Blackbaud eTapestry is a donor management solution that helps growing nonprofits build a stable foundation for success, beat fundraising goals, and catalyze growth. eTapestry boasts more than 6,000 nonprofits and institutions as users, who manage and track fundraising performance, engage new supporters, and maximize existing donor relationships with the software.
We choose Blackbaud eTapestry ten years ago because some of the above did not exist or they did not have the features such as credit card integration and direct email. We also liked the ease of use. To create queries and to run reports are easy and to create and run …
I have a Blackbaud product user for 13+ years. In that time, I had the opportunity to evaluate and implement any program that would fit our organization's needs. I choose Balckbaud because of the customer service, training modules and the ease of use. I would recommend …
Assistant Director of Annual Giving and Stewardship Manager
Chose Blackbaud eTapestry
We use this suite of products in our entire division. It helps us with reports and donor management, and it is very helpful on a day-to-day basis. I enjoy the ease of use as well as the product offerings available. I would recommend using this in your development office.
I have not used anything like eTapestry where all the information is kept in one place. I have used other CRMs but financial information was always kept separately.
I very much prefer eTapestry to Raiser's Edge. I found the separation between the database and web view of Raiser's Edge very disorienting and didn't like having to switch back and forth between the two views to be able to complete certain tasks. I REALLY didn't like that a few …
we were trying to consolidate eTapestry, our donation and event ticketing platform and our email marketing service. RE NXT would certainly have been an upgrade to eTapestry but did not offer the full functionality we were looking for.
I used and set-up Salesforce.com at a previous position and Blackbaud e-Tapestry is simpler to use 'out of the box' and has a much lower learning curve. My supervisor is looking at Raiser's Edge to replace e-Tapestry for the more premium features.
Blackbaud eTapestry is the most customizable out of the other databases I have worked with, however, a solution like Bloomerang is easier for inexperienced database users.
We have researched 2-3 other donor platforms and we just aren't at a place to change, although we are very tempted. eTapestry is getting us by for now and we don't look forward to the day when we have to change platforms and have to change things for our monthly donors. We …
I have used Raisers Edge at a former workplace. I absolutely loved Raisers Edge, however, that organization was much larger and needed a platform with the ability to maintain a very large donor count. While more complicated to use than eTap, and far more powerful, I feel …
We have compared other products and also looked at supplemental software to integrate with our events and event management software. We have looked at many other products and there is not a one that does it all.
Blackbaud eTapestry is a fully cloud based system, unlike Sumac, which means it can handle continuous multi-users in real time while remaining synchronous. Everything can be stored within the system, including documents that one needs such as granting or gift agreements. Easier …
With the exception of Faith Direct, which we had prior to eTapestry, and is strictly a vehicle for donations (think PayPal, WePay, GiveCentral, etc) - some of the others did not exist or were even less relevant at the time we chose eTapestry (Donor Perfect). We were interested …
I was not involved in the selection of Blackbaud eTapestry. However, in comparing it to my experience with Raiser's Edge, this program is more user-friendly despite the learning curve battle of the query and reports section of eTapestry.
Blackbaud eTapestry is not as robust as Blackbaud Raiser's Edge. However, eTapestry provides strong value for the cost. It is much less expensive than using Raiser's Edge.
Raiser's Edge NXT is like eTapestry on steroids. That being said, eTapestry is useful and serves its purpose as long as you're not trying to create complicated compound queries and need the ability to filter lists in real time. We selected eTapestry for its lower purchase price …
As we are a small Foundation with only one Administrative Assistant, eTapestry is perfect for me to keep all of our CRM. Once I got used to how it worked, I found it to be user friendly. If I have any problems, I can either try to find the answer for myself in the extensive library, chat to support or email our Customer Service Representative with questions. I cannot fault either the Support team or Customer Service Representatives I have dealt with over the years as all of them have been knowledgeable and extremely helpful. I would prefer to have better options within the Email section as the templates are very basic. There is another option to use an eTapestry partner, but there are additional costs involved in that. The email templates are OK to use if you wish to send quick information to your database.
When I started using eTapestry, you had to pay for courses to learn how to do more complicated things in the database. These courses were fairly expensive and our small organization couldn't afford that. I had to figure a lot out on my own or using the tech folks in chat or the odd free thing. Not sure if the courses are still costly or not.
It is not particularly user friendly--for example, you would think the drag and drop email template would be pretty straightforward but it is not! And there aren't built in instructions to help as you try to use things.
Figuring out how to organize queries and reports and communications in folders in order to find things again has been challenging. It is possible to search on keywords, which is very helpful. But finding something in a list of queries that is not alphabetical isn't particularly easy.
We do not always get positive solutions from Etapestry. There are a lot of resources and solutions that you can read about and reach out to. I participate in Community Forums and trainings to see what we can be doing differently.
eTapestry was the first donor database I had ever used and always found it to be much easier to use and administer than the databases I was used to (patient care and payroll databases). The rare times I can't figure out how to do something, I just hope on the chat and someone from the team pleasantly walks me through the process. If it's something that database is incapable of doing, they encourage me to log my suggestion in the idea bank so it can be considered for enhancements. On top of that, the regular training provided allows you to continue building your skills within the database
I have never had an issue accessing eTapestry. It does occasionally go down for maintenance. When that happens, they give you a lot of notice and generally schedule maintenance for hours between midnight and 6am so that business won't be disrupted.
The product does what it is supposed to, although there are downsides. There are positive and negatives for every product. This is less expensive alternative for a small organization tracking minimum information.
My favorite feature is the Live Chat. If we get stuck, we can get immediate help, download the chat and save it for later so if we need help again we have it on file. The Knowledge Database is also extremely helpful.
The online tutorials were easy to follow and explained in detail steps. I was able to put together an organization SOP for best practices in case I was not in the office or no longer there.
I was not there for the implementation of this platform. Unfortunately I am unable to just skip this question as it requires a response, which needs to be fifty characters, so here we are. At thirty four, I need to add a few more words to satisfy this requirement. Done.
We have researched 2-3 other donor platforms and we just aren't at a place to change, although we are very tempted. eTapestry is getting us by for now and we don't look forward to the day when we have to change platforms and have to change things for our monthly donors. We worry about attrition if our donors have to change platforms.