TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT vs. Salesforce Agentforce Service

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT

    Score7.5 out of 10
    N/ARaiser's Edge NXT is cloud fundraising and constituent relationship management software from Blackbaud.N/A

    Salesforce Agentforce Service

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/AService Cloud is a customer service platform that helps businesses manage and resolve customer inquiries and issues. It provides tools for case management, knowledge base, omni-channel support, automation, and analytics, enabling companies to deliver exceptional customer service experiences.

    $25

    per month

    Pricing
    Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXTSalesforce Agentforce Service
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Starter Suite
    $25
    per month
    Pro Suite
    $100
    per month per user
    Enterprise
    $165
    per month per user
    Unlimited
    $330
    per month per user
    Agentforce 1
    $550
    per month per user
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXTSalesforce Agentforce Service
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXTSalesforce Agentforce Service
    Considered Both Products
    Blackbaud
    No answer on this topic
    Salesforce
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    80%
    Would buy again
    235 Answers
    91%
    Would buy again
    52 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    80%
    Delivers good value for the price
    162 Answers
    88%
    Delivers good value for the price
    43 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    77%
    Happy with the feature set
    227 Answers
    93%
    Happy with the feature set
    53 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    56%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    81 Answers
    88%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    36 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    74%
    Implementation went as expected
    122 Answers
    87%
    Implementation went as expected
    39 Answers
    Features
    Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXTSalesforce Agentforce Service
    Communications and Marketing
    Comparison of Communications and Marketing features of Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT and Salesforce Agentforce Service
    Feature
    Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT
    5.1
    49 Ratings
    27% below category average
    Salesforce Agentforce Service
    -
    Ratings
    Constituent engagement and marketing5.951 Ratings00 Ratings
    Social listening3.913 Ratings00 Ratings
    Digital advocacy enablement5.523 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting and Analytics
    Comparison of Reporting and Analytics features of Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT and Salesforce Agentforce Service
    Feature
    Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT
    6.3
    56 Ratings
    1% above category average
    Salesforce Agentforce Service
    -
    Ratings
    Reporting and data visualization6.458 Ratings00 Ratings
    Wealth screening6.347 Ratings00 Ratings
    Fundraising and Events
    Comparison of Fundraising and Events features of Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT and Salesforce Agentforce Service
    Feature
    Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT
    5.6
    52 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Salesforce Agentforce Service
    -
    Ratings
    Online donation options7.354 Ratings00 Ratings
    Event registration and ticketing5.853 Ratings00 Ratings
    Text and phone donations5.218 Ratings00 Ratings
    Volunteer shift management4.112 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile event check-in5.617 Ratings00 Ratings
    Security and Platform
    Comparison of Security and Platform features of Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT and Salesforce Agentforce Service
    Feature
    Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT
    6.9
    55 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Salesforce Agentforce Service
    -
    Ratings
    Role-based user permissions7.757 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile access6.948 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integrations6.251 Ratings00 Ratings
    Incident and problem management
    Comparison of Incident and problem management features of Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT and Salesforce Agentforce Service
    Feature
    Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Agentforce Service
    7.9
    81 Ratings
    4% below category average
    Organize and prioritize service tickets00 Ratings8.179 Ratings
    Expert directory00 Ratings7.857 Ratings
    Subscription-based notifications00 Ratings8.267 Ratings
    ITSM collaboration and documentation00 Ratings6.962 Ratings
    Ticket creation and submission00 Ratings8.779 Ratings
    Ticket response00 Ratings7.878 Ratings
    Self Help Community
    Comparison of Self Help Community features of Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT and Salesforce Agentforce Service
    Feature
    Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Agentforce Service
    8.7
    76 Ratings
    8% above category average
    External knowledge base00 Ratings8.567 Ratings
    Internal knowledge base00 Ratings8.874 Ratings
    Multi-Channel Help
    Comparison of Multi-Channel Help features of Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT and Salesforce Agentforce Service
    Feature
    Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Agentforce Service
    7.9
    81 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Customer portal00 Ratings7.758 Ratings
    IVR00 Ratings7.937 Ratings
    Social integration00 Ratings7.351 Ratings
    Email support00 Ratings8.880 Ratings
    Help Desk CRM integration00 Ratings7.870 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXTSalesforce Agentforce Service
    Small Businesses
    Agentforce 360 for Nonprofits
    Score8.4 out of 10
    Help Scout
    Score9.3 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    DonorPerfect
    Score8.4 out of 10
    LiveAgent
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Ellucian CRM Advance
    Score5 out of 10
    Front
    Score9.2 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXTSalesforce Agentforce Service
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.6
    (477 ratings)
    8.7
    (100 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    6.7
    (65 ratings)
    6.1
    (8 ratings)
    Usability
    7.9
    (58 ratings)
    8.2
    (22 ratings)
    Availability
    7.7
    (10 ratings)
    8.4
    (45 ratings)
    Performance
    5.3
    (18 ratings)
    8.6
    (7 ratings)
    Support Rating
    5.6
    (73 ratings)
    7.0
    (20 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    6.4
    (16 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    7.3
    (230 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    2.6
    (27 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    Configurability
    7.0
    (6 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    3.7
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    5.5
    (5 ratings)
    5.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    6.3
    (8 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Professional Services
    1.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    5.0
    (7 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    5.3
    (7 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXTSalesforce Agentforce Service
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Blackbaud
    Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT is a great fundraising tool. It is visually pleasing and straightforward for the most part. Being able to open different aspects of the database in different tabs and have reports and exports running in the background is a great time-saver. Having information tiles that you can move and reorganize used on the user means that I don't have to scroll to the bottom of a record to find out a person's giving history. If I'm working on a specific data project involving actions, I can move that tile to the top and it will stay there for just me while I'm working. It doesn't affect any of my other users' settings. Being able to send out links to gift lists to members of my fundraising team is excellent. Clicking the link brings them to the batch info and they can zero in on their prospects in the database directly from those lists. Blackbaud's Email marketing is my least favorite part because there's missing functionality I wish it had, like exporting email statistics and viewing them in general. I understand that other partners which can integrate would take care of this, but still.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    I think Service Cloud is best suited for medium to large operations that require both proactive and reactive service. It’s a great fit for post-sales support. However, I wouldn’t recommend it for very small companies because it can be quite costly, and many of the features may go unused. Salesforce also performs best when you have a capable team managing it, so it’s important to consider your organization’s size and readiness before starting. Once you do, I recommend exploring other parts of the Salesforce ecosystem—Service Cloud works even better when integrated with Sales Cloud, since it allows better visibility across teams.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Blackbaud
    • 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.
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    • Email to case is an interesting piece of it. The threading is very strong, sometimes too strong, but it does very well at handling the incoming emails.
    • The omnichannel routing, using skill-based routing is really effective.
    • Pathing. So making the workflow and helping the team understand what it is that they're trying to do, what they have to accomplish, those step-by-step pieces. That's really helpful.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Blackbaud
    • 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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    • We had a principle initially to try and use Omni as much as we can from the user experience perspective, but have found that fairly restrictive. It was very difficult to actually get the right customer experience and customer engagement going. So we're actually on a journey at the moment to replace all of our Omni with Lightning web components that gives us that flexibility. That's probably one area where we've had some challenges in terms of how we've used the product out of the box.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Blackbaud
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    Professional edition works best for a small company with lower call volumes and is very useful but as you grow exponetially I think it has limited ability to do all the things we want to - SLA management, defect, release management to name a few. Reports and dashboards being available in real time.
    Read full review
    Usability
    Blackbaud
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    I had Salesforce experience prior to using Service Cloud which made it a little easier to learn and navigate, but overall my team (some who had no Salesforce experience) caught on very quickly and found Service Cloud to be easy to use.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Blackbaud
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    Working on an application that caters to customer needs requires a platform that acts as a mediator between the actual person and the client. This mediator handles the customer and resolves many of their doubts, helps them map through the entire process, and automates the processes. Such a platform is Salesforce Service Cloud. For queries that cannot be serviced by the platform, it creates a separate ServiceNow ticket for us, and it is assigned.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Blackbaud
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    The Salesforce Service Cloud generally has very good performance, however the overall new Lightning user experience can bring that down. For example, if you have too many tabs open, then it can take a while for the Lightning UI to load. This UI is probably not well equipped to handle loading of all of that information at once, but Users tend to leave their tabs open all day long. It can also be fickle depending on which browser you use, what extensions you have installed, and whether you've cleared your cache. This can be the downfall with any software as a service though, not just Salesforce
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Blackbaud
    You are better off using the user community or Facebook group to get answers than the support provided by Blackbaud. Oftentimes, support reps are not even aware that new features are being rolled out, nor do they have fundraising experience so you end up explaining more to the rep about what you are trying to accomplish and why than getting to the issue.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    Salesforce offers support, although it generally gets routed to overseas support teams first, and once they are unable to help, it gets escalated up the chain to higher tiers. Frequently, the answer back from support is that there is no native solution, and we either have to turn to the AppExchange for some solution provided by another developer, or custom build our own solution.
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Blackbaud
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    Our in-person training was provided by our implementation partner and it was quite good. This was in part because we were already working with them and so it naturally leant itself to a good training relationship. And because they were building our customizations and configuring things, they could then provide training on those things naturally.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Blackbaud
    The content is solid, but for those who benefit from in-person interactions, it can be a bit challenging. While the online format is great for flexibility and accessibility, there’s something about face-to-face training that makes it easier to absorb and ask questions in real-time. Overall, though, it’s a solid resource for self-paced learning.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    Trailheads are great but it was often unclear what actually applied to our organization. This made it difficult to get a whole lot out of it. Part of it is that because the basic Salesforce features didn't quite work for us, we had to add customizations, which then nullified a lot of the training.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Blackbaud
    I can't recall many specifics, mostly due to my own limited use of the entire NXT range of functions. One thing that I dislike is that when previous "Contact Reports" (Talisma term) were imported the dates were all converted to show as the date that they were imported into NXT, rather than the original dates they were entered into the old CRM. During the implementation, similarly, a few batches of Actions were re-dated to show the date of the batch transfer or update (not from the old system, I believe).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    I would go through an implementation very differently knowing what I know now. It was difficult coming from systems we liked in post-sales service and having to adapt to the clunky and underwhelming feature set in Salesforce. I would trim back our expectations
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Blackbaud
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    We selected this product because we already had some competencies in Salesforce. We own a Salesforce partner with expertise in this area, and on top of that, Salesforce purchased it — it was originally called Velocity. When Salesforce decided to acquire it, that finalized the decision for us.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Blackbaud
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    No answers on this topic
    Scalability
    Blackbaud
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    The product has scaled up with our company growth just fine. No issues here other than slowness in clicking around and running reports
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Blackbaud
    • 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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    • We have cut our service team in half over the past 5 years due to the efficiency of the tool
    • The amount of direct inquiries to our technical team is less than 10% compared to the number support tickets that get entered in the system for them to work in a more organized manner
    • Responses are 100% more timely because tickets can be responded to by any individual in the queue or on the team, as opposed to direct emails to just one person
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT Screenshots

