Best Of
The Buzz: September 2025 Edition!
Hello Community!
It’s time for September’s Buzz - it's jam packed, so let’s get started.
bbcon
bbcon 2025 in Philadelphia is just four weeks away! If you’re already registered, check out our guide featuring tips from Blackbaud Partners and customers on making the most of your time in the bbcon Expo Hall.
If you aren’t yet registered, there’s still time to get your ticket and experience unmatched in-person networking and learning. Need help making the case to come to bbcon? Use this justification letter to share the value of your in-person attendance with your manager!
Can’t make it to Philadelphia in person? Register for a free virtual pass to access select bbcon mainstage content live or watch on demand, beginning October 14.
bbcon Bingo – September Monthly Challenge
It’s time for bbcon Bingo! This is always a community favorite challenge and for the month of September, if you call BINGO by completing a line of squares on the bbcon Bingo card – you'll receive this month’s special badge.
You can play bbcon Bingo here. Right click and save the board, mark off the tasks, and then Call BINGO here! My favorite thing about bbcon Bingo is seeing the creative ways you all mark your squares.
Blackbaud Impact Award Winners
The BIG moment has arrived! This week, we announced the winners of the Blackbaud Impact Awards. Their stories are powerful examples of what a bold and unwavering commitment to innovation, collaboration, and impact can accomplish. Discover more about their inspiring work and remarkable achievements by visiting the Blackbaud Impact Awards website.
New Community AI Group
One of the benefits of the new community platform is an enhanced group experience. We are excited to announce our new AI Explorers group for conversations about AI use cases and future possibilities. Join via this group link or by clicking on “Groups” in the menu bar. Help get the conversation started by chiming in on our welcome post and our first question, “How are your currently using AI and/or what is your future vision?”
Community Tip of the Month:
To make finding things like groups that you are in a bit easier, you can always check out the top navigation menu.
You can also find quick links to browse all our communities (categories), easy access to member search, the jobs board, and help resources.
Have you had a chance to check out the newly branded “Members Lounge?” It's now in the top nav too under My Community. Those conversations are more for fun, like this one from Bobby Steurer, “What would the title of your memoir be?”
Microsoft Power Platform Workshops
Get ready to level up your skills at our Houston Power Platform Fundamentals Workshop on November 6-7. Choose between two tracks—Power Automate or Power BI—for beginner-friendly instruction, networking with peers, and customized coaching to sharpen your expertise and help drive results for your organization.
This workshop is more than training—it's a launchpad for innovation, so register today!
Blackbaud Institute Research Report: Is Your Org Risk Ready?
Our research lab, the Blackbaud Institute, surveyed hundreds of professionals from nonprofits, K–12 schools, and higher education institutions to learn how confident organizations prepare for uncertainty. Explore how your org’s biggest concerns match up with others in the sector and look at what factors are setting the most confident teams apart.
Product Highlights & Resources ICYMI:
What's New In Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®
Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT®: Boosting Productivity with Improved Left-Hand Navigation
The Financial Post (Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT®)
Blackbaud's Education Management Solutions: What’s New for September 9, 2025 (Higher Education)
Blackbaud's Education Management Solutions: What’s New for September 9, 2025 (K-12)
Donor Cover and Complete Cover Are Coming to Luminate Online and TeamRaiser! (Blackbaud Luminate Online® and Blackbaud TeamRaiser®)
Events:
Microsoft Power Automate User Group (September 16)
Columbia, SC Raiser's Edge User Group September 2025 Meeting (In Person – September 16)
Webinar: Why More Funders Should Be Using Their Convening Power to Meet the Moment (September 18 – Blackbaud Grantmaking™)
Blackbaud CRM User Group (September 24)
Birthdays:
Let’s take a moment to wish all of our Virgos and Libras a happy trip around the sun! If you are celebrating a birthday in September – let us know in the comments below, so we can wish you a very special Happy Birthday!
Re: Sharing my Power Automate flow: Get multiple query results with Query connector and SharePoint list
Nice! Look forward to trying it out.
Re: Proper Case in Power Automate
Click on the red circle. So instead of having a "left" and a "right" input box, you only have one input box, and then put the formula there
Re: Buffering has gotten really BAD
I experienced this yesterday while training a newly migrated organization. A couple of users who have RE experience and were in the system before the others commented on how much slower it is than database view as well as the product they migrated from. Not a great look for a new product!
Re: Buffering has gotten really BAD
Yes, it has been really bad this week. Lots of "oops something went wrong" and "unknown error" when saving invoices or updating vendor records.
PowerUp Challenge: First Standard Reports Task
Over the past few months, we’ve added reports like the Constituent Giving History Report, Top Donors Report, LYBUNT Report, Comparative Report, Adjusted Gift Report, SYBUNT Report, Fund Performance Analysis Report, and Consecutive Years Report. Run one of the newly added Standard Reports and share how you plan to use the data to shape and drive the goals for your year-end campaign.
Re: New Google Classroom Integration??
Yes
Google Workspace for Education Plus or Teaching and Learning Upgrade license for teachers
Re: Blackaud support
I agree 100% with the frustrations from previous posts. I have had an issue that was "escalated" about 5x at this point, no resolution in sight, I am not even sure that person understood the problem the first time so I am not waiting around for them to figure anything out. It used to be that I actually KNEW chat support people by name and would be so happy if I happened to get "Jared" or "Bryan"… nowadays, it is obviously canned responses, delayed responses, links to articles that I already scoured, and ultimately no solution, not to mention the slow response even in chat mode. Please consider how this affects all of us trying to do our jobs and improve the chat support function!!
Re: Blackaud support
Now, when I call I literally tell them what to do (based on my own knowledgebase research) and they follow the steps without any knowledge of the system/product.
This has been the worst part for me.
And the answers just pointing me to KB articles are bad enough on their own, but it's 2x worse because the AI bot already does that! And why does it do that? To redirect us away from live agents, for issues that we can't figure out via the KB (not that it actually helps - if I'm going to support, I've already looked through the KB!).
I also usually have to repeat myself several times. I can tell they're following a script (I've seen the same wording verbatim in multiple chats) just asking the same questions I've already answered when I described the issue,
At this point, I'm only opening chats as a way to get a follow-up answer later - I know I'm not gonna get resolution from the chat itself.
Re: BBGM /Your Cause: Application access when updating forms
Discussion moved to Blackbaud Grantmaking forums. Thanks!