Intelligent Tags, Part 2: More Signals, Custom Tags, and Smarter Engagement

Heather McLean

In March 2026, we introduced new visibility controls for Intelligent Tags and shared where we’re headed: tags are becoming the context layer that helps AI understand what matters in your data and why.  

A recent product release takes two big steps toward that future: 

1. We expanded the standard Intelligent Tag catalog for everyone, with new tags drawn directly from your fundraising data.  
2. We introduced custom Intelligent Tags for Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT® Complete—giving teams the ability to define their own signals, not just apply ours. 

These updates should make Intelligent Tags more useful out of the box and more adaptable for teams ready to encode their own fundraising strategy into Raiser’s Edge NXT. 

Why Better Signals Matter 

Organizations using AI for systematic data analysis and strategic planning reap more benefit from this technology than those using AI in more fragmented, individual ways, according to the Blackbaud Institute’s latest report on AI effectiveness. And this difference in approach can result in material outcomes like revenue growth, donor retention, and staff productivity.  

Intelligent Tags help interpret fundraising data automatically, surface meaningful cues in places fundraisers already work, and reduce the need to write queries, build reports, or maintain custom fields just to know who needs attention. 

The expanded catalog of standard tags provides more ways for organizations to surface best-practice signals, while custom tags let Complete organizations define the signals that reflect their own strategy. Together, they create the foundation for more personalized, AI-assisted engagement in Raiser’s Edge NXT. 

What’s New for Everyone: A Bigger Standard Catalog 

Thank you to everyone in the community who weighed in on priorities for the expanded set of Intelligent Tags. These tags will help you identify fundraising moments such as upcoming pledge installments, new recurring gift donors, failed recurring gift payments, giving anniversaries, consecutive giving streaks, reunion years, recent soft-credit activity, and pipeline gaps where a prospect has an assigned fundraiser but no opportunity. 

Standard tags are authored by Blackbaud, evaluated automatically, and available without an add-on or upgrade. Admins can use the visibility controls to deploy signals that fit their organization’s strategy, hide the ones that don’t, adapt the recommendations to your needs, and ensure the right fundraisers see the right tags. For the full criteria behind each tag, see the Intelligent Tags help file. 

Prospect Insights Tags: Prioritizing Who to Focus On 

Prospect Insights tags help teams identify donors who may be ready for an upgraded ask, prospects who should be evaluated for portfolio assignment, and qualified prospects who need fundraiser ownership. All Raiser’s Edge NXT customers have access to the standard set of Intelligent Tags for Prospect Insights.  

For Raiser’s Edge NXT Complete customers with access to premium features, the Intelligent Tag catalog for Prospect Insights Pro supports broader prioritization across top, secondary, and emerging prospects—helping teams balance immediate focus with long-term pipeline development. 

Custom Intelligent Tags  

Custom Intelligent Tags, available in Raiser’s Edge NXT Complete, let admins define signals specific to their own organization strategy—such as board-connected campaign donors, lapsed donors over a certain threshold, or prospects queued for a quarterly portfolio review. They set the criteria, priority, and guidance, and the system evaluates the tag automatically every night, surfaces it where fundraisers work, and makes it available as context for AI-assisted experiences. 

Because custom tags apply broadly and can drive automated action, they sit alongside Raiser’s Edge NXT Complete’s broader automation and execution capabilities. They are not required to get value from Intelligent Tags—but they give Complete organizations a way to encode their own playbook directly into the system. 

Built on Your Input—and Still Listening 

The tags in this release were prioritized directly from community feedback. Your responses shaped the new standard catalog. Thank you to everyone who weighed in. 

We’re not done expanding the catalog. New tag ideas now live in the Idea Bank—you can submit and vote on suggestions there, and we’ll continue prioritizing what we build next based on what matters most to you. 

Go Deeper with Inside Track 

Intelligent Tags are one piece of a larger AI-guided fundraising experience in Raiser’s Edge NXT. Our Inside Track sessions are where we walk through that broader picture, answer questions, and show how tags can support more coordinated donor engagement. 

Register for Inside Track sessions to learn more and bring your questions. 

The Bottom Line 

With a broader standard catalog and custom tags for organizations ready to define their own signals, Intelligent Tags are becoming more than labels. They are becoming a practical way to connect fundraising data, team strategy, and the next best action. 

Review your Intelligent Tags settings to decide which new standard tags should be visible to your team, hide any that don’t fit your strategy, and consider where custom tags could help encode your organization’s own fundraising playbook if you have access to them. 

Learn more about configuring and using Intelligent Tags.