Blackbaud, Inc. - Charleston, South Carolina

Rebecca R.

I cannot imagine a worse company to work with. I've been stuck with them for 7 years and finally breaking free. Their accounting software simply does not work. Besides the fact that you can't trust the ability to simply log in, you also can't trust the information in reports. At one point, the same report run by 2 users was millions of dollars off, and when a support ticket was opened, the response was that they already knew about the problem and had been working on it since the prior day. There was no outgoing communication. Had the colleague and I not coincidentally been chatting about it, we may not have realized it and actually sent it out to the governing board - with millions in error, and it didn't occur to Blackbaud to tell us?! You also can't trust the idea that any portion of the software will work on any given day, or the idea that they have customer service. I can't tell you how many support tickets I've had over the years that consisted of literal weeks of back and forth in which multiple different reps would not be able to understand the question, offer no resolution whatsoever, let a few more weeks go by in silence while it was "being escalated" and then close the ticket with no further information provided. I get that a software help desk is not going to understand high level accounting, but you can't pretend to provide support if you have no one who understands the basic needs of accounting software. If you value your sanity or your time at all (not to mention your money), you'd be better off with paper and pencil than this piece of trash.

Zak F.

Dear Fellow Nonprofit Executives,

I wanted to share a cautionary note about my recent experience with a particular SaaS company Blackbaud and their product eTapestry. Initially, their technology appeared to be a valuable asset for small nonprofits like ours. However, the experience has been far from what was promised.

Firstly, the company demands an extensive time commitment upfront – about 20 hours of coursework – just to get started with their product. This is a significant ask, especially for small organizations with limited resources. But more frustratingly, even after completing these courses, the platform itself is so intricate that you essentially have to start learning all over again.

Furthermore, their billing practices have been highly problematic. Despite multiple cancellations on our end, we have been continually invoiced for unclear and seemingly arbitrary charges. This has been a recurring issue over the last three years and has caused not just financial strain but also considerable administrative hassle.

Given these experiences, I strongly advise fellow executives in the nonprofit sector to carefully reconsider before engaging with this company. There are other, more user-friendly and transparent options available that may better suit the needs and capacities of small organizations like ours.

Warm regards,

Zak F.

I recently had an extremely disappointing experience with this SaaS company. While their technology initially seemed promising, especially for a small nonprofit like ours, the reality was far from satisfactory. To begin with, they required an excessive 20 hours of coursework just to use their product. Even after investing this time, we found ourselves having to relearn the platform due to its complex nature, resulting in a significant waste of time.

Moreover, their billing practices were troubling. Despite multiple cancellations on our part, we continued to receive unexpected invoices for charges that seemed unjustified. This has been a recurring issue over the last three years, causing considerable frustration.

Based on my experience, I strongly advise others to be cautious and consider alternative solutions to avoid the headaches we've endured with this company.

Steve M.

Worked very hard to disengage from this company in a previous role. Posted poor reviews and posted on BBB site - read these comments and recognize the trend. Was sad to see my new company uses a product also owned by Blackbaud for corporate training - sad to see the same problems and hope to see us disengage again soon. Stay clear unless you want to post you own warning one day. ( FYI - maybe my experience is due to the small size of the teams - both companies have less than 2,500 employees - you big guys may be just fine.

Gabriel H.

Probably the worst IT solution for non profits. You absolutely declined from offering decent cost effective solutions to rising up prices, you don´t develop your old solutions and develop only new tools that are 300% per year and it´s what others are doing for significantly less.

And then? And then you decide, uhhh let´s just charge every customer ridiculous annual fee wihout any advance notice. Noo matter if it´s very small non profit or 7 figure business. You have lost our trust.

Your support is terrible, your employees don´t reply to emails, your chat is digged in so you don´t get bother to communicate with customers spending thousands of dollar annualy.

After years of using your services we are done with you.

For the rest of BlackBaud customers wondering where are we going? Aplos.

Aaron K.

It's amazing that this company is still in business with their competitors outperforming them in every single category: Customer Service, usability, new features, mobile-first approach etc. Over-priced and an overall headache of a platform. Stay away... You'll save money and be far more productive with almost any other platform.

Jeremy S.

Not a great company for small nonprofits.

We are a small nonprofit that is based off of one event each year. Our event got canceled because of Covid and our funds are extremely low.

When we were finally able to figure out who our account manager was, they were not helpful at all. We asked if we could just put our account on hold or even cancel it because the payments are going to drain us. The told us there was and we could do.

So instead of giving money to our mission we are paying our monthly fee to Blackbaud.

They also have horrible customer Service.

Tye D.

If anyone is thinking of donating to non-profits through BlackBaud... DON'T. They are incredibly difficult to work with. Before anyone accept donations sent through them, they need to set up an account. There are way too many hoops to jump through. We thought we submitted all the banking information required and they are still not accepting our application. BlackBaud doesn't even have a customer support phone number to call to get assistance. With no exaggeration, we have spent at least 20 hours trying prove that we meet their requirements. We managed to find out the identity of the person who attempted to donate through BlackBaud and he was upset that it took them three months to cut a check. We have wasted too much time trying to get things sorted. We simply refuse to work with them any longer and will reject any donation sent through them.