FREE Raiser's Edge API for NetCommunity Users

Chris McGrane · January 2016

Just a helpful reminder for any users / developers of NetCommunity, you have free access to the Raiser's Edge API.

View the Press Release

I thought this information was useful considering our organization purchased NetCommunity and Blackbaud tried to make us purchase the API as well for $15,000.

Happy Developing!

- Chris McGrane

Chris McGrane · January 2016

Blackbaud Expands API Offerings for

Blackbaud NetCommunity Customers
Gives The Raiser’s Edge API to Blackbaud NetCommunity customers and launches Blackbaud Labs, a login-free API playground where developers can share code and receive community support

Charleston, S.C. (March 24, 2008) – Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLKB), announced today that it is making The Raiser’s Edge® application programming interface (API) available—free of charge—to existing and future Blackbaud® NetCommunity™ customers.

- See more at: https://www.blackbaud.com/default.aspx?pgpId=2532&PRID=255#sthash.E83eBvQl.dpuf

Cody Karst · January 2016

Seems like all the links in the press release are broken and Blackbaud labs is gone?

Joshua Bekerman bCLO bCRE · January 2016

Does this apply to both NetCommunity Spark and NetCommunity Grow? Was told recently that API is only included with Grow.

Chris McGrane · January 2016

According to their official press release, it should be available for all NetCommunity installations, future and past.

-Chris

Cody Karst · January 2016

Make sure you screenshot that press release

Chris McGrane · January 2016

Hello Cody! That was the first thing I did.

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Chris McGrane · January 2016

And just to clarify, this should be free of charge to existing and future Blackbaud NetCommunity customers.

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Chris McGrane · January 2016

Also, one last note, here is the saved PDF from the press release. I put it on our own servers just in case it were to be removed for some reason from Blackbaud.

https://www.ctsciencecenter.org/documents/REAPI_PRESS.pdf

Cody Karst · January 2016

Thanks Chris!

Pallavi Paranjape · January 2016

Thank you for your interest in the Raiser’s Edge API’s for NetCommunity. The press release being referenced here is from our archives and dates from 2008. The NetCommunity landscape is vastly different than it was 8 years ago.

Today:

NetCommunity does not have an API
Blackbaud Labs (labs.blackbaud.com) no longer exists
Due to overall security changes and to keep in compliance with changing security and PCI requirements, we do not alter hosted environments

Since version 6.15 (Released in 2009) NetCommunity has been developed on Blackbauds infinity platform and we have development resources available.

https://www.blackbaud.com/files/support/netcommunity-developer/netcommunity-developer.htm

Blackbaud has partnered with solution providers that can work with you to extend your BBNC implementation. Visit the marketplace (https://www.blackbaud.com/marketplace) and see our partner list (https://www.blackbaud.com/partners/find-a-partner) for more information.

In addition, the RE7 API is available to on-premise Raiser’s Edge 7 clients for a fee. Contact your account representative for details.

Blackbaud is also building a modern REST API to accompany Raiser’s Edge NXT and other cloud solutions (recent press release). Pricing and packaging is still TBD.

Thank you for your commitment to Blackbaud.

Pallavi Paranjape

Product Manager - NetCommunity

Chris McGrane · January 2016

Hello Pallavi,

Despite the article being 8 years old, it clearly states that all past and future clients are entitled to the Raiser's Edge API for FREE. That is explicitly stated and not honoring this would be extremelly poor practice for Blackbaud as a company. Also, NetCommunity does have an API. The Raiser's Edge API is FREE for users who purchased NetCommunity.

Cody Karst · January 2016

I agree with Chris. This is pretty poor practice as a company. It is a shame to see for a company that is so focused on the serving the non-profit community.

Chris McGrane · January 2016

Cody Karst:

I agree with Chris. This is pretty poor practice as a company. It is a shame to see for a company that is so focused on the serving the non-profit community.

Thanks Cody, it's not the first time Blackbaud has pulled a shady practice. I am highly dissapointed with Blackbaud on this decision. Especially to hear this from the "NetCommunity Product Manager" who isn't even active in this community and has 1 post. I'm starting to think that Blackbaud doesn't really care about helping non-profits.

Gregory McDaniel · January 2016

Your response is a list of assertions, most of which are true (we might discuss the NetCommunity API and “developed on … Infinity platform” separately) but none of which address the point of his post.

Maybe the press release is referring to “Blackbaud NetCommunity” in the narrowest sense—the SKU—which may have indeed included the Raiser's Edge API. What Blackbaud appears to sell now is “Blackbaud NetCommunity Grow” and “Blackbaud NetCommunity Spark”, SKUs with different feature sets. Is this the case—is the API included with “Blackbaud NetCommunity”? What about with “Blackbaud NetCommunity Grow” as Joshua mentions?

Chris, do you know which SKU you have (in your contract/renewal) and did you actually get the Raiser's Edge API without paying the $15K? We would make use of the Raiser's Edge API if its cost weren’t prohibitive.

Even if the announcement should apply to all future varieties of NetCommunity, though, I recognize this is just a PR piece with a broad disclaimer, rather than a contract. And Shaw separated from Blackbaud the following year, and Shaun a few after that.

Chris McGrane · January 2016

This is a good point Gregory, and the article does not list any specific packages, just NetCommunity. I think the main issue is that we all know that Blackbaud has developed more advanced products with better feature sets and at this point NC and RE7 are extremely antiquated packages. Any competitors would laugh at a $15,000 API, but the fact is Blackbaud has developed their products in a way where it is extremely difficult to migrate to a different platform.

Gregory McDaniel · January 2016

Sorry--for my initial post above I clicked "Reply to this post" on Pallavi's post, intending to direct my "Your response is..." and next paragraph to her.

It does seem strange to me to charge that fee for API access, but part of the rationale for the price may be to limit the number of developers and customers seeking support. Following your thought, investing in support expertise on their 7.x API and Windows COM doesn’t appear to be Blackbaud’s future.

I hadn’t really been thinking of it in terms of lock-in. The tools and access we have in/with/for Raiser’s Edge, and third-party options, seem sufficient to me for migration out. A chore no doubt, but not prohibitive.

Kerry Shippam · February 2016

I enquired about this after the release in 2008 and the API was "free" however there was an annual maintenance fee that would be charged of a few thousand dollars.... So was it really free?

FREE Raiser's Edge API for NetCommunity Users

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