Working with Prospect module and Opportunities in NXT

Potique Johnson
Potique Johnson
Fourth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Facilitator 1
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussions

I am RE certified; however, I am new to my position for a hospital foundation.

We have the Prospect Tab in database and Opportunities Tab in NXT.

I have taken some E- Learning training on Opportunities.

My supervisors and team would like to know “how” others utilize the Opportunities tab in their organizations. For example, do you include Planned Giving or Major Gift category in your Opportunities tab? OR do you just list your campaigns or funds as opportunties? What categories do you use for your opportunities? What actions do you use?

Anything that anyone would like to share would be appreciated. Thank you,

Tiki

Comments

  • Amy Dana
    Amy Dana Community All-Star
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 Raiser's Edge NXT Fall 2025 Product Update Briefing Badge Name Dropper

    Hi! I've used the Opportunites section to help with major gift strategy as well as grant planning. At my last position, our grant writer entered all upcoming grants and deadlines. Our gift officers entered ask amounts and the dates they planned on making the asks as “amount asked” and “date asked” in RE. Then when they actually made the ask they updated that info and also entered “amount expected” if they thought we might receive something different than the ask and “date expected” for when we should expect to hear back from the donor.

    I set up a Query showing Constituent names, Funds, all the dates, and any links to gifts so we could see if we had received any money yet. This acted as a tracking system in our moves management meetings so everyone could see what was scheduled to come in over the next month/quarter and also helped prompt our fundraisers to follow up with any prospects.

  • Barbara Kunkel
    Barbara Kunkel
    Kudos 5 Fourth Anniversary Name Dropper Participant

    Hi Tiki,

    We use Opportunities similar to Amy's post. Our “Purpose” in NXT are Major Gifts, Planned Giving, Grant, Annual Fund, and Partners in Mission (businesses). We track the status of these opportunities to move from cultivation to close. At the point the fundraiser knows what campaign and fund an “ask” proposal is made, those fields are filled in. Any actions associated with the Opportunities are linked to the Opportunity.

    I have Opportunities reports in NXT for the fundraisers. I use Queries to link the gifts to the proposals.

  • Rene Rosengren
    Rene Rosengren
    Tenth Anniversary Name Dropper Participant Facilitator 1

    I also work at a hospital foundation. We use Opportunities for tracking what is in our MG Pipeline & this includes grant requests, Planned Giving as well as Major Gifts from individuals. Our threshold for MG work is $25K. Gift officers enter an Opportunity as soon as they want to begin tracking work toward a major gift with Actions tied to the Opportunity. The date expected & the status determine what appears in Pipeline reporting for the current year. We use RENXT Web View Fundraising Reports in a Dashboard to view Opportunities stats.

  • Potique Johnson
    Potique Johnson
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    Rene,

    Thank you. Would you be willing to share with me some of your “categories” that you put into settings? I appreciate your help.

    Tiki

  • Potique Johnson
    Potique Johnson
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    Barbara, thank you for sharing.

    Would you be willing to e-mail me and discuss further? pjohnson@mercycare.org

    Tiki

  • Rene Rosengren
    Rene Rosengren
    Tenth Anniversary Name Dropper Participant Facilitator 1

    Good morning, I am happy to share but I'm not sure what you are asking about “categories” & “settings”.

  • Potique Johnson
    Potique Johnson
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    Rene,

    could you e-mail me at pjohnson@mercycare.org and I can explain?

    Thanks so much.

    Tiki

  • Bobby Steurer
    Bobby Steurer
    Seventh Anniversary Kudos 5 Raiser's Edge NXT Fall 2025 Product Update Briefing Badge Name Dropper

    We use a similar strategy to what @Rene Rosengren posted. It helps us to keep our Opportunities consistent so that we are able to focus our reporting on the largest and most pertinent gifts at any time. Keeping that framework also helps our fundraisers to stay more “hands on” with managing their own Actions and Opportunities in NXT - simplifying the “rules” of what goes in makes a complex portion of their job a lot friendlier to navigate for them.

  • Potique Johnson
    Potique Johnson
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    Bobby, Thanks.

    What are the specific names of your “Opportunities” which you have at your organization if you can share?

    Tiki

  • Potique Johnson
    Potique Johnson
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    Barbara,

    Thank you.

    Could you share a screenshot of one of your opportunities, so I can see what the opportunity name and the status' you chose are for those opportunities?

    Thanks

    Tiki

  • Rachel Kave
    Rachel Kave
    Tenth Anniversary PowerUp Challenge: Standard Reports+ Kudos 1 Name Dropper

    Hi Potique,

    We breakdown purpose by Capital, Program, Endowment, Special Event, Planned Gift etc. We use campaign and fund to identify where gift is going. We created a standard for the name as well which includes calendar year/campaign/fund description.

    We use the ask, expected, and funded amount to navigate whether it is a major gift. Hope that helps! Would be happy to discuss further.

    Rachel

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