Sharing my Power BI template: Getting Started with Power BI Custom Connector

Rebecca Sundquist · June 2023

Have you walked through the Power BI connector installation, but are wondering what to do next? Use this template to create your first data model with gift splits. Step-by-step instructions describe the data transformations in Power Query. Leverage these techniques to drill deeper into the one:many data relationships available within the Power BI connector.

Required connections: Power BI connector installed and connected

Suggested skill level: Beginner

Configuration details: This .pbit (template) file should connect immediately to your installed Power BI connector, populating with your NXT data.

Data Quantity Issues: Do you need to limit which gifts come into Power BI? Consider using a Gift List.

Getting Started RENXT Power BI Connector.zip

Carolyn Copp · June 2023

@Rebecca Sundquist I can always count on you to provide something practical, useful and effective..thank you so much for continuing to read my mind!

Rebecca Sundquist · June 2023

@Carolyn Copp! So good to see you! ?

I hope to carve out some time to get some templates out here with more detail around Calendar queries and year-to-date measures for our RENXT + Power BI beginners. Let's build the Power BI Template showcase together! Saving Power BI files as .pbit allows other Power BI connector users to leverage Power BI Desktop templates.

Search for additional templates here: Blackbaud Community Power Platform template showcase - Microsoft Integrations

JR Barden · January 2025

@Rebecca Sundquist I keep getting an error when trying to import this zip file. I've been able to import other zip files to create flows. Any idea why?

Rebecca Sundquist · January 2025

@JR Barden, thanks for your interest! The attached .zip file contains a pdf and a .pbit file, not a Power Automate flow. These files are useful after you have configured your own custom connector for Power BI based on the files and instructions here: GitHub - blackbaud/powerbi-connector: Blackbaud data connectors for Power Query and Power BI.

This connector on GitHub leverages SKY API to access list end points in The Raiser's Edge NXT and Financial Edge NXT. This open source, community driven Power BI Connector is not the same thing as a Power Platform connector. Learn more about custom connectors for Power BI here: Connector extensibility in Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

Dylan Grafius · August 2025

Love the example and the date calendar! How would you incorporate soft credit amounts though? For say specific constituents.

Rebecca Sundquist · September 2025

@Dylan Grafius , here is a template that deals with Soft Credits:

Sharing my Power BI Template: Combine Queries for Hard/Soft Credit Recognition — Blackbaud Community

This example is file-based, not using the Connector. To get to soft credits through the connector, follow steps similar to what was documented for Gift Splits in the zipped .pdf, but expand the soft_credits list instead of gift_split. Since all hard credit columns are retained when you expand to include soft credit details, you won't have to do the Merge steps described in the Combine Queries example. You'll have the hard credit constituent ID and soft credit constituent ID as well as hard and soft credit amounts. Refer to the Hard/Soft Credit Recognition template, linked here, to decide how you want to coalesce these fields into Recognized Constituent, Recognized Amount, and Recognition Credit Type (Hard vs Soft).

Nastassia Chamoun · February 6

Hello! I was able to get started with Power BI and create some dashboard. I have the same relationships presented in the pdf attached above. However, I cannot schedule refresh, the goal being to build dashboard and don't touch it anymore, having it refreshing on its own for the number to always be updated. I get this error " You can't schedule refresh for this semantic model because the following data sources currently don't support refresh: Data Source for Query1"

When I then click on Discover Data Sources I get this error message: "

Unable to determine the data source due to unknown functions. When custom connectors are used, the error can happen if gateway doesn't have the extension enabled. Details: Query contains unknown function name: Blackbaud.Contents. "

I went multiple times online and not sure what I need to do. Anyone would know how to fix this and be able to schedule refresh?

Erik Leaver · February 6

Hi @Nastassia Chamoun I'm not sure if you are referring to the directions for using the custom connector or the more specific sample shared on combining queries.

If you are just getting started with Power BI, there are several different approaches available for getting the data and refreshing. Rebecca has a great video from bbdevdays 2025 which is a good starting point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWryPREDdu0

The presentation includes lots of resources to help you, no matter which approach you take.

Rebecca Sundquist · February 7

Hi, @Nastassia Chamoun . It sounds like you have the custom connector working locally, but are not able to refresh after publishing to the Power BI Service. This happens when the custom connector's .mez file is not saved in the right location on your machine hosting the Power BI data gateway. You'll need a copy of the Blackbaud.mez file on any machine that is accessing the data, and for the published workbooks, that machine is the one with the data gateway installed. You may have already saved your Blackbaud.mez file to your gateway's machine, but just haven't got it under the right user's document path. This is the trickiest part. I'm not sure if the path is going to be the same for everyone. My gateway's Blackbaud.mez connector file is saved at:

C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\PBIEgwService\Documents\Power BI Desktop\Custom Connectors

For more information, see the Read Me section: Schedule refresh for Power BI Service - Git Hub

Nastassia Chamoun · February 10

Thank you so much! I was able to figure it out. Only thing is that I had to manually add PBIEgwService for each step of the file path. So under properties > security > edit > add then under the box "Enter the object names to select" I entered NT PBIEgwService. In case someone was not able to see the blackbaud connector in Power BI services or encounter other issues. Check that you have PBIEgwService under security > group or user names.

Debbie Atkinson · March 3

I created the Power BI desktop custom connector 3 times and receive an "The required client_id parameter was not provided" when I attempted to sign in to RENXT. I also recreated and used 2 Power BI connector application in SKY Developer. I followed the instructions from Implementing the Blackbaud Custom Connector in Power BI by Sentinel video, github.com/blackbaud/powerbi-connector, and Trouble with connecting Power BI to App comments from Alex Wong. The instructions are clear and easy to understand but for some reason I cannot connect Power BI with Raiser's Edge. I successfully connected RENXT to Power Automate and Platform for some Power Automate training. Please advise.

Alex Wong · 4:11AM

if you have followed all the instructions to the dot and still have issue, this may require you to reinstall Power BI Desktop. I have seen other having problem before. Somethings to try would be uninstall/reinstall, and trying on another computer. You may also want to double check developer.blackbaud.com's application access.

Sharing my Power BI template: Getting Started with Power BI Custom Connector

Comments

Categories