look like this.

The interface with Google Sheets can be as simple as an approval “Yes” or “Go” tag to send the item through to QuickBooks Online.

[SLIDE]

Before we proceed to PayPal and G Suite, let’s take one or two questions about Eventbrite and QuickBooks Online.

[SLIDE]

PayPal will use a similar configuration to Eventbrite, although a single Zap is all that’s needed to log PayPal transactions in Bloomerang as Donations.

[SLIDE]

The Zap starts with a trigger when a Successful Sale is completed in PayPal and continues to log that transaction to Bloomerang as a donation.

[DEMO]

Any Zap that begins with a non-Bloomerang trigger will likely include Find or Create Constituent, and this Zap is no different. We need to search for an existing Constituent based on the information provided for the Successful Sale in PayPal or Create a Constituent if no existing Constituent can be found.

Next, append a donation with the Create Donation action to the Constituent just found or created. Use the Constituent ID to ensure you’re dynamically adding the donation to the proper constituent account.

Finally, add an Update Constituent action at the end of a Zap if you would like to update the information of an existing Constituent. Be careful though, in some cases this action will overwrite what’s in Bloomerang.

[SLIDE]

Benefits of PayPal integration include:

  • Reduction in data entry
  • If PayPal has item-level data, map that to Bloomerang Campaigns and Appeals or custom fields
  • Scale your online payment options
  • You can even use PayPal to sell ecommerce products and diversify giving options

[SLIDE]

G Suite and Office 365 are some of the most popular software suites out there. That status means they are well represented in Zapier’s app directory. Everything from Google Forms to Google Tasks and Calendars as well as Excel, Office 365 Email, and Microsoft Teams.

Let’s explore a Zap that includes two G Suite apps: Gmail and GSheets.

Note: The templates we will review today for G Suite are synonymous with integrations and Zaps you can build for Office 365 in Outlooks and Excel 365.

[SLIDE]

When you operate a large team and many individuals are entering information into Bloomerang, it is helpful to be notified when items entered in Bloomerang require action among the team or the team simply needs to be kept in the loop. We explored Slack integration earlier, but email notifications are equally powerful.

This Zap is a merge of two Zap templates, but illustrates the scalability of Zapier to handle multi-step and multi-app workflows.

[DEMO]

Use the New Transaction trigger. We’ll use this trigger instead of New Transaction Payment because it allows additional filtering options. We’ll set the trigger to require a minimum amount of $0.01 (in case there are in kind transactions of $0.00. Note that we can also limit this trigger to specific types of transactions. For example, if you only wanted to send this email notification when a new Recurring Donation Schedule is created of a specific amount. We will also set up this trigger to include the Constituent’s Giving History and Household information as we will include some key details from those data sets to populate our email notification.

From the trigger, we are going to complete two actions. First, we will send an email in Gmail. This could be an email to yourself from your own account or an email to someone else from your account. Customize every detail of the email include what goes in the body. We’ll map in data from the Bloomerang trigger to round out the message body. Here is what that looks like when it comes through.

Following the email send we will add another action to Create a Spreadsheet Row in a Google Sheet to log this transaction and some key details about the Constituent. We could then use this Google Sheet to create a real-time dashboard, share the sheet with non-Bloomerang users to use as information lookup, or populate for import into another software that doesn’t have a Zapier app.

[SLIDE]

Benefits include:

  • Send updates without running a report
  • Build a spreadsheet for this year’s giving
  • Notify people that don’t use Bloomerang
  • Use notifications as a reminder for to-dos

[SLIDE]

Other popular apps that can be integrated with Bloomerang via Zapier include:

  • Shopify
  • WooCommerce
  • Square
  • Stripe
  • Constant Contact
  • Survey Monkey
  • Gravity Forms
  • HubSpot

[SLIDE]

Zapier also enables Bloomerang to Bloomerang integrations. Two examples might include:

Donor gives over a cumulative amount this year, tag their account with a Constituent custom field for your giving circle.
New donor added to your Bloomerang database, send a personal email and log an interaction for that email to that Constituent’s timeline.

Bloomerang to Bloomerang workflows are an exciting opportunity to have technology do the work that would normally be assigned to data entry staff or volunteers.

[SLIDE]

Next step is getting started.

I recommend this 5-step process.

  1. Sign up for a Zapier account, it’s free with a trial and free up to certain limits, nonprofits get a discount
  2. Connect your Bloomerang account to Zapier
  3. Connect your other apps to Zapier
  4. Grab a Bloomerang template and customize it to match your workflow and mapping requirements
  5. Turn on your Zap and monitor it, watch as tasks queue in your task history, resolve errors and high-five for successes

[SLIDE]

To wrap up today’s presentation, I’ll leave you with a way to think about your technology stack and how Bloomerang fits.

We see Bloomerang as your central database of record. Bloomerang is the hub in the wheel. As you add more apps and other software to your technology ecosystem, Bloomerang holds the central spot. Data will flow into Bloomerang and out of Bloomerang to support your overall fundraising strategy. When you begin to develop integrations for your Bloomerang, remember this image as it will help you maintain a tight network of system automation around your Bloomerang database.

[SLIDE]

Thank you for attending today.

Again, my name is Jeff Haguewood. My email is jeff@sidekicksolutionsllc.com.

[SLIDE]

If you’d like to work with a consultant to set up Zaps or develop a custom Bloomerang integration to address a unique use case, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I will hand it off to Diana for a quick poll before we open up for more questions.

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