RE Newbie!

Veronica Farrell · April 2018

Hello, I will be transitioning to the role of Philanthropic Services Specialist (RE Manager) where I currently work starting May 29th. I have zero RE experience and am ready to jump in! Anyone have favorite tips, suggestions, resources?? Thank you in advance!

--Veronica

JoAnn Strommen · April 2018

Find some training - either with a learn subscription or local offerings or online courses. The book "Fundraising with the Raiser's Edge" by Connors is good reading as a basis. Much applicable to every organization, some you need to decide if it's the best way for yours. Subscribe to all the forum categories for your product and read the questions and answers. So much to learn for other users.

Allison Moskus 2 · April 2018

During my first RE job, I had no experience and the holiday season was ramping up so my manager didn't have any time to train me herself and left me to my own devices to figure RE out. So I just poked around a lot and spent time creating random queries and records that I would later delete. I also took all of the Fundamentals classes that Blackbaud offers plus some and they were GREAT. I learn by doing so those classes being interactive was very helpful. Good luck at the new job and I hope you become an RE lover like myself!

Kylea Johnson · April 2018

I second Allison, poking around with things you can later delete, running queries to see what kinds of information are important to your org, running a few of the canned reports, etc really helped me figure out what RE was "all about".

Betsy Waters 2 · April 2018

Allison,

You mentioned that you took all of the Fundamentals classes that Blackbaud offers....are they free?

Thanks!

Betsy

Daniel Bayer · April 2018

When I started with RE, I got a five-minute crash course from my boss, who then gave me the manual and told me to learn as quickly as I could (we had both just started, and the big annual fundraiser was only a month or two away, so time was of the essence). If you can get your hands on a manual, DO IT, and spend time with it - set aside a whole work day if you are able.

The other thing that helps is to create a "dummy record", either under your name (so you know all the correct information in case you accidentally change something) or under an obviously fake name (Mickey Mouse, Cersei Lannister, whatever floats your boat), so that you can test things without really screwing anything up.

And of course, you can always post questions here! We're all knowledgeable and friendly - I promise!

Allison Moskus 2 · April 2018

Hey Betsy,

If your employer has any of the training subscriptions that Blackbaud offers then they will be included in that. However, if not, I think they're $300 per class. You can find all the classes and their cost in Training Central. Hope that helps!

Allison Moskus 2 · April 2018

Hey Betsy,

If your employer has any of the training subscriptions that Blackbaud offers then they will be included in that. However, if not, I think they're $300 per class. You can find all the classes and their cost in Training Central. Hope that helps!

Heather MacKenzie · May 2018

and check out the resources on blackbaud.com too - here's a link to the How to Guides section to get you started. https://www.blackbaud.com/howto/

Austen Brown · May 2018

I second everything that has been said already. I would also utilize Knowledge Base and Chat Support as references when you have a question that needs answering. This community and other user forums are helpful to learn from others questions. This will not be something that you learn overnight, but something that will take some time, be patient. If you have any questions or feel like you just need to talk to someone feel free to PM me, I would be happy talk with you about RE.

Joanne Felci 2 · May 2018

Welcome to Community and RE Veronica!

I hope your days haven't been too overwhelming yet.

I remember my first day and a four hour training in RE that was the most exhausting thing EVER

I definitely learn best by hands on, real life application, but everyone is different

Here is a link to a post of additional tools for beginners, including a PDF I have found very helpful

And I second what Austen said, post questions on the community board and/or feel free to PM me if you'd like and I'm happy to help if I can

Joanne

JoAnn Strommen · May 2018

The thread Joanne posted with the PDF can be a great resource. If you're screen looks a bit different when you get to the constituent records section, just remember the latest RE updates changed where phones/email etc are located and how they work a bit.

PS interesting profile picture Joanne!

Joanne Felci 2 · May 2018

Thanks Namesake

Yes, I had a TBT/nostalgia moment this morning

Shawn Silva · May 2018

Being a new user as well, definitely agree with all of the above! We've also scoured the web and came across a few YouTube channels that focus around Raiser's Edge & best practices. A few might be a bit dated, but the concepts are the somewhat the same. Hope that helps!

If there's anything you need don't hesitate to reach out, I'm in the same position but maybe there are common FAQ's we've learned form we can share! Hope that helps!

Valerie Nguyen · June 2018

Hi Veronica, I learned through watching YouTube videos. Believe it or not, it worked out wonderfully. In addition to those videos, I'd recommend for you to obtain a training pass with Blackbaud for the topics that will serve your position in order for you to fulfill your responsibilities.

Best wishes.

Valerie

KaLeigh Lee · June 2018

I'm in the same boat as you, Veronica! If you have the ability to take the 3hr training courses, I recommend those. If not, scour the message boards, Knowledgebase, and use chat whenever you need. Good luck!

Mercedes McCayRead · June 2018

Hi Veronica. I highly recommend the RE training classes - start with the Fundamentals and go from there. However, if you don't have a training subscription you can pretty much google anything and find answers and videos. Also, I used chat ALL THE TIME when I first started. And everyone in the Community is quite helpful, so feel free to post questions in here.

Samuel Meinders · June 2018

The RE:Basics trainings are a great start. YouTube can also be helpful. This Community in general is very helpful and responsive. Also, someone else just asked a similar question about Tips/Tricks, you may want to follow that thread as well for anything that pops up. I posted a couple things in there this morning that I would recommend reading through!
https://community.blackbaud.com/forums/viewtopic/147/40289?post_id=153339#p153339

Carlos Lewis · June 2018

Veronica, I'm in the same boat! Does your organization have a learning subscription with Blackbaud? That would be a good place to get started.

Kim Maynard · June 2018

Hi Veronica,

I agree with everyone who recommended the Blackbaud courses. They are extremely helpful and a great place to get started.

RE Newbie!

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