Blackbaud eTapestry

Pros

eTapestry is a great entry-level CRM tool that will help you familiarize with how the whole concept works. My organization used eTapestry for quite some time and it functioned really well. I really enjoyed the Query Builder tool and folders to keep all your queries organized!

Cons

Once my organization started to grow more, we needed a tool that could handle the bigger volume.

Pros

Everything about this software is exactly what we need. We can communicate with our supporters in many ways, prepare and run queries on any field, create and use reporting features at any time and essentially document and track all donor information. This is all done with ease and offers flexibility.

Cons

We wish there were a few more features as it integrates with social media and email addresses. We have found that the accuracy is not as strong as we would like it to be.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Blackbaud eTapestry

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Blackbaud eTapestry

Pros

Automatically search for duplicate accounts when creating a new account.

Cons

Not easy to figure out how to run reports/queries, and need to pay couple thousands dollars a year to just learn how to use those features. In addition, new fees were added during our three-year contract that we have to pay.

Pros

We use etapestry and justgiving and have found it to be very useful. We have been able to easily link fundraising campaigns, event registration and forms to our website and then track information.

Cons

Extracting information can be somewhat challenging - once you learn their programing and how to create a query it becomes easier. They do provide a very large training database and a chat room for help.

Pros

I love the ease of functionality in finding and creating accounts. I like the connection with Blackbaud Merchant Services for an all in one platform.

Cons

The start-up was a little too long and delayed our business plan. Also, queries and forms are not necessarily intuitive.

Pros

It was easy to use and track giving and donors over time.

Cons

Grant tracking could be a little easier to navigate.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Blackbaud eTapestry

Pros

It worked for when I needed it to work. But my organization has now outgrown the system.

Cons

Cusomer support and outdated database. Not user friendly.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Pros

Not much. There aren't many pros that I have seen compared to other softwares.

Cons

The biggest problem with eTap is reports. Running the most basic of donor reports is incredibly unintuitive and convoluted.

Pros

I like that all of our data is stored in this software and that it is easy to quickly access for my whole team.

Cons

Sometimes the software gets bogged down with users and runs very slow. The updates do take some getting used to as well.

Pros

First of all the price for our organization is fantastic, after shopping around for a new database management system, we have found nothing close to what we are currently paying. eTap has decent functionality after you learn how to use it; once you master the basics, it has the flexibility to store just about any data that you need as long as you are willing to get a little creative in how you organize the data. The ability for the data base to be directly integrated into our website and Quickbooks is also a great feature that minimizes potential lost memberships and corrupted data.

Cons

The hands down most frustrating part of the program is that you can't have multiple tabs open within the same browser with eTap. In order to have eTap open on two different tabs, you must use a different web browser and a different login ID, which becomes a complete and total pain. It is also not the easiest program to learn and train new people on. Often we want volunteers to work on data management for us but that is really only possible if the volunteer or intern is with us for at least three months so we an spend the time training them on the program.

Pros

Easy to create user defined fields to fit the needs of my organization. eTapestry is a great tool for volunteer tracking, event tracking, donation tracking, and in-Kind tracking. Having one tool for all of those categories is very helpful.

Cons

Queries and Reports are not the easiest to pull. I know that the queries can do so much more - but they are the hardest to manipulate to get the information needed for reporting purposes. Also - it would be nice to have some way to assign users their city specific donors. As we are in multiple cities - the user access is very limited. It is almost either they can see and do everything or not do anything. There needs to be more user categories. And as we expand to other cities - I don't feel like eTapestry grows enough with us.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Pros

Data conversion from ResultsPlus was excellent. The specialist worked with us to make sure all the data was correct and matched or improved upon how it was organized. The process also helps you become familiar with the software. So, once completed, we were able to start using without much disruption.
We've been successfully using it for over a year. Overall, it is user-friendly, with great support. Our account manager is wonderful and helps with issues/questions; checks up from time to time. Online resources/tutorial great and help navigate some of the learning curves with reports, mailings, etc.

Cons

We got an odd impersonal e-mail with a link to view our invoice.It would be nice to be able to pull it up online via our Blackbaud Account Site. Support was slow when we had a question with invoice and not easy to manage/review.
Not the best for e-newsletters - it's a little clunky to design with limited templates. We stayed with Constant Contact, but there are good integration features with eTapestry.

Pros

It's cheap if you're a small non profit.

Cons

Blackbaud will sell you on products but won't deliver. Don't expect to get much out of eTap other than a headache

Pros

Ease-of-use was the best component of the system. When I was hired on by my organization in 2014, they had been using the system for a number of years already. People knew what tools they need in the system, but did not invest in further exploration of resources until I arrived. It was fairly intuitive though.

Cons

The pricing was based around Contacts/Accounts which was not good for us as we have had rapid growth. Moreover, at the time, it did not integrate well with other systems we were purchasing. Our goals was to build out a seem less network where our data flowed in a way that made sense from Accounting to Marketing. eTapestry would have left us with few options.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Pros

It has a very comprehensive set of features.

