--- title: "Blackbaud CRM Reviews, Pros and Cons - 2026 Software Advice" description: "Reviews of Blackbaud CRM. Learn how real users rate this software's ease-of-use, functionality, overall quality and customer support. Talk to our advisors to see if Blackbaud CRM is a good fit for you!" source_url: "https://www.softwareadvice.com/marketing/blackbaud-crm-profile/reviews/" page_type: "reviews" language: "en" --- 1 million+ businesses helped. Get advice Get Free Advice [Home](https://www.softwareadvice.com/) / [Nonprofit CRM Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com/category/4788-nonprofit-crm/) / [Blackbaud CRM](https://www.softwareadvice.com/marketing/blackbaud-crm-profile/) / Blackbaud CRM Reviews Software Advice offers objective insights based on verified user reviews and independent product and market research. When our advisors match you to a software provider, we may earn a referral fee. [Overview](https://www.softwareadvice.com/marketing/blackbaud-crm-profile/) Reviews [Alternatives](https://www.softwareadvice.com/marketing/blackbaud-crm-profile/alternatives/) # Blackbaud CRM User Reviews ## Reviews summary - Overall rating: 3.5/5 - Total reviews: 51 ### Secondary ratings - Ease of use: 3.1/5 - Customer support: 3.4/5 - Value for money: 2.9/5 - Functionality: 3.5/5 ### Rating distribution - 5 stars: 13 reviews (25%) - 4 stars: 20 reviews (39%) - 3 stars: 6 reviews (12%) - 2 stars: 3 reviews (6%) - 1 star: 9 reviews (18%) ### Most mentioned pros - This might be a good software for large organizations with a department of accounting folks, but small organizations need to run a different direction. - During the initial presentation, they bragged about how useful they are for small non-profits. - All of our fundraising and grant data is in one place instead of stored in multiple locations we have a more thorough picture of our fundraising goals and performance. ### Most mentioned cons - I didn't like that you could not get real time information and that you could not get reporting right away, however I did like the reports. - BlackBaud send us many threatening letters, and even though our attorney responded, we made a years worth of payments. - Our request for a cancellation of agreement went ignored. ## Blackbaud CRM customer reviews Showing reviews 1-25 of 51 (page 1). ### Keep Your Donors In Line - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Paul V. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Environmental Services - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 12 months - Reviewed: December 2018 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Excellent! It was brought efficiency to the office. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Excellent donor management and donation tracking. #### Cons The vast amount of features can be difficult to learn. --- ### Blackbaud is the gold standard - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: CORINNE A. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: November 2019 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Overall, Blackbaud CRM is the gold standard for non profit fundraising software. It is expensive, but if your organization is large enough to afford it AND if you take the time and resources to train your employees to get the most out of it, you will gain tremendous insight into your donors and constituents. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros We used this software at a previous organization that I worked at. Blackbaud has an incredible amount of reporting functionality. You can manipulate data any way you can imagine. Now that I have worked with other donor databases, I've come to appreciate in an even deeper way how much functionality Blackbaud's programs have. #### Cons It takes a fair amount of experience and training to get the most out of the software, just because it can do SO much! It is fairly user friendly for the basics, but when you are doing advanced query building and importing large amounts of data, you are going to need some technical assistance. But, they are pretty good about providing it. --- ### SAVE YOUR MONEY! - Overall rating: 1/5 - Reviewer: Lisa P. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: August 2024 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered During the initial presentation, they bragged about how useful they are for small non-profits. LIES! In the three years of use, I became farther and farther behind. Our contract started in May but we didn't even start using it until October. So much training was needed, and I'm relatively smart when it comes to software, but I needed unbelievable amounts of training. This might be a good software for large organizations with a department of accounting folks, but small organizations need to run a different direction. Look at Araize, they have a fantastic product! #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 1/5 - Value for money: 1/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 1/5 #### Pros The best part was the ability to create recurring entries. That is, until it was taken away with the switch to web only use. With over 200 recurring entries every month, it's a drain on my time and energy. #### Cons Customer support is the WORST. They must hire random people off the street. In three years, I think I talked to one person who knew anything about accounting. And don't get me started on pricing - a 25% increase after the initial contract, which was supposed to convert to an annual fee, but they are claiming it's a 3-year. Nobody in my organization signed a three year contract. Not when their software is NOT the best for small organizations. --- ### Very Robust CRM - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Verified Reviewer - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 501-1000 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: March 2019 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. One thing that stood out is that the UI is near intuitive, nice to look at and the data is well supported by a dedicated team at Blackbaud. I was able to pull reports on data quickly and easily for other users. Training is pretty seamless as far as getting users acclimated into the system. Though we didn't like the out-of-the-box functionalities, we understood that we wanted some customization, which was a bit pricey for our company. Once when we did get the essential functionalities edited, we were quite happy with the results. Customer support is great at quickly responding in helping us with issues. