What's New In Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT® — January 20, 2026

Colleen Gutierrez · January 20

Here are the latest changes in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT for January 20, 2026.

Unlock Smarter Fundraising with Chat for Blackbaud AI (for more of you)

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.

Note: Don’t see this yet? The ability to chat with Blackbaud AI is currently in Limited Availability (LA) for some of our customers. Look for full support and general availability in a future release.

How Can This Help You?

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

Example “Write a thank-you email to donors.”Bonus! Give the chat some feedback about a detail you want added.
Example "Suggest three creative ideas for a year-end fundraising campaign."
Example “Summarize key details about [constituent name] for my next meeting.”
Examples “What are some best practices for re-engaging lapsed donors?” or “What follow-up actions are recommended after a donor meeting?”
Examples “Show me my top prospects for major gifts this quarter.” or “Show me a list of constituents to contact this week.”
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.
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

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.
Set permissions – Solution admins must assign the Artificial intelligence role to users who need access to chat.
Open the chat – In Raiser's Edge NXT, select the Chat for Blackbaud AI sparkle icon from the top navigation.
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.

Elizabeth Johnson · January 21

Could you please provide more information regarding the carbon footprint and environmental impact of this tool? Additionally, how does it compare to other AI solutions in these aspects? As an organization committed to sustainability, we would like to understand the resource requirements of this tool to assess its suitability for our use.

Colleen Gutierrez · January 22

Hi @Elizabeth Johnson - Thanks for raising this. It's an important and valid question. We agree that it's essential to consider the environmental impact of AI, including energy and water usage, especially for sustainability‑focused organizations.

At Blackbaud, we’re committed to reducing our environmental footprint and continuing to learn as AI evolves. We work closely with leading cloud providers that have strong commitments to renewable energy and carbon neutrality, and we actively engage with them to understand how they’re managing increased AI‑related demand and advancing their sustainability efforts.

Where impacts are unavoidable, we invest in credible carbon and water offset programs. As announced earlier this year, we achieved carbon neutrality last year across our business operations, including Scope 3 emissions such as cloud and data center impacts.

While we can’t yet isolate the specific impact of AI within our footprint, we remain focused on measuring and reporting our overall environmental impact and deepening our understanding of Scope 3 emissions in our cloud environments. Later this year, we’ll be completing an RAI Sustainability Assessment/Certification to further support this work.

Please also see this resource: How Can Your Nonprofit Stay Green While Using AI?

Suzie Capps · January 23

@Colleen Gutierrez

Hello! We often get these updates that are 'for more of you' - how do we find out if we are included in the roll out without activating it? It would be very helpful if the updates told you how to check if you are included in the roll out!

Colleen Gutierrez · January 27

Hi @Suzie Capps - Thanks for that feedback! We'll work on including some helpful steps to know whether you have a feature. Appreciate the suggestion.

Elizabeth Johnson · January 27

@Colleen Gutierrez Thank you so much for your thoughtful response and for sharing the link to the recent Engage blog referencing external measures.

I’d love to dive even deeper on one point. Could you share more specifics about the AI tools you mentioned? I’m intentional about how I incorporate AI — striving to choose the right tool for the job, or to not use it at all when it isn’t needed — and I’d really appreciate any context on how you’re leveraging them.

Colleen Gutierrez · January 27

Hi @Elizabeth Johnson - There's an upcoming InsideTrack to the Unified View session on February 10th that will explore Chat for Blackbaud AI, if that's what you're looking for?

Or, if what you're referencing is a deeper look into Blackbaud's use and relationship with AI, feel free to peruse the Blackbaud Trust Center (requires BBID login). Scroll down to the sections toward the bottom and select Artificial Intelligence to see the many FAQs around this topic.

Elizabeth Johnson · January 27

@Colleen Gutierrez Thank you — that’s helpful context, and I appreciate the pointers to both the InsideTrack session and the Trust Center.

What I’m hoping to understand is slightly different, and a bit more concrete. I’m looking for usage-level or per-interaction metrics that help quantify impact — similar to how some AI providers estimate the energy or water consumption of a single prompt or interaction (e.g., watt-hours, relative energy comparisons, etc.).

For organizations that are actively trying to weigh sustainability tradeoffs, that kind of “what does one use cost?” framing is especially helpful. Is Blackbaud able to share anything at that level for its AI-powered features today, or is that something still being explored?

Colleen Gutierrez · January 30

Hi @Elizabeth Johnson - I don't believe we have a specific "per use" quantified metric, but we are working with our partners to deliver our AI services in an environmentally responsible way. I have shared your question with our team, however. Thank you for raising it!