Raiser's Edge NXT is cloud fundraising and constituent relationship management software from Blackbaud.
N/A
Causeview
Score 2.0 out of 10
N/A
Causeview aims to make donor management simple. This solution is built on the Salesforce.com platform and according to the vendor, this provides users with best in class fundraising, events, volunteers and payment processing tools on top of the world’s most popular CRM.
$60
per user
Pricing
Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT
Causeview
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Causeview
$60
per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT
Causeview
Free Trial
No
No
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Yes
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
Required
Required
Additional Details
—
Included at no extra cost: support, unlimited access to the Causeview Knowledge Base, online training and Causeview Community Forum, online donation, event registration and volunteer sign-up forms, and ActionPages. Integrated iATS Payment Processing starting at 2.95% + $0.21 / transaction. Minimum 3 users.
Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT is well suited to both large and small fundraising offices. It can include as few as one or dozens of users. The web-based interface is particularly good since the introduction of NXT. Gift recording and recall is good, as is prospect research tabs. Determining full gifts and pledges could be displayed better in the Giving tab.
I think Causeview is well suited for those who are looking to track revenue and donor information in the same place. It is good to have your database with all of your contacts integrated with the same system that you use to process things such as donations and event registrations, so it saves time and we don't have to maintain separate systems for our development work and our other revenue-generating strategies. We also use reports to pull up information about donors and use that information for fundraising -- for example, donor history and things like that.
Blackbaud RE NXT is extremely well organized and easy to use. The simple layout and straightforward functions make interacting with the product pleasant and easy.
Blackbaud RE NXT's dashboards are amazing. They make reporting so easy because the dashboards convey all necessary information in an easy-to-read, unique format (depending on how you want it displayed). It is relatively easy to create a dashboard, and the options for customizing it are great.
Blackbaud RE NXT is great for receiving and processing donations. From the simple donation forms to the automatic batch creation, using RE NXT makes processing donations much more efficient.
Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT is constantly updating and making major changes, so you never fully understand the system
The way some things are labeled in the system doesn't make logical sense. You almost have to learn a whole new language to get the most out of the features.
There's no way to re-generate a copy of a receipt, which is wildly inconvenient.
A lot of features are very limited based on your subscription. They give you a wide range of features but almost none of them work to their full potential. Even if you're paying a lot of money for the system, you will still likely feel like you're doing a free trial.
Event registration and donation pages could be better designed - not up to par with sites such as Eventbrite
I would like to have the option for people to register with more than one e-mail address instead of creating a duplicate record each time someone uses a different e-mail.
Some of my coworkers find Causeview confusing to use or difficult to find information.
I don't know for sure what we'll do, and I wouldn't publicly share that anyways. Speaking only for myself, I wouldn't jump for joy if I was given the task of transferring CRM providers when this org has a Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT database that's 28 years old, but being aware of what's on the market is always responsible. With the planned functionality updates to Web View over 2025-2026, the phasing out of features in database view, and the changes to contract structure laid out in investor updates, there's a lot of factors that could change in the next few years. And Blackbaud has not made it clear how much work the transfer to Web View only will be for us over the next couple years: It means updating all of our policies and procedures and all of our documentation and retraining all of our employees at minimum, and that's assuming that all existing fields and features remain accessible without modification.
Learning the overall useability of Blackbaud Raiser's Edge is a fairly steep learning curve, however, the support team that Blackbaud Raiser's Edge employs are top notch, helpful and very knowledgeable. Blackbaud Raiser's Edge also maintains an extensive library of articles that are very helpful, as well a useful tutorials, including step-by-step articles as well as instructional videos. With these tools at your disposal you will be competent in no time
The only reason I cannot give a 10 is because like all web based products, internet connection is required and that is not something that can be counted on 100% of the time. When the internet connection is stable, I have had little to no issues using Raiser's Edge.
NXT itself is a pretty simple interface, and is great for front-line fundraisers to be able to look up info and run some simple "reports"/analysis. It's very quick and intuitive, but the back-end attached to it (RE 7.96) may have connectivity issues from time to time. NXT itself, though, is simple enough that issues are rare.
I believe I've only had to contact support directly once, as I normally have our data person who works with Blackbaud directly take care of these needs for our team. I see that there is a clear way to contact support staff if needed, so I maintain that if I have to contact Blackbaud directly, I'll be taken care of.
Causeview's support is a lone bright spot. They are often quick to respond. They are generally helpful, although brief in their answers and explanations. I would appreciate more detailed answers to technical problems, but I do appreciate their support's problem solving ability
When you get a good, knowledgeable person for in-person training, you can't beat it! Hands on, real time, questions answered on the spot. And they want to make sure you get what you needed before leaving. To also have dedicated time without other distractions is very important to the learning process in my opinion.
I would not be the database management professional if not for Blackbaud's online training called Blackbaud University. My team is small, with limited time, so being able to learn from others has proven invaluable. The instructors are knowledgeable, they explain the material clearly, and make themselves available after class if there are additional questions. The handouts we get to keep are great for reminders and for taking notes. Using a sample test environment to try things out without doing something irreversible in a live environment is fantastic, too. I learn by doing, not by being talked at for two hours.
I have no issue with Blackbaud's role in the implementation, I think that more of the issues were internal as this was my first "implementation" that I really took the lead on. While it may have been rocky, it was a very good learning experience for me and I hope that I have made improvements in subsequent implementations.
I have not used other products like this before. I have used and created some SQL databases and ERPs, but have not used fundraising-specific software such as Raiser's Edge. Based on what I know from other products vaguely similar to this - databases and ERPs - this is very user friendly and easy to pick up for anyone, especially with their NXT webview offering.
I did not personally select Causeview for my organization, but I have found it easy to use in comparison with other similar systems. The fact that Causeview can be added to Salesforce, and hop on our existing database, is very important to us and is one of the main reasons we continue to use the service.
Pricing really seems to be all over the place, and everything else you need is an extra add-on cost. The biggest issue is training. Options are limited unless you subscribe and pay for it across your contract.
New features are constantly being added to Raiser's Edge NXT that expand its capabilities. Features such as constituent mapping and easily accessible actions allow for more in-depth analysis of existing constituents. The future ability to manipulate soft-credits and customize reporting dashboards will make NXT even more attractive to our fundraisers and executives. It's great to see that the software is evolving.
Having everything in one system means that information is much more likely to be up to date. We hardly get any returned mail from the post office when we pull lists.
Our gift officers can easily pull up donor information on their phones while out on a visit, giving them the edge they need to close a gift.
Information tiles on a person's record that are easy to reorganize and collapse per the needs of each user makes finding pertinent information quick.