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros Easy flow in adding donors, easy flow in taking donations, pretty UI, intuitive use and workflow. Reporting functions are easy to edit and create. #### Cons Licensing and customization can be pricey. If you have your own developer to improve functionality, you may not get access to test environments or else you're paying for their developer for customizations. --- ### Great way to raise funds! - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Verified Reviewer - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: December 2018 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. We are tracking our constituents and raising money by building relationships. We could not do that without this system. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 4/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros This software is designed for nonprofits and the the features are incredibly helpful in maintaining and recording information about our constituents. #### Cons Some of Blackbaud's systems look dated and you have to upgrade (more $) for a 2018 look. However, the functionality is efficient and effective. The cost is also a bit high as compared to other cloud-based CRMs. --- ### If you don't have it and are considering this product keep on looking! - Overall rating: 2/5 - Reviewer: Jacqueline V. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Entertainment - Company size: 51-200 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: July 2023 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered It is so frustrating. Customer service is an absolute joke #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 1/5 - Value for money: 1/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 1/5 #### Pros It is online and you can attach backup. I like that you can upload a budget. #### Cons The customer support is pitiful and there is no one to holistically assist when you have a problem. Don't buy the line you can call one company for all your needs because it works like 20 companies all pointing their finger at each other and it is impossible to resolve problems. I am highly disatisfied. #### Reasons for choosing Blackbaud CRM Sales pitches that promised excellent customer service and increased efficiency - don't believe the lie! #### Reasons for switching to Blackbaud CRM Wanted an online solution and was promised switching to a unified approach would be holistic and streamline operations. Lies! It really doesn't I had better results for less money with my previous solutions. only thing better is that this system is online. --- ### A Decent SIS - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Verified Reviewer - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Education Management - Company size: 51-200 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: October 2019 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. It has been lukewarm at best. When everything works it's ok. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 3/5 - Value for money: 2/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 3/5 #### Pros I like that it connects all of our facets of our school under one umbrella so each user only has one login to all the information they need. #### Cons Their customer service is dreadful and slow. It is impossible to speak with anyone from tech support when problems arise. --- ### CRM with some hiccups - Overall rating: 2/5 - Reviewer: Verified Reviewer - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 501-1000 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: September 2020 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Blackbaud CRM is a fine starter CRM software, but there are some administrative items that could use some work. Mainly duplicate entries and their search feature. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 2/5 - Customer support: 3/5 - Functionality: 2/5 #### Pros I like that CRM can easily and quickly talk to other programs that we end up using. It's a one stop shop for donor stewardship. #### Cons There isa duplication issue on Blackbaud that means sometimes 1 donor can show up 10+ times, and it's more work on the back end to get it to be removed. Search features can use some work. --- ### Probably the best CRM for large schools - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Verified Reviewer - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Real Estate - Company size: 201-500 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: August 2018 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 3/5 - Value for money: 3/5 - Customer support: 3/5 - Functionality: 3/5 #### Pros It is more open the its closest competitors allowing for the possibility of in house IT customization. However this are not as upgrade-able as the company says they should be. #### Cons Not a mature product, still has may growing pains to be worked out. --- ### CRM software for rec donations - Overall rating: 3/5 - Reviewer: Manny P. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 1001-5000 employees - Product usage: Used other for less than 2 years - Reviewed: January 2019 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered If your business is receiving donations this is a great product to use and keep your customers updated daily. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 1/5 - Value for money: 3/5 - Customer support: 3/5 - Functionality: 3/5 #### Pros It's an ideal software for receiving donations. The company has done a lot in the past few years on listening to their customers on what they want and need. And great way to keep in touch with customers. #### Cons There's a learning curve and difficult for new users who are not tech savy. Should be more user friendly. --- ### Blackbaud CRM difficult to use - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Dayna W. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Education Management - Company size: 51-200 employees - Product usage: Used weekly for more than 2 years - Reviewed: October 2019 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Blackbaud CRM is a clunky program. The queries are a very frustrating part of this program. Also the customer service on this specific product is really lacking. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 3/5 - Value for money: 3/5 - Customer support: 4/5 - Functionality: 3/5 #### Pros The linking options for couples, and linking for parents to children was very impressive. It was fairly simple to add constituents. #### Cons Importing accurately was a struggle I think mostly because you only had a certain amount of fields to use. Also pulling "Queries" or reports, was frightening. I needed classes to just understand how to pull accurately. We are using a new CRM software that imports very accurately and quickly. The reporting is much easier and more comprehensive and I love the new feature of adding a new field to any section of the software any time you want. This makes reporting and collecting information so much more simple! --- ### Blackbaud Review - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Kayla S. