Understanding the Announcement
Blackbaud recently announced that it will end support for Raiser’s Edge NXT database view and related database view-dependent functionality on September 15, 2027. After that date, nonprofits will manage their fundraising entirely through the Raiser’s Edge NXT web experience.
Organizations will not need to migrate their constituent records, gift history, or organizational data. However, nonprofits that rely on database view for critical workflows should begin assessing those processes now, identifying dependencies and determining how their teams will transition them to web view.
For many nonprofits, database view represents a powerful yet often behind-the-scenes capability that enables essential operations. Beginning the transition now can help your organization avoid disruptions to fundraising, financial reporting, and donor communications.
What’s Actually Going Away?
In Raiser’s Edge NXT, database view gives organizations direct access to the underlying database structure, enabling teams to create custom queries, build complex reports, and feed data into external systems. Because those capabilities often support everyday processes across an organization, teams may not realize how much of their operations depend on database view until they begin preparing for the transition.
Common uses include:
- Queries and reports that power dashboards and analytics
- Tax receipts and donor acknowledgments automatically generated from your database
- Gift Entry: Either manual gift entry or via bulk gift entry via tools like Omatic
- Grant reports compiled for funders and compliance purposes
- Financial reporting, especially if your organization uses Financial Edge alongside Raiser’s Edge
- Custom integrations that connect Raiser’s Edge to other software systems
- Online Giving forms such as Blackbaud Online Express or Blackbaud NetCommunity
Where to Start: A Practical Roadmap
Your organization can prepare for this transition without overhauling every process at once. We recommend a structured approach to assessment and planning:
Step 1: Map Your Dependencies
Begin by identifying every area of your organization that depends on database view functionality. This is detective work that involves a variety of teams. The finance team, for example, may know which reports rely on database view, while development may know which donor communications and fundraising processes depend on it. But the full picture requires input from multiple departments.
Key questions to ask:
- What queries and reports do we run regularly? Which ones do we run annually?
- How do these reports feed into our dashboards and decision-making?
- Which communications (receipts, acknowledgments, grant reports) are database view-driven?
- What is the full list of custom integrations we have in database view?
- Do we use Online Express or NetCommunity for our donation form on our website? Do we use it for Events or Memberships?
Step 2: Identify an Expert Within Your Organization
Your organization will need a champion for this transition. This is ideally someone with knowledge of both your organization’s operations and your Raiser’s Edge setup. This might be your database administrator, a power user from the development or finance team, or even a consultant familiar with your instance. This person should coordinate the assessment, evaluate alternatives, and lead implementation.
Step 3: Review Current Workflows
Once you’ve identified database view dependencies, audit each one. Ask:
- How critical is this workflow? (essential, important, or nice-to-have)
- How frequently do we use it?
- Who depends on it, and what would happen if it disappeared tomorrow?
- How complex is the underlying query or logic?
This inventory will guide your prioritization and help you allocate resources effectively.
Step 4: Explore What’s Available in Raiser’s Edge NXT Web View
Raiser’s Edge NXT web view has expanded significantly since its initial release. Blackbaud has invested in building alternative reporting and querying capabilities directly into the platform. Before assuming a workflow can’t be replicated, thoroughly explore:
- NXT’s built-in reporting features
- Query builders and filters available in the web interface
- Dashboard and Insight Designer capabilities
- Export functions and scheduled report delivery
- Integration capabilities through available NXT connectors
- NXT’s Online Giving Form
Often, organizations find that their most critical workflows can be recreated or improved using modern web-based tools with the added benefit of better user experience and more frequent updates.
Step 5: Engage Key Stakeholders and Begin Planning
This transition likely impacts multiple departments at your organization. Build a cross-functional planning team that includes leaders from:
- Development/Advancement: For donor communications, stewardship, gift entry
- Finance/Operations: For financial reporting, grant reports
- IT/Technology: For system integrations and infrastructure
- Executive Leadership: Reporting needs and support for this change
Together, develop a transition timeline and plan. Some workflows may migrate easily; others might require new tools, process changes, or even organizational adaptation. By involving stakeholders early, you’ll surface issues, build buy-in, and create a realistic implementation plan. You can also ensure you are avoiding changes around a busy end-of-year giving season or a keynote event.
Step 6. Take Advantage of Available Resources
Blackbaud and the nonprofit technology community are providing support for this transition. Your organization might consider Blackbaud training programs focused on web view to help staff prepare for new processes and functionality. Blackbaud also offers transition resources such as documentation, best practices guides, and peer learning opportunities. You can also find community forums and user groups where other organizations are working through the same challenges.
The September 2027 transition gives your organization an opportunity to look closely at current processes and make improvements as you prepare for web view. You can use this time to:
- Retire outdated reports and processes you’ve outgrown
- Rethink how you gather, analyze, and act on donor and financial data
- Modernize your technology stack with tools better suited to current needs
- Empower team members with more user-friendly reporting tools
Considering Expert Support
Some organizations may benefit from outside support as they assess dependencies, redesign workflows, and plan implementation. CCS Fundraising’s Systems & Change Management team works with nonprofits on technology transitions and can help organizations evaluate both the technical and operational implications.
CCS can support organizations across several areas of the transition, including:
Systems Assessment: CCS helps nonprofits map their current database view dependencies and evaluate how alternative tools in Raiser’s Edge NXT web view can meet their needs. Our technology assessment goes beyond “does this tool exist?” to “will this solution work for our specific workflows?”
Process Optimization: Rather than recreating old processes in new tools, CCS helps nonprofits reimagine workflows to take advantage of modern capabilities. This is an opportunity to eliminate workarounds, streamline reporting, and improve data accuracy.
Change Management: Technology transitions often fail not because the tools are inadequate, but because transition-specific training is not prioritized, or staff have not been involved throughout the change. CCS builds change management into every phase, ensuring teams feel confident and supported.
Cross-Functional Coordination: Since this transition touches development, finance, operations, and IT, CCS can align teams around a shared vision and timeline, reducing miscommunication and duplicated effort.
We can help teams modernize both the database functionality and the data infrastructure and decision-making processes that support it.
Next Steps
Organizations that use the next year to plan deliberately can do more than meet the deadline. They can use the transition as an opportunity to strengthen current processes and prepare their teams for the systems and workflows they will rely on in the years ahead.