RENXT moved us to the next level of Fundraising
Updated March 23, 2022

RENXT moved us to the next level of Fundraising

Karen Stuhlfeier, bCRE Associate | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT

Our organization purchased Raiser's Edge NXT in 2015 and have been very pleased with it. The big plus is how easy it is to use for the non-technical people in our department. With RE NXT they feel empowered to enter their own actions and notes. They also feel comfortable using lists to gather their own information. This has by no means taken away from my job as the database manager. It's my role to think of how we'll use this fantastic new tool. Having RE NXT has made us think about the data we store and how we do fundraising. It's opened up new possibilities for us. I'm also impressed with the way Blackbaud is using the feedback that their clients give them. I'm excited to see where the future is going with RE NXT. Since I first wrote this review the Dashboards and Insight Developer features have been added and I'm really impressed. We stopped using the Dashboard feature in the database view and now use the web - NXT view exclusively for our monthly financial reports. The reports are interactive - you can build lists directly from the results and act more quickly on your data. 2022 update - The Dashboards and Insights are really good. So good that we don't use the canned reports and dashboards in the database view anymore. I am continually thinking of new ways to use them and they have proven to be just what out department needs.
  • Enables the non-technical people in our department to do more of their own work.
  • The analytical reports are very helpful and so easy to use.
  • With RE NXT we have the ability to have unlimited users and we're thinking about the possibility of giving our volunteers access.
  • It's so easy to access on phones and tablets.
  • Blackbaud is providing excellent support for this product.
  • Dashboards and Insights are wonderful.
  • I think of new ways every week to use the web view and we use the database view less.
  • When all of the fields for gift acknowledgement are available in the web view I think that we'll start using it for gift entry and acknowledgement.
  • It's hard to tell when all functionality will be available, but I think that Blackbaud is smart in rolling it out slowly.
  • The pricing doesn't always seem very transparent.
  • I'd like to see more training available for this product.
  • More fields please for gift entry and acknowledgement - tributes and pledges are an issue.
  • Ease of use for everyone.
  • Accurate and actionable reporting capabilities.
  • Excellent customer support.
  • All positive. Our cost for it is about the same as just having RE7
  • One of the most positive aspects is that everyone in the office feels comfortable using it.
In my career I have only used Raiser's Edge and now RE NXT.

Do you think Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

Are you happy with Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT's feature set?

Yes

Did Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT again?

Yes

I think that's suited to both large and small shops. For our office of 7 people, it's ideal. We get accurate and actionable data in real-time. No more printing of reports that become obsolete an hour after they've been printed.

Using Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT

8 - Director of Advancement, Fundraiser's, Prospect Research Manager, Alumni Director, Annual Fund Director, support staff and me, the Advancement Services Director.
1 - I provide all of the support for RE and RENXT. Since we bacame hosted by Blackbaud our IT staff is not involved with it at all.
  • Ease of Use
  • Information at your finger tips.
  • Good support by Blackbaud of the product.
  • An innovative product. Nothing else on the market comes close.
  • It's a product that continues to improve every month.
  • Unlimited users - we can give volunteer fundraiser's access.
  • Easier benchmark reporting.
  • A really great mapping tool.
  • Everyone can use it!
We're sold on this product.

Evaluating Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT and Competitors

No - We still consider RE7 an important part of our fundraising and are happy that we have both that and NXT - the best of both worlds. We've now had NXT for 2 years and are very glad that we made the decision to buy it. The non-technical people in our office now use it almost exclusively and the product just keeps getting better.
  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Vendor Reputation
  • Existing Relationship with the Vendor
We saw what it could do and had to have it. It has changed the way we do business. We just didn't see any downside to getting it. The price was very close to what we were already paying.
I don't think that we'd change anything.

Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT Support

Customer support at Blackbaud is really good. The wait time in the chat isn't too long and they always make sure that they've solved your issue.

The one area that needs improvement is that the first line of support needs to know when to escalate the issue to the next level. Sometimes I explain my issue in great detail and they still start at the beginning of the support process without reading everything that i've written.
ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Problems get solved
Kept well informed
Quick Initial Response
Escalation required
Need to explain problems multiple times
No
We don't need support too often and I find that the Chat support works really well.
Yes - Yes! They are paying attention to this and if it's something that they can fix right away they do. If they can't, they explain why.
They provided exceptional support when I explained that the analyze function would be useless to me unless I was able to include the gift type of sold stock. They fixed that really quickly and I appreciate that.

Using Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT

Raiser's Edge NXT is a great product and in many ways has changed the way our advancement office works.

The reason that I give it an 8 is that the reporting capabilities aren't quite there yet and you are also not able to report on the event tab or even view the registrants on an event yet. I'm not as concerned about being able to add gifts right in NXT, but that is also a feature that I look forward to seeing someday.

I'm sure that these features will be improved upon and added in the near future, but as of today the product is still an 8.