Raiser's Edge
to Salesforce Migration
Migrations · Raiser's Edge to Salesforce
Leaving Blackbaud Raiser's Edge doesn't have to mean losing years of donor history or months of your team's time. We help nonprofits migrate from Raiser's Edge (Classic and NXT) to Salesforce with a clear plan, clean data, and no surprises, scoped against results, not billable hours.
Not sure it's the right time to move? Read on →
Salesforce Consulting Partner
4.88 Star AppExchange Rating
SDVOSB · VOSB · WOSB Certified
in brief
BrightHelm Partners migrates nonprofits from Blackbaud Raiser's Edge (both Classic and NXT) to Salesforce. We handle the full journey: mapping your constituents, gifts, pledges, and history; cleaning the data along the way; rebuilding your reporting; and training your team on the new system. Migrations are scoped against clear deliverables, not open-ended hours, so you know what you're getting and what it costs before we start. BrightHelm is a Salesforce Consulting Partner specializing in nonprofits, and a certified veteran-owned, woman-owned firm.
Why Nonprofits Are Leaving Raiser's Edge
The Frustration
Raiser's Edge has been a fixture in nonprofit fundraising for decades, and if it's still serving your team well, there's no reason to move for the sake of moving. But we hear the same frustrations often enough that they're worth naming plainly because if two or three of these sound familiar, you're not imagining it.
.01 — The Cost Keeps Climbing
Raiser's Edge and Raiser's Edge NXT pricing has pushed many organizations to ask what they're really getting for the spend, especially when eligible nonprofits can access Salesforce through the Power of Us program, which includes ten donated licenses.
.02 — Your Data Feels Locked In
Getting information out of Raiser's Edge in a usable way often takes specialist knowledge, and connecting it to your other tools email, events, finance, your website — is harder than it should be in a modern system.
.03 — Reporting Depends On One Or Two People
If the person who knows how to build the queries leaves, reporting can grind to a halt. That's a fragile place for something as important as donor data.
.04 — The Experience Feels Dated
Newer staff and volunteers often find the interface slow to learn, which shows up in real adoption problems.
.05 — Security Is A Fair Question
Blackbaud has had publicly reported data-security incidents affecting nonprofit clients. For organizations that hold sensitive donor information, that history is a reasonable thing to weigh when deciding where your data should live.
The biggest fear with any migration is that something breaks, that gifts go missing, history gets scrambled, or the team is left stranded on a system nobody understands. Our process is built to prevent exactly that. Every migration moves through five clear phases, and you know where things stand at each one.
How Our Nonprofit Cloud Engagements Are Structured
The Real Win
Data Mapping & Cleanup
We decide exactly where every piece of Raiser's Edge data lands in Salesforce, and we clean as we go merging duplicates, fixing inconsistencies, and leaving behind what you no longer need. This is where a migration becomes a fresh start instead of a copy of the old mess.
2
Discovery & Assessment
We map what's in your Raiser's Edge constituents, gifts, pledges, actions, appeals, custom fields and what matters most to your team. You get a clear plan, timeline, and budget before any data moves. (This is a Discovery engagement; it stands on its own even if you paused here.)
1
Build & Configure
We set up Salesforce around how your team actually works: the fields, reports, and processes that match your fundraising, not a generic template.
3
Migrate & Validate
We move the data in stages and check it carefully against your Raiser's Edge records, so you can trust that gift totals, donor histories, and balances all came across correctly. Nothing goes live until it's verified.
4
Train & Launch
We train your team the way they learn best, launch with support close at hand, and stay with you through the first stretch on the new system. You're never handed the keys and left adrift.
5
The Real Win Isn’t A New Database.
It’s One System.
The Real Win
Here's the thing most migration pitches miss. Moving from Raiser's Edge to Salesforce isn't valuable because Salesforce is newer. It's valuable because it lets you bring everything into one place and that changes what your organization can do.
When your fundraising, programs, communications, and reporting all live in one connected system, you can:
◆ Blackbaud has had publicly reported data-security incidents affecting nonprofit clients. For organizations that hold sensitive donor information, that history is a reasonable thing to weigh when deciding where your data should live.
◆ Clean up and deduplicate as you go, so you start fresh instead of carrying old mess forward.
◆ Turn the work you already do into the reports your funders and board need, automatically, not by hand.
