Track Planned Giving Activity

Barb Buckmiller

We are new to NXT and in the process of setting up best practices and procedures for our Planned Giving Officers. 

I am confused, when do I use Opportunites vs Prospect Management vs Notes and Actions? We do alot of estate planning and need to track the progression of a constituent by our planned giving officers (solicitors).  It is important that we can create lists, and track actions.  

Thank You

Tom Klimchak

Barb Buckmiller‍, 


Welcome to NXT!  Blackbaud has a lot of general training materials and info about all the various differences between each type of record (Opportunity, Notes, Actions) but here's a general run down of how it all can be done:


Opportunities (called Proposals in Database View) are records which record and collate all the various pieces of information about the Planned Gift.  There are lots of customizable fields (each institution is different) but generally you want to track the Amount Asked, the Amount Expected and the amount Funded when it comes to that.  You're able to link that Proposal to a Planned Gift record as well.


The Actions tab of a proposal can use used to record the actions taken by the gift officer.  Maybe there was an initial phone call, then a meeting and then more tasks after the fact.  Those are all actions.  Actions are "timely" events that happened.  Actions added through here are Constituent Actions and they will be linked to a specific Proposal/Opportunity.


The Notes tab of a Proposal/Opportunity can be used to hold more "permanent" pieces of information - but ONLY about that proposal.  Notes on Proposals do NOT end up on the Constituent Notes tab.  Perhaps the donor has expressed an interest in helping animals with his or her planned gift.  That might be a NOTE on the Proposal.  That might also be a good Funding Interest field (Prospect Tab - General) or even a Constituent Note all by itself.


The true power of Raiser's Edge is there are many, many ways to code and track information in the database... that can also be a little daunting and downright confusing when you start out.  


When we approach a new project that we're going to track with Raiser's Edge we usually work backwards:  We ask what reports and data we'll need to see as a final result.  From there we figure out what data we'll need to track... and then we end with figuring out which of the many, many Raiser's Edge fields we're going to use to store that data.


Hope this at least gets you thinking... It's a little overwhelming at first!  Good luck! 

Rachel Kave

Hi Barb,


We are just starting a Planned Giving program and are trying to figure out best way to use Opportunities to show our progress. Our roadblock is that as you know some opportunities won't pay out until much later down the road. If you have any insight or processes you could share that would be great.


Thanks so much!

Rachel Kave

Hi Barb,


We have started a planned giving program and trying to use opportunities to track. We run into the road block of how to manage this without opportunities staying open since most of the time the gifts will not come into much later but we have the commitments. Any insight or process you could share with how you use opportunities?


Thanks so much.