    Screenshot of a customizable home page. This lets every user see the key insights, actions, and links they need to start their day, immediately upon logging in. Users can customize their home page layout using settings to show, hide, and customize widgets to display their preferred details. Administrators can create home page templates for other individuals and teams.Screenshot of the Work Center, which helps each fundraiser manage their portfolio and prioritize tasks that focus on the human side of fundraising, deepening relationships to grow support for your mission. Automated insights reveal areas you should be focusing on, actions completed, constituents who need attention, proposals in progress, gifts received, and progress towards goals. Fundraising leaders leverage Work Center for a holistic view of team performance, forecast pipeline, understand workload, and to zoom in on performance of individual fundraisers.Screenshot of a constituent record. These are designed to surface everything you would need to know about a supporter in a single place. Tiles containing important supporter information such as contact information, giving history, and wealth ratings can be collapsed and organized according to each user’s preferences.Screenshot of benchmarking in Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT, which allows users to better understand fundraising performance with comparisons against other organizations within a specific vertical or mission, or organizations of a similar size. The reports also quantify the revenue potential associated with improving, and surface actionable insight. Metrics include retention rate, recapture rate, acquisition rate, total revenue, revenue per donor, and current donors.Screenshot of built-in Wealth Screening. Prospect Insights in Raiser’s Edge NXT combines wealth screening and predictive modeling to help identify and qualify major gift fundraising prospects. With Prospect Insights, identify top prospects, assess capacity and likelihood to give, and take proactive steps to cultivate your most valuable prospects.Screenshot of an example of the out of the box dashboards available. Viewers can schedule and share reports within the product or by email link. Customize dashboards based on what’s important to you and achieve a clear view of your organization’s performance.

    Salesforce Agentforce Service Screenshots

    Screenshot of Workflows and OrchestrationScreenshot of Service CatalogScreenshot of Contact Center