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. We believe Bloomerang is your central system and that integrations supplement your Bloomerang database. Automation should start from a lens that Bloomerang is core to your donor management and fundraising technology.

Bloomerang is now connected to Zapier and Zapier connects to 5,000+ other apps. The combination of Bloomerang and Zapier offers an all-in-one integration platform for automating your day to day workflows.

The goal of this webinar is to show you how you can use the Bloomerang Zapier app and the Bloomerang API to automate updates to constituents and transactions in Bloomerang to streamline data entry, save time, and reduce effort.

During this webinar, we will:

• Introduce Bloomerang + Zapier, how they work together, and why Zapier integrations are a key feature of your Bloomerang system and fundraising strategy
• Demonstrate how you can use the Bloomerang Zapier app to save time and energy by automating updates to constituent custom fields following new transactions.
• Demonstrate how you can use Bloomerang’s API to update custom fields on the transaction after it is created.
• Discuss how you can get started with Zapier integrations for Bloomerang

 

 
Webinar transcript (not including Q&A):
Good afternoon, and welcome to Bloomerang Academy! Thank you for joining us. My name is Margie Worrell, and I am the Curriculum Manager at Bloomerang. You might recognize me from attending Bloomerang Academy classes or listening to our release and help videos.

Today, we’re exploring Bloomerang + Zapier: Updating Transactions in Bloomerang with Zapier.

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I’d like to introduce our presenter today, Jessie Gilchrist. Jessie is a Zapier Certified Expert and Bloomerang Integrations Consultant at Sidekick Solutions.

Sidekick Solutions is a Bloomerang Partner, specializing in system automations for Bloomerang. Sidekick Solutions has been a Bloomerang user since 2013 and was part of the Bloomerang team that launched the Bloomerang Zapier app. We’re excited to have Jessie here today to share her expertise and explore Bloomerang integrations.

Thank you. Hello everyone! It’s great to be here.

[SLIDE]

The goal of today’s webinar is to show how you can use the Bloomerang Zapier and the Bloomerang API to update coding in Bloomerang following creation of a new transaction to support operation processes and free up more resources for fundraising and programmatic efforts.

It is important to note before we dive into this webinar that some of the concepts in this webinar are advanced. We will be demonstrating how to make a custom call to Bloomerang’s API (i.e., the backend code to Bloomerang) to update data on an existing transaction.

If you have not watched any prior Bloomerang + Zapier webinars in Bloomerang Academy or are new to Zapier, you may want to watch the existing webinars below before watching this webinar. They cover core concepts in Zapier

• Exploring Bloomerang automations
• Zapier 101
• Zapier 201

Our webinar today will…

• Introduce Bloomerang + Zapier, how they work together, and why Zapier integrations are a key feature of your Bloomerang system and fundraising strategy
• Demonstrate how you can use the Bloomerang Zapier app to save time and energy by automating updates to constituent custom fields following new transactions.
• Demonstrate how you can use Bloomerang’s API to update custom fields on the transaction after it is created.
• Discuss how you can get started with Zapier integrations for Bloomerang

We have demos throughout the webinar to show you how to set up automations for your organization and are happy to answer questions. Please submit all questions through the Q&A.

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It is common for organizations of all sizes to use many types of software and we believe that automated integrations are essential to your donor database. Integrations can help connect these systems, creating a tech stack that supports your organization and its strategic goals.

This is where Zapier comes in. As some of you may not be familiar with Zapier, we will start with a high level overview of what Zapier is and why we believe it is a key feature of your Bloomerang system and fundraising strategy.

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Zapier is automation software that enables additional Bloomerang integration and fundraising opportunities. It’s a middleware that sits in between Bloomerang and other apps you use, helping them “talk” to each other.

Bloomerang’s Zapier app extends the power of your database by enabling integrations with over 5,000 other apps in Zapier’s directory. And, Zapier was designed for anyone to build an integration. You don’t need to be a developer or know code to build an automation.

The flexibility of the Zapier platform enables custom integrations. You aren’t limited to one-size fits all workflows, mapping, or formatting. You can build integrations that are perfect for your organization and your workflows.

In today’s webinar we will be demonstrating how you can use the Bloomerang Zapier app for some updates in your database following a new transaction, as well as showing you how to make custom calls to Bloomerang’s API to perform functions that are not currently included in the Zapier app.

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Integrations are a key feature of your Bloomerang database and can take your fundraising efforts to the next level. Data should flow in and out of your Bloomerang database, connecting to other best in class tools your organization uses. Based on your organization’s needs and use case, these integration may take the form of a Bloomerang to Bloomerang automation to replace manual updates and free up resources.

By keeping Bloomerang as the central hub of your tech stack, you will create a global record of Constituent engagement with your organization and centralize reporting.

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First, we want to do a quick poll to see how many are using Zapier and using it with Bloomerang.

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The first use case we want to focus on today can be accomplished using the Bloomerang Zapier app alone. Went to start with this more basic update flow before transitioning to a more advanced use case that requires use of the Bloomerang API.

