Top-Line Product
Updated December 14, 2018
Top-Line Product
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with The Raisers Edge
Raiser's Edge is the fundraising and alumni tracking database for the advancement department. It is also used by staff in the president's office and the business office for constituent and gift management. RE houses all current information on students, alumni, parents, and donors, including contact information, giving history, work and education information, and other data from across the university.
- Ease of use: While there is a steep learning curve for database admins, the system is relatively easy for a user who simply wants to look up information on a constituent. The interface is clean and intuitive and the system allows a number of ways to search (partial names, street address, phone, etc).
- Reporting: If you put it in to RE, there is a way to get it out. And 95% of the time there is already a canned report created that will give you what you need. If not, you can create your own report in Crystal Reports or use a query and Excel to further manipulate that data.
- Support: Don't know how to do something? You've got user manuals, an online knowledge base , an entire Blackbaud Community site, and BB Support to help you out. The annual bbcon is also invaluable for picking up tips and pointers from experts and peers.
- Learning Curve: This isn't a database you can become an expert on overnight. If your organization is interested in adopting RE, I definitely recommend training (formal or informal). It will be helpful for your organization to have someone dedicated to RE. I know there are organizations that purchase it and expect to either have everyone be an expert or for one person with an already full plate to take on the DBA functions.
- Cost: It's not cheap by any means. I know the price can throw a lot of people but I truly believe that in this case you get what you pay for.
- The upsell: I understand Blackbaud is a company but I feel like there is a lot of pressure put on people to upgrade/purchase additional BB products.
- Having RE allows up-to-date data sharing across the University.
The Raisers Edge Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Problems get solved Kept well informed Quick Initial Response | Need to explain problems multiple times |