Blackbaud eTapestry vs. Raiser's Edge

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Blackbaud eTapestry
Score 6.2 out of 10
N/A
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.
$115
per month Usage based per constituent record
Raiser's Edge
Score 7.9 out of 10
N/A
N/AN/A
Pricing
Blackbaud eTapestryRaiser's Edge
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Blackbaud eTapestryRaiser's Edge
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Blackbaud eTapestryRaiser's Edge
Considered Both Products
Blackbaud eTapestry
Chose Blackbaud eTapestry
I actually like using Raiser's Edge better and have used it at other organizations. But this package is very expensive. These are for the $10M and up organizations. eTapestry is a very adequate tool for smaller organizations due to its price point. It has many of the same …
Chose Blackbaud eTapestry
Blackbaud eTapestry is easier to use than the old Raiser's Edge - it is more intuitive and modern in its front end and back end. Aside from Bloomerang's extensive donor analytics features and a wide array of integrations, I would say the donor management capabilities are fairly …
Chose Blackbaud eTapestry
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 …
Chose Blackbaud eTapestry
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.
Chose Blackbaud eTapestry
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 …
Chose Blackbaud eTapestry
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 …
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.
Chose Blackbaud eTapestry
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.
Chose Blackbaud eTapestry
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 …
Chose Blackbaud eTapestry
We have less than 10,000 records in our donor database. eTapestry continues to be the best solution because of its ease of use, and Blackbaud's customer service. Any time we have a question or issue it is resolved quickly and efficiently. In addition, we are happy with …
Chose Blackbaud eTapestry
eTap is a Blackbaud product, so it is similar to other Blackbaud products I have used.
Chose Blackbaud eTapestry
eTapestry had a better user experience altogether. It was more comprehendable for the team and therefore produced better results. eTapestry provided all of the functions that were necessary for our team to produce visible results. It allowed us to stay organized while being …
Raiser's Edge
Chose Raiser's Edge
Raiser's Edge is far superior to eTapestry in terms of queries, reporting, depth of data, analytics, and ease of use. eTapestry is a great product for small shops but our organization simply out grew it as our need to enhance our fundraising efforts, increase the channels …
Chose Raiser's Edge

NeonCRM and GiftWorks both severely limit reporting capabilities by mandating a foundational criteria. For example, your report must be based on a very broad category, such as donor or donation: if you select donor, you cannot see certain criteria attached to donation (last …

