Hello Online Express Community! In my last release email notification to you at the end of July, I mentioned that would be the last time I'd communicate release details to you via email unless we anticipate downtime. That remains true, but I wanted to offer this Community post as a reminder of that, as we do have another upcoming release. Below are the ... more

Exciting news this week! If your organization is using Raiser’s Edge NXT, you may have already heard: The Next Generation of Email is coming out in Web View! The Next Generation of Email has much of the same functionality that you’re familiar with today from Online Express—including new features like the ability to add custom social icons, a more ... more

Happy Wednesday Online Express Community! I recently had the pleasure of sitting in on a webinar titled: When Less is More: Cracking the Email Deliverability Code in 2018 featuring Feeding America and The Nature Conservancy. (If you’re interested, you can watch a recording of their presentation here! ) To sum it up—according to our Luminate Online ... more

Happy Wednesday Online Express Community! This week, we’re highlighting some shiny new resources to help your organization get started with Online Express: NEW Online Express eLearning Course Blackbaud University recently released an eLearning Course: Basics of Blackbaud Online Express . This is a great course for any new user beginning with ... more

Happy Wednesday Online Express Community! It’s a perfect spring day here in Charleston, SC and the coming of spring always reminds me of gearing up for spring and summer events at my organizations! If you’re also preparing for upcoming events, you may be eager to get your event registrant forms live and start collecting valuable information about your ... more

Happy Wednesday Online Expressers! This week, I wanted to share a quick time-saving tip about Downloading Transactions into Batch. As a former database manager, I really like to control exactly what goes into my database--especially with gift entry! Organizations I work with also may have requirements around what transactions go into which ... more

Happy Wednesday Online Express Community! The Blackbaud Institute recently released the 2017 Charitable Giving Report and it is chock full of fundraising statistics from over 5,000 non-profits. One statistic we’ve been monitoring closely is mobile giving. Last year 21% of online donations were made on a mobile device! This number has grown ... more

Spring is almost here, and a busy event season is right around the corner! We’ve had a few event questions in the Community, which inspired me to gather some of our top Event Registration form tips and tricks!  Tip #1: Pay attention to prices Before you begin accepting Online Event Registrations through Online Express, you’ll need to configure your ... more

Tracking an individual’s consent to receive communications from your organization is a hot topic lately. You may have heard about the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR, for short), which requires organizations to make sure individuals affirmatively opt-in to your communications and organizations must also demonstrate ... more

Happy Wednesday Online Express Community! We have some exciting news today-- we've given our Getting Started tab a new look! For those of you just starting with Online Express, this tab contains information to help you answer these questions:  What is Online Express? And how can it benefit my organization? How do I set up Online Express for the first ... more

Happy Wednesday Community! We're adding a new webinar to our Getting Started with Online Express Series:  Downloading Transactions in Online Express.  The first webinar will be next Thursday, February 8th at 2 p.m. ET.  Are you new to Online Express? Are you wondering what's the best, fastest, and easiest way to download your donations (and any new ... more

Hey Community! I hope you all had a successful end of year! Did any of you catch this State Farm commercial ? (And did anyone else grab their tissues?) The message is: "The season of giving ends, but the need still remains." This got me thinking...during the season of giving, you may have seen some new donors contributing to your mission. But, did you know ... more

Hello all my #WIIFM Wednesday readers! Giving season is in full swing which means end of year is quickly approaching. Here at Blackbaud you can hear the rumblings of what 2018 will bring for us as a company! If you are thinking of Online Express 24/7 like I am (I’m not kidding…I literally have dreams about it) the new year may also have you wondering: what ... more

The holiday season is in full swing with Thanksgiving just around the corner. While many consider the holidays the slow or relaxing time of year, we all know November and December in “non-profit world” are anything but! Giving season is officially here and today we are going to focus on how maximize fundraising between #GivingTuesday and EOY with the ... more

Hello to all of our #WIIFM readers! We've officially made it to the midpoint of the week and with some exciting news: Our Customer Success team has grown by one! Please welcome our newest Onboarding and Adoption Program Manager: Rachel Nigro .  Rachel joined the Blackbaud family in February 2012 as an Account Development Representative and moved 1,000 ... more

Weren't able to make it to bbcon 2017? Don't worry, I have you covered. Today at 12:30 PM EST, your Blackbaud Community Managers will be hosting a P2P Fundrasing Networking Meetup for you - our Blackbaud Community members. During this meetup you'll connect with other Blackbaud Community members and share successes, tips & tricks, and connect with ... more

It's officially starting to feel like fall in Charleston and I for one could not be more excited. The air is cooler and it's time to break out my personal favorite piece of attire: oversized sweaters. While the one size fit all can make for a comfortable fashion statement the same philosophy can leave your marketing campaigns feeling a little shapeless. ... more

We all know what it is like to be in those meetings that you just can’t follow the conversation. Between the crazy acronyms and abstract concepts sometimes it is just easy to get lost (especially if you aren’t at your coffee-fueled best). If you’ve attended any of our webinars you may have felt this way about one particularly confusing topic: Online ... more

