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NXT - Great for mid-size to large non profits with dedicated data teams and a large budget for integrations and add ons
July 18, 2022

NXT - Great for mid-size to large non profits with dedicated data teams and a large budget for integrations and add ons

Andy Nolan | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Modules Used

  • Tribute
  • Planned Gift
  • Research Point
  • Events
  • Volunteer
  • Search

Overall Satisfaction with Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT

We use Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT as our donor and volunteer database. We have just under 200k records. We use NXT to track donations, donor actions, and preferences, volunteer hours, etc. As we use other products for Marketing (website, emails, social) and Volunteer Management, NXT act as our database of record. In order to maintain current data, we are constantly importing information from other sources into it and pay for outside connectors and importers to do so more efficiently. Ultimately we hope to utilize our donor/volunteer data more effectively for relationship cultivation and fundraising.
  • Web View is user friendly
  • Common donor/fundraiser fields are built in
  • NXT Community is a great source of information
  • Web View Lists are missing a lot of the capabilities of Query and Export. ex: Lists does not have the option to include Addressee and Salutation, two necessary data points for Fundraisers to use lists.
  • New features are added before they are integrated well into the full system, ex: Tribute gifts on NXT donation forms are not viewable on Lists
  • Limited ability to have presets. ex: cannot set the campaign code, or restrict gifts from NXT Donation form to "do not post" automatically so must be manually changed per gift; cannot have all new records automatically defaulted to include an attribute, etc.
  • Missing the ability to restrict editing gift but allowing fundraisers to still link a proposal/opportunity to a gift. (this means either choosing to give gift edit capabilities to all fundraisers, or having users with gift edit permissions to link gifts on behalf of fundraisers)
  • Gift tiles and Lists in Web View should have Fiscal Year and Calendar Year giving summaries. This was available in Database View - it is a basic feature wanted by all fundraisers and would drastically increase the usability of Web View for fundraisers.
  • Volunteer Information such as dates, hours, location, etc should be visible in Web View.
  • Web View Lists
  • NXT Donation Form
  • Work Center
  • Outlook Integration
  • Increased donations through NXT's Donation Form
  • Utilized built in reporting to save time
  • Outlook Integration saves time and helps fundraisers track actions and stay on top of documenting donor information
We have used NXT ratings and suggested donor types to help prioritize donors for additional stewardship. These ratings were used to assist fundraisers to find the best prospects and there have been great successes by targeting our attention and stewardship to donors identified to have high wealth potential. We have used data intelligence in the past but without the user-friendly interface of NXT Web View, the information was not accessible enough to be used frequently by our gift officers. Having the information readily visible on the donor record has greatly improved our gift officer use of the information and therefore getting a lot more out of the information.
  • Online Training
The online go-at-your-own pace training is good basic training for learning the terminology and a basic look around at the product. Since it is very much a "show" form of training, it is missing the component of real-world application of the information. While the graphics are cute, I would much prefer a sandbox experience at the end for utilizing the information as you would in the actual product. In assigning the training to my coworkers, most came away without a basic understanding of how to get started, how to navigate the different functions, etc. With a new product, they were too hesitant, even after the trainings, to really explore the new system. A sample database would be super helpful as part of the online trainings! (I know there is one for the instructor led courses, so it would be great for it to be available for the general online courses as well) Also, instructor led series are held too infrequently, for such large blocks of time, and on East Coast time making it difficult for us West Coast clients.
We did not seriously consider another donor database as we were entering a pilot program with other non profits led by a nonprofit using Blackbaud products. It was viewed as easier to all be on similar products as we built out the program. However, as more affiliates have joined, there have been an increasing diversity of donor databases used. In the near future, we will be reevaluating whether to continue using Blackbaud products or if our organization, and possibly others in the program, will switch to another platform.

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

No

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

No

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

No

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

No

Would you buy Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT again?

No

Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT is an expensive product and is not an end-to-end solution for a nonprofit development team. Due to its high cost and all the additional products needed, I would only recommend NXT to other midsize-large nonprofits with dedicated data teams. It is too complex, taxing, and requiring of manual entry to be suitable for a small shop.