August 2026 Newsletter

Prioritizing Resources for Learning the RE Web View

For better or worse, Blackbaud has provided a significant number of resources for us to learn and move to the Raiser’s Edge NXT web view in preparation for the deprecation (elimination) of the database view and arrival of the “unified view.”  I don’t know about you, but I simply can’t keep up with it all even though as a consultant it’s my job to stay on top of this information.

So here are what I think are the four most important resources from Blackbaud that I use, that you might consider prioritizing similarly, to stay on top of the fast-changing RE landscape.

1st: “Operational” Emails from Blackbaud

It’s impossible to subscribe to the emails you want and don’t want to get from Blackbaud in one place.  And it’s not clear to whom Blackbaud decides to send some emails. You should make sure that everyone set up as an Organization Admin or Solution Admin for RE in your organization, plus anyone in leadership, knows that if they get one of these emails, they need to forward it to everyone else who should know the material and not assume that “well I got it, so the other folks did as well.”

I believe the last one of these emails was sent on June 25 and the beginning of that one looked like this:

Yes, Blackbaud sends us a lot of emails, but if you’re the database manager, if you’re responsible for your organization’s move to the web view and unified view, you can’t just ignore or dismiss all emails from Blackbaud, you need to pay attention for the important ones. A Blackbaud product manager said at the recent Blackbaud K-12 conference that the official email announcing the deprecation (elimination, turning off) of the database view in one year (“Late Summer 2027” in Northern Hemisphere phrasing) will be coming soon — you’ll want to have a copy of that.

2nd: Product Update Briefings

If you’re the RE database manager, if you’re responsible for your organization’s move to the RE web view and unified view, you absolutely must watch these one-hour webinars that happen twice a year, in May and November. You are not “too busy” to watch these — you absolutely must watch these. Can’t watch it live? Register and watch it in recording, but these are the two most important webinar hours you will spend in the year understanding the present and future for Raiser’s Edge.

Keep an eye on the RE NXT blog post (see below) and emails from Blackbaud for future registration details. You can see the May PUBs here. While you absolutely will want to watch the one on Raiser’s Edge, keep an eye out for other PUBs that week on topics also of likely relevance, such as Online Giving, Payment Services, and perhaps the Premium version of RE.

3rd: RE NXT Blog Posts

The most direct and most frequent communication from the Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge Product Managers comes through their blog posts on the Blackbaud Community (blackbaud.com login required). At a minimum there is one almost every Tuesday explaining that week’s product updates, but often they occur more frequently — recently this has been the case. While some folks at Blackbaud might try to turn this into yet another marketing tool, this is our most direct and reliable line for communication on RE updates. Pay attention to the blog posts even if one comes across not of interest to you.

These are so important, I recommend you set the post for immediate notification via email to you and not let them get lost in daily digests. Go to the RE NXT Blog page, click the Follow button with the bell icon on the right side of the screen, and select, in my recommendation, the following settings:

4th: InsideTracks

InsideTrack webinars from the Blackbaud Product Management team take place in the months when there isn’t a product update briefing. July’s was about the new constituent record layout changes and Address Accelerator, next week’s is about membership forms and donation recovery (reminders for donors who start an online donation form but don’t complete it to encourage them to finish it and make their donation). You can register for the future ones and see the previous ones here.  Again, if your job is the RE database manager and/or you’re responsible for helping your organization move to the web and unified views, you must attend these sessions. If you can’t watch them live, watch them in recording. If you’re pressed for time, watch them at 1.5 speed as I often do. But I highly recommend you watch them.

There are lots of other resources available from Product Management, Customer Success, Blackbaud University, Blackbaud Community, Blackbaud’s marketing folks, the RE group on Facebook, etc. — there’s even a new resource trying to organize all the resources for us! But that’s how I prioritize my time if it’s helpful as you consider what resources to consult in what order to both make the move to the web view and still do your day-to-day job.