# Page 2 | Blackbaud eTapestry Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Page 2 - Is Blackbaud eTapestry the right Nonprofit solution for you? Explore 208 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/29170/eTapestry/reviews --- Blackbaud eTapestry 3.8 (208) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/29170/eTapestry/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated March 15th, 2026 # Page 2 - Reviews of Blackbaud eTapestry ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 26-50 of 208 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use MC Margie C. Executive Director Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Love the product--wish we could afford it!" February 10, 2025 5.0 Overall, it is a great product. Unfortunately, it became a little too pricey for us. Pros Etapestry was very user friendly and simple to learn. All the integrations with other platforms was especially helpful. Cons They kept raising the prices for different services. Review Source KQ Kathleen Q. Founder and CEO Used the software for: ### "AVOID eTapestry at ALL Cost! Their set-up, project management and communication is abysmal!" December 12, 2011 2.0 This company lacks effective project management and communication with their clients, especially during the set up of their services. When they fail at communication and project management they blame the client and make you feel as if you are the "client from HELL!" Since I was director of Account Services at two major fundraising agencies, I DO KNOW project management and how to effectively communicate schedules, expectations, project responsibilities and deliverables to clients. They are failing miserably and I did not expect to get this horrible level of service and then made to feel as if I was creating the problem! if you want to abdicate all responsibility in what eTapestry does and get what they give you, you will probably like this company. However, if you are at all knowledgable and want things done in a professional and organized manner having input in how it turns out, don't go with eTapestry. You will be sorely disappointed and face ongoing threats of increased costs. 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. Review Source LF Larry F. Donor Services Manager Religious Institutions Used the software for: 2+ years ### "eTapestry - A medium weight solution for Donor Management and Receipting." June 9, 2017 4.0 I have been impressed with the solid support team eTapestry has. The online chat has been very helpful to me, and the specialists I have chatted with have always been knowledgeable. 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. Review Source SB Sarah B. Ministry Assistant Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Very detailed product that I'm always finding new options in." June 30, 2022 5.0 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. Review Source JD Joshua D. Director of Operations Hospital & Health Care Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "eTapestry: simply the best product out there" July 16, 2015 5.0 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. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Operations and Membership Manager Environmental Services Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Too Many Limitations" December 15, 2018 3.0 If you are only dealing with donations, this may be a good option for you, but I work for a membership organization, and not long after I was hired, I convinced the organization to scrap eTapestry for something better suited to our needs. 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. Review Source AH Amber H. Communications Director Hospital & Health Care Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Good for Database Management, Poor Communications Tools" November 14, 2016 3.0 I have been working in communications and development for non-profit organizations for more than 15 years. I have been using eTapestry for 2 years. I have experience with a variety of other donor management tools including Blackbaud's The Raiser's Edge. eTapestry is strong in regard to contact management, processing online gifts, and the reporting/query tools. The expense as well as the email communications and analytics are where it falls short. 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 Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Director of Operations Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Pro for Donor Management, Con for Event Management" April 26, 2022 4.0 While eTapestry has helped us make sense of a lot of data and history, it is very difficult to learn how to use and train new employees on. 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. Review Source SP Spencer P. Data Entry Clerk Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Slow loading times, yet valuable, helpful, and easy to use" April 30, 2018 4.0 The benefits that I get from eTapestry is a giant database that can easily access each user by using a simple 1 to 6 digit entry recognition. Being able to store all this information online as opposed to locally also benefits our organization due to eTapestry's massive storage. 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. Review Source EM Ellen M. Development Consultant Hospital & Health Care Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "An Investment for Growth" March 5, 2018 4.0 This review was solicited by eTapestry's marketing department. 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. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer ReStore Volunteer Recruiting and Training Manager Construction Used the software for: 2+ years ### "eTapestry Non Profit Review" October 3, 2018 3.0 Very cumbersome and took a long time to learn all the aspects of the software. I still do not feel like we were able to utilize the system to its fullest potential. 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. Review Source RM Robyn M. Development Director Religious Institutions Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "ETapestry for NonProfit" April 12, 2018 4.0 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. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Director of Development Used the software for: 2+ years ### "I've used eTapestry for five years. " June 26, 2018 3.0 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. Review Source KM Kelly M. Communications Director Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "You can't ask for a better donor management software package" July 23, 2019 5.0 I have used so many different donor management software packages throughout my career and I have never been so pleased as I am with eTapestry. 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. Review Source SA Sabal A. Data & Impact Associate Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Hasn't been updated since 2006, not worth your time" January 10, 2022 2.0 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 Review Source DK Diana K. Development Director Civic & Social Organization Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Frustrating with a long learning curve" August 11, 2017 3.0 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. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Office Manager Religious Institutions Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Caution-could be good-could be bad" February 12, 2019 2.0 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. Review Source ER Evan R. Donor Development Specialist Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 1-2 years ### " A great starting point for small nonprofits!" January 22, 2021 3.0 Good, but no the Best. 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. Review Source SA Sandy A. Development Associate Fine Art Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Customization is both a pro and con" July 17, 2017 2.0 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). Review Source CM Cherylyn M. Associate Development Director Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "eTapestry Great for Small to Mid size Nonprofits" April 6, 2021 5.0 Appreciate the pricing for this tool to track and manage our donors. Highly recommend for small and mid-size nonprofits. Easy to learn. 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. Review Source JD Jennifer D. Director of Development Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Not recommended for small non-profits" January 14, 2021 3.0 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. Review Source Kelli D. Operations Director Law Practice Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "eTapestry for Donor Management" November 26, 2018 4.0 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. Review Source NH Nathan H. Director of Advancement Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Decent donor software for medium-sized nonprofits" November 4, 2016 3.0 It's too complicated for small organizations and not robust enough for large organizations. Since bought by Blackbaud, it seems to have been de-prioritized in terms of features, upgrades and design. Customer support is very good - but you'll need them on speed dial. Great people, great company - but this produce needs a little more TLC. Email marketing function is almost un-usable in today's mobile environment. No moves-management function, etc. 'Entirely customizable' means you have to build your own systems within. Great for basic donor info and gift tracking. Took us a couple years to 'right-size' it for us - and even then, when you have more 'work-arounds' than original offerings, you wonder if there's something better. Pros Customer service Cons Old design, clunky, not intuitive. Review Source JS Jermaine S. Civic & Social Organization Used the software for: ### "The right features for the the right development plan" July 24, 2014 4.0 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. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Manager, Consumer and Industry Programs Financial Services Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Not a fan" January 28, 2019 2.0 Pros I wasn't a fan of this software. The only pro was the cleanliness of the layout. There wasn't a lot of superfluous information or fields. Cons It was very hard to learn this software. I spent so much time training and I never felt like I knew enough. It was very hard to run reports. Review Source Similar Products Featured