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We have encountered a number of organizations that flag a constituent as a donor in a custom field on the constituent’s profile. This field is often called “Donor Type” or “Donor Status”, and when a constituent is created who has not donated yet, the field is marked as “Prospect”. Then, following the donor’s first donation, the organization manually updates the field to “Donor”.

This flow automates that manual process. When a new transaction is created in Bloomerang and the constituent is not already coded as a Donor, the workflow will update the Donor Type custom field on the constituent’s profile to “Donor”.

[DEMO: 2 SLIDES]

Let’s hop into Zapier and set up our Zap.

• Click on the +Create Zap button in the upper left.
• The workflow starts with a New Transaction in Bloomerang. The trigger prompts the integration to run when that event occurs (i.e., a new transaction is created). We are going to select Bloomerang as our app, New Transaction (not New Transaction Payment) as our triggering event.
  • In the settings of the trigger, we could select certain transaction types and/or a minimum donation amount to limit when our automation rules. For this demo, we are going to consider any transaction type with a minimum amount of $0.01 as making the constituent a donor.
  • While we won’t be demoing it in today’s webinar, you could develop a similar flow as the one we will be walking through today and set your minimum amount to the level you consider a major gift. Then, instead of (or in addition to) marking a Donor Type field as “Donor”, you could mark a separate custom field indicating the constituent is a Major Donor.
• Next step is to test our trigger and generate sample data. This will return up to 3 recent submissions. These are samples only and will not run through the integration because they were created before the integration is turned on. Zap triggers run in real time only.
• Once we have sample data, we want to add a filter step to only continue the Zap if the constituent is not already coded as a donor. We’ll select our custom field and set our logic operator to “(Text) Does not exactly match” the value of “Donor”.
• After we’ve set up our filter, we’ll add our action to update the custom field on the constituent in Bloomerang.
  • We’ll select Bloomerang as the app and Update Constituent as our action event.
  • In the Constituent field, select Custom mapping and map the Constituent ID from the New Transaction trigger.
  • Then, in the Donor Type field, click and select “Donor”.
  • Now we’ll click Test & Run to confirm this action is configured appropriately.
• Now, we are done editing and can turn on the Zap.

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As we head into this next use case, we’d like to highlight that this is an advanced Zapier and integration concept. As Bloomerang mentioned at the beginning of this webinar, the recording will be shared so you can rewatch alongside your own Zap build, if desired.

This use case is going to look at updating a custom field on a transaction following the creation of the transaction.

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It is common for organizations to configure the Fund, Campaign, and Appeal fields in Bloomerang to align with development needs and/or use terminology that does not easily identify how the donation will align within the organization’s finance/accounting system. We are seeing more organizations using a custom field to track the accounting/finance code the transaction corresponds to. It can be time consuming to manage this field manually, especially when donations may be coming through online web forms without coding in this field.

Similar to the last flow, this flow automates that process. When a new transaction is created in Bloomerang and the GL Code custom field is empty, the workflow will use the Bloomerang Fund to lookup the corresponding GL Code before using the Bloomerang API to update the transaction.

We are using a filter to only run the automation when the GL Code is empty, in case the organization chooses to assign the GL Code value in Bloomerang during manual entry. Other organizations prefer to let the automation handle the coding of this field across all transactions (i.e., manual entry as well as online form/integration created).

It is important to mention that the solution we’ve going to demo today will support a single transaction (no splits) as well as split transactions in Bloomerang. Additionally, if you prefer to use a different field for the conversion (e.g., Campaign or Appeal), that can be done as well.

We are using the Bloomerang API in this use case as, at the time of this webinar, the Bloomerang Zapier app does not include an action to update an existing transaction. Therefore, the Bloomerang API is the only way to accomplish this update.

There are three things we need to do before we can start building our Zap:

1. Generate our API Key
2. Identify the field ID
3. Identify the field value IDs

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The API Key is a unique identifier that allows you to retrieve or write data to your Bloomerang database. Think of it like a more secure form of your login credentials. This key grants access to your full Bloomerang database and therefore, once generated, should be kept secret and stored securely at your organization.

The API Key in Bloomerang is tied to a Bloomerang user. To ensure continuity with your automations, we recommend creating a user in your database for “Zapier” using a generic email for your organization (e.g., info@, it@, etc.).

To generate an API Key:

• Log into Bloomerang and navigate to the user’s settings
• In the API v2 section, click Generate.
• Enter “Zapier” (or something similar) as the Name.
• Click Generate again.

Save your API Key somewhere safe and secure as we will need it when we build our Zap.

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When making a call using the Bloomerang API in an automation, we will need to use the ID of the custom field and the ID of the value we want to assign in that field.

To retrieve the ID of the custom field:

• Go to Settings and select Transactions
• Select Custom Fields
• Click on the GL Code custom field
• The field ID is located up in the URL

Make note of this field ID as we will need it when we build our Zap.

