What Gets Easier When You Switch from Raiser’s Edge 7 to Raiser’s Edge NXT

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” 

“Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.” 

Both idioms serve as a reminder to separate the good from the bad and only discard what is truly unnecessary. However, these philosophies shouldn’t be used as a shield to thwart change and organizational growth. 

Raiser’s Edge version 7 (RE7) was built on 1990’s technology, released in July 2000, and the last version (7.95) was released a decade ago in December 2015.  Since then, Blackbaud has poured its energy and focus into improving their Raiser’s Edge NXT (RE NXT) web-based platform. 

Support for the original RE7 “database view” is expected to end in the first half of 2027 , which means every organization using RE7 will eventually need to make a switch. RE NXT’s “web view” offers significant improvements to the tools you use every day.

The “Little” Things

These changes in functionality may seem small, but they can have big impacts on day-to-day operations.

Moving Gifts

In RE7, if a gift needed to be moved from one constituent record to another, it meant recreating the gift from scratch, attributes and all. However, in RE NXT, gifts can easily be moved from individual to individual or from organization to organization with just a few clicks.

Recurring Gift Processing

Gone are the days of manually generating EFT files to process recurring gifts. With RE NXT donation forms and Blackbaud Integrated Payments, recurring gift payments are automatically processed on the donor’s desired schedule, whether that’s weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually. Once a payment has been processed, it automatically appears in a web view batch for your approval.

Query Improvements

Yes, you read that right. The stalwart Query functionality in RE7 has been improved in a few ways in RE NXT:

1. You can share a link to a Query, and choose whether you want the link to display the criteria tab or the results tab.
2. Query Options is now its own tab rather than being hidden in the Tools menu. This shift makes it easier to find that elusive “suppress duplicate rows” checkbox and manage how the query handles soft credits and matching gifts.
3. You can use the Shift key in the “Delete Multiple Queries” feature to select large groups of queries at once, saving time and effort when clearing outdated information.
4. You can copy and paste up to 2,000 values into a “one of” statement in web view – 4 times the number of values you can copy and paste into a query in database view!

The Big Things

There are a few major areas of functionality that have seen huge gains from RE7 to RE NXT.

Prospect Management

Not only did prospect management get a glow-up in RE NXT, it’s also included out-of-the-box as core functionality without having to purchase a separate add-on module (i.e. RE:Search or “the Prospect module” in RE7).

Fundraisers no longer need to navigate clunky Queries or spreadsheets to view their assigned prospects in one place. In RE NXT, the Work Center automatically aggregates all Constituents, Actions and Opportunities assigned to a specific fundraiser in one space. You can also easily complete Actions or edit Opportunities from the Work Center without having to open individual records. As an administrator, you can view the Work Center for all fundraisers or a specific fundraiser to assist with the prospect and portfolio review process.

The Prospect Status field is also much more prominent in RE NXT than in RE7. You can quickly see how long a Constituent has been in their current status, scroll through their moves management history, and view and manage a full list of their previous statuses.

Proposals in RE7 have been rebranded as Opportunities in RE NXT, and they’ve been upgraded to one of the four main record types in RE NXT (the others are Constituents, Gifts and Actions). You can easily build and share links to Opportunity Lists and Dashboards for at-a-glance dynamic reporting.

Events

Blackbaud has also made web view Events functionality available to all RE NXT customers at no additional charge. Organizations do not need to do anything to get access once they sign on; it will automatically appear in web view. All the basic features are included, such as adding and managing participants and their guests, assigning fees and taking payments, tracking expenses, and setting up online registration forms to allow individual and group registrations for free and paid events.

Thanks to RE NXT’s browser-based interface, you can check in your attendees as they arrive live in the system from wherever there is an internet connection using a mobile device, tablet or laptop – no more maintaining clunky spreadsheets to manually enter in the database later.

In web view, Participant Attributes have been replaced with Participant Options to collect details like t-shirt sizes, meal preferences or seating requests. Participant Attributes use the same field and values across events, which can create messy drop-down menus as events evolve from year to year. Participant Options let you add new fields and values for each event but can also be copied from previous events.

Coming Soon

Grid View Batch

Worried about losing all the gift batch functionality in database view? Never fear – Grid View Batch in web view is (almost) here! Blackbaud plans to release this RE NXT feature to all customers by the end of February 2026. Improvements from the database view version include more visible alerts for constituents with outstanding pledges (no more easy-to-accidentally-close pop ups!) and the ability to import CSV files into batch.

What to Expect When Migrating from RE7 to RE NXT

If you’re planning to migrate to Raiser’s Edge NXT, this video walks you through Blackbaud’s migration process, key considerations for your organization, and strategic questions to ask before you begin.

Learn about timeline expectations, what gets preserved, and the extra planning steps that ensure a smooth transition, especially if you have integrations, custom reports, or data quality concerns.

RE NXT Data Migration Toolkit

Wondering where to start with your RE NXT migration planning? Our RE NXT Data Migration Toolkit was built specifically to complement Blackbaud’s technical transfer with the planning, data quality assessment, and optimization guidance most nonprofits need.

Whether you’re just beginning to explore migration or actively working with Blackbaud on your timeline, we can help.