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Blackbaud eTapestryRaiser's Edge
Communications and Marketing
Comparison of Communications and Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Blackbaud eTapestry
5.0
1 Ratings
1% above category average
Raiser's Edge
-
Ratings
Constituent engagement and marketing6.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Social listening4.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Digital advocacy enablement5.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting and Analytics
Comparison of Reporting and Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Blackbaud eTapestry
7.5
1 Ratings
21% above category average
Raiser's Edge
-
Ratings
Reporting and data visualization8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Wealth screening7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Fundraising and Events
Comparison of Fundraising and Events features of Product A and Product B
Blackbaud eTapestry
5.0
1 Ratings
14% above category average
Raiser's Edge
-
Ratings
Online donation options6.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Text and phone donations4.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Volunteer shift management5.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Security and Platform
Comparison of Security and Platform features of Product A and Product B
Blackbaud eTapestry
7.7
1 Ratings
20% above category average
Raiser's Edge
-
Ratings
Role-based user permissions9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile access7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Integrations7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Blackbaud eTapestryRaiser's Edge
Small Businesses
Bloomerang
Bloomerang
Score 9.0 out of 10
Bloomerang
Bloomerang
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Bloomerang
Bloomerang
Score 9.0 out of 10
Bloomerang
Bloomerang
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Blackbaud CRM
Blackbaud CRM
Score 7.5 out of 10
Blackbaud CRM
Blackbaud CRM
Score 7.5 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Blackbaud eTapestryRaiser's Edge
Likelihood to Recommend
7.1
(89 ratings)
7.0
(82 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.9
(27 ratings)
6.2
(27 ratings)
Usability
8.5
(27 ratings)
9.0
(10 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(3 ratings)
8.0
(3 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
4.8
(15 ratings)
7.6
(19 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
6.5
(5 ratings)
5.9
(5 ratings)
Configurability
9.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Professional Services
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Blackbaud eTapestryRaiser's Edge
Likelihood to Recommend
Blackbaud
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.
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Blackbaud
Raisers Edge is outstanding for storing and reporting on constituent data and communications. There are many options for creating methods of tracking by different information included and also for creating personalized tracking methods.
Raisers Edge is not very well suited for an organization that also has a gift shop and visitors center. Allowing membership admission and item sales is not practical.
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Pros
Blackbaud
  • Report Scheduling is great. Reports can be scheduled daily (even on specific days of the week), weekly, or monthly) and auto-emailed.
  • Reports can be displayed on the screen, downloaded, or emailed in CSV, excel, or pdf and can have columns pre-sorted in your preferred order.
  • Online donations are automatically added to the donor's account and automatically create an account for a new donor.
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Blackbaud
  • Raiser's Edge is good in allowing detailed categorizations for donations - Funds/Campaigns/Appeals/Packages
  • Raiser's Edge has good query functioning and is helpful in pulling lists and segments of constituents and donations
  • The variety of detail across sections (Gifts/Bios/Actions) is helpful for recording and archiving constituent information
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Cons
Blackbaud
  • 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.
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Blackbaud
  • Data posting to Financial Edge (FE) is limited and complicated to understand (took us time to adjust). The posting report does not have enough info: Appeal, campaign and who posted to FE. In genereral, RE/FE integration is not explained by Blackbaud properly, we had to figure out everything on the go.
  • Volunteer module is a bit cumbersome; some fields have duplicate fields in the event module; the identical information ends up being recorded in two different places.
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Likelihood to Renew
Blackbaud
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.
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Blackbaud
There are many CRM tools on the market however Raisers Edge especially with NXT offers everything you need in one database. It’s a little pricey however Blackbaud support is super helpful and they offer so many tools and add ins.
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Usability
Blackbaud
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
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Blackbaud
it does lots of things well (prospect tracking and event management), some things FANTASTIC (gift records and donations and relationships). It is rigid enough for the database administrator to maintain good clean data, but flexible enought for customization across organizations so specific data can be kept as needed for YOUR specific organization needs.
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Reliability and Availability
Blackbaud
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.
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Blackbaud
Since the software is expensive to use, only so many people are able to active users at once. There are times when I may have to wait or ask another user to log out so that I may log in.
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Performance
Blackbaud
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.
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Blackbaud
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Blackbaud
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.
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Blackbaud
For most users, only chat support is available. There is a phone number, but it is very labor-intensive to get someone on the phone, and the chat does not include an easy way to screen share. Those sessions need to be scheduled in advance and almost begged for; the chat line always has a long wait time, and sometimes it seems their support personnel is chatting with more than one client at a time.
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In-Person Training
Blackbaud
In person training is always helpful for a new product however I think that the online tutorials would do just fine.
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Blackbaud
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Blackbaud
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.
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Blackbaud
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Blackbaud
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.
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Blackbaud
It's critically important to consider where you are taking your fundraising efforts and strategy, and to collaborate closely with other departments who will also use RE. I would strongly recommend that you investigate best practices -both from Blackbaud (theory) and with other organizations (practice) - to create a user manual and guide for RE within your organization
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Alternatives Considered
Blackbaud
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.
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Blackbaud
Salesforce has a more modern feel and I felt that it was easier to perform functions beyond the basics, such as running reports for analysis, on Salesforce. But The Raisers Edge already existed at my company and given that I only needed it for basic functions and did not need much training to do those, I decided to use The Raisers Edge.
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Scalability
Blackbaud
The product allows us flexibility and scalability for our team.
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Blackbaud
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Blackbaud
  • Increased our capacity to fundraise.
  • Allowed more opportunity to know our donors (tracking and data collection).
  • Limited users - due to steep learning curve - as such less of our development staff know how to use the system to its fullest potential.
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Blackbaud
  • It takes longer than necessary to do things so that makes it cost more staff time to complete the work we need. One example is with online gifts since you can't import these into a batch we have to manually add all of the online gifts which is time consuming.
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ScreenShots

Blackbaud eTapestry Screenshots

Screenshot of Constituent profiles in eTapestry are customizable and provide a complete view of supporters and their interactions with other oganizations from a single screen.Screenshot of The eTapestry home screen can be customized to surface whatever is important to the organization—progress towards goals, campaign performance, recent gifts, top supporters, upcoming events, and key performance indicators that provide a clear view of fundraising performance.Screenshot of eTapestry comes with out-of-the box reports that can help segment the supporter-base and develop strategies for engagement and outreach.