Blackbaud eTapestry Reviews

Flexibility of donor records is important and works well. Tagging donors in multiple different ways always our nonprofit to track and communicate in ways that are important to the donor.

Would like to see improvement in the communications features - templates are clunky to work with and designing own templates is challenging. We end up creating image in outside tool and then import it in.

The eTapestry system is by far the best we've ever used. There are many things to like including: the dashboard with its sophisticated look that integrates all of the important information in on place, which makes it simple to focus on important things like delivering programs. Our old system didn't work well, especially when we needed to pull information from it. Reporting in eTapestry is quick and it looks really professional. So far, everyone we've had to provide information to, such as accountants, counselors, and so forth, are really impressed with how the information is presented to them. Last but not least, the diy forms are a godsend. They've raised us to a whole new level in regards to our tax receipting, registration forms, and mail outs!

Perhaps the greatest thing we've enjoyed using eTapestry is the caliber of service we've received from every member of the team.

So far there's nothing we don't like, but I do have some suggestions.

First of all, for the diy forms, we are using one for program registrations that have a fee - the donation form seemed to be the best fit. It would be ideal for us if we could either change the wording from "donation amount" and "donation frequency" to "payment amount" and "payment frequency", or provide us with the options for wording because we don't want those who are registering to be confused about the fee because it's not a donation.

Secondly, in the diy forms, where we have multiple options for users to check off, it would be ideal if we could create columns so that the form isn't too long.

Finally, because we are using some of the diy forms for program registrations and we deliver programs to families, it would be ideal for us if we could have a form where participants could put in the names of their family members and those names would generate separate constituents in the database. For instance, a mother signs up for a program with her two kids. All have the same contact information, but the health information is different for all three. Currently, people have to do the form several times - once for each family member.

I appreciate that the product is part of Blackbaud's empire of services for the sector, so you can assume that much of the functionality is based on best practices. It has a nice graphic interface. I really appreciate the DIY form features that allow us to collect information on not only donors but volunteers and other constituents. It's been a phenomenal transformation in our ability to track our supporters and empower the board with good information. The automatic address updates we completed before our annual fund appeal resulted in an increased in renewal rates for our lapsed donors, which effectively paid for the subscription for the year.

For an organization with a smaller budget, the software investment is expensive. We were fortunate to receive a 30% discount for our first three years, but as we look to renew in the coming year, I think it will start to become more painful to pay for this operational utility. It took a significant amount of time to learn how eTap works. I was initially stunned by the costs of eTapestry's video and in-person training programs and the knowledge base is a little funky to use. Their customer service staff on chat have been super helpful, however, and that's become my go-to for answering questions. They do have free resources for training, but they are basic.

I like the most the fact that one can search for a client's account by their account number, with a / before it, and find any given person within the account instantly. This sort of number-orientation makes the software much easier to integrate for importing data, especially when importing hundreds of account updates and journal entries at a time.

I like the least how slow the software is. Perhaps this is because my company is utilizing the maximum account storage (we have 100,000+ accounts on file). When clicking on someone's name, there is a loading time of 3-5 seconds. When attempting to enter a gift or a journal entry from that person, there are 2 additional loading buffers of 3-5 seconds depending on the activity within the company at that time. This severely slows our process of data entry, preventing data entry from being smooth and fast.

I have worked with several different non-profits, and there are a wide range of products available. In many cases, people fall back on Raiser's Edge or a similarly-sized software package because it's comfortable. However, in my current position, I was creating a development department from scratch for a small non-profit, and we simply didn't need that level of software, especially not with our limited budget.

eTapestry, I find, provides absolutely everything I could need at an extremely afford price point. Gone are our days of tracking prospects, donors and campaigns in multiple spreadsheets - but we don't have the complicated and, frankly, overkill options of a high-end software that's needed for the likes of non-profit giants. It's immediately accessible to fundraising veterans and novices, with access to your information from anywhere that you can connect to the internet. Plus, it grows with you, with very well-priced tiers based on your number of records.

I'm a huge advocate!

I think there is still work to be done on making customization a little more straightforward. For certain, there are challenges when it comes to split gifts, for example, that still need to worked out. That said, I have not used any software that is perfect out of the box or even after tinkering for weeks, for that matter. There is always some give and take, but I feel eTapestry does a great job.

We use eTapestry for all of our donor and fundraising needs. We have used many other products and have never been satisfied until now. Every function we need - and many we didn't even know we needed - are included in eTapestry. Even more than that, whenever I have a question or can't figure something out, their online help is available and can quickly and effectively solve any problem or challenge I have. I HIGHLY recommend eTapestry for your fundraising and donor relation needs.

I don't have a single con after using them for 3 years! The only small tiny downside would be that I wish there was an app I could check from my phone.

Customer service

Old design, clunky, not intuitive.

It is user friendly for the nontechnical staff when looking for and updating information.

Not that friendly for extracting information (querying and reporting features). And since Blackbaud bought it, its customer service has become bad and unreliable.

