Blackbaud AP Automation '24: Case Studies, Pricing & Reviews

Blackbaud offers nonprofit fund accounting software, namely Financial Edge NXT. The product offers services in accounting such as:

• Automated bank and credit card reconciliation 
• Automated budget and report creation
• Patented expense submission

Although Financial Edge offers a wide range of solutions in the field of accounting, it needs native software add-ons like Pairsoft for AP automation.

In this article, we will explore these native ERP integrations along with key features offered by Blackbaud and take a glance into case studies and reviews.

Blackbaud AP automation overview & features

Automating the accounts payable process is essential for sustaining ongoing finance automation. The 2023 Ardent Partners report indicates that 41% of businesses have prioritized AP automation in their upcoming plans. The report also emphasizes that 71% of AP leaders believe intelligent systems play a pivotal role in enhancing AP efficiency.

Blackbaud, founded in 2000, steps out as one of the well-known solutions in this demanding market. The revenue of the company is currently ~900$ million.¹ Blackbaud offers Financial Edge NXT for overall accounting solutions such as:

• Bank and credit card reconciliation
• Automated budget and report creation
• Financial activity and position monitoring
• Compliance & audit tracking and more.

Financial Edge NXT is a cloud-based financial management software designed for:

• nonprofit organizations
• educational institutions
• and other mission-driven entities. 

It offers features in accounting, reporting, and compliance needs of these organizations. Key functionalities include:

• fund accounting
• grant management
• and financial reporting

Financial Edge NXT offers integration with other software, such as Blackbaud’s Raiser’s Edge NXT for fundraising. This allows automated data flow between fundraising and financial systems. Another worth-mentioning offerings are: customizable dashboards, and reporting tools.

Native integration add-ons

Sponsored: Native integration add-ons that is built specifically to work within the existing ERP system can enhance the functions of AP automation process. For instance, with Pairsoft, one of the examples of software that offers this integration, you can:

• establish connection through APIs that will allow you to build a workflow between different SaaS applications
• track changes on documents
• export query specific document data to excel
• scan invoices through your mobile phone with OCR
• make structured & unstructured searches

A Sample Case: 

The Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, which comprises various Jewish and social service organizations, faced significant challenges in managing paperwork for fundraisers and donations for over 12,000 constituents. To improve efficiency, the organization utilizes another product of Blackbaud: The Financial Edge™ for accounting and The Raiser’s Edge for pledge management, alongside PairSoft for scanning, storage, and archiving. This integration, particularly the adoption of PairSoft two years ago, transformed their office into a nearly paperless environment, significantly saving time and enhancing document accessibility. The implementation of PairSoft has resulted in a 5-hour weekly time saving for employees, additional time savings during audits, reduced need for physical document storage, and overall improved workflow efficiency.²

Financial Edge NXT pricing

For the Financial Edge Nxt, Blackbaud only offers custom pricing.³ Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT offers a demo, but the product does not offer a free trial. According to secondary sources such as Capterra, the pricing of Financial Edge NXT is USD $0.01 per year.⁴

Financial Edge NXT Pros

Integration: 10+ users praised the integration features of Financial Edge NXT.⁵

Designed for non-profit: 5+ users praised its design for non-profit organizations. (Figure 1)

Figure 1: Financial Edge NXT review. Source: G2

Financial Edge NXT Cons

Pricey: Few users criticized the product because of high pricing. ⁶ 

Slow: 5+ users pointed out that the customer support can be slow, and the product itself can be buggy in use.⁷ 

Financial Edge NXT Case Studies

Community Health Center of Lubbock

Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT is highlighted as a cloud-based financial management tool for the Community Health Center of Lubbock (CHCL), providing significant improvements in financial operations and reporting. The software enabled the CHCL to manage its finances efficiently in securing and managing grants, which constitute over 60% of its operational funding. With dashboards for quick data analysis and the Visual Chart Organizer for accurate grant coding, the software saves time and improves data utilization. The adoption of Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT allowed the finance team to access data remotely, an essential feature during the COVID-19 pandemic, and contributed to a 25% increase in grant funding.⁸  

Hunter Street Baptist Church

Hunter Street Baptist Church adopted Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT as a nonprofit accounting solution. The software facilitated the streamlining of the church’s procurement processes. Despite a tight deadline caused by their previous vendor’s threat to discontinue service ahead of an impending audit, the church, in collaboration with Blackbaud and third-party partners, successfully transitioned to Financial Edge NXT in just three weeks. The introduction of Expense Management and view-only reporting features within Financial Edge NXT has notably saved time for the church staff, allowing for easier expense submissions by 40 to 50 individuals and enabling non-financial personnel to access reports independently, further demonstrating the software’s impact on improving accountability and efficiency within the church’s operations.⁹   

Morehead State University Foundation

The Morehead State University Foundation chose Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT for its fund accounting needs due to its ability to integrate seamlessly with their existing systems. This integration has eliminated repetitive data entry and automated manual tasks. The reporting feature of Financial Edge NXT stands out for its ease of use and speed, allowing the creation of comprehensive reports in seconds, a significant improvement from the time-consuming manual processes previously employed. The integration of Financial Edge NXT with Raiser’s Edge NXT also improves donor stewardship by providing transparent and accurate fund information.¹⁰   

Further reading

• NetSuite Accounts Payable (AP) Automation in 2024
• Dynamics 365 in Accounts Payable Automation: In-Depth Review  
• In-Depth Guide to Accounts Payable (AP) Automation in 2023
• Accounts Payable (AP) Automation Tools Benchmarking in 2023
• 5 AI Applications in Accounts Payable (AP) Processes for 2023
• Automated Invoice Validation: Benefits & Use Cases in 2023
• Finance Automation in ’23: What It Is, Best Tools & 6 Processes
• Enterprise Invoice Processing: 4 Guidelines & 3 Solutions in 2023
• 7 Vic.AI Alternatives to Automate Accounting in 2023
• Top 10 ReadSoft Alternatives / Competitors
• Top 10 Kofax Alternatives/Competitors in 2023
• 14 Rossum AI Competitors/Alternatives in 2023 

External links

External Links

• 1. “Blackbaud internet solutions” February 9, 2024. 
• 2. “Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County”Retrieved on March 1, 2024.
• 3. “Financial Edge Nxt Pricing” February 9, 2024.
• 4. “ Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT Pricing, Alternatives & More 2024 | Capterra ” February 9, 2024.
• 5. “Integration- G2”Retrieved on March 1, 2024.
• 6. “Pricing- G2”Retrieved on March 1, 2024.
• 7. “Slow-G2”Retrieved on March 1, 2024.
• 8. “Community Health Center of Lubbock”Retrieved on March 1, 2024.
• 9. “Hunter Street Baptist Church – Blackbaud”Retrieved on March 1, 2024.
• 10. “Morehead State University Foundation – Blackbaud”Retrieved on March 1, 2024.