Small but mighty, Blackbaud eTapestry can handle it all!
October 03, 2022

Small but mighty, Blackbaud eTapestry can handle it all!

Allanna Yates | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Blackbaud eTapestry

We use eTapestry for all donor and gift management, communications and reconciliation with financial ledgers. The ease of creating customized queries and reports is very versatile and there are many standard reports that take care of your basic needs, plus preview other capabilities within reporting that can be used to enhance the user created reporting. This allows me to create meaningful reports for internal and external stakeholders such as the Finance department, auditors and the Board of Directors. Our website giving is directly connected via Blackbaud Merchant Services, which greatly reduces the administrative time in creating constituent accounts. The only thing I liked about Raiser's Edge versus eTap was the ability to store batch donation entries for things such as payroll giving, but the recurring gift function is almost as good so wouldn't be worth switching in my opinion.

Pros

  • Queries
  • Reporting
  • Budget tracking
  • Tracking Communications

Cons

  • Batch entries
  • Improved donor retention
  • Reduction of missed or late pledges
  • Time reduction for communications
  • Aliment of financial ledgers for better accountability and transparency, leading to less time spent on reconciliation and auditing
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.
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 tasks had to be done in both database and web view. Although it was worded as an "upgrade", I felt that we lost a lot of functionality, in particular with gift imports. I also didn't like gifts from the website having to land in Online Express, rather than being able to go directly into a constituent account.

Do you think Blackbaud eTapestry delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Blackbaud eTapestry's feature set?

Yes

Did Blackbaud eTapestry live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Blackbaud eTapestry go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Blackbaud eTapestry again?

Yes

Blackbaud eTapestry suites my needs very well, it is easy to use and the Blackbaud team provides great support and regular training sessions. With it belonging to such a powerhouse as Blackbaud, we are able to take advantage of larger scope enhancements that we might not be privy to working with a smaller company, but still use a product that feels like "the right size for us". I'm sure I am biased because I have never worked with a different company in terms of a donor database (I have been the administrator for other style databases though), but they provide a reliable product and they are nice people to work with, so you really can't ask for much more than that.

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