This database is easy to use. If you've ever used another donor management system, you'll find it pretty intuitive. You can build decent queries and create tons of data points you want to track.

Everything has to be done manually, and it can take some time. I wouldn't recommend this to a membership organization because of the time involved logging renewals. There is also a really not so awesome template you have to use create all of the products you want to offer, including donations. It's a hassle for the organization and the donor.

Etapestry is very user friendly, I was able to pick it up quickly without utilizing any of the training videos.

I wish there was a way around only being able to open one record at a time. Other web based data bases I've used have had the same issue of only being able to open one window at a time. Are there any web-based data bases that allow you to open more than one window at a time?

I love the journal entry ability. It is easy to use and a nice way to keep track of promotional emails sent.

There are many functionalities that require additional programming or knowledge. It would be nice to know how they work. A nice summary of the functions would be nice to have, so that we are aware of what we are working with. There may be functionality that would benefit us, but we are unaware of it.

Its an inexpensive way to manage donor and supporter activities. It also allow us to bulk email and communicate to our audience. We can design a nice email with graphics and it is fairly easy to set it up and send it out.

It is a little clunky in that the categories and drop-downs aren't customization. You basically have to get with your team (or those responsible for entering data) and decide how to use their established categories to fit the data you want to collect in order to have it be consistent for each person's information that you enter.

eTapestry has changed our entire process with donor management by allowing us to communicate more effectively and efficiently with our donors. It provides a system of tracking the important data needed for all our ministry departments and requested reports from our Board of Directors and CPA. We also use it to track volunteers, which is a huge part of our workforce. I love the ability to integrate eTapestry with our website so that we can process donations and streamline them directly into eTapestry. Supportive services when questions arise are always very helpful.

The only drawback is the complicated reporting system that I have a hard time getting used to. I haven't had sufficient time to really study the reporting system, so it's partly my fault. However, eTapestry's customer service group is outstanding to always answer any questions (no matter how silly) without making you feel stupid or like you are wasting their time.

reporting, ease of use, integration with our website, goal reminders, etc.

nothing at all! : )

I really like the dashboard. It makes it easy to find what you're looking for and see a recent history of actions.

Reports are a bit tricky. There are many ways to run reports and at times the simplest report takes way too long to extract.

I like the account creation and intuitiveness of the software to manage duplicates. I often use this feature to double-check names and relationships for multiple other uses.

It's really difficult to understand how to run queries and feel like your data is complete sometimes.

eTapestry offers a very comprehensive approach to fundraising. It allows you to accumulate a great of data and analyze it however you see fit. I like that it clearly will remain functional for many years into the future of our non-profit.

The product is capable of doing so much that it seems nothing is simple. I run a small non-profit that typically raises $250,000 a year. I am not as sophisticated as the product. I don't find the creation of reports or queries to be intuitive. While I understand the company's reliance on chat rooms and email, I would very much welcome the opportunity to actually talk with someone in support. That is not included in the average contract; you must pay extra.

eTapestry has a lot of great cloud based functionality for keeping track of your donor database, sending communications, running reports on interactions with donors, etc.

It's pretty pricey for smaller not for profits.

The product is very intuitive and easy to maneuver around in. I have worked with a couple other donor databases where information was hidden and hard to find, even using the search feature. The eTapestry dashboard is easy to navigate, changes to suit your needs, and is user-friendly. Working with the different consultants at Blackbaud has been a pleasant experience. They have been helpful and supportive during our transition and very efficient with converting our data.

I haven't come across any features that are missing or something I don't like about this product.

It already has all of my data in it. That is literally the only good thing I can say about it. I would never ever purchase this software

Its impossible to run reliable reports, even their own support people can't tell me how to get the data I need out of their system. There is no easy way to expunge old records. They make it exceedingly difficult to get away from this company when your contract with them does expire. I have to clean up reports by hand every time I run them.

Ability to be customized to my needs and the excellent experiences with support

Creating complicated queries and reports can be difficult, but when the support staff are so great it works out ok in the end.

Ease of use. Availability of knowledge base. Also many consultants publish free manuals for creating end of year and monthly reports. Cost effective. Web based.

Lacks a robust query tool.

I really like how almost anything on the software can be customized to your organization. We were about to make our thank you letters exactly like how they were prior to joining eTapestry.

We didn't have eTapestry enter our data, so we didn't go through all the proper training. I thought that was a stumbling block for people that want to enter their own data. There wasn't really a path for us to follow.

Their support number is a nice tool that is included with their pricing. However, I found I had to use it frequently because so many aspects of this software are more challenging than they need to be.

Reports are the most difficult part of etapestry. There are so many nuances to running a report that will actually provide the results that you want. I have spent a lot of time running and re-running reports to finally get the desired outcome.

The software package is great at every level. What I liked best is the cost. I compared it to six other donor database systems, and it was the least expensive, which really surprised me. I also like the ease of use and the regular updates. They have a great staff, very friendly, and very professional.

There isn't anything I dislike about the product. Honest.