[SLIDE]

We are not able to retrieve the field value IDs for our custom field from within Bloomerang.

To retrieve the field value IDs:

• Log into Zapier and create a new Zap
• Go straight to the first action; do not select a trigger
• Choose Bloomerang as the app
• Choose Create Donation as the action
• In the Set up action section, click the dropdown for the GL Code custom field
• The gray number below each value is the value ID

Make note of these value IDs as we will need them when we build our Zap.

[DEMO: 3 SLIDES]

Let’s hop into Zapier and set up our Zap.

• Click on the +Create Zap button in the upper left.
• The workflow starts with a New Transaction in Bloomerang. The trigger prompts the integration to run when that event occurs (i.e., a new transaction is created). We are going to select Bloomerang as our app, New Transaction (not New Transaction Payment) as our triggering event.
  • For this demo, we are going to include all transaction types with a minimum amount of $0.01.
• Next step is to test our trigger and generate sample data. This will return up to 3 recent submissions. These are samples only and will not run through the integration because they were created before the integration is turned on. Zap triggers run in real time only.
• Once we have sample data, we want to add a filter step to only continue the Zap if the transaction does not already have a value in the GL Code field (e.g., from manual data entry). We’ll select our GL Code custom field and set our logic operator to “Does not exist”.
• After we’ve set up our filter, we need to add a step to convert the Bloomerang Fund to the corresponding field value ID in our GL Code custom field.
  • First, add a new action and select Code by Zapier as the app.
  • Select Utilities as the action event.
  • Select Lookup Table as the transform.
  • Map the Designations Fund Name as the Lookup Key
  • Then, enter one row for each Bloomerang Fund. The Bloomerang Fund name will go on the left.
  • The field value ID for the applicable GL Code value will go on the right.
  • Now we’ll click Test & Run to confirm this action is configured appropriately. This will return a payload of data we’ll use in our subsequent action steps in the Zap.
• The last step in our flow is to implement the call to the Bloomerang API that will update the custom field on the transaction.
  • First, add a new action and select Code by Zapier as the app.
  • Select Run Python as the action event.
  • We will be adding three input data elements
    • transaction :: {ID}
    • designations :: {Designations IDs}
    • values :: {Output from Lookup step}
  • Then, implement the script.
    • Add the API Key where indicated.
    • Add the field ID where indicated.
  • Now we’ll click Test & Run to confirm this action is configured appropriately.
• Now, we are done editing and can turn on the Zap.

[SLIDE]

The last use case we want to highlight, we will not have time to demo in this webinar. However, we think it is helpful to showcase this solution as it can drastically reduce the amount of resource needed to send acknowledgements, while still leveraging some of the acknowledgement functionality within Bloomerang.

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This use case triggers, like our other flows, when a new transaction is created in Bloomerang. Then, the automation will send an acknowledgement through the desired service. This may be a physical, mailed card through a service like Handwrytten, or could be an email sent through a transactional email tool like Mailchimp or SendGrid.

After the acknowledgement is sent, the workflow will create an interaction in the constituent’s timeline in Bloomerang logging that the acknowledgement was sent. The action to create a new interaction is included in the Bloomerang Zapier app and does not require use of the Bloomerang API.

The last step in the flow uses the Bloomerang API to update the Acknowledgement Status on the transaction to “Yes” and link the interaction created in the prior step to the transaction as the acknowledgement.

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Getting started with Bloomerang automations is easy.

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The first step in getting started is signing up for a Zapier account, if you don’t have one already.

All Zapier accounts begin with a 14-day free trial of the Professional tier functionality. Following the free trial, your plan is converted to a Free plan until you choose to upgrade. Most organizations will need to upgrade to the Starter plan, at a minimum in order to build multi-step Zaps.

It is also important to remember that Zapier provides a 15% discount to nonprofits. If you sign up for a paid plan, make sure to apply for the discount.

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After signing up for Zapier, connect your Bloomerang database. After logging in:

• Click My Apps on the left menu.
• Click Add Connection.
• Search for and select Bloomerang
• Grant access using your Bloomerang login credentials.

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If you prefer to build your automations DIY or want to learn more about Zapier, there are plenty of resources available.

• Search available apps in Zapier’s marketplace
• Look at Bloomerang Zap templates
• Review Zapier resources on getting started with building Zaps
• Begin building!

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If your team would like support setting up a Bloomerang-to-Bloomerang automation, we offer an integration bundle for Bloomerang customers. This bundle includes end-to-end configuration and deployment of your automation. This is a good fit for basic updates in Bloomerang. Pricing varies for more complex solutions/use cases.

This service is optional and your organization may instead choose to implement Bloomerang automations in Zapier DIY.

Zapier subscription costs are not included in this pricing.

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Thank you for attending today.

We are going to launch a poll. If you’d like to work with a consultant to set up an integration or schedule a consult to explore your use case and tech stack, please let us know.

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Now, we’d like to open it up for questions.

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