Grows Individual Giving and Raises $32 Million

Managing Donor Relationships with Better Access and Coordination

Director of Development Jen Wolff is focused on building long-term relationships with a broader base of individual and family foundation supporters. By tapping into extended functionality of Raiser’s Edge NXT, the team centralized donor notes, giving history, and interactions in one place—giving fundraisers real-time visibility wherever they work.

Previously, the team often relied on separate tools to track donor activity. “Usually I would have to track communications in an Excel spreadsheet,” said Jason Stabile, senior development database manager. Now, fundraisers can work from a single relationship record instead of piecing together information.

“With Raiser’s Edge NXT, I can track visits, notes, and communications all in one place—so even before I reach out to someone, I can see that our CEO spoke with them last week and make sure our paths don’t cross. It’s really important for donor communication,” Wolff said. This shared visibility helps the team avoid duplicate outreach, improve data accuracy, and approach donor conversations with full context.

The Microsoft Outlook integration for actions adds another efficiency layer by letting gift officers record donor touchpoints from their own workflows. “The Microsoft Outlook integration for actions saves me an hour or two each week,” said Stabile.

Scaling Individual Giving and Exceeding Capital Campaign Goals

With clearer tracking, campaign tagging, and progress-to-goal reporting in Raiser’s Edge NXT, After School Matters expanded its individual giving program—growing general operating revenue by 69 percent over three years. The organization also launched a capital campaign for a new teen center, raising $32 million against a $27 million goal in roughly one year of active fundraising, with contributions split nearly evenly between corporate and individual donors, reflecting a significant shift in fundraising composition.

Managing that campaign required tracking multi-year pledges and gifts that counted toward both capital and operating priorities. “For the capital campaign, we were not only fundraising for the capital project, but also for a sustainability fund,” Stabile said. “Figuring out how to tag everything and then report on it so campaign gifts were reported correctly—that got complex.” Raiser’s Edge NXT enabled the team to manage those layers with accurate, up-to-date reporting. “We pull a weekly report for our progress to goal, and that is broken down by individual, corporate, and foundation giving,” Wolff said.

With fundraising data centralized in one system of record, After School Matters can manage growth with greater efficiency and real-time visibility into fundraising performance. “Because of Raiser’s Edge NXT, I’m able to share reports with stakeholders so they can see our projections and plan for the future,” Stabile said.

Reducing Manual Work and Capturing More Revenue

As fundraising scaled, After School Matters shifted more giving online through Blackbaud Donation Forms and Blackbaud Integrated Payments—reducing manual processes and making it easier for donors to complete transactions.

This shift simplifies reconciliation through the merchant account and speeds gift completion for donors, while direct debit gave supporters another way to give online instead of sending a check.

The team can also tailor each appeal by audience. “For each appeal that we do, there’s a special form just for that appeal,” Wolff said, “including smaller suggested amounts and monthly giving options for alumni appeals.”

The donor cover option in Blackbaud Donation Forms adds another measurable benefit. After seeing that about 90 percent of Chicago Marathon donors chose to cover processing fees, Wolff expanded the option to broader giving opportunities. “I felt pretty confident that our donors would use the donor cover option,” she said. “We’ve saved a little over $12,000 by using the donor cover option, creating a measurable and recurring source of incremental revenue.”

Continuing to Diversify and Grow

With a stronger foundation in place, After School Matters is focused on expanding monthly giving, launching a planned giving program, and making it easier for donors to contribute through multiple channels. AI-powered capabilities are accelerating this work, enabling fundraisers to generate donor lists independently and reduce reliance on technical resources. “With Chat for Blackbaud AI in Raiser’s Edge NXT, I can type in what I need and generate a donor list myself,” Wolff said. “That’s pretty amazing for someone who doesn’t consider themselves tech savvy.”

With Blackbaud as the foundation—supporting both long-standing processes and new capabilities—After School Matters continues to scale its fundraising strategy while expanding access to life-changing opportunities for Chicago teens.