Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT Review
June 18, 2024

Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT Review

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

Overall Satisfaction with Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT

We use Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT to manage our donor database including constituent tracking, gift management, events, mailings, and reporting. The query tool is particularly robust and is helpful in crafting mailing lists and reporting.

Pros

  • Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT has an elegant user interface. It's a great combination of function and form. Gift officers can easily find what they're looking for with little guidance.
  • Constituent records are structured in a way that give the user a high-level understanding of their donors/prospects, with an option to drill down for further detail.
  • The events module includes lots of useful features including event details, registration forms, guest check-in, etc.
  • The Wealth Management add-on is useful for understanding prospective donors' capacity and affinity to give.
  • There are extensive resources available for both new and experienced Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT users.

Cons

  • Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT currently comes in two flavors: NXT (for web) and "database view." While they share the same data source, their functionalities have not been completely aligned. However, Blackbaud has been working to fix most of those incongruencies as it plans to sunset database view in the coming years.
  • Being a leader in the industry, Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT is more expensive than other solutions in the market.
  • Some features that should be included in the product cost (I believe) are extra. For example, the only way to schedule reports to run automatically is by purchasing the "Queue" module.
  • The query tool is particularly helpful in creating groups of constituents/gifts using complex search criteria. e.g. Create a list that includes A and (B or C). This level of specificity means we don't have to manipulate spreadsheets to get what we want.
  • The use of embeddable web forms and event registration forms allows us to keep all our constituent data in one place.
  • Extensibility tools like custom Power BI connectors and the SKY api have only recently been used, but will soon open the door to lots of new possibilities for our organization.
  • The elegant user interface makes it easy for non-power users to record and extract what they need.
  • By itself, Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT has to increased revenue. The add-on module "Research Point" has been helpful in raising some new funds, but not nearly enough to offset the added cost of that module (which is high).
  • The Prospect tool has saved managers much time by removing the old-school approach of asking gift officers about the status of each prospect.
  • The event module has saved considerable staff time over other third-party tools we used to use - partly because the module is easier to use, but also because all constituent data is in one place.
Unfortunately, we haven't found much value in the donor insights tools. That problem could due to poor implementation, but knowing a prospects capacity and affinity has not helped us to convince donors to give. One that that has worked for us is knowing the constituent's giving activity among other organizations - particularly, organizations who's causes are aligned with our own. Unfortunately, I believe that data comes from an add-on product called "Research Point," which can be expensive and only draws from constituents already in your database.
  • Online Training
Blackbaud offers an "Blackbaud University" where you can learn about the product and some best practices. They also provide a robust knowledgebase and an active user community, all of which are very helpful. Unfortunately, things are always changing, so documentation is often outdated or can be hard to find.
CiviCRM is an opensource product with very little cost, but it does not offer the level of detail at the constituent or gift levels that we need.
Little Green Light is better than CiviCRM (in my opinion), but still doesn't offer the level of complexity that we get from Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT. DonorPerfect is a close contender and I could see us switching to that some day. It offers a comparable level of complexity that we get from Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT and more out-of-the-box automation tools. However, DP's events module is a little clunky. Simple reports are easy to generate, but complex reports (mixes of and's/or's) are complicated. And the user experience isn't quite as polished as Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT.

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?

Yes

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?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT again?

Yes

We use Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT to manage minute details of our constituents and their gifts. We slice and dice those records en masse to create segmented solicitation lists, gift acknowledgments, and event invitations. We also use it to report on donor activity and trend analysis using out-of-the-box reports as well as more extensive tools like Power BI.

Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT Feature Ratings

9.5
Constituent database
10
Constituent interaction tracking
10
Constituent relationship management
10
Donor and member portals
Not Rated
Automated workflows
8
8.0
Constituent engagement and marketing
8
Social listening
Not Rated
Digital advocacy enablement
Not Rated
6.3
Reporting and data visualization
6
Predictive analytics
3
Wealth screening
10
9.3
Online donation options
10
Event registration and ticketing
10
Text and phone donations
Not Rated
Volunteer shift management
Not Rated
Mobile event check-in
8
9.3
Role-based user permissions
10
Mobile access
10
Integrations
8

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