Alright so we all know those people that have had their Halloween costumes picked out since July or start singing Christmas carols the day after Labor Day. While some may say, "Well that's a little overzealous?" I can tell you one thing: these people will be ready for their holiday. #GivingTuesday is no different. It's never too early to start thinking ... more

Congratulations! You’ve successfully crafted your first donation form through Online Express. Your colors look perfect, you’ve set up all your funds, and now you’re ready to start accepting donations. Oh…but one last thing you must do before going live: craft that “thank you” email. We all know what it’s like to be nearing the end of the project and the ... more

Hello #WIIFM friends! Let's celebrate being halfway through the week with some helpful information on testing your Online Express forms with BBMS. I hope you are as excited as I am! Would you buy a car without taking it for a test drive? Probably not! Don’t treat your Online Express form any differently! By using a test transaction, you can go through the ... more

If you were to call your bank or cable company on the first of the month when your payment was due would they automatically decrease your balance just because you said “Well, I sent it?” If so, please comment with your bank or cable company’s name as I need to re-evaluate. Odds are that balance wouldn’t decrease until your check was actually received. ... more

Hi there #WIFM friends and happy Wednesday! Have you ever wondered exactly what happens once someone clicks that submit button on your Online Express donation form? I am here to help you get to know this process a little better. Below are the phases a transaction goes through once submitted from the Online Express donation form. Phase 1: The credit card ... more

In July 2014, Canada enacted  The Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation  (CASL) - strict new regulations for bulk email. The phase-in period for CASL stretched over 3 years to allow organizations to adjust their emailing practices to align with CASL's rigorous opt-in policies and rules for suppression of unwanted email. The grace period for CASL ends July ... more

Happy Wednesday to my Community Family!  Last week we asked for your tips and tricks for creating a successful Welcome! email for new donors using Online Express. Although we didn't get the tips we were hoping for on our blog we know it's because our community rockstars were busy participating in our Online Express Tip-Off . In any case, we've put ... more

Hello again, #WIIFM Readers! I'm going to blame the late start to the week for my late blog post. (who else thought it was Wednesday again ?) This week is a call to share from the Community: We're working on a blog post on creating a Welcome Email in Online Express- but we want to hear from YOU! Have you created a Welcome email in Online Express? What is your ... more

  Congratulations! We've officially made it to the halfway point in the week! This week in our #WIIFM Wednesday blog series we are going to be discussing embedding your javascript into your web page .   So you've created your first donation form in Online Express, we've made it all the way to the "That's it!" Page which provides us with a code to put on your ... more

Happy Wednesday to all our #WIIFM readers! First and forefost, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Grace Tate and I am excited to join the Onboarding and Adoption Online Express team alongside Tiffany to help ensure all of our clients are effectively using Online Express to increase their online fundraising presence!  This week we are going to ... more

Hello again, #WIIFM readers! You might have noticed that I took a week off from the blog (.. or maybe not), but I come back today with exciting news! Our Online Express Success team has grown- please help me welcome Grace Tate as our newest Onboarding and Adoption Program Manager! Grace joined the Blackbaud family in January 2016 as a Customer Support ... more

Happy Wednesday, #WIIFM readers! I want to start off with a BIG thanks to those of you who contributed to the Tips, Tricks and Fabulous Prizes post last week, where I asked for your best practices and tips for using the [Add Data to RE] button in OLX. This was a BIG topic during our ' Online Giving in Online Express ' webinar, so I really wanted your feedback.  ... more

Let's talk the good, the bad and the honest reality of moving from Net Community to Online Express.  more

Kicking off our new WIIFM Wednesday series for Online Express! Let's talk order of operations for creating events in RE/OLX. more

The Online Express Adoption Program is back- are you ready? more

Join Online Express product managers for an update on what's to come in 2017. We will discuss the roadmap for the future and what we have been working on during the first quarter of 2017! Date: April 11, 2017 Time: 2:00 pm EST REGISTER HERE more

In case you missed it on the resources page, below is the link to the recording and the PDF slides of the 2016 Review and 2017 Roadmap Review for Online Express. We are looking forward to a very exciting 2017! https://community.blackbaud.com/reviews/item/19/1458   more

Hi! We are excited to announce that we have integrated a new ideas portal for the Online Express community. If you have ever submitted an idea for RE7 or RENXT then you will be very familiar with the portal. The new portal allows you and Online Express product managers to better keep track of ideas, the status, and number of votes. All of the ideas should have ... more

11/14 - 8:30pm (Final Update) After further testing, we found that it is indeed possible for some emails scheduled for future delivery to include duplicate recipient addresses. If you have an email job scheduled for future delivery that was submitted (i.e. you clicked Send Message ) before 5pm Eastern today, it is very important that you follow the ... more

Don't forget to sign up for the 2016 Year End Review and 2017 Roadmap Session coming on December 8 at 2 pm ET. Join Online Express Product Management as they chat about what to expect in 2017 and give a few tips around end of year with Online Express. Sign up here!   more

