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Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT has some growing pains but I still love it and will retire if we have to move off it!
August 12, 2022

Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT has some growing pains but I still love it and will retire if we have to move off it!

Darcy Turner | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT

This is our primary system in the Advancement department. We manage all aspects of our donors and alumni with this product, from complex imports/exports and gift processing in the database view to supporting the fundraisers and creating lists and dashboards in the web view. We use many integrated products to support this work, all under the umbrella of Blackbaud products.
  • The web view is very easy to learn, navigate, and use for less complex tasks and to get non-technical users getting information on their own.
  • Where our data needs not to be limited use, the dashboards can be very helpful with leadership.
  • I implemented (upgraded) Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT at a previous university, and compared to my non-cloud upgrades; it was a dream. And the support five years ago was fantastic.
  • The unexplained outages and random problems are getting worse and more common. I think this is a bump in the road post-Covid, but they need to get a handle on it.
  • The data breach could have been handled better from a communication and support perspective.
  • The chat support level of service has gone down a bit lately, and they need to pay some attention to that. The problem never seems to be solved by the first person anymore, and they point to obvious articles without even trying to understand all the details I shared first. I'm hoping this is a blip as well, as it has been much better in the past.
  • Donor and Alumni information CRM
  • Gift processing
  • Communication tool (BBNC)
  • We were able to show a trend with phonathon giving to justify stopping the program.
  • We are able to segment our communications to personalize our message and increase giving.
  • I can easily show the health of my database and show cost savings of global updates for contact information.
This is an area we have been lacking in the past and are just now getting better with new leadership. We are using proposals and fundraiser metrics to track performance and engage the right prospects. We are updating ratings and making sure caseloads are appropriate. The radius feature is great in lists for fundraisers to determine who to invite to events or visit on the road.
  • No Training
While much of my background is with custom PeopleSoft systems in a non-advancement role, I can still compare the vendors and the products. I can say I will never go back to a customized, on-premise solution at this point in my career. Leave the upgrades and hosting work to Blackbaud! Both vendors are great and have great product strategies.

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

Yes

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?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

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

Yes

Would you buy Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT again?

Yes

Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT is still a great choice in the non-profit world and I have been thankful for the cloud approach and ease of use in my current and previous university where we only have a couple of people to manage the whole database and data needs. Many other vendors with supporting systems for video, research, communications, etc., partner and integrate with Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT, which is helpful. It will likely not meet all of your reporting needs, so becoming an expert in Crystal and Excel and/or any other way to get the data out and present is important. I know the web view is where they focus their improvements, but we are a long way away from being able to get off the database view, so plan on understanding both and knowing what to do where.