Training Chat for Blackbaud AI

Angela Pizzolato

My organization recently turned on our Raiser's Edge AI features and I've been using the prompt library to test out Chat for Blackbaud AI. I have started giving feedback on the results and it prompted a series of questions for me. Hoping someone who is further down the line or someone from Blackbaud could give some insight.

-How quickly does the AI incorporate feedback?

-Do I need to train my instance or is Blackbaud AI learning from feedback from across the network?

-Does Blackbaud AI pull context from my Raiser's Edge environment? For example, if there are notes on a fund about how it is intended to be spent on a specific program and I have a strategy note on a constituent record that mentions that program, would the AI surface that fund as an option if I asked for help planning a proposal for that donor?

Heather McLean

Hi Angela, great questions! Happy to shed some light on how Chat for Blackbaud AI works.

On feedback and how quickly it's incorporated: The thumbs up/thumbs down feedback you're providing is reviewed by our team (with sensitive details redacted as needed) and used to improve the AI chat tool over time. It's not incorporated in real time, but it does directly inform ongoing improvements to the product.

On training your instance vs. network-wide learning: You don't need to train your own instance. Importantly, Blackbaud AI does not train on your organization's data — your prompts and responses stay within your environment. The AI generates responses based on the context of your Raiser's Edge NXT data while respecting your organization's existing security permissions.

On surfacing contextual recommendations like fund-to-donor affinity: This is a great use case you're describing — and it's actually an area we're actively working on! The ability to connect things like notes on a fund's intended purpose with a constituent's strategy notes to surface relevant gift opportunities isn't fully available just yet. Keep an eye on the Prompt Library, though — when these new capabilities are ready, we'll be adding example prompts there so you'll know exactly how to take advantage of them.

Tip: The more you can surface details within first class fields like Philanthropic Interests rather than buried in notes is going to help AI connect more dots.

Thanks for testing and sharing your feedback — it's exactly the kind of insight that helps us build the right things!

Angela Pizzolato

Thank you so much, Heather! I'll bear this in mind as I continue using chat.