Resources

Here are free resources to help you with Raiser’s Edge. No login or questions must be answered first, but please consider joining Bill’s email newsletter list (form is below right). He promises practical, useful content in every newsletter for both fundraisers and database staff, including notices when new resources are added to this page.

2024 Presentations

bbdevdays 2024 presentation with Ellen Smith: Just Because You Can, Does It Mean You Should? Evaluating When to Build a Customization and Proceeding Thoughtfully DOWNLOAD
aasp webinar on keeping or deleting data
bbcon 2024 presentation 1: Keep or Delete Data? Latest Thoughts for Consideration DOWNLOAD
bbcon 2024 presentation 2: Optimizing Gift Entry Flow DOWNLOAD
aasp 2024 Summit presentation with Isaac Shalev on keeping or deleting data DOWNLOAD

Name Formats and Addressees & Salutations

Bill presented at both the Association of Advancement Services Professionals and Blackbaud conferences in September and October 2023 on name formats and addressees and salutations to address changing cultural norms and expectations for communications, reports, and lists. Here are the resources he promised to share.

Slides from his aasp Summit conference presentation not specific to any database and with an emphasis on DEI DOWNLOAD
Slides from his bbcon presentation specific to Raiser’s Edge DOWNLOAD
- A pre-recorded version of this presentation is available to watch on Bill’s YouTube channel.
Sample Policy and Procedure documentation for name formats DOWNLOAD

Raiser’s Edge NXT

Raiser’s Edge NXT – Moving to and Mastering the Next Generation of RE (bbcon presentation slides) DOWNLOAD
Raiser’s Edge NXT Pricing – To Delete or Not Delete Constituents DOWNLOAD
Raiser’s Edge NXT: What’s Called What? DOWNLOAD
Why Database Managers Should Use Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT Web View (bbcon 2021 presentation slides) DOWNLOAD

Non-Technical Resources for Fundraisers and Fundraising Leadership

In addition to chapter 8 of Bill’s book about Raiser’s Edge:

Bill’s bbcon 2022 presentation on Mastering Fundraising in RE NXT: watch it on YouTube and get the slides with additional material not covered in the presentation DOWNLOAD
The interview of Bill on Your Path to Nonprofit Leadership podcast on the “Three Technology Traps All Nonprofit Leaders Must Avoid”
Reports from Raiser’s Edge for a New Head of Fundraising DOWNLOAD

Role of the Database Manager

In addition to chapter 8 of Bill’s book about Raiser’s Edge (pages 203-216):

Managing the “Manager” Part of Database Manager in the Fundraising Profession Today (bbcon 2019 presentation slides) DOWNLOAD
Why Database Managers Should Use Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT Web View (bbcon 2021 presentation slides) DOWNLOAD

Raiser’s Edge Security

In addition to chapter 8 of Bill’s book about Raiser’s Edge (pages 208-210):

Bill presented a free webinar series in partnership with Blackbaud in March and April 2021 on Security in Raiser’s Edge. The recordings are no longer available, but the other resources from the series are below.

Resources from webinar 1, Creating a Culture of Security, on March 23, 2021, with Ashley Wyand from Blackbaud’s cybersecurity team:

Raiser’s Edge NXT: What’s Called What? DOWNLOAD
Adding and Inactivating Users in Raiser’s Edge NXT DOWNLOAD
Bill’s slides from the presentation DOWNLOAD

New resources from webinar 2, Understanding Security in Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge, on March 30, 2021:

Bill’s slides from the presentation DOWNLOAD
This presentation discussed a move then in progress from what it called “Not Azure” and “Blackbaud Hosting Services” (with database view login directly from blackbaudhosting.com) to Blackbaud ID (with database view only available through the web view). In December 2021 that process was completed, so all access to the database view must be through blackbaud.com using Blackbaud ID where multi-factor authentication must now be used. Blackbaudhosting.com no longer functions. The term “Blackbaud Hosting Services” is today being used more broadly to refer to all the Blackbaud environments where RE is hosted: Azure, Boston, Vancouver, etc. Otherwise, the content of this presentation is still accurate and applicable.
This presentation and the following were delivered before the 2025 changes to the primary web view navigation menu and other web view Security changes. The presentations’ concepts still apply, but there will be visual differences between the slides used in the presentations and the current state of the web view.

New resources from webinar 3, Deep Dive into Raiser’s Edge Security Options, on April 6, 2021:

Bill’s slides from the presentation DOWNLOAD
Bill’s answers to two questions that arose during the webinar for which there was not time to answer then

Policy and Procedure Documentation

In addition to chapter 8 of Bill’s book about Raiser’s Edge (pages 211-215):

Blackbaud Conference presentation available on YouTube
Policy and Procedure Documentation (bbcon presentation slides) DOWNLOAD
Documentation Example 1 — Process for Generating Direct Mail Files DOWNLOAD
Documentation Example 2 — Annual Report Process DOWNLOAD
And see Chapter 8 and Appendix C of Bill’s book on Raiser’s Edge

Constituent Codes

In addition to chapter 2 of Bill’s book about Raiser’s Edge (pages 37-40):

Best Practices in the Use of Constituent Codes (Blackbaud K12 Conference 2019 presentation slides) DOWNLOAD
“Former” Constituent Codes? (post to fundsvcs) DOWNLOAD

Removal of Microsoft Applications from Blackbaud Hosting

In December 2021, Blackbaud announced they would be removing Microsoft applications like Word and Excel from the Blackbaud hosting environments on February 28, 2022. Bill has prepared his perspectives and recommendations on this change in a question-and-answer format to help with this transition. You can find that information here.

Also see the January 2022 newsletter on learnings from January on preparing for this change.