Overview:
With 20 of America's leading independent local publishers already onboard, BlueLena is expanding adoption of its CRM and Moves Management System through partnerships with organizations like the American Journalism Project and others, signifying momentum in newsroom fundraising growth.
On Thursday, June 14 BlueLena hosted a tour of the BlueLena CRM and Moves Management System, including BlueDepth™ – our new proprietary scoring system that helps news organizations identify high value small, midsize and major donor opportunities based on their engagement with publisher brands.
The fully-integrated all-in-one system is purpose-built specifically for journalism organizations and has been adopted by over twenty leading newsrooms across America, including CalMatters, Montana Free Press, The CITY, Spotlight PA, The American Prospect and others.
The video tour below demonstrates how BlueLena CRM brings together robust tools—engagement scoring, pipeline automation, email integrations, and strategic guidance—into a newsroom‑friendly platform. And Megan Wofford, Director of Products and the architect of the system joins Ashley Woods Branch, VP/Growth and Publisher Success to describe the specialized architecture (e.g., BlueDepth™), early measurable impact, and the comprehensive support ecosystem that is enabling local journalism teams to scale effectively and accelerate growth of fundraising for journalism.
Among the ways the solution is purpose-built for journalism development teams:
Tailored for Newsrooms
Unlike off-the-shelf CRMs, BlueLena CRM is customized for publishers—bridging traditional customer relationship management features, email marketing (powered by BlueLena’s customized and white labeled version of ActiveCampaign), and moves‑management workflows in a unified solution.
BlueDepth™ Engagement Scoring
BlueDepth evaluates giving potential through real‑time engagement signals—automatically updating and feeding into fundraising workflows. Unlike wealth scoring systems that identify donors of any type of organization, BlueDepth is trained on your own data and identifies deeply engaged readers who have a high probability of specifically supporting news organizations.
Proven Fundraising Results
Early adopter newsrooms report:
- +30% YoY in individual giving
- +17–24% increase in average donation
- +25% growth in mid‑tier and major donor pipelines
Concierge Onboarding & Strategic Support
- Offered standard as part of BlueLena Premium
- A 12‑week guided onboarding
- A dedicated Publisher Success Manager
- 40 hours of annual support
- 1,000 BlueDepth contacts per month scored free of charge
- Access to BlueLena Academy (via Google News Initiative) and expert workshops
The video tour features:
Interactive Overview
The presentation guides viewers through the BlueLena CRM, demonstrating how newsrooms centralize reader and donor data, track fundraising pipelines, and monitor engagement metrics.
BlueDepth™ Explained
You see BlueDepth™ in action: it dynamically ranks contacts based on behavior (email opens, site visits), donation history, demographics, and loyalty—starting with only an email address.
Automated Pipelines
Screens show donors entering structured moves-management workflows once their BlueDepth score passes a threshold, triggering personalized outreach prompts or donor assignments.
Integration with ActiveCampaign
The CRM overlays email automation tools, enabling segmented campaigns and follow-ups without leaving the platform.
Support Features
The tour highlights built-in strategy guidance and donor cultivation tools—templates, checklists, and campaign prompts tailored for nonprofit journalism teams.
For more information or to schedule a consultation and needs assessment, contact Ashley Woods Branch at ashley[@]bluelena.io
About BlueLena
BlueLena is a strategy consulting and audience management platform founded in 2020 to support the sustainability of independent local media. By combining cutting-edge technology with expert-driven services, BlueLena helps over 250 news organizations across North America develop and manage subscription, membership, and donation models. Its unique shared-resource management approach provides publishers, regardless of size, with access to enterprise-level tools and personalized support, enabling them to focus on high-quality journalism while building loyal, revenue-generating audiences.
BlueLena is majority employee-owned, and backed by investors including Automattic (the parent company of WordPress), Local Media Association, and Old Town Media.