Raiser's Edge NXT and excited at it's potential in the near future.
April 24, 2017
Raiser's Edge NXT and excited at it's potential in the near future.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Raiser's Edge NXT
Raiser's Edge NXT is utilized by the Development Department for fundraising. At this stage, we barely use Raiser's Edge NXT because it does not provide the power and options that Raiser's Edge Classic provides. However, we are starting to use it more as there are more options and modules that do not exist in Raiser's Edge Classic. We love the analysis it gives on our donors and retention, plus the ability to gather our donors via the map. However, we still need Raiser's Edge Classic for most of our reports, export, Media Tab, Processing Gifts, and most of our day to day operations. We are looking forward to greater capabilities as they are rolled out.
- Raiser's Edge NXT Analyze gives a great overview for Giving. It immediately appears with a 3-year comparison that you can filter. There is no comparison to the power of reporting that analyze gives. It also shows retention, acquisition, recapture - that gives our membership program a snapshot of our donors and where we need to focus.
- In Lists we are able to view our constituents on a map. We can then select a range on the map and create a list. This will be very useful when we need to target a specific area for events or appeals.
- Email - we can click on a Constituent email and it automatically opens Outlook. We don't have a smooth function for this in Raiser's Edge Classic.
- It is easy to log into Raiser's Edge NXT and it responds quickly.
- The user interface is easy to use, and is visibly appealing. But it is also very functional in we can move panes around to what the individual user wants to see.
- I was very excited about the functionality of attachments but extremely disappointed that attachments did not appear on the Raiser's Edge Classic Media Tab. Because the attachments do not appear in Classic we are unable to use the attachments feature.
- In Actions, we are unable to add email and mail to our calendar. Occasionally we add an action to remind ourselves we need to send in email or send a mailing in the future. It would be helpful to be able to add that to our calendars.
- There are a few other functions that we need that we understand are in production and will be released. Such as Reporting, & Gift Processing
- Not being able to create a constituent in Raiser's Edge NXT has created a problem. I introduced Raiser's Edge NXT to another department within our organization because of the analysis and ease of use, but when they could not create a record I could not move forward. For them to access Raiser's Edge Classic in the hosted environment was simply too cumbersome.
- Operational Efficiency
- Increased revenue from new donors
- Increased revenue from existing donors
- Other
I see the potential for Raiser's Edge NXT, but we are not there yet. Until we are able to gain more functionality, we will not be able to fully use Raiser's Edge NXT. However, I think we will be using it more and more and will start seeing results from the tools it offers before the end of 2017.
We have benefited from the numerous ways Blackbaud informs it's customers. We have learned about product upgrades and strategies through Twitter, Facebook, BB Community Blogs, and email. Recently, we read a Community blog on Verizon getting rid of their email and we were able to be proactive in reaching our to our constituents.
We have recently evaluated Salesforce for Non-Profits. We have other departments that need to track vendors, actions, give access to consultants, run analysis, and possibly provide email marketing. At this time NXT does not provide all that Salesforce can. We understand that these capabilities will be available in the future, but they need them now. I do have the ability to give these departments what they need through Raiser's Edge Classic, Luminate Online, and Online Express, but that is too cumbersome when we can do this in one product.
Using Raiser's Edge NXT
16 - Development/Fundraising
1 - Business Analyst
- Analysis
- Mapping Constituents
- Viewing Board Members
- Membership Analysis on Retention
- Complete constituent management
- Full capabilities on reporting
- Ability to share information with the board or other high-level leaders in the organization