Importmatic/Importacular

Len Gutman

Can third-party donations be synced in NXT? I'm using Importacular in database view but I'd love to use RE7 as little as possible. I asked about native integrations for third-party donor forms and all I got back from Blackbaud was Maestrosoft which I've never even heard of. I do not want to pay $5K for Classy integration. Anyone use something that integrates nicely?

Faith Murray

@Len Gutman, can you clarify your request so that others can offer the right suggestions? I'm understanding that you are using online donation forms outside RE and want a program that will automatically export that info from your current platform and import it into RE.

• Is there a reason you don't switch to OLX or NXT forms? Transitioning might be easier than setting up a perpetual import process.
• What third-party software are you using? Most integrations are software-specific, and if people have a name, they might be able to recommend a solution better.
• Importing gifts into RE can be pretty painless: if you get your processes set up consistently, it can be just a matter of re-naming column headers and hitting “run” each time. The big “IF” here is whether your third-party platform has an ability to contain your RE constituent ID in a custom field, or if you have a constant influx of new donors that would need deduped.
  

Len Gutman

@Faith Murray Sure thing. Didn't mean to be cryptic.

I am using RE7 donation forms. For events and some online fundraising activities, I am using GiveSmart. To sync transactions from Give Smart I use Importacular. I have been told by Blackbaud the only third-party event/auction provider that has native integration is MaestroSoft, but really that's not native – it's more like a custom version of Importacular.

I have heard both positive and negative things about NXT forms, so I was wondering if there was an alternative out there that was actually integrated with RE vs having to sync via Importacular. I believe Classy has one that is truly real-time, but it costs $5K a year on top of the software cost.

I'm nervous about switching to NXT forms now because of feedback on this forum. But RE7 forms don't let users pay for transaction fees and I'd like that feature. I thought maybe there was a single third-party solution for events and forms that would integrate.

Faith Murray

@Len Gutman, I would agree with you - I'm not a fan of NXT forms either, so we also still use OLX forms. (I assume that's what you mean by RE7 forms.)

@Austen Brown posted a recommendation back in 2020 for an addition called SmartTHING that adds a Donor Cover-like process to OLX forms. You can read her post here. I haven't used this myself, of course. Austen, can you chip in?

Austen Brown

@Len Gutman - SmartTHING's DonorCover add-on for OLX is great! Very easy to set-up and best of all it's FREE! Here's a link to their webpage if you'd like to learn more: https://www.smartthing.org/applications/smartdonorcover/

Warren Sherliker

@Len Gutman Thanks all for the SmartDONORCOVER quotes - hope it helps… In terms of gifts we have SmartSYNC which is RENXT based and can sync from either CSV/Excel/text files to NXT OR direct from systems such as GiveWP, WooCommerce, and basically most giving platforms that have APIs (which they all do) to RENXT. No going near RE Database view needed. Anyway, just google for it if interested.