Payment Enablement Fee

Patti Hommes

Hi all! The Facebook RE User Group is blowing up over the email we just received about the $50/month added charge for payment processing. If you didn't get the email yet, you will!


In my case, that is $600 annually that was not budgeted for. What are your thoughts and if you are starting to consider other options, what are they?
https://www.blackbaud.com/paymentenablementfee

Kathy Bartel

We, too, received the email. Not very happy about the fee either but there doesn't seem to be any options other than to leave Blackbaud completely.

Judy Spigarelli

I understand that costs increase, but I feel any changes should be addressed during contract renewal. It has me questioning what other fees may be added. I'm unlikely to leave Blackbaud; I still feel they are quality products. Still, this is very uncomfortable.

Brent Reed

My irritation with the fee is that for years we the customers have been asking for Blackbaud to enable the ability to allow our donors to cover the cost of credit card processing fees. I understand that at some point they aren't able to absorb the rising cost of the fees from their vendors, but the optics on this is just terrible. There should have been discussion with their customers before this was introduced. Let organizations that are on a razor thin budget know that an extra $600/yr will need to be planned for and perhaps work with those organizations to make sure the fee doesn't start until their new fiscal year begins. But all of that is obvious customer care, which has been proven over the last several years to be the least of Blackbaud's concerns. So no, not surprised. Yes, irritated. Yes, I understand why. No, I don't like it.

Helen Drobnis

Totally agree Brent

Patti Hommes

Very well said Brent Reed‍ ! I agree on all points! And, like Judy Spigarelli‍, I'm very unlikely to leave Blackbaud! This job is my "swansong" before retirement and I have no desire to learn something new! But there is so much about them that frustrates me right now.

Sharon Konvit

I agree - the communication and roll out of this new fee is sorely lacking. At least we could have been given the opportunity to comment and build into our budgets! We just signed on for three more years in order to avoid surprises and - surprise! I also feel that any increase should be volume based with larger organizations bearing a proportional load. Everyone taking a straight $50 per month regardless of size is not acceptable.

Sunshine Reinken Watson

It seems like the only option is to end the relationship with Blackbaud, but customers are under contract so that can't be done as easily as Blackbaud seems to be able to add a random $600 fee. I feel very bad for the organizations that are already hurting due to the pandemic, and for smaller organizations that are already stretching to pay for their Blackbaud products. This seems extremely tone-deaf and not in line with Blackbaud's mission and dedication to social good.

Pamela Stanley

Our three-year contract is up and we are evaluating our new contract. We will likely drop something else to make up this expense.

Rob Wild

Yeah, received it here in Aus as well. We don't even use that functionality, and are running all payments through the University's corporate systems. This could have been done a lot better - either at contract renewal, or even add it yearly as a part of the normal CPI increase. That way, people can budget for it.


I'm already dealing with Uni management that wants to consolidate CRMs into a different product, this doesn't help.

Renee Underwood CFRE

I wrote my division VP and my rep to tell them that these fees better come with more functionality (than we have been requesting for a long time): 1) donor ability to cover fees, 2) donor ability to log in and change credit card number or check giving history, and 3) simplify the backend of online donations. Right now it’s easier for us to process a gift made by check than an online payment.

Patti Hommes

Sunshine Watson:

This seems extremely tone-deaf and not in line with Blackbaud's mission and dedication to social good.

This is SO TRUE!!

Rose Mary Herbert

This was a surprise...and not in a good way. We already submitted budget for next year and a little more lead time would have been appreciated.

David Lyle

Well said Brent!

Chris Fedor

We've been happy with Blackbaud and don't want to leave, but we have a partner organization considering a database switch (from another product to Salesforce) and it's going to be harder to justify us staying with RE/Blackbaud if our costs continue to rise. Thankfully I'm just starting my budget process so I can figure it in, but when I'm told to be as lean as possible because giving is down, it's hard to have to bump up an expense area like this. Like everyone stated, a little more warning would have been nice.

Rachel Bailey

So no, not surprised. Yes, irritated. Yes, I understand why. No, I don't like it.

Ditto, Brent Reed‍.

Karen Tuecke

Patti Hommes‍, our organization did not budget for this either and may have to do away with BBMS. This is a big problem for us as our recurring donors only contribute like $400 a month and $50 is HUGE and will have an impact on our fundraising efforts. I wonder if there is someone we can talk to at Blackbaud? It may be cheaper to go with a secure site like PayPal or Square. At least they would not be charging $600 a year. This is absurd for a not for profit to take on, especially during a pandemic. This was in the NY Times today: https://www.telegraphherald.com/news/business/article_68a6c3a3-2f5d-5c87-82b8-947311d42892.html

Pamela Stanley

Karen Tuecke‍ My understanding is that you will pay this fee if you use any Blackbaud payment-enabled software, which would be Raiser's Edge or Raiser's Edge NXT. It does not matter if you use BBMS or another payment vendor to actually process your transactions. You would still have to pay the fee.

