The Morehead State University Foundation fundraises and invests funds to support college students on their path to success. The MSU Foundation also works in conjunction with the Office of Alumni Relations & Development at MSU to ensure students have the best possible experience. As a long-time Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT customer, leadership knew that by adopting Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT they could integrate their fundraising and accounting software to greatly improve efficiencies for both offices.

“Compared to all other accounting software, Financial Edge NXT was the clear choice for us,” said Sharon Fraley, director of finance. “Integrating it with Raiser’s Edge NXT created efficiencies we otherwise would not have realized, such as eliminating duplicative data entries and automating manual processes, and provides us more confidence in the data.”

Producing Reports in Seconds

With Financial Edge NXT, organizations can easily build reports directly within the solution. Previously, the foundation relied on manual processes and external spreadsheets, and had the burden of cleaning up the data because it wasn’t ready for exporting or visual reporting. In addition, Fraley creates ad hoc reports for other non-accounting university staff and would spend hours re-formatting them so they could understand what data was being presented.

“Using the reporting functionality has saved us so much time because once you export the data, it looks exactly as you want it to,” said Fraley. “It used to take an entire day to produce a report, but now with Financial Edge NXT, it only takes me seconds. Literally, typing the email that goes with the report takes longer than it does to create it.”

Another benefit of Financial Edge NXT is having the ability to work in other areas of the solution while simultaneously running comprehensive reports. That includes making financial statements for multiple projects. As a result, the MSU Foundation can spend more time funding and growing their programs and less time managing reports.

A Better Way to Steward Donors

Like most organizations, transparency across departments and with donors is very important to MSU Foundation. With Financial Edge NXT integrated with Raiser’s Edge NXT, the advancement team has access to crucial donor fund information.

“The integrated software helps the advancement team better steward donors,” said Fraley. “We’re more confident in the data between the two solutions. And because we’re running and operating efficiently, other departments and teams are able to operate more efficiently as well.”

MSU also uses Blackbaud Award Management™ to manage and award scholarships and plans to connect the system with Raiser’s Edge NXT and Financial Edge NXT. Integrating the three solutions will enhance transparency and improve collaboration for all. “I know that as we continue to optimize our use of Blackbaud software, we’ll continue to also be more efficient and more effective with our efforts,” said Fraley. “I’m looking forward to discovering more capabilities and the possibilities that come with using integrated Blackbaud software.”