ApproveThis manages your Bloomerang Integration approvals.

Why Approval Processes Break for Growing Non-Profits

Let’s cut to the chase: your donor management system wasn’t built for approvals. Bloomerang nails donor relationships and tracking gifts, but when you need three signatures to greenlight a $10K grant or vet a new major donor? That’s where spreadsheets, forwarded emails, and “Hey, did you see my Slack?” happen. ApproveThis fixes that without making you buy another database.

Here’s the play: Connect Bloomerang to ApproveThis via Zapier, and suddenly every transaction, new constituent, or donation trigger starts a structured approval chain. Finance gets notified when pledges hit thresholds. Program directors review donor vetting before they’re added. All without Bob from accounting needing a Bloomerang login.

Where This Combo Beats Manual Processes

Bloomerang tells you what’s happening with donors. ApproveThis decides what happens next. Together, they handle four critical gaps:

• No more donation limbo: Transactions stuck waiting for board approval don’t disappear into inboxes
• Vetting before data entry: Stop accidentally adding restricted donors to your general mailing list

Example: A regional animal rescue uses approval thresholds. Donations under $5K auto-approve and sync to Bloomerang. Over $5K? Board members get an email with one-click approve/deny. No logins, no meetings, no spreadsheets.

Real Use Cases (That Don’t Sound Like Robot Talk)

1. “Why Is This Donation Still Pending?” → Solved

The Zap: New Bloomerang transaction → ApproveThis request → Approved? Auto-add as donation.

Who cares: Finance teams tired of answering status emails. Development directors who need accurate forecasting.

Behind the scenes: ApproveThis uses calculated fields to flag donations needing board review based on amount or donor type. Approval groups mean the CFO, ED, and program lead all get notified in sequence.

2. “Wait, Who Approved This New Donor?” → Solved

The Zap: New constituent in Bloomerang → Approval request → Add to Bloomerang after OK.

Who cares: Operations managers preventing data clutter. Program teams avoiding awkward “Why are we emailing a corporate sponsor?” moments.

Secret weapon: Vacation delegation in ApproveThis. If your development director is out, requests auto-route to their deputy without changing Bloomerang permissions.

Setting This Up Without Hiring a Zapier Expert

If you can forward an email, you can build this integration:

1. Connect Bloomerang and ApproveThis in Zapier (takes 3 minutes)
2. Pick a trigger: New transaction, new constituent, etc.
3. Map fields: Amount → Approval threshold, Donor type → Assign approver
4. Test with a $1 donation (nobody wants to explain a $10K test error)

Pro tip: Use ApproveThis’s conditional logic to auto-approve recurring donations under $1K. Saves 20+ hours/year for mid-sized orgs.

Why Your Team Actually Uses This

Finance & Accounting

Stop playing detective. See every pending donation in ApproveThis’ dashboard with due dates. Escalate stale requests automatically. Audit trails are auto-saved (IRS loves this).

Development Teams

Major donor proposal approved? ApproveThis pings Bloomerang to tag them as “VIP” and trigger a stewardship workflow. No manual data entry.

Executive Directors

Approve big asks from your phone via email. No logging into Bloomerang during vacation. Delegation settings mean nothing stalls if you’re OOO.

The Part Where We Talk About Budgets

Bloomerang’s $599/month plan + ApproveThis’ $49/user tier scales for orgs with 50-5000 employees. Key savings:

• No paying for approver seats in Bloomerang (they just need email)
• Reduce “urgent” board meetings about minor approvals
• Cut 3-5 hours/week of “Where are we on X?” status updates

Example: A 200-employee health nonprofit reduced donation processing time from 14 days to 2 days. How? Auto-routing $50K+ gifts to the right VP without manual sorting.

Common “Yeah, But…” Questions

“We have custom fields in Bloomerang. Does this break them?”
Nope. ApproveThis pulls custom fields into approval requests. Approvers see the same data your team does.

“What if someone approves something they shouldn’t?”
Two words: approval chains. Require dual signatures for high-risk items. All decisions are logged with timestamps and reasons.

How This Scales as You Grow

Started with 50 employees? Maybe you need one approval step. At 500? Add conditional logic:

→ Gifts under $5K: Auto-approve
→ $5K-$25K: Development director + CFO
→ Over $25K: Board committee

All without changing your Bloomerang setup. ApproveThis layers on top, so your donor data stays clean.

Getting Started Without the Overwhelm

Pick one process that annoys everyone. Usually:

1. Donation approvals stuck in email
2. New major donors not being vetted
3. Board members missing approval deadlines

Build that integration first. Most teams go live in 2 hours. ApproveThis has pre-built Bloomerang templates if you’re not a Zapier pro.

Register for ApproveThis, connect your Bloomerang account, and automate your first approval flow today. Or, book a 15-minute demo to see how other nonprofits cut approval delays by 80%.

Final Thought: Approval Controls ≠ Bureaucracy

Good processes don’t slow you down—they prevent fires. Using Bloomerang? You’re already serious about donor relationships. Adding structured approvals means $50K gifts don’t get delayed because someone forgot to click “reply all.”