Once you’ve explored what Insight Designer is and how it compares to other Blackbaud reporting tools, the next question becomes: When should you use it?
The short answer: when you need to go beyond standard reports to truly understand what’s driving your organization’s performance.
Insight Designer allows you to build custom dashboards and data visualizations in both Raiser’s Edge NXT and Financial Edge NXT. It’s most valuable when you want to measure something unique to your organization, something that can’t be captured by a pre-built report.
When should you use Insight Designer?
Here are a few common situations where Insight Designer becomes essential:
When standard reports don’t cut it
Out-of-the-box reports are great for quick checks, like gift totals or expense summaries, but they often stop short of answering more specific questions.
For example, a development director might need to see which donor segments respond best to a certain type of campaign or communication channel. Insight Designer makes that possible by letting you create a custom insight filtered by appeal, campaign, or even communication method.
When you need custom metrics
Every organization defines success differently. A university might measure alumni engagement differently than a hospital foundation measures patient-family giving.
With Insight Designer, you can define and analyze custom measures that reflect your organization’s unique priorities—such as tracking “average gift size from recurring givers.” While “first-time donor retention” is available in a separate out-of-the-box Retention dashboard, Insight Designer lets you build and visualize other tailored metrics specific to your goals.
When your data is complex
Sometimes your most valuable insights live in multiple systems. Maybe your donor data lives in Raiser’s Edge NXT, while event registrations or online sales are managed elsewhere.
Insight Designer helps unify those sources by pulling together large, distributed datasets into one clear view. For instance, you could analyze how certain stewardship actions correlate with major gift upgrades.
When you need deeper analysis
Insight Designer allows you to go beyond simple summaries. You can apply filters and calculations directly to a specific fact or measure, helping you understand not just what happened, but why.
For example, a parish foundation could build a dashboard showing year-over-year offertory trends filtered by campus, Mass time, or donor level. Finance teams could dig into program expenses and identify where costs have shifted month-to-month.
When you’re improving performance in key areas
Insight Designer isn’t just for looking back – it’s for optimizing what comes next. Here are a few practical examples across different sectors:
- Fundraising: Track donor behavior over time to identify which appeals, channels, or gift levels perform best.
- Finance: Build dashboards that visualize spending by department or fund, helping leaders make informed budgeting decisions.
- Marketing: Combine donor and engagement data to see which content leads to higher conversion or retention rates.
- Education: Compare participation across alumni classes or giving by geographic region.
- Healthcare: Evaluate patient-family giving and stewardship touchpoints to refine donor engagement.
Example: Financial Edge NXT in Action
Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT lets your organization record and track the transactions that matter most to your mission. But once that data is entered, you need a way to translate it into insight.
Insight Designer gives you that flexibility. You can:
- Build your own visual presentation of important financial metrics.
- Create custom chart types (tables, bar charts, or tree maps) to visualize trends.
- Apply filters that help you narrow in on specific time periods, accounts, or expense categories.
For example, a diocesan finance director might build a dashboard comparing parish-level expenses against income trends, highlighting where funds are underutilized or overextended.
The Bottom Line
Insight Designer turns data into action. It’s not about replacing standard reports, it’s about filling the gaps they leave behind. Whether you’re tracking donor trends, managing budgets, or monitoring program performance, this tool gives you the flexibility to ask your own questions and visualize your own answers.
Are you looking for more Insight Designer help? Check these out:
What Is Insight Designer—And Why Should Every Fundraiser Care?
Blackbaud Insight Designer: The Pros, the Cons, and the Gotchas
You May Also Be Interested In
