Oh the Places Your Migration Project Can Go 

Before we start out on the grand adventure that is a data migration or conversion and campaign launch, let’s get the basics down. This blog post is intended for any organization that either selected Raiser’s Edge NXT with JustGiving bundled in, or as an additional product. During your implementation, you will turn on a service that brings fundraising data from JustGiving into Raiser's Edge NXT web view (our complimentary integration) so you can build relationships and target constituents appropriately.

What is Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT? Raiser's Edge NXT is a smart, fully integrated, cloud-based fundraising and relationship management solution. Its advanced technology is purposefully built for social good organizations to simplify data and reporting processes, increase operational efficiency, and provide insights into their supporters at every stage of their journey. Within Professional Services, we assist customers in the implementation and adoption of Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT as a software and provide best practices based on unique data tracking needs and long-term fundraising goals.

What is JustGiving from Blackbaud? JustGiving (previously known as Blackbaud Peer-to-Peer Fundraising™, powered by JustGiving®) offers a standalone or integrated online fundraising platform. With beautifully branded campaigns that include peer-to-peer fundraising and direct giving, the simple to use interface matched with Blackbaud’s expertise levels the playing field for small to medium-sized nonprofits, improving donor acquisition and increasing donation conversion rates.

You can clearly see these products listed on your order form or signed contract. It may look something like this:

After selecting these solutions, you will be assigned a Project Manager from our Professional Services team; they are here to help you set up Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT and JustGiving. Likely, the Project Manager will coordinate calls and tasks with various stakeholders at your organization as well as subject matter experts here at Blackbaud. Get ready, you’re about to meet a lot of new faces! Now, let’s talk about what to expect from this engagement.

Project Overview

For simplicity's sake, let’s break the project down into three phases:

1. Preparation

2. Implementation

3. Wrap Up

After you signed the paperwork, our teams will be working behind the scenes to get staffing and resources coordinated on your behalf. This is an exceptional opportunity to get prepared yourself. In the few weeks following your contract, I recommend you do the following:

• Identify your key stakeholders. Who at your organization will need to inform us about your database policies and procedures? Who will be managing the data so the Marketing and Development teams can use it? Have you identified the roles and responsibilities for whoever will be running the P2P programs? Go ahead and determine who needs to be involved, what their schedule allows (consider if there are any dates the office is closed or persons with planned time out) and what sessions or topics will be critical for their participation. At a minimum, we recommend your Development team be briefed and ready to participate.

• Do some data cleanup of your existing CRM. A part of your Raiser's Edge NXT project will be to submit your data to go into the new database. Go ahead and do some housekeeping so this moves smoothly.

• Block off time for training. Register for the recommended training for Raiser's Edge NXT and watch the on-demand videos for new users with JustGiving.

• Log into JustGiving. You will receive an invitation to log into your JustGiving environment. Don’t delete this email! You can either accept it and log into your account or choose to defer it until later in your implementation. If you log in now, it gives you some time to “play around” with the system, update your branding, and invite your coworkers.

• Learn more about Blackbaud and the resources available to you. If you are brand new to Blackbaud, keep an eye out for outreach from our Customer Success Team. They will schedule formal introductions with you and your team to help orient you to our company and what to expect in these early days.

• Start a list of questions. Some may come to you when you are not on the phone with our teams here, so instead of exchanging 100 emails, go ahead and have your team add any of their questions to your “parking lot” list. Then, you can ask and track the answers as the topics come up.

A few weeks after you signed the paperwork, your Project Manager will schedule a kickoff call with you. This initial meeting will provide you with lots of details about the timeline, what to expect, who should be involved, and what you can do as an active participant. This will start your official implementation. The implementation includes a few phases:

• Data conversion or migration

• Setting up your Payment Processor

• Environment set up and configuration

• Data validation

• Feedback and changes

• JustGiving campaign set up

• Raiser's Edge NXT/JustGiving Integration configuration

• Training and technical Q&A

• Final sign off

  PRO TIP: if using Blackbaud Merchant Services™ for Raiser's Edge NXT, you can also connect it to JustGiving or your other online forms to streamline your reconciliation process.

You can see the full scope of the project by reviewing your Statement of Work, which may look something like this.

Once you have set up your database, configured your integration with JustGiving and closed your project, you are ready to rock and roll! While you wrap up the project, make sure any outstanding questions have been answered, confirm you can log into everything, and you know how to contact customer support. Ask the project team to re-share any recorded meetings or notes if you cannot locate them and start updating your policies and procedures if you haven’t yet. Lastly, make sure your IT team has all the right people with the proper access to the new systems, including blackbaud.com.

Timeline

The average implementation project takes anywhere from 12-22 weeks. The timeline is mostly pre-determined but there is one task that is rather flexible: Fundraising with JustGiving. Because you will be invited to your account within a few days of signing the paperwork, you can actually log in and start using the tool whenever you want.

Some organizations prefer to start their P2P fundraising campaign immediately. This can be especially handy if you already have a time-specific campaign or urgent event in mind. That data can be imported so you can have both the data and the dollars in a timely manner.

Hold off on publishing any evergreen or long-term campaigns until after you have turned on the integration and customized your settings to ensure seamless, long term data accuracy.

Please Note: All timelines, scopes, and expectations are based on the project plan that existed at the time of this post. Your Project Manager will confirm the latest timing and steps required at the time of implementation.

Now that you know a little more about what to expect, we can take a queue from our friend...

“You're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So... get on your way!”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!

You can learn more about Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT here or see a product tour of JustGiving here.