Cons

More expensive than many of the newer packages. Not as easy to use as other packages. Requires expensive 3rd party software in order to integrate with Quickbooks.

Pros

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!

Cons

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.

Pros

I cannot think of a single thing.

Cons

Everything.

Pros

eTapestry is an economical donor data base that is provided through Blackbaud systems. It is a great price for all the features and functions it has. It can store and track all data on donors both individual and grants.

Cons

While the software and database can track grants it is easier and more useful to track individual donors. Matching funds are a bit tricky to input and events are another feature which are a bit tedious and difficult to track.

Pros

Generating letters off of each donation. Being able to run queries. I like the address updates and a lot of the user defined fields.

Cons

Way too many layers/dynamics. Next to impossible to figure out many of the compound queries without help.

Pros

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

Cons

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?

Pros

The customer support it used to have when we first started a couple of years ago. Now it seems as if no one knows much on chat.

Cons

The customer support on chat is terrible. All they do is send you links to read. They don't seem to understand.

Pros

We like the tiered permissions (security groups) function, which set this system apart from many other offerings in the donor management arena. The customer service has always been great when we've had problems. The reporting capabilities of eTapestry are absolutely incredible.

Cons

The software is not always intuitive, and it's only easy to use after lots of time has been spent learning its layout and functionalities.

Pros

Once trained, it was pretty easy to document new donors in the system

Cons

Lots of steps on running reports; makes it difficult to stay focused

Pros

The software had a lot going for it because it had all the bells and whistles that you want, including ability to find out someones net worth, donations at other places, etc. The plus side about it was that you could easily put someone into the system and instantly send them a thank you email without more than a few clicks.

Cons

It was very difficult to run reports as there were so many moving parts to get them to come together.

Pros

On the surface, the features are hard to beat. Their reputation through Blackbaud would lead you to believe they are a top notch organization. Their sales efforts and people are really good...attentive and always available.

Cons

This company is resting on a PAST reputation and on the coat tails of Blackbaud. As a previous Director of Account Services at two major fundraising agencies serving domestic and international nonprofits, I felt I had selected the best company for my nonprofit's fundraising soluction. BIG mistake! They know NOTHING of project management in the set up of a new client. They don't provide a schedule of deliverables and who provides what when. They do not do wire frames on their website or eCommerce forms so you don't know what you are getting. At every turn they tell you they will charge you more if you change anything. They start NOTHING until they have EVERYTHING they want but give the client NOTHING to see what we will be getting from them. THEN they take 6 weeks and don't tell you a date when anything will be delivered. When you get it, you can be completely surprised because you have no idea of what they will be delivering because they did no layouts to have you approve.

Pros

eTapestry has lots of power to get things done. It is cloud-based, so there is no need for the user to worry about upgrading the software or backing up the data. Queries are very easy to produce, and exporting the results in reports, PDFs or excel is a snap. You can design your own forms so that your website can talk to eTapestry easily. eTapestry works equally well on desktop computers, tablets and cellphones. This is very helpful for fundraisers who are on the road.

Cons

If you are downsizing from a more robust package such as Raiser's Edge, be prepared for a loss of flexibility - for example, queries in eTapestry lack some of the power that Raiser's Edge has. When comparing what you get "out of the box" with some other solutions, you will find that in order to keep costs down for the average user, eTapestry is very basic. To add in eCommerce, donor logins, advanced email, etc these are available, but as an add-on pricing. This can make it more expensive than other products that have all these features to start with, so you should be aware of what your real needs are before committing to eTapestry.

Pros

It can be customized though it is a little bit of a learning curve since it is set up more for businesses and harder to get things figured out for non profit.

Cons

The complexity of trying to make quieries to then have to create reports and the amount of time that is lost trying to figure out what one of the many steps made it not yield desired results.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Pros

Entire system is very easy to learn no matter the experience level
Managing donor records and online gifts is very easy
Reporting and query tools are easy to use even for those without a lot of experience building queries
clean, user-friendly interface
excellent customer support
simple data entry & gift processing
online giving pages import gifts directly to database, helping teams avoid manual entry & the pages can be reskinned to match your website design
easy to mass import records

Cons

expensive, especially having to pay for Advanced emails & paying an hourly fee for minor changes
eTapestry support must be requested for an array of minor tweaks to giving pages for example and it usually takes several days to up to 2 weeks to get changes finished
communications templates are inflexible and look extremely dated, often the preview of a communication you see on your screen is not how it looks at delivery, very limited analytics tools and delivery/testing options
as far as I know there is no ability to export from eTapestry to QuickBooks which means gift processing team must reenter gifts manually into QuickBooks
while it has the ability to provide personal fundraising pages, they are highly inflexible and the layouts look so dated they are almost not worth using

Pros

I like the data it stores about our donors and the various ways we are able to report on the information,

Cons

I find the donor facing event platforms very dated and confusing.

Pros

Very recently, I had my first positive experience with phone support. Hopefully, that is an indicator that eTapestry is beefing up their customer service. We will know more as the holiday rush happens.

