Certification FAQs

Certification FAQs

• What are the requirements for Fundamentals Certification?
  To earn the Fundamentals Certification, we recommend you complete all Fundamentals courses and then attempt the Fundamentals exam. You can jump straight to the exam if you feel you already have a complete foundational knowledge of the product.
• What are the requirements for Professional Certification?

  Each Professional Certification includes the achievement of several specialty badges as you work toward certification. Classes aligned to badge and certification achievement are listed here:

  • Raiser’s Edge Certification
  • Financial Edge Certification
• How can I share my Blackbaud Certified® status?

  After you pass the certification exam, Blackbaud University approves these methods to attest to your Blackbaud certification:

  1. You’ll receive a certificate to display in your office or work area.
  2. You’ll receive branding elements, such as the certification icon and badge to include in your email signature and your social profiles.
  3. If you’re seeking a new employment opportunity, hiring managers can verify your certification level by emailing certification@blackbaud.com.

  Note: Blackbaud Certified status should never be used to denote partner, implementation, or consulting-level expertise. The Blackbaud University certifications are only meant to validate proficiency as an end-user of a particular product or a set of best practice ideas.

• What do I need to score on an exam to become Blackbaud Certified?
  A score of 80% correct or higher is necessary to pass each exam and become Blackbaud Certified.
• What happens if I don’t pass an exam?
  You can take any exam a second time at no additional charge. You can also determine the areas in which you need more study, and take a few refresher courses to help you pass when you retest.
• Are there time limits on the exams?
  Yes. The time limit is 90 minutes for the Fundamentals exam for Raiser’s Edge. Fundamentals exams for all other products have a time limit of one hour.
• Can I access the Blackbaud product platform during the exam?
  You may have the Blackbaud product platform open to reference as you answer the questions on an exam. However, it is important to keep in mind that you will not have enough time to research every answer, so try not to rely too much on the platform as a reference.
• Can I receive partial credit for a multiple choice question with multiple correct responses?
  For this type of question, all correct responses and only correct responses must be checked in order to receive credit for a correct answer. There is no partial credit for these questions.
• If I fail an exam, will I find out which questions I got wrong?
  While you won’t find out which specific answers you marked incorrectly, you will be able to see a summary by category. To find the summary, go to your transcript and click on the title of the certification exam. Scroll down to see your scores by section.
• How long must I wait after being certified at one level to attempt the next?
  There is a 24-hour waiting period before you can purchase and attempt the next level of Blackbaud Certification.
• Will I need to go to a testing center to complete the exam?
  No. You can take the exam from any computer with a strong Internet connection.
• Are there separate versions of an exam for different regional versions of Blackbaud products?
  No. Currently, the Fundamentals exam is available to all Blackbaud users, but tests are based on U.S. versions of Blackbaud products.
• How long are exams available before they expire?
  Once you purchase an exam and add it to your Training Central transcript, you have 90 days to complete the exam before it expires and must be purchased again. These exams are specific to a calendar year. This allows us to update the exam yearly and include testing for product features that released over the recent calendar year. If you purchase an exam at the end of the calendar year and have questions about timing, please contact certification@blackbaud.com.
• How long will my certification last?
  Certification is branded with the year in which you achieved it. We encourage students to recertify yearly in order to keep their knowledge up-to-date and prove their commitment to continuing product education. Should you wish to update your certification in a future year, the path to recertification does not require any courses be repeated.
• If I change jobs, will my Blackbaud Certification transfer with me?
  Most certainly. All you need to do is email certification@blackbaud.com and provide the name and Site ID of your new organization. We’ll take it from there
• Will there be Blackbaud Certification for other products?

  We currently have certifications for Raiser’s Edge, Financial Edge, Financial Edge NXT, Altru, Education Edge, eTapestry, Blackbaud Grantmaking (formerly GIFTS Online), K-12 “ON” Products Core, K-12 onCampus, Nonprofit Fundraising, and ResearchPoint. Professional level certification is available for both Raiser’s Edge and Financial Edge. While there are no plans to expand to other product lines at this time, it’s very possible Blackbaud University will offer additional product certifications in the future.

• Who can I contact with questions about Blackbaud Certification?
  You can send an email to certification@blackbaud.com.
• What happened to the Associate exam?
  Blackbaud University retired the Associate exam and launched the Fundamentals exam. Any user who passed the Associate exam will still be recognized as Blackbaud Certified at the Associate level. We encourage Associates to recertify by completing the Fundamentals certification.