Item: Raiser's Edge
Rating: 8
Author: Alicia Barevich, bCRE, bCEE

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Raiser's Edge is obviously primarily used by our Fundraising department, but we use it to pull lists and reports for the whole organization. It holds employee information that is more detailed than HR's database. The gifts are integrated with Financial Edge to facilitate reconciliation. It is the master database for constituent data for most of the school.

Pros and Cons

There are so many fields, almost all of which are options in query, export, and report.
The integration with Crystal Reports is critical. It is very convenient being able to run Crystal Reports directly from Raiser's Edge.
Th batch and mail functions also make gift entry and acknowledgement a breeze!

Query is missing a couple useful options. Most recently, I wished that it included being able to query on whether an address was shared or not.
Export is missing a couple useful options. We rely heavily on relationships, but you can't query or export at a very detailed degree on a relationship's record.
It would be really cool if Crystal Reports could be integrated into the dashboards.

Return on Investment

I can't imagine a heavy fundraising effort without Raiser's Edge. It is able to manage so much different data, and the reporting capabilities are excellent.
Since Raiser's Edge is such a respected system, there are many other companies that offer integrated services, so no matter what you need, it will probably work with Blackbaud and/or their partners.

Alternatives Considered

past perfect

Raiser's Edge is the Cadillac of fundraising software. I really don't believe it can be beat. It is a heavy database, but I think it is still fairly intuitive to navigate. There is a web view (NXT), which is an expensive add-on, but looks much nicer (though has limited functionality) for people who need to access, but not necessarily swim in the data.

Support Rating

Chat support is usually responsive for small issues. Sometimes you'll wait a while, but generally I haven't found it to be too bad. Sometimes though, they'll get you going on a rabbit hole of a solution that doesn't actually solve the problem.

Key Insights

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

Not sure

Are you happy with Raiser's Edge's feature set?

Yes

Did Raiser's Edge live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Raiser's Edge go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Raiser's Edge again?

Yes

Other Software Used

SAP Crystal

Likelihood to Recommend

If you want to have excellent segmentation in solicitations, or other communications, Raiser's Edge is probably more than capable of providing you with what you need. More often than not, any handicaps are probably from data integrity, rather than the software itself. It doesn't integrate well with solutions for other independent school needs, so that's where I'd hesitate giving a glowing endorsement.

Users and Roles

15 - Advancement, IT, Finance departments.

Our Advancement department relies heavily on Raiser's Edge for all of their data. All gifts are entered, prospect information analyzed, appeals created and documented, event participation tracked. We send emails through NetCommunity, which is driven by Raiser's Edge. It also fuels many of our non-Advancement functions through the IT department. Many of our parent lists and other analysis or mailing lists are pulled from Raiser's, since it's our master database.

Support Headcount Required

3 - Two of us sit in the IT department and support all RE users. We do advanced tasks, and give training. There is also an "RE Expert" in Advancement that supports that department specifically with things like mailing lists and more basic analysis.

A strong data mindset is required to supporting RE, since many people struggle with the interface and intuitiveness.

Business Processes Supported

Gift entry and documentation
Appeal segmentation/mailing list generation

Innovative Uses

Creative donor reports
Detailed gift analysis

Future Planned Uses

Gift analysis
Online event registration

Likelihood to Renew

RE requires Windows, and in some cases, can be slow. The browser-based version (NXT) is expensive and still limited in functionality. RE is a powerful fundraising database, but doesn't integrate well with other independent school solutions. I would highly recommend RE for any organization who needs a powerful fundraising database, but doesn't have any other major database needs that aren't fulfilled by RE.

Products Replaced

Yes - Century, I think? I wasn't involved. Whatever it was was a very antiquated system.

Key Differentiators

Product Features
Product Reputation
Vendor Reputation

I wasn't involved, but as the leading fundraising database, it's not hard to understand why they chose RE.

Evaluation Lessons Learned

Now, we have been emphasizing the importance of data integration across all school systems. This is something that RE lacks. While RE had good integration with their former independent school software, they don't offer good integration with their new school software.

Implementation Rating

I wasn't there. It was in 2001

Implementation Details / Implementation Partner

Don't know

Implementation Issues

I wasn't there.

Raiser's Edge Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Good followup Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available	Need to explain problems multiple times Support doesn't seem to care

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar	None

Easy Tasks

Opening a Constituent record and adding data.
Running reports that are already set up.

Difficult Tasks

Setting up queries, exports, and reports can be difficult for the novice user, but I think they are still reasonably intuitive.

Mobile Interface Availability and Impressions

Yes, but I don't use it

Usability

I have very rarely not been fully satisfied with Raiser's Edge's functionality.

Couldn't Imagine a Better Fundraising Database!

Overall Satisfaction with The Raisers Edge