George Buss

Agreed. It really is a contract increase, or a renegotiation of the contract... $600 a year is a large percentage hike for Altru, not a fee. My CEO has asked me to look at other options. We can't be held hostage by this kind of business practice.

Patti Hommes

Pamela Stanley:
Karen Tuecke‍ My understanding is that you will pay this fee if you use any Blackbaud payment-enabled software, which would be Raiser's Edge or Raiser's Edge NXT. It does not matter if you use BBMS or another payment vendor to actually process your transactions. You would still have to pay the fee.

That is my understanding as well Pamela Stanley‍.

Randy Sprabary

Hello all!

I want to add my comments and objections to this latest fee notification from Blackbaud - the so-called Payment Enablement Fee. We operate an integrated RE and FE NXT but we do not use the BBMS or any of the actual payment enablement functionality or services. However, we still must pay this new fee according to our account manager. I have asked for him to provide the exact language from our contract that justifies their assessment of this fee.


I view this as a way to generate additional revenue for Blackbaud following their serious data breach last year. I strongly urge everyone who objects to this fee to complain in writing and insist your account manager or other contact pass this up the management chain.

Sunshine Reinken Watson

Confession: I stopped trying to keep up with who my account manager was years ago. I wrote to customer success at customersuccess@blackbaud.com and let them know how I feel. And that after being a customer for 15 years, I will be forced to research other options.

Patti Hommes

Sunshine Watson:

Confession: I stopped trying to keep up with who my account manager was years ago. I wrote to customer success at customersuccess@blackbaud.com and let them know how I feel. And that after being a customer for 15 years, I will be forced to research other options.

Writing to customersuccess@blackbaud.com is a great idea Sunshine Watson‍! I just did the same and encourage everyone else to do so as well! Anyone have email addresses for leadership??

Karen Tuecke

I too am sending in a complaint. I have sent this to: customersuccess@blackbaud.com; PaymentEnablementFee@blackbaud.com

Good morning,

My name is Karen Tuecke and I am responsible for eTapestry and BBMS at our organization, Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Dubuque, IA. Site ID#39589.

As a social good company, I feel that the notification of payment enablement fee is irresponsible and unacceptable given the environment that not for profits are going through and not socially good to your customers, us. As a very small organization, we do not have the budget or the funds to cover the costs of $50 a month or $600 a year in addition to our other fees by Blackbaud. We also have a three year contract. How can this just change? This notification has brought to our attention that we have done a lot for Blackbaud, such as being a reference for eTapestry products, a champion of sorts and online collaborator, to name a few. We invest not only financially but also our time and talents. I feel as if now Blackbaud is taking advantage of us and unfortunately some months we have as little as $110 in credit card transactions. This is nearly 50% of our transactions in some months. We are disappointed.

With that disappointment brings me to be responsible for my organization and our future with Blackbaud. We will be looking at other products. Obviously our contract means nothing, therefore we may be breaking this, as have you, at our renewal in January.

Thank you for all the years of being a great company and we wish you the best of luck with this payment enablement fee.

Blessings,

Karen

PS: This is absurd for a not for profit to take on, especially during a pandemic. This was in the NY Times yesterday: https://www.telegraphherald.com/news/business/article_68a6c3a3-2f5d-5c87-82b8-947311d42892.html

JoAnn Strommen

I would hope emails sent to customer success are given attention. Perhaps comments should be sent to CEO Michael Gianoni as well.

Patti Hommes

Well done Karen Tuecke‍ !

Patti Hommes

"Thank you for contacting us regarding the payment enablement fee. Please note that this is not a monitored mailbox. For more information refer to our payment enablement fee FAQs page (https://www.blackbaud.com/paymentenablementfee), as well as instructions on how to reach Customer Support."

Sunshine Reinken Watson

Patti Hommes:

"Thank you for contacting us regarding the payment enablement fee. Please note that this is not a monitored mailbox. For more information refer to our payment enablement fee FAQs page (https://www.blackbaud.com/paymentenablementfee), as well as instructions on how to reach Customer Support."

Was your email to customersuccess@blackbaud.com ? I received a reply from them. I wasn't happy about it. They said they were thinking about adding this fee for some time. If they were, why did customers receive absolutely no warning?

Judy Spigarelli

Patti Hommes:

"Thank you for contacting us regarding the payment enablement fee. Please note that this is not a monitored mailbox. For more information refer to our payment enablement fee FAQs page (https://www.blackbaud.com/paymentenablementfee), as well as instructions on how to reach Customer Support."

Hi Patti, Which email is not a monitored mailbox? Also, why would an email exist that is not monitored? I must be missing something.

Randy Sprabary

Interesting event:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blackbaud-inc-blkb-cfo-exec-221516585.html

David Lyle

Interesting indeed! That's quite a few transactions ahead of the March 3rd announcement to customers! Down 8% since that first major sale.