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A Review of RE NXT
Updated June 02, 2018

A Review of RE NXT

Cameron Dunkin | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Using Raiser's Edge NXT

9 - Events, development, operations, communications research, and major gift giving. Everyone in the organization uses it for something.
We need someone in the office who can troubleshoot logging in, addressing issues, and teaching people how to use the program quite frequently.

  • Financial records of constituents
  • Emails to send out content to (and post addresses)
  • Data analytics and trends
  • We add all our researchers and research constituents into it.
  • I think we will just do a better job at using it in the ways we do.
I don't know what other program options we have that are out there. It's not that it's the best program ever, but it's expensive and complicated, so once you've invested in it, you want to stick with it. It also has the coordination with Financial Edge, which is important for us.
  • Without a database we'd be up a creek. It's hard to evaluate or compare to what other options there are, because there really isn't any competition in this field for our size of org.

Overall Satisfaction with Raiser's Edge NXT

RE NXT is being used by our organization as a means for tracking all of our constituents. We rely heavily on the database to build our major gift pipeline and track the entire process from solicitation to stewardship. It's essential for our development needs. We haven't come across any other platform that works this way for non-profit organizations.
  • Good at pipeline tracking.
  • Good at showing statistics and analytics at a high level (down to real specifics) that assist with decision making and strategy.
  • There is still a heavy reliance on RE7, meaning we have to use a program that looks like it was developed in 1990 for a majority of our work. This really needs to be resolved.
  • Operational Efficiency
  • Increased revenue from new donors
  • Increased revenue from existing donors
It's great that it is now in the cloud, so we can access it from anywhere. This is a big step up, and the interface on RE NXT is contemporary and makes it a program that people on the team actually want to use. The tracking and analytic data it provides really does help with donor engagement (new, and existing).
We use Financial Edge for our payables, and the two programs speak to each other. This is nice.

For our newsletters and communications we use OLX, which is a fine program. Mainly because it speaks all together. However you have to use RE7 to access it - this could be stepped up so it could function within RE NXT itself.
As was stated in the previous entry
It's very expensive, so you have to use it for all your major gift and annual giving tracking and constituent records for it really to be worth it. If you're not doing fundraising, then there are more economical options. The program also has a lot of limitations and gitches, that you need to work through.

Evaluating Raiser's Edge NXT and Competitors

  • Product Features
  • Prior Experience with the Product
The product features are essential, and so we needed to go with the product that satisfied our key needs. CANFAR has used the product for a number of years, without any other products to really compare it to. The history of our constituent records, and the integration with our email communications and finances make it advantageous.
I don't think we would do anything differently.

Raiser's Edge NXT Implementation

I don't. It wasn't handled by myself.
  • Vendor implemented
Change management was a minor issue with the implementation - It was a process, and took effort getting people to use it. It takes effort motiviating and training staff to use RE NXT, especially when they weren't using RE7 because of the challenge they had trying to navigate that program. With time it came that staff were using it more and feeling better about the program.
  • Training staff
  • The time it took away from other projects to complete the transition

Raiser's Edge NXT Training

  • Self-taught
If you have someone who can train you from your company, it's the best, because you want to learn how they are using the program particulars for your company - some things are very specific, and some components aren't used at all. It definitely requires someone to walk you through it.

Raiser's Edge NXT Support

There are times when there are long line ups and can be incredibly slow and responsive, on very critical things. Glad there is support services, but they could be improved. There are also the larger issues with RE that are slowly being addressed, and very slowly being added to RE NXT from RE 7, but still work to do.
ProsCons
Knowledgeable team
Kept well informed
Support cares about my success
Escalation required
Need to explain problems multiple times
Slow Initial Response
They were great with setting things up with us, and very responsive at this point. It's more so the larger limitations of the programs and the clunkiness, particularly of RE7 that makes it quite difficult to use. The programs have not been updated as quickly as I would have assumed them to be.

Using Raiser's Edge NXT

It works, but it's not something that is automatically intuitive. You need to spend time with it. One of the larger challenges is how hard it is to keep it clean, and to adjust all the components to making it simple. The limitations of some functions and requirement for using Re7 for a number of tasks is a real limitation.
ProsCons
Like to use
Well integrated
Requires technical support
Slow to learn
Lots to learn
  • The RE NXT pages are easy to use and review
  • The log in can be incredibly cumbersome
  • Dealing with the limitations and the need to bounce between RE NXT adn RE 7 is a real hassle. RE 7 is ugly and yet a number of key functions obligate you to use it
  • Adding accounts for people can be a hassle.
Yes, but I don't use it

Raiser's Edge NXT Reliability

I don't understand the specifics of the question.
When outages come, they are definitely felt! They come a few times a year, and can be quite a hassle. Sometimes the program isn't completely down, but is still slowed right down and creates complications.


Not sure what the solution is for this, but ideal if the company can sort it out.
It's fine. It's not the fastest, but not the slowest either. The real limitations come in how difficult it is to pull reports, or how to segment parts of information. This isn't an issue of not knowing how to do something - we've followed up with staff and there are actual limitations that make work harder.