A Growing Organization Needed a CRM It Could Trust

When Boundless launched its advancement program in 2018, the organization had little formal fundraising infrastructure in place. Jodi Bopp, vice president for advancement, joined to build the program and quickly saw that while the team’s existing CRM could support early needs, it could not scale to support the organization Boundless was becoming. “We weren’t going to be able to track all the data I knew we would want to track over time,” Bopp said. “We weren’t going to be able to slice and dice the data or even slice and dice mailing lists.”

The need became more urgent as Boundless grew. “When I joined Boundless, we were about a $60 million a year general revenue nonprofit organization,” Bopp said. “This year, we’re at about $180 million. That’s a lot of growth in less than 10 years.” As Boundless entered new regions, launched new programs, and built a more structured advancement strategy, the team needed a donor management solution that could keep pace.

A later attempt to upgrade to a well-known enterprise CRM platform only created more strain. “It was an unmitigated disaster,” Bopp said. After nearly a year of implementation and another year trying to make the system usable, Boundless faced outside tech-support quotes of “$100,000 to $150,000 to fix things that should have been fixed at the beginning.”

By then, the problem was bigger than functionality. “A CRM either works for you or it works against you,” Bopp said. Reports for the board, philanthropy committee, and C-suite required manual review because gifts were missing “easily 8 times out of 10,” and a simple tax receipt could take an hour and a half to verify. For an organization scaling as quickly as Boundless, that model could not hold.

Raiser’s Edge NXT Offers the Ideal Solution for Growth Goals

The move to Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT gave Boundless a system the team could rely on. Bopp had worked with earlier versions of Blackbaud software throughout her career, but Raiser’s Edge NXT felt more intuitive and easier for new users to adopt. “I felt like someone handed me a new iPhone,” she said. “The design and the look and the ease of use,” especially for team members who had “never used a sophisticated CRM,” helped the platform make sense quickly.

That ease of use mattered, but confidence in the data mattered more. “Working in Raiser’s Edge NXT is a delight,” Bopp said. “I can now give my board a best-practices suite of reports with confidence.  I know if there’s an error, it’s a user error, not a system error.”

The shift changed how the advancement team worked. Reports no longer had to be manually validated before going to leadership, and staff could spend less time questioning the system and more time using it. “The biggest difference I’ve experienced using Blackbaud is the ability to sleep at night not worrying about my data all day, every day,” Bopp said.

Smarter Data Strengthened Fundraising Strategy

Once Boundless trusted its data, the advancement team could build the fundraising program it had envisioned. “Our annual giving program could not exist without Raiser’s Edge NXT and all that it can do,” Bopp said. They were able to move from a single, undifferentiated mailing appeal to a more effective segmented strategy that relies on four direct-mail campaigns a year with up to six message variations tailored to audiences. This empowers them to create unique messages for different segments, like long-time donors, first-time donors, family members, and non-donors.

That precision changed how Boundless reaches supporters. “With Raiser’s Edge NXT, we’re no longer scattering seeds and hoping they grow—we’re planting the right message where it’s most likely to take root,” said Bopp.  Boundless can build targeted lists, tailor messages to different audiences, and rely on the system to guide follow-up and stewardship.

Raiser’s Edge NXT has also helped Boundless build a more disciplined major-gifts operation. The platform gives gift officers visibility into engagement, asks, movement, and outcomes, while giving Bopp a clearer view of where staff may need support. “My gift officers love Raiser’s Edge NXT and its dashboards,” Bopp said. “They log in every morning and know what their job is, they know what their plan is.”

Built for Growth, Continuity, and What Comes Next

Scalability was one of the biggest reasons Boundless chose Blackbaud. “We are serious about mergers and acquisitions,” Bopp said. “I need something that works for me today with about 8,000 records, but if we acquire another organization and need to add 2,000 records or 200,000 records, I know Blackbaud can make that happen.”

That confidence extends beyond record volume. “If somebody leaves or goes on medical leave, I know what they were doing because it’s all in Raiser’s Edge NXT,” Bopp said. “That institutional knowledge didn’t completely walk out the door.” For a five-person team, that visibility helps keep pledge reminders, stewardship touches, and reporting deadlines moving even when staffing changes happen.

Boundless is also looking ahead at how AI may help the team extend capacity. “We’re really looking into Raiser’s Edge NXT and its AI capabilities, because maybe we start there instead of hiring additional staff,” Bopp said.

Advisory+ Helps Boundless Move Faster

Blackbaud Advisory+ helps Boundless establish the strongest possible operating model for their trusted fundraising platform. After their previous failed commercial CRM implementation, Bopp wanted to ensure the team had expert support after conversion—not just help tickets, but a partner who could handle specialized work, reduce risk, and help the team move faster. Advisory+ has supported post-conversion cleanup, global coding updates, and acquisition-related data uploads.

“Having our Advisory+ consultant say, ‘Let me take that project, I’ll have it done in a couple of hours or even a couple of minutes,’ and knowing it’s done right without having to go back and check, is invaluable,” Bopp said.

For an organization that has already experienced what happens when a CRM works against the team, that partnership matters. Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT gives Boundless the trusted platform it needs to support their ambitious fundraising goals, and Blackbaud Advisory+ helps the team get more value from that platform as the organization grows. Bopp concluded, “with Raiser’s Edge NXT, Boundless now has a CRM built not just for where we are today, but for where we are headed next.”