Introducing AI Strategy Assistance in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®

Kathryn Hall

In February we introduced Strategy Assistant for Raiser’s Edge NXT, a new way to understand your fundraising performance and confidently decide what to do next. By combining data-driven benchmarks with AI-powered assistance to interpret results and explore next-best actions, Strategy Assistant brings insight and action together in one place. 

When fundraising results stall or results decline, it’s easy to feel stuck. Knowing where to focus can make all the difference. This initial release of Strategy Assistant helps you see where performance differs from similar organizations so you can focus your time and efforts where they will have the greatest impact.   

What Is Strategy Assistant? 

Strategy Assistant gives you quick insights into your fundraising performance, showing how you measure against similar organizations and helping you decide what to do next, without digging through reports and spreadsheet calculations. Dedicated benchmark tiles on the Raiser's Edge NXT homepage display dynamic, data science-powered metrics that compare your organization’s performance to peers in four essential areas: Revenue Growth, Sustainer Performance, Active Donor Growth, and Revenue Per Donor. 

Strategy Assistant goes beyond presenting you with numbers; it’s designed to help you quickly arrive at clear, actionable next steps. Chat for Blackbaud AI helps you explore specific actions, such as identifying acquisition or retention gaps, aligning ask amounts with donor capacity, and generating targeted donor lists to act on those insights.  

Why This Matters 

Strategy Assistant means less time analyzing data, more confidence taking action as it helps you: 

• Understand fundraising benchmarks, fast. Key benchmarks show how your fundraising performance compares to peers—no reports required. 
• Know where to focus. Guided recommendations help highlight the areas most likely to drive impact, like donor growth, sustainers, or donor value. 
• Turn insights into positive action. You get support interpreting results, identifying audiences, and jumpstarting outreach. 
• Get answers right where you already work. Benchmarks and assistance built in to Raiser’s Edge NXT support informed decision-making for busy teams. 

How Strategy Assistant Supports Fundraising Performance 

Let’s look deeper into ways Strategy Assistant helps you focus on efforts that will have the biggest impact for your organization. 

1. Boost Revenue Growth (U.S./Canada) 

Understanding whether your donor base is growing—or quietly shrinking—enables you to focus your efforts where they will have the greatest impact. The Revenue Growth benchmark provides a clear snapshot of your organization’s fundraising health in the critical areas of acquisition, retention, and strategy effectiveness, helping you identify where small changes could unlock growth.  

• How to use it: Revenue Growth answers a key question: Is your organization’s fundraising revenue increasing or decreasing year-over-year relative to the benchmark? This insight equips you to make informed decisions that drive sustainable growth. 
• Strategy: If your revenue is trending downward or falling short of peer benchmarks, it may signal missed opportunities. You can use tailored recommendations to enhance results—like focusing on donor acquisition and retention or aligning ask amounts with donor giving capacity. Even if your trend is positive, benchmarking can reveal areas for further growth.  

2. Grow Your Sustainer Program (U.S.) 

A strong sustainer program means reliable revenue and deeper connections with your donors.  The Sustainer Performance tile helps you quickly assess your program’s health and identify opportunities to grow and retain valuable supporters. 

• How to use it: The Sustainer Performance benchmark identifies opportunities to steward current, active sustainers and identifies donors who are most likely to become recurring givers.  
• Strategy: Use the benchmark to identify donors most likely to become sustainers, then leverage pre-built segments to generate a targeted outreach list and Chat for Blackbaud AI to draft initial messaging to invite them into your program. Consider a matching gift challenge or offer exclusive updates. 

Note: Sustainer Performance is currently U.S.-only; Canadian benchmarks are coming soon.  

3. Expand Your Active Donor Base (U.S./Canada) 

Tracking your Active Donor Growth gives you a clear view of your fundraising momentum and engagement. By monitoring how your donor base is growing over time, you gain insight into the future health of your fundraising efforts. If your Active Donor Growth is trending downward or falling behind similar organizations, it may signal missed opportunities in acquisition, retention, or recapture strategies. 

• How to use it: If your Active Donor Growth is lagging, you can clearly see where donors are disengaged and can take targeted actions to reengage them by focusing on three key metrics: 
• Acquisition Rate – donors who gave for the first time this year 
• Recapture Rate – donors who gave this year and in the past (two to five years ago), but not last year 
• Retention Rate – donors who gave both this year and last year 
• Strategy: Create targeted campaigns for new donors, strengthen stewardship for retained supporters, or reconnect with lapsed donors, using Chat for Blackbaud AI to identify the right audiences and jumpstart personalized outreach.   

4. Increase Revenue Per Donor (U.S./Canada) 

Understanding donor value more deeply can help you nurture each supporter to their full potential, rather than simply increasing the frequency of donation requests. The Revenue Per Donor metric helps you measure and compare the average amount each donor contributes and uncover opportunities to boost donor value.  

