Raiser's Edge NXT is a much better product than the standard RE that we had in the past. The function of RE7 was very bulky, cumbersome to operate, didn't have an ease of use, and overall was something I didn't look forward to using. Raiser's Edge NXT looks better, works, …
RE NXT is Raiser's Edge on steroids and with more web base options Little Green Light offers a lot of similar options for a smaller shop with a smaller budget Donor Perfect - used too long ago to fairly compare One Cause - is more helpful for our auction/gala events than events …
Verified User
Director
Chose Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT
We use both NXT and the original Raiser's Edge. They both have their pros and cons. Original (database view) has more robust querying available, but the display is awful and it takes a lot of hunting to find the information you need. NXT is more streamlined and efficient, but …
DonorPerfect worked well enough, but they were upgrading and not supporting the version the organization I worked for had so when we had a choice to go with DonorPerfect's upgraded platform or change to Blackbaud's Raiser's Edge, we chose to go with Blackbaud's Raiser's Edge. …
Verified User
Director
Chose Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT
I have been a Raiser's Edge user since 2008 and a NXT user since Sept. 2020. NXT's added web view is great (though limited) for fundraisers. However my team (who processes all monetary donations and all donation-related financial reports & analytics), still primarily uses …
Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT does not compare to the back end of Raiser's Edge. There is no way to get specific information, run advanced queries and reports, and run merges through Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT. Despite this, Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT is easier for new users to …
I have used Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT, Raisers, and LO as well. I do not do as much in LO as I do in the other two software's. I was unaware that they were so many programs offered. I use Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT and Raisers more because it does what I need it to do when I …
Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT is definitely cleaner, more streamlined, and more modern than other Blackbaud offerings. That said, it still has a ways to go in terms of full-functionality when compared to the other, more complete CRMs. I did not have a choice in the selection of …
I came into this job and learned Raiser's Edge. We were a relatively early adopter of Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT, so I have not had experience using any other products like this. In previous jobs, I used specific designed software (think insurance entry and claims) and this …
We switched from Jenzabar which was a huge pain point for us. Our IT department had to write our reports but they did not have the capacity to manage everything by themselves. Jenzabar was able to store our data but retrieving it was a huge challenge even for someone with a …
My first choice would be Blackbaud RE7 over NXT. I believe firmly that the regular database is still much more capable in terms of data capturing and management. However, from a data visualization standpoint, NXT takes the win. I also believe that Luminate Online still holds a …
NXT is superior in the ease of access for those that travel. The NXT email feature is easier to design and use than NetCommunity. The donation forms and registration forms on NXT are not yet up to customizable as NetCommunity.
In other roles I’ve used Salesforce and Bloomerang, both of which were great systems and had their own pros. Blackboard Raiser’s Edge NXT is by far my favorite, mostly due to it’s limitless potential. NXT can meet you were you are whatever size organization and can grow with …
NXT has a more user-friendly interface than RE and CRM. I have found that the gift officers are much more comfortable with NXT than the others. When recording and displaying donor data and giving, I think NXT is far more potent than either Salsa or Salesforce's Nonprofit …
The first two are solutions offered by Blackbaud as well and integrate sort of. There is a lot of work there that could help get these products to talk to each other much better. Veracross is a competitor that offers a large amount of alternatives, but their package is an all …
This is the only database I have used that is web-based connected to a classic database version. You must have Raisers Edge classic to have RENXT so it is an investment and commitment to your fundraising efforts. The interface is very helpful for prospect/portfolio management …
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 …
I think this product is well-suited for educational institutions, both at the private high school level and the higher education level. It covers a lot of ground in terms of recording information, and you have a lot of ability to tailor the software to your needs. I think there's some room for growth in terms of recording DEI information. Organizations who have very small staff may not want to consider this product because they might not have the time to take advantage of all the capabilities NXT has.
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.
Tracks history of gifts and makes it easy to see giving over time, also good at organizing and accessing complete constituent information around contact information, displaying gifts with date and designations, restrictions etc..
NXT provides easy access to analytics and reports to share for specific dates etc. to support decision making and planning
Display format and organization of analytical information is very intuitive and easy to navigate and helpful in developing reports for presentations.
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.
We have a lot invested in NXT and it suits our needs perfectly. There would be no reason for us to consider a needless conversion to a new solution. I do not believe there is any other product on the market that would be worth considering.
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.
NXT seems easy to learn on a relatively deep level. There are glitches, like with everything, but it is usually easy to see where they are, most of time. I like that Development staff can choose what they want to see and where they want to see it, and it doesn’t affect my screen.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The support hat Blackbaud can be iffy at times. When they are busy they must hire on a large temporary worker pool to help support and often times they are not capable of answering the right questions and delaying the process for your solution to be complete. When it is not the busy time, most things get answered in a normal rate.
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.
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.
For the most part, the instructors who teach the online courses are very knowledgeable and personable. I will say that the instructor-led classes, which are the only actually helpful form of online training offered by Blackbaud, are likely prohibitively expensive for many, especially if you have multiple team members who need to be trained. One-off classes do not necessarily provide the best return on investment as you may not have selected the best class for the training that you're looking for, or you may sign up for a class that is taught by a poor instructor (which is rare) and you'll find yourself needing or wanting to take it again. The only other option is to sign a multi-year contract which is, again, expensive, and may be more than you need. There are definite gaps in some of the course offerings as Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT is relatively new. Most of the classes also require a time commitment of one and a half to three hours, which could be more than your staff can spare.
Blackbaud was with us every step of the way during the migration of our data to the newer version of the software. They made it as easy as possible, and the huge task that it was was made much easier with their help.
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
There just is no system as robust and capable as Raiser's Edge NXT. It's ability to track anything you'd like, give you space to create custom fields (attributes) and utilize fields in different ways than intended give it the extra advatage that we hadn't seen in other products. It's got a vast network of plug ins that help automation features as well.
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.
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.
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.