Cons

Since the beginning, customer support has been abysmal. Just recently, it has improved, but it took three years. Last year, during the holidays, I waited no less than an hour on hold each time and ended up hanging up because I did not have that kind of time to wait on the phone. One time, I waited an hour and a half, and when the closing time came, instead of taking my call, eTapestry simply disconnected me, and I pay extra for phone support! I gave up and was never able to reach support last year during the holiday season. This year's holiday season is just starting, so I have to see if anything has improved.

Also, when we set up our account there was zero project management. They did not establish our needs, and as a result, set up the database as they saw fit. We had problems with defined fields (ones they established and ones they did not), and any changes would have cost a fortune. So we were stuck with what they did, which requires a lot of additional data input after the fact. There was also zero personal training. They provided videos to watch. That was not an effective way to train because they use their own terminology, and when you had questions to ask, you couldn't ask because you were watching a video. Hands-on training is a must! We started with a customer support person who was not in tune with our needs and was later switched to a group and lost one-on-one support.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Pros

Accessibility and ease of data entry. I also liked the templates that were available for newsletters, emails and etc.

Cons

Creating reports was not user friendly.

Pros

It's almost infinitely customizable and is pretty powerful. If you know how to use it, you can track and report on really good data.

Cons

The software is stuck in the 1990s in terms of its design and technology. It can be very slow and is terribly unintuitive for a new user.

Pros

At first I loved eTapestry for its great support and a la carte options. It is definitely a robust system.

Not so much anymore since they are now part of Blackbaud. They now bundle options and railroad agencies into long contracts to get single features that used to be available a la carte.

Cons

All of the above, plus their communications tool is not the best. It would be better if they integrated with a marketing tool like Constant Contact and included that in their packages. The maneuvering through the system is clunky and not at all intuitive.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Pros

Integration with online giving is seamless. Manual entry of gifts is easy and straightforward. It's easy to export data.

Cons

No one in our small organization uses this software regularly enough to feel proficient, and it isn't intuitive. I waste a lot of time trying to get data out of the software. Reports have to be rebuilt every time you run them, and there is no built-in year against year to date report, which seems like an essential to me. When I was given instructions on how to accomplish this, I couldn't believe the number of steps it involved. I find myself spending a lot of time running queries, then exporting them to Excel to manipulate the data to prepare something I can share with the ED and Board. I know there are users who love this software, but it isn't working well for us.

Pros

The interface is easy to use and the donation processing and web forms functionality is pretty intuitive. If you haven't used a donor database before, this is a good beginning system. It has all of the basic functions you need, is fairly easy to use and fees are on a sliding scale.

Cons

Their reporting and querying system is not great. You can get what you need, but it seems to be overly complicated and often requires two or three steps where other systems can do it in one. They are making improvements on this, but the essential architecture now is the same as it was when I first used this system in 2008, so I am not sure how much they can effectively change.

Pros

The software at its basic form works well with little maintenance.

Cons

The customer service is extremely unprofessional and you have to make sure you push to speak to someone who knows what they are doing.

Pros

Basic tools are easy to learn, especially as a first-time user. Saving attachments to records. Tracking soft credits; linking soft credits to hard credits. Ability to process credit cards and post directly in data records.

Cons

Many past development staff led to variations of historical data inputs--this is where the customization makes tasks difficult. Queries can only do AND and OR, so it can take multiple queries to get to the data needed. Can't delete accounts once a profile has been created. Can't undo merged accounts. Can't pull direct report on numbers of donor visits, donor gifts, etc (donor-focused data). Can't designate a special location for detailed donor visit reports (eTap account "Notes" isn't efficient).

Pros

This software allows you to track, research and analyze donors. That means you can project revenue, cultivate more effectively and have a better communicative relationship with your donors.

Cons

In non-profit, development professionals use many different types of software. I see eTapestry as the entry level software with an eventual graduation to Raiser's Edge.

Pros

eTapestry is probably suited for larger organizations and is much more than we need. There are a ton of reports available and it's easy to keep track of different campaigns. It also has excellent tools for event management, like tracking ticket sales, sending invites, etc.

Cons

I found the program a bit overwhelming to use as a new fundraiser who also worked by myself. If I had a team, or someone to train me it may have been a bit easier. It is not very intuitive. Also, the training videos are not included, which is a big negative since the program is so expensive to begin with. I did not find this program very simple for receipting donations as they came in with monthly receipts as well as year-end receipts. It was a tedious process. The customer support team was not very helpful. We ended up going in a different direction with our business.

Pros

Everything is a pro when it comes to eTapestry. The layout is very user intuitive and easy to understand. You can truly dive in and really get a huge bang for you budget almost immediately.

Cons

The only con I can think of for eTapestry is that there isn't a mobile app for the software. I would love to be able to check information when not at my desk.

Pros

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.

Cons

It's pretty pricey for smaller not for profits.

Pros

Customer service

Cons

Old design, clunky, not intuitive.

Pros

It was initially free through TechSoup and we didn't have a software package so I thought we would try it.

Cons

The reports function was awful. I never did understand how to generate reports. It also was more technical than I had the aptitude for.