Gift Management Guide for Non-Profits Using Raiser’s Edge NXT
Accurate gift management is the backbone of successful fundraising and donor stewardship. In Raiser’s Edge NXT, proper handling of gifts ensures that your organization maintains donor trust, complies with IRS and state regulations, and provides clear, auditable records for financial reporting. This guide is designed to help nonprofit professionals navigate complex gift entry scenarios, apply corrections, and manage unique transactions such as pledges, recurring gifts, donor-advised funds (DAFs), and qualified charitable distributions (QCDs).
By following these best practices, you will:
- Ensure accurate receipting and acknowledgment for donors
- Maintain compliance with tax and accounting standards
- Support transparency and reconciliation with your Finance team
- Optimize data integrity for reporting and analytics
Whether you are entering gifts manually, processing online transactions, or correcting historical records, this guide provides step-by-step instructions and practical tips for using Raiser’s Edge NXT effectively.
Unique Raiser's Edge NXT Gift Entry Situations
Q: How to apply a pledge payment from one constituent to a pledge on another constituent’s record?
A: On the pledge payment, use the search function for the pledge to identify the pledge record on the constituent record where it exists.
Q: What to do when a payment is split between a pledge payment and a one-time gift?
A: Create two gifts. Apply one to the pledge and leave the other as a one-time gift.
Q: What do you do when a donor makes a pledge, then signs up for a recurring gift intending to pay the pledge?
A: There is no way to apply the recurring gift payments to the pledge. You will need to do one of the following:
- Write off the pledge (either all at once or as the payments are processed)
- Contact the donor and enter credit card or direct debit details to add directly to the pledge so that the pledge payments can be processed directly from the pledge and terminate the recurring gift.
Q: How to treat Donor Advised Funds (DAF)?
A: The donor has already received a tax credit for this gift (when the DAF was created). You should thank them for directing these funds to you, but they should not receive a tax receipt from your organization. Hard Credit/Soft Credit Options:
1. HC - DAF (the name of the Fund)
- SC - the individual
- No receipt needed
2. HC - the individual
- No receipt
Q: How to treat Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD)?
A: When a donor gives directly from their IRA as a QCD, that gift is not tax deductible as a charitable contribution, but the donor still needs a written acknowledgment because their taxable income is affected by the amount of the transaction.
Q: What to do for gifts with benefits received (such as a meal, shirt, concert tickets, etc.)?
A: You should reduce the value of the benefits received from the total gift to generate the receipt amount of the total gift. You can set up benefit fields and link them directly to the gift or use the reference or a custom field to indicate what items were provided in connection to the gift. Follow IRS guidelines for benefits and receipt amount.
Q: What to do for stock gifts?
A: The Gift Date should always be the date that the donor transferred the stock to your organization. Entering issuer and number of shares is critical for proper receipting. Sale Date and Amount are useful for tracking what was deposited and matching to your GL.
Q: How to handle Credit Card/ACH/Direct Debit Fees?
A: Example of a $50 gift:
- Complete Cover (Blackbaud pays) Organization receives $50. If the donor covered fees, that amount is not tax deductible as it goes to Blackbaud directly. Gift should be entered as $50 and the donor should be receipted for $50.
- Donor Cover (Donor pays) If the donor opts to cover the fees, the organization will receive $50 (but the donor paid approximately $51.50). If the donor did NOT cover the fees, the organization will receive $48.50 while the donor paid $50). In either case, the donor can claim their entire transaction amount as a tax-deductible gift so the gift amount should be the full value of the transaction.
- The Fees portion can be set to a separate Fund in webview if that helps with reconciliation for Finance.
- My Organization pays The organization will receive $48.50 while the donor paid $50). The donor can claim their entire transaction amount as a tax-deductible gift so the gift amount should be the full value of the transaction.
For a full differentiation regarding Blackbaud’s options, see this guide.
Raiser's Edge NXT Gift Corrections
Type of change:
Adjustment
When used:
Allows changes to gift amount, fund, campaign, appeal, pledge payment schedule.
Tracks changes for reports and communicates to GL in posting process
Cannot be imported in RE7 import, but available in some 3rd party import tools.
Type of change:
Amendment
When used:
- Allows changes to recurring gifts for amount, subtype, fund, campaign, appeal, schedule.
- Changes all future payments for the recurring gift, but not past.
- Can be imported in RE7 import for large numbers of Amendments (such as changing the Campaign/Appeal at the end of a Fiscal Year).
Type of change:
Move to another constituent record
When used:
Only available in webview, under Edit on the gift record.
Be sure to communicate with Finance as this does not leave a trail in RE or send anything to FE via post. Users may want to add a historical gift note explaining the situation.
Type of change:
Change to Gift Date when gift is posted
Two options for correction:
- Adjust the gift to $0 and leave a note explaining the change. Re-enter the gift with the corrected gift date.
- Un-post the gift and change the gift date. Change the Post status to posted on the gift so the gift will not be posted to the GL a second time. Ensure that your Finance team is notified of the change.
Type of change:
Apply Cash/One-Time or Stock/Property, etc. gift to pledge
Two options for correction:
- Adjust the gift to $0 and leave a note explaining the change. Re-enter the gift and link the new gift to pledge.
- Un-post the gift and link to apply to the pledge. Change the Post status to posted on the gift so the gift will not be posted to the GL a second time. Ensure that your Finance team is notified of the change.
Type of change:
Move pledge payment from one pledge to another
Two options for correction:
- Adjust the gift to $0 and leave a note explaining the change. Re-enter the gift and link the new gift to the correct pledge.
- Un-post the gift and link to apply to the correct pledge. Change the Post status to posted on the gift so the gift will not be posted to the GL a second time. Ensure that your Finance team is notified of the change.
Type of change:
Apply Cash/One-Time or Stock/Property, etc. to recurring gift
Two options for correction:
- Adjust the gift to $0 and leave a note explaining the change. Re-enter the gift and link the new gift to the recurring gift.
- Un-post the gift and link to apply to the recurring gift. Change the Post status to posted on the gift so the gift will not be posted to the GL a second time. Ensure that your Finance team is notified of the change.
Type of change:
Change to Gift Type (from Cash to Stock/Property, etc.)
Adjust the gift to $0 and leave a note explaining the change. Re-enter the gift with the corrected gift type.
Type of change:
Link gift to event, membership or proposal/opportunity
Gifts can be linked to events, membership and proposals/opportunities even when they are posted.
Type of change:
Refunding a transaction
This isn’t done directly in Raiser’s Edge NXT. If you use BBMS, see this knowledgebase article. Otherwise, you will need to do this in your payment processor or in conjunction with your finance team. Once refunded, you should use an adjustment to reduce the gift by the amount refunded.
Need More Help with Blackbaud Gifts Management?
With decades of experience working with non-profit organizations of all sizes, we understand the complexities of non-profit gift management. Let’s make sure your gift management processes are working for you, not against you. Contact NPact today to get started.
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