◆ Shape the system around how your team actually works, and automate the busywork over time.
That's the difference between a migration that just relocates your data and one that genuinely moves your organization forward. It's the only kind we're interested in running.
Which Version?
Migrating from Raiser’s Edge NXT vs. Classic
The biggest fear with any migration is that something breaks, that gifts go missing, history gets scrambled, or the team is left stranded on a system nobody understands. Our process is built to prevent exactly that. Every migration moves through five clear phases, and you know where things stand at each one.
We'd rather help you make the right call than talk you into a project. Moving off Raiser's Edge is a real undertaking, and timing matters.
Is It The Right Time To Move?
An Honest Read
Probably the right time if…
✓ The frustrations above are costing you real time and money
✓ Your team is working around the system more than working in it
✓ A renewal is coming up and you're questioning the spend
Probably not, if…
· Your Raiser's Edge setup is running smoothly and your team is happy
· You're in the middle of a major campaign where stability matters most
· You don't have the internal capacity to give a transition the attention it needs right now
If you're not sure, a short conversation will usually make it clear. And if we think you should stay on Raiser's Edge for now, we'll tell you — we've sent organizations away with that advice before.
How it Works
How Our Engagements Are Structured
Discovery
Roadmap before
commitment
A 6–12 week engagement producing a clear AFNP roadmap, architecture, and budget — before you commit to implementation. Understand licensing and true cost of ownership
Projects & Implementations
Full-service
rollouts
Full AFNP configuration and NPSP migrations. Per-deliverable scoping, predictable budgets, on-time go-live with follow-on training and support to drive adoption.
Experts on Demand
Same team,
ongoing expertise
Once AFNP is live, our monthly subscription gives you ongoing certified expertise, no re-scoping, no retainer lock-in.
Why BrightHelm For Your Raiser’s Edge Migration
Our Standards
Nonprofit specialists, not generalists
We work only with mission-driven organizations, so we understand donor data, fundraising operations, and what your board and funders need to see.
Results-defined deliverables
Your migration is scoped against clear outcomes, not open-ended hours. You'll know what you're getting and what it costs before we begin.
We clean as we migrate
We don't just copy your data across; we help you leave the old mess behind, so you start on Salesforce in better shape than you left Raiser's Edge.
We validate before we launch
Gift totals, donor histories, and balances are checked against your Raiser's Edge records. Nothing goes live until it's verified.
We leave you self-sufficient
Documentation and training come standard, so your team can run the new system with confidence, not stay dependent on us.
A certified, trusted team
Salesforce Consulting Partner; certified veteran-owned (SDVOSB, VOSB) and woman-owned (WOSB). Our founder is a 21x Salesforce Certified Architect and Navy veteran.
AFNP Implementation FAQs
Common Questions
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It depends on scope. A focused single-program rollout can run six to eight weeks. A full multi-program organization with NPSP migration and Experience Cloud portals typically runs six to twelve months. Most projects land in between — three to six months. We give you a specific timeline tied to your scope in Discovery, before you commit to the project.
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It depends on your situation, and we'd rather help you think it through than push you to move. Some organizations should migrate this year; others should wait. Our NPSP vs AFNP comparison lays out the decision in detail.
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It depends on scope, and we won't quote a number before we understand it. Every BrightHelm engagement is scoped against deliverables, not hours — you'll see exactly what each line item represents before signing. The Discovery phase produces your specific scope and budget.
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Maybe. Salesforce's Power of Us program gives qualifying nonprofits 10 free licenses, which makes the platform more accessible than people often realize. But "can we afford the licenses" and "can we adopt this well" are two different questions. We'll help you make that call honestly in a Discovery conversation.
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Absolutely and we encourage it. The strongest orgs we've seen pair an in-house admin with a senior consulting partner. Expert on Demand is particularly well-suited to supporting your admin and filling specific skill gaps.
A Salesforce Partner Built for Public Sector Procurement
The Differentiator
BrightHelm Partners is a certified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB), and Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) through the U.S. Small Business Administration, and we're registered on SAM.gov. For agencies with set-aside goals or procurement preferences, those certifications can be the difference between a partner you can easily work with and one you can't.
✓ SDVOSB · VOSB · WOSB through the SBA
✓ Registered on SAM.gov
✓ 4.88 ★ AppExchange Rating