• How to use it: If your Revenue Per Donor is trending downward or falling behind peer benchmarks, it may signal missed opportunities for stronger donor engagement or a need to refine your gift solicitation approach. Even if your trend is positive, benchmarking can reveal areas for further growth.  
• Strategy: The Revenue Per Donor metric reveals whether your supporters are giving in ways that reflect their capacity and where more intentional engagement drive results. Consider strategies like adjusting ask amounts to match donor capacity, focusing personalized outreach on under-giving donors, or providing tailored stewardship and recognition to inspire increased giving. 

Turn Benchmark Insights into Action with Chat for Blackbaud AI 

Strategy Assistant works closely with Chat for Blackbaud AI, helping you interpret results, explore options, and confidently take action, without leaving Raiser’s Edge NXT. Premium capabilities include an enhanced chat experience, where it helps you understand your benchmarks and take action: 

• Ask chat to explain your benchmark in plain language, helping you understand what may be influencing your performance—without digging through documentation or second-guessing yourself.  
• Chat supports you in planning your next steps by identifying donors to reengage, brainstorming outreach ideas, or drafting initial messages to get started.  
• Explore “what if” scenarios with Chat to get a clearer picture of how different strategies could influence your results over time. 

While Strategy Assistant is still evolving, this initial release offers valuable tools to help you interpret your data and confidently plan strategies that drive your fundraising forward. We expect future capabilities to offer additional assistance with goal development, performance management, scenario planning, and forecasting.  

Frequently Asked Questions 

Q: Where do I find the new fundraising benchmarks in Raiser’s Edge NXT? 
A: The new benchmark tiles are accessed from your Raiser's Edge NXT home page. Learn more about activating home page tiles in the Home Page Tutorial.  

Note: All Raiser’s Edge NXT customers have access to standard benchmarking dashboards. Strategy Assistant—along with the new benchmark tiles—is a new premium feature that allows organizations to move beyond static reporting into insight-driven strategy.  

Q: How do I know if I have access to Strategy Assistant?  
A: Customers in the United States and Canada with access to premium features automatically have access to Strategy Assistant. If you’re not sure, here’s how to tell if your organization has access to premium Raiser’s Edge NXT features.   

Q: How are these benchmarks different from the existing benchmarking dashboard? 
A: All Raiser’s Edge NXT customers can access benchmark analysis at Analysis > Reporting > Benchmarking. The new premium benchmark tiles on the home page are powered by advanced data science and offer deeper, more relevant metrics, based on more precise cohort analysis and performance analytics.   

Q: Are these benchmarks available outside the U.S.? 
A: At launch, Revenue Growth, Active Donor Growth, and Revenue Per Donor are available in the United States and Canada. Sustainer benchmarks are initially U.S.-only, with Canada to follow. Peer groups are created with country specific context, so U.S. and Canadian organizations are benchmarked separately. 

Q: How often are the benchmarks updated? 
A: Data in the benchmark tiles refreshes weekly to keep you informed of changes and empower timely action. You can use the date picker to view metrics for different years. During the first two months of the calendar year, limited data may reduce the actionability of year-to-date benchmarks. These early views are most useful for establishing a baseline and monitoring emerging trends. 

Q: How does Blackbaud determine what data is included in these benchmarks?  

A: Raiser’s Edge NXT uses the Blackbaud Philanthropic dataset — the largest of its kind — to derive benchmarks from billions of dollars in giving across thousands of organizations. Our data science team applies consistent, standardized definitions across organizations, with carefully controlled inclusion rules (for example, which gifts and donors count). For consistent comparison across organizations, benchmarks include: 

• All donors, including those marked as inactive 
• Calendar years only (not fiscal year) 
• Cash-in-hand giving (not soft credits), including: 
• One-time gifts 
• Payments toward matching gifts, pledges, and recurring gifts 
• Gifts of stock and sold stock 

Each metric includes documentation explaining its parameters. 

Q: How are peer organizations determined? 

A: Peer groups are based on: 

• Industry/sector, using IRS classifications such as NTEE codes 
• Annual revenue size, (Small: <$1M, Medium: $1M–<$10M, Large: ≥$10M) 
• Country (U.S. or Canada) 

This approach avoids inconsistency in comparisons and helps ensure benchmarks reflect organizations that actually operate like yours.  

Ready to Get Started? 

With premium benchmarks and Chat for Blackbaud AI working together, you’ll have the tools to spot opportunities, make informed decisions, and adapt your fundraising strategy with confidence. Whether you’re looking to grow your donor base, increase giving, or strengthen your sustainer program, Strategy Assistant and Chat for Blackbaud AI help you move faster—from insight to action—with confidence. 

• Learn how to customize your home page. 
• Read more about Benchmark tiles on the home page.  
• Don’t see the Benchmarks tiles? Here’s how to tell if your organization has premium Raiser’s Edge NXT features.  
• Learn more about Chat for Blackbaud AI capabilities, how to access it, and get prompting tips in the Chat for Blackbaud AI Quick Start Guide.   
• Learn how to Opt-In to generative AI capabilities in your Blackbaud environment.  
• View our recent webinar on strategic benchmarks on demand. Learn from a data scientist how we derive benchmarks and from a strategy consultant how to use peer benchmarking as a strategic planning tool.