Yes, Raiser’s Edge is awful. This might help.
Hands up who is a fan of Blackbaud’s Raiser’s Edge?
* sound of crickets *
It’s OK, you’re not alone in your frustrations! It’s a common gripe I hear all the time from people in non-profit organisations.
Most common website problems
- Manual data-handling between website donations and Raiser's Edge (inviting human error)
- Disconnect between website users and Raiser's Edge constituent information
- Lack of flexibility with donation forms when using tools like Online Express
What is SKY API?
For many years, it was practically impossible to connect most websites to Raiser’s Edge data because Blackbaud only had a poorly documented and complicated API that only worked with websites that used Microsoft technologies.
SKY API is a relatively new API from Blackbaud that uses standards-based technology that works across all websites and mobile apps. It allows you to write custom code to solve your own data workflows – which means that you can potentially link Raiser’s Edge data with websites running on Drupal, WordPress, Joomla, etc.
What can it do?
It depends on your imagination, but potentially it could be used to:
- Automate the import of online donations into Raiser's Edge
- Allow website users to login and change their address, phone number, credit card
- Allow website users to login and retrieve their annual summary of donations for their end-of-financial-year (EOFY) tax return
If you want to collaborate with an expert in this field, contact Sean Brokenshire below to talk about your organisation's needs.
I have been working professionally in the fields of digital marketing and multimedia production since 2004. For the past ten years, until recently, I've worked for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) Australia playing a key role in their digital marketing and communications. Now I'm freelancing - let's do something great together!