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for less than 2 years - Reviewed: July 2020 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. It's been awesome! We love Blackbaud and have had a great experience. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros Blackbaud has so many awesome features that our previous CRM did not have. We have loved it. They are still developing their web view version which is primarily what I use, but their database version has all of the features and can do so much. #### Cons I look forward to the day that the whole system will be housed online. Sometimes it's frustrating to switch back and forth between the database and the web view. --- ### Crm for fundraisers - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Verified Reviewer - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 501-1000 employees - Product usage: Used weekly for less than 2 years - Reviewed: September 2019 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Overall, blackbaud CRM is a good application that took me a little bit of time to use its full functionality. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros I like that crm can easily track interactions with top donors and fundraisers that I meet with on a weekly basis. #### Cons Understanding some of the functionality of crm blackbaud takes some time, it is a little hard to understand/ learn at first. --- ### To complex for us - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Miguel M. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Environmental Services - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used weekly for less than 2 years - Reviewed: November 2019 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Again, we liked it because of its integration with other programs but was too much and overwhelming for us to handle. It would have been nice if it was more user friendly and simpler. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 3/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 4/5 - Functionality: 3/5 #### Pros We liked how integrated the system could be. There were a lot of systems and programs this one could integrate with and had many options when it came to presentation of material. #### Cons The biggest thing we did not like about this system was the reporting aspect of it. It was overwhelming for us. It was similar to that of creating formulas in excel. Some people like more complex systems and options but others just need it for simple tasks. It would have been nice if the whole reporting and field section aspect of it was more user friendly. --- ### Great Software! - Overall rating: 5/5 - Reviewer: Simon S. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Education Management - Company size: 51-200 employees - Product usage: Used daily for free trial - Reviewed: November 2019 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Very good. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros Used a lot in schools for a variety of reasons. #### Cons A bit confusing to learn and complex for your average user. #### Reasons for switching to Blackbaud CRM Cost. --- ### Good for a non-profit organization with many donors - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Verified Reviewer - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used other for less than 12 months - Reviewed: August 2019 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros This is good software for keep a database of donors and their contact details with this software. Learning how to use the software is easy. Even less tech-savvy people should not have issues using it. #### Cons I did not notice any major problems when using the software. --- ### Anything but bbec - Overall rating: 2/5 - Reviewer: Brian B. - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 501-1000 employees - Product usage: Used weekly for more than 2 years - Reviewed: December 2018 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Negative. Sales force, every action, ROi all offer better solutions. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 1/5 - Value for money: 1/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 3/5 #### Pros Pretty full feature set, good community of users. #### Cons Terrible interface, terrible service, difficult to implement, closed ecosystem, expensive. --- ### Preferred Blackbaud - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Verified Reviewer - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Fund-Raising - Company size: 10000+ employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: April 2026 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. I liked Blackbaud and would use it again over Salesforce because all the information was in one place. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 5/5 - Value for money: 5/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 5/5 #### Pros I thought Balckbaud was easier to use than Salesforce. I thought everything was nice in one place and easy to use. #### Cons I didn't like that you could not get real time information and that you could not get reporting right away, however I did like the reports. --- ### BlackBaud is a hard NO - Overall rating: 1/5 - Reviewer: Jack N. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used monthly for less than 2 years - Reviewed: February 2025 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered Our request for a cancellation of agreement went ignored. They seem to have no compassion for a small nonprofit struggling to pay its bills. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 1/5 - Value for money: 1/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 1/5 #### Pros Nothing at all! One of our board members entered into an agreement without board authorization. When we try to undo this agreement, they came at us with their lawyer. #### Cons One of our board members signed up and left our board. He was not authorized to enter into disagreement so we tried to cancel it with our attorney. We’re a small nonprofit and never use the platform. BlackBaud send us many threatening letters, and even though our attorney responded, we made a years worth of payments. We had numerous request for cancellation ignored, and as of today they’re still trying to collect. #### Reasons for switching to Blackbaud CRM Because Pledge is free, easy to use and totally geared towards nonprofits --- ### Great if you put in the work! - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Verified Reviewer - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 201-500 employees - Product usage: Used weekly for less than 2 years - Reviewed: July 2021 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. This has been a great tool for tracking grants for us. Before we just tracked this information in a multi-tab excel workbook. Taking advantage of this part of Blackbaud has had a huge benefit to us. All of our fundraising and grant data is in one place instead of stored in multiple locations we have a more thorough picture of our fundraising goals and performance. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Value for money: 3/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros Blackbaud CRM is has a lot of useful tools for fundraising, donor management, and grant writing. We have used this product for several years and it has been great tool for our company for the past 2. We learned after the first year if we didn't really learn the product and spend time watching the online and tutorials from the company then this product was not worth the money. The tutorials and modules are very helpful for making the most of the product. The price is worth it if you commit to learning and using tit to it's full capacity. The customer service is always great and reps are very helpful. #### Cons You have to put time in on the front end to learn the product or you will most not take advantage of all the software has to offer. It is not hard to use once you learn but the software is not the most intuitive so you have to learn as opposed to just jumping it in and things being easy to figure out naturally. #### Reasons for choosing Blackbaud CRM The customer service was exceptional and that did not end once we signed on with the company. We receive excellent customer service from Blackbaud any time we reach out and that is very valuable. --- ### Avoid at all costs - Overall rating: 1/5 - Reviewer: Verified Reviewer - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 2-10 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: March 2023 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 1/5 - Customer support: 1/5 - Functionality: 1/5 #### Pros The sales team did a great presentation but after implementation support and customer service is awful. #### Cons Customer service and support teams are horrible, training is complex for a non-profit with volunteers and keeping data current and relevant is time-consuming and archaic. #### Reasons for switching to Blackbaud CRM Help grow a non-profit and increase fundraising --- ### Robust CRM platform, but feels overcomplicated and outdated at times - Overall rating: 3/5 - Reviewer: Verified Reviewer - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 501-1000 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: March 2024 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Generally good, but it takes some time to get used to the platform and its quirks and inefficiencies #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 3/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros Tons of features and pretty good at being customizable, generally intuitive point-and-click #### Cons It is not very efficient in terms of how many clicks it takes to do certain tasks, and it could be updated to not feel like something from 1998 --- ### Review Blackbaud - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Tara M. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Higher Education - Company size: 501-1000 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: August 2023 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. i find it to be a very useful tool. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 4/5 - Functionality: 4/5 #### Pros It stores so much data about a constituent. #### Cons It is sometime tough to locate datathat I need. --- ### Powerful tool for the Right Organization! - Overall rating: 4/5 - Reviewer: Adrienne G. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Non-Profit Organization Management - Company size: 11-50 employees - Product usage: Used daily for more than 2 years - Reviewed: December 2019 - Review source details: This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you. Blackbaud CRM has given us a baseline for what to look for in a software. It has a lot of features and functionality that can be adapted for an organization. #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 3/5 - Value for money: 4/5 - Customer support: 5/5 - Functionality: 3/5 #### Pros Blackbaud CRM is a robust system. Constituent profiles allow for you to collect a wealth of information about your constituents and use it to analyze, communicate, and solicit donations or sell your products. You can not only collect biographical information, you can also upload media, create action tracks (work flows), record giving history, etc. You can also add custom attributes for anything that is not out of the box. There is a lot of support available for blackbaud products and a knowledgeable support team dedicated to answering questions and troubleshooting. #### Cons Software is a little clunky at times, you have to use it as it was intended or create workarounds to make things work. Software is pricey for a non-profit. Learning curve can be high for new users. When it comes to Membership, which is a big part of our business, the functionality is basic. --- ### Broken login management and frustratingly confusing terms - Overall rating: 1/5 - Reviewer: Raghavendra R. - Verified reviewer: Yes - Industry: Computer Software - Company size: 10000+ employees - Product usage: Used monthly for less than 2 years - Reviewed: February 2024 - Review source details: This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered #### Ratings breakdown - Ease of use: 1/5 - Functionality: 3/5 #### Pros I'm a customer of another company called Russian School of Math (RSM). They use Blackbaud as their payment provider. It's a nightmare for me whenever I need to pay RSM #### Cons 1. When I register a new class I get a new “family” id. What??? I’m not buying a new class not a family! 1. Can you fix your terminology? This is extremely confusing 2. I've to go to one website for registration (parents.russianschool.com) and another website (parent.blackbaud.com) for payment. Third one parent.smarttution.com not sure what it is 3. Even within the payment website, there are multiple school accounts? I expect one login for the company not one for each of its branch. 4. What is Blackbaud and why should I deal/learn about that when I’m doing business with RSM? Can you hide your implementation details from users 5. Blackbaud's password policy is too strong ## More reviews [Next reviews](https://www.softwareadvice.com/marketing/blackbaud-crm-profile/reviews/?page=2) --- Blackbaud CRM Reviews, Pros and Cons - 2026 Software Advice