Best Of
Re: EXPORT Module
And combining query with export totally messes up all the exports that people have set up for decades. I mean what happens to all those exports that we have all created and rely on. Sounds like a bad move. Having queries attached to an export is hardly complex and confusing as Blackbaud states. There was no problem with having them separate. In fact you would have a go to export that you can use for all kind of different queries, so now the future will be creating an export for every single query. Blackbaud really needs to rethink this if the future is going to be export built into query.
Re: Acknowledgement Letters
@Faith Murray Thanks Faith. I'm looking for a way to get rid of using mail merges. It seems like in 2023 there should simpler way to run letter than using 20 different mail merges.
When Microsoft was “dis-integrated”, I set up conditional merges for about 10 clients and it was a nightmare. I had a lot of practice obviously, but it was incredibly finicky. Most of them could not maintain it either - it was too complicated to make adjustments, and once a portion of the process broke, it broke everything.
I have since made a slight adjustment for most of them. They still use the Mail process and generate one file with all of the gifts needing acknowledgement. They do have separate Word templates for each letter, and each template is attached to the same data file. When you open the Word template, you can specifically select each letter needing acknowledgement by going to Mailings | Edit Recipient List.
So essentially you end up with one Donor Acknowledgement Letters template in RE, one data file, and one template for each of your letter types.
I agree that this should be easier. It is at the core of every nonprofit using Raiser's Edge and it is kind of ridiculous that Blackbaud has not made this easier. There are much lower cost donor databases out in the world that handle this beautifully. I think RedArc is a pretty accessible option and automates the merging for you, so I would definitely look in to that. But Blackbaud itself has no good option right now.
Karen
New applicant portal - unable to publish requirements from existing grants to the new portal
Many have encountered the issue that at this time we are unable to publish requirements/reports to the new portal that did not originate with an application through the new portal. This is a known issue that makes it impossible to manage existing grants once the legacy portal is deactivated.
Re: Batch Happens: High-Speed Gift Entry in Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT®
We have decided to pursue the following method for dealing-with automatically-created Gift Batches…
- Create a Gift Batch view-Template
- Always create a Gift Batch manually, specifying the desired Gift Batch view-Template
- Move all Gifts from automatic Batches to manually-created ones.
We figure it's easier, mindless work to move Gifts into a manually-created Gift Batch (with the proper view-Template pre-configured) than it would be to open each new automatically-created Gift Batch and re-arrange its customized columns each time.
Re: Batch Happens: High-Speed Gift Entry in Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT®
Will you please fix it so you CAN apply a batch template to auto-created batches for online gifts?
Is there a way to bring back the ability to see the most recently assigned appeal?
Why are ALL the packages in the whole world showing up after I've chosen a specific appeal? Why aren't the packages tied to the appeal the only options?
Somehow, I accidentally unchecked "Anonymous" which has never happened before in all my too-many-years-to-mention of gift entry.
I could be wrong, but it seems like the defaults I am selecting in my templates are not applying?
The custom field category I used was in the record after posting, but not the description I chose. And there was an extra random custom field added. The extra random custom field was in all of the gifts I posted, even if I didn't choose a description. I think this needs some work.
I know rolling out a new product is a tremendous amount of work, so I am sending my best.
Official Note Templates
Hi all,
I've just posted a new idea here requesting the ability to create templates for academics official notes just like we can with enrollment management official notes. Feel free to vote and comment if you'd like! 
Re: Standard Donation Forms or Optimized Donation Forms and why?
@Whitney Shelton
For the record, we don't use neither. We use Luminate Online donation functionalities.
However, having tested the form, the big no-no for the Optimaized form is the inability to select the giving amount. You can only provide a max and min and let the form “think" for you on what the selectable amount should be, for our org, specific amount means something and we don't want a randomly AI-ed selection.
Re: Sharing my Power Automate template: Overdue Action Audit
Here’s the promised update to this flow! The email summary now includes the assigned fundraiser in the action summary table, and the flow has been enhanced to dynamically send the summary directly to fundraisers with overdue actions.
Re: Grid View Batch
Hi Kathy — I may be misunderstanding which part you’re running into, so I want to clarify both possibilities. Right now, even those of us who do have access to the new grid‑view batch see exactly what you’re seeing. The option shown in the video to use Add → New grid batch isn’t visible to anyone at the moment.
It’s very likely the video you watched was recorded during the EAP phase, when that language was present, but it didn’t make it into the current release.
If your frustration is more about not being able to apply a template to batches in web view (like NXT Web Forms, automated recurring gift batches, automated pledge payment batches, Omatic Cloud batches, etc.), then you’re absolutely not alone — that functionality isn’t available yet. Blackbaud has said it should be coming in early March, which will make this much smoother.
In the meantime, here’s a workaround I’ve tested with a few clients that may help:
- Set up your batch template with the fields you need.
- Manually create a new batch and select your template.
- Open the automatically created batch.
- Select all gifts in that batch.
- Use Move → To another batch and move them into the batch you created with your template applied.
Some folks have reported they can’t bulk‑move gifts and have to move them individually — if that happens, I recommend opening a Blackbaud support ticket so you’ll be notified once it’s fixed.
And just to add: this grid‑view work represents a big lift with a lot of moving parts. While there are always some rough edges during a rollout, the direction is strong and the BB team is iterating quickly. I’m optimistic the early‑March updates they’ve told us about will smooth out a lot of this. In the meantime, keep asking questions here!
Re: Grid View Batch
@Chris Hounsell ugh they should wait on changing things until all users can access all new added features and not post videos about it because now it takes longer to process unapproved batches due to having to configure each field over and over again. Ok I'm done with my rant.
Thank you for your response 😊