What's New In Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT® — January 27, 2026

Colleen Gutierrez

Here are the latest changes in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT for January 27, 2026.

Enhanced Gift List: Next Installment Date for Pledge Insights

Generally available

The Gift list now includes a new Next installment date filter and column that enables more precise segmentation of pledges based on the due date of the next installment with an outstanding balance. This enhancement helps you quickly identify donors with upcoming or overdue payments, improving follow‑up and stewardship workflows. Because this date reflects the next unpaid installment, it may appear in the past when a pledge is overdue. In addition, Blackbaud AI Chat now supports questions related to the next installment date for pledges, making it easier to surface this information without navigating the interface.

Ask Blackbaud AI: Who has pledges due this month from my portfolio?

Unlock Smarter Fundraising with Chat for Blackbaud AI

Generally available

We’re excited to introduce Chat for Blackbaud AI, powered by generative AI. This feature is designed to save you time, improve donor engagement, and make smarter, data-driven decisions — all within Raiser's Edge NXT. With AI-powered assistance, you can focus on what matters most: building stronger relationships and driving your mission forward. Instead of manually searching for answers, simply ask the AI to draft content, suggest creative ideas, or provide actionable insights based on your data and best practices.

Think of it as having a helpful assistant:

• You provide a prompt or question.
• The system uses AI to generate a draft, suggestion, or summary.

You don’t need any AI technical knowledge to use this tool. Just type what you need, and the system will do the heavy lifting — saving you time and helping you focus on what matters most.

Tip: Do you have more questions about Blackbaud AI? Visit the Blackbaud Trust Center to view FAQs about Blackbaud AI.

How Can This Help You?

Here are some examples of what you can do with these new features:

• Draft an email or message: 

Example “Write a thank-you email to donors.”

Bonus! Give the chat some feedback about a detail you want added.

• Generate ideas:

Example "Suggest three creative ideas for a year-end fundraising campaign."

• Get quick answers about your constituents:

Example “Summarize key details about [constituent name] for my next meeting.”

• Ask questions about fundraising best practices:

Examples “What are some best practices for re-engaging lapsed donors?” or “What follow-up actions are recommended after a donor meeting?”

• Assist with fundraiser goals:

Examples “Show me my top prospects for major gifts this quarter.” or “Show me a list of constituents to contact this week.”

• Ask about fundraising goals:

Example “Show me a total of all gifts received for the [campaign name] campaign.”

Tip: Some answers may include a link so you can see how Chat for Blackbaud AI answered the question. For this one, you can select View list to confirm the information.

• Ask product help questions:

Example “How do I customize the Home page?”

And this is only the beginning — AI can assist with many more tasks as you explore.

Tip: Keep the chat open as you navigate Raiser's Edge NXT. When new information is available, the chat will update automatically with summaries. For quick inspiration, try the suggested prompts to see what AI can do for you.

Tips for Better Results

• Be clear and specific in your prompts.
• Include context like donor name or campaign.
• Review and customize the AI-generated content before sending or publishing.
• Refine responses by asking follow-up questions.
• Use it as a starting point — your expertise makes it great!

Why It Matters

Chat for Blackbaud AI helps you:

• Save time by reducing manual research and drafting.
• Stay focused on strategy instead of repetitive tasks.
• Improve donor engagement with personalized content. Work confidently knowing you can edit and refine AI-generated content to match your tone and goals.

How to get started

1. Enable generative AI features – Before you can use Chat for Blackbaud AI, your organization admin must opt in to generative AI features in your Blackbaud environment. Once enabled, the authorization applies to all current and future generative AI features across your Blackbaud products. For details, see Opt In to Generative AI Features Globally help. If you don’t opt in, your organization remains opted out by default.
2. Set permissions – Solution admins must assign the Artificial intelligence role to users who need access to chat.
3. Open the chat – In Raiser's Edge NXT, select the Chat for Blackbaud AI sparkle icon from the top navigation.
4. Review the Quick Start guide – Learn how to write effective prompts, refine responses, and get better results with our step-by-step tutorial.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is my data secure? 

Yes! Your data remains secure. We follow industry-standard security measures to protect your information. Access to unapproved tools is restricted, and approved tools are vetted for privacy and compliance. AI responses are customized based on your organization’s data and respect your configured security permissions. For more details, see our Blackbaud AI Terms of Use.

Do I need technical skills? 

No. Just type your prompt and let the system handle the rest!

What if AI can't answer my question?

We’re always working to make Chat for Blackbaud AI more useful based on your needs. Your feedback helps us improve the experience and build tools that support your work. You can provide feedback in two ways:

• Select the thumbs up and thumbs down icons in the Blackbaud AI – Chat and add details.
• Submit suggestions and vote on ideas in the Raiser's Edge NXT Idea Bank under the Blackbaud AI - Chat category.

Turn Data Into Direction with New Home Page Benchmarking Tiles

(for some of you)

We’ve added four new benchmarking tiles to the Home page to give you fast, contextual insight into how your fundraising performance compares to similar organizations. Benchmarking uses the Blackbaud Philanthropic dataset — the largest of its kind — to ground your goals in real‑world donor behavior and sector dynamics, normalizing for organizational scale and revealing clear strengths, gaps, and opportunities for growth. Your results are compared to peer groups based on country, industry, and revenue size, then scored using percentile ranges to provide a meaningful benchmark from 1 to 10. This ensures consistent, apples‑to‑apples comparisons using all donors, calendar‑year data, and cash‑in‑hand giving. With this foundation, the new tiles help you quickly spot trends, communicate performance with confidence to boards and stakeholders, and align goals with actionable insights.

• The Active donor growth tile tracks changes in your active donor base, helping you understand shifts in engagement and assess the impact of outreach efforts.
• The Revenue growth tile provides a quick view of how revenue is trending over time, helping you detect patterns and identify areas that may need attention.
• The Revenue per donor tile shows the average contribution per donor, making it easy to monitor engagement levels and evaluate the effectiveness of fundraising strategies.
• The Sustainer performance tile offers a snapshot of your sustainer program’s health, including counts of sustainers, non‑sustainers, and potential sustainers, along with retention and growth insights.

Together, these tiles transform the Home page into a strategic dashboard so that you can turn every metric into clear, actionable guidance.

Elizabeth Johnson

@Colleen Gutierrez Thank you so much for sharing this update! Particularly the "Enhanced Gift List: Next Installment Date for Pledge Insights" section. I'm so excited that gift lists are now useful for looking at open pledges that are not overdue! Finally a way to get ahead of payments before they are late using the web view!