Using Blackbaud Grantmaking at a Family Foundation
February 12, 2018

Using Blackbaud Grantmaking at a Family Foundation

Jamie Amagai | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Blackbaud Grantmaking (formerly GIFTS Online)

I use Blackbaud Grantmaking (BG) to manage and track our grantmaking process from proposal invitation to close-out, including document/email generation, internal workflow management, board reports, and deliverable follow-up. I'm able to track the status of every application and grant. Our program assistants use BG to update the program directors on their grants, find contacts, and generate documents. Our program directors look up various types of information in BG.
  • Easy to create and modify coding as your processes or programs change over time
  • Connects to GuideStar for tax-exempt status confirmation; the update info feeds directly into the database
  • Very convenient and easy to use OFAC and other terrorist watchlist checking
  • Needs to be browser agnostic - full functionality in any browser on any system
  • End reliance on Silverlight - needs to be a browser-based product you can use from any device with an internet connection
  • Ability to add attachments to emails generated from templates
  • More robust reporting functionality - I notice that some fields are not available for searching
  • Blackbaud Grantmaking is more expensive than the Essential GIFTS product we were using, but it enabled us to move away from a paper due diligence tracking system so that I and our program staff know the exact status of an application without having to be in the office looking at a piece of paper
  • The percentage-based coding allows me to provide more accurate reporting on geographical areas and populations reached so our program staff can use that data to monitor trends in their grantmaking and determine whether they are being responsive to the priorities of our board
Blackbaud Grantmaking had the features I needed at a reasonable cost for an organization our size, given that we don't accept online proposals or reporting yet. I needed the ability to: manually enter proposal data, link to GuideStar, import public charity status info, check OFAC watchlists with an audit trail, generate documents and emails from templates, and export data to Excel, among other requirements.
Well suited for organizations that use online applications and reporting, but is flexible enough to accommodate manual entry of application or reporting data, and well suited for a variety of organization sizes. Not yet a seamless fit with Mac offices because of reliance on Silverlight, Windows environment, and Explorer.