Change is good. No, really, it is. And, in this case, it’s very good. That is, if you’re using Blackbaud Merchant Services™ (BBMS) with Blackbaud Online Express™. In addition to helping you streamline your online fundraising activities, Blackbaud Merchant Services now features a new, and improved, web portal. This portal, which provides you with ... more

With our next release, there will be a new option for those who use both Online Express and everydayhero.  Everydayhero and Online Express now integrate on Event forms for Online Express.   more

Join us this week for the Online  Express Q2 Quarterly Update. We will chat about what has shipped over the past few months, what's to come, and a few other stats and tips. Sign up here more

When creating your online donation forms, selecting gift types is vital to your fundraising success. By allowing donors to sign up for recurring gifts and pledges, you are encouraging giving as a habit and creating lifelong supporters. It makes giving easy. more

The event is over. All of the planning, scheduling, stress, questions, catering, and everything else that comes with planning an event has subsided. Please take a minute to breathe and give yourself a nice pat on the back. There is, however, one more important step and that is the follow up/thank you email. Don't forget it! It's important and powerful. ... more

  It looks like there are some great event ideas being shared. Michele did highlight the option to allow guests to register anonymously, which sounds ideal. But what happens to these donors once they register? Do they come into Online Express without any name? How do we process these transactions?   more

If you have attended any of the new customer success webinars, then you know that we talk a lot about keeping your online forms simple. You don’t want to exhaust those event registrants before they even get to your event. Obviously, you will have people who are going to be registering themselves as well as one, two, or many others. It would be great to get all ... more

   Did you have the chance to check out Michele's post about Planning like the Pros ? She offers some great tips on how to get the most out of your Event form, such as including the option for additional donations on your form from the Extras section. This is a great feature to give your donors the option to give more!   more

It is becoming more and more important that you make sure it is easy for your attendees and registrants to register for events online. We wanted to offer a few tips for your next online event form. Tip 1: Keep it simple. We know from testing that the longer the online form the higher the abandonment rate so please don’t drill your registrant with lots and lots ... more

Your first page is embedded and looking great on your website! But wait... upon logging into the Raiser's Edge, you see a security warning next to your form.   more

So you have just installed Online Express and are loving all the features and new tools to grow your online giving. However, when telling your colleagues about it, they explain they do not see it on their Navigation bar in the Raiser's Edge. What happened? How come other users are unable to see and access Online Express?   more

The recording of the Online Express Q1 Quarterly Update has been posted under the Online Express Resource page. Check it out if you missed it!  more

Greetings online fundraisers! Have you checked out the recently released 2015 Charitable Giving Report? Here are some key takeaways: 1 Overall giving grew approximately 1.6% in 2015 2 Online giving grew 9.2% in 2015 compared to 2014 3 Online donations were 7.1% of all fundraising in 2015 4 #GivingTuesday online donations were up 52% in 2015 5 Nearly ... more

Greetings! Attached are the slides from the presentation given by Chris Martin, Sr. OLX Product Manager, at BBCON. This has helpful images to explain what happens when someone starts a Givalanche. I hope you find them helpful. more

Hi OLXers! Are you curious as to what is coming for Online Express in 2016? Please join Chris Martin, Online Express Sr. Product Manager, as he tells us what we have to look forward to in order to take our online fundraising game to the next level. Here's to 2016! Join us - February 3, 2016 at 2 pm ET more

Do you still have questions about Givalanche? Or just curious exactly how it works? Join us on January 22 at 2 pm ET. Chris Martin, Online Express Sr. Product Manager will be live to answer any and all questions around Givalanche. Join us and bring your questions or just join to listen and find out what Givalanche is all about. Sign up to join   more

Happy 2016 and welcome to the first Online Express blogpost of 2016 and we are starting off on a roll.  Expect to see a lot of great content coming your way from different experts at Blackbaud. If you are new to Online Express, you may have not heard of the awesome new social sharing and donor acquisition tool that the development team has been working ... more

Let’s put on our thinking caps and imagine the following scenario: Hi! My name is Miranda and I want to donate to your organization. I’ll stop by your office next week. Please leave your Raiser’s Edge up on a computer so I can enter my information. I’ll add myself as a new constituent, process my credit card, and commit the gift batch that I entered to your system. Sounds silly, right? But when gifts are downloaded from new donors in Online Express without reviewing the data carefully, that scenario is not so far-fetched: more

Do you need some last minute end of year tips? Join us for this hour long webinar where we will review some simple yet effective end of year tips and how you can incorporate them with Online Express. Sign up here! more

Is downloading a transaction in Online Express still a mystery? Let's take the mystery out of the topic. We will be joined by the Online Express product manager, Chris Martin, for this live discussion around downloading transactions in Online Express. Come with your questions and feedback around this topic! Some example topics: 1. Bulk ... more

To help you get started, the Community provides several sources of information about Online Express, including discussion forums, blogs, events, and product ideas.   more