What's Recent

To provide supporters with more ways to pay, Blackbaud Donation Forms and Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT now support one-time and recurring direct debit payments for:

• Australian dollar (AUD) — Bulk Electronic Clearing System (BECS)

• UK pounds (GBP) — Bankers' Automated Clearing System (BACS)

For both BECS and BACS direct debit, payers authorize withdrawals by agreeing to a mandate during checkout. This mandate is called a Direct Debit Request (DDR) for BECS or a Direct Debit Instruction (DDI) for BACS.

For more information, see What's New in Raiser's Edge NXT (for UK customers or for Australian customers).

If your account processes in AUD or GBP, you can now receive email notifications when a payer cancels a direct debit mandate through their bank. This option helps you to stay informed and act quickly when a mandate is no longer active.

To receive these alerts, in the Blackbaud Merchant Services web portal, from Settings, under Notifications, enable the Direct debit cancellations notification.

We’re excited to announce the general availability of Blackbaud’s newest, modernized checkout experience powered by the SKY Payments API. Designed to help organizations streamline payment processing, this innovative checkout brings together the best in security, flexibility, and usability.

For when your workflow extends beyond your Blackbaud products, you can use the SKY Payments API to process payments in custom solutions. This option allows you to handle payments consistently across your website, mobile app, etc.

Enjoy the following new features:

• Flexible inline or modal display options

• Expanded payment methods, such as credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo, and direct debit

• Fee cover options

• Enhanced security and compliance

If you already use Blackbaud Checkout through the SKY API, you can follow our migration guide, or for new integrations, explore new checkout options.

To give you greater flexibility and control when handling donor payments, you can now issue partial refunds for transactions made with Complete Cover. Previously, you could only refund the full transaction amount or the amount toward Blackbaud.

From the Blackbaud Merchant Services Web Portal:

1. From Transactions, Transaction lists, open a list and locate the transaction.

2. From the transaction's menu, select Refund.

3. Choose whether to refund:

   • The amount toward Blackbaud only

   • The full amount

   • A partial amount

     Note: If you select Refund partial amount, choose whether to include the amount toward Blackbaud, if applicable.

4. Select Refund.

To streamline reconciliation and reduce manual search, Blackbaud AI now lets you ask direct, transaction-specific questions and instantly receive the record you need. With this update, you can ask questions like the following:

• “Give me details for [transaction ID]”

• “What fees were applied to [transaction ID]?”

• “Has [transaction ID] been refunded or reversed?”

• “Did any of John Smith’s payments get disbursed this quarter?”

To troubleshoot failed transactions faster, you can now view gateway result details directly in a transaction list. Previously, you needed to open each transaction record to view its result details.

1. From Transactions, Transaction lists, open a saved list or create a new one.

2. Select Columns.

3. Select Result detail and apply changes.

To ensure accurate reconciliation, now when credit card chargebacks occur, Blackbaud Merchant Services creates two separate transactions in your account.

Previously, a single chargeback transaction was created for disputed card payments. When related transactions were paid out in separate disbursements, reports couldn’t reconcile the amounts.

For example, in the case of a $100 credit card dispute with a $15 fee, Blackbaud Merchant Services now creates:

1. Chargeback transaction

   • Amount: ($100)

   • Fees:$0

   • Net: ($100)

   • Reference: Original transaction ID

2. Adjustment transaction

   • Amount: ($15)

   • Fees:$0

   • Net: ($15)

   • Reference: Chargeback transaction ID

This matches the payout structure and eliminates mismatched disbursement reports.

Note: This update applies to credit card chargebacks only. Updated chargeback handling for direct debit transactions is coming soon.

Blackbaud AI now lets you create a tailored transaction list in seconds and customize it to your needs.

You can access Blackbaud AI in the following places within the Blackbaud Merchant Services Web Portal:

• From any page in the web portal, at the top right, select the Blackbaud AI icon.

  

• From Transactions, Transaction lists, select Add and Create a new list with Blackbaud AI.

Then, enter a description of the transaction lists you want to see.

Tip: Get creative! For example, you can enter phrases like “disbursements last month,” “transactions over $200 in the last 3 months,” or “transactions from [donor name] last year.”

Note: Blackbaud AI is limited to filters and columns that are currently available.

To help improve the experience, leave feedback on your results.

For more information, see Create a new list with Blackbaud AI.

We’ve rebuilt the MobilePay Terminal app on a modern framework. Version 4.0 includes:

• Improved performance and stability

• Support for quicker feature delivery

• Behind-the-scenes changes to prepare for upcoming features

MobilePay Terminal is available to install from the App Store or Google Play. For more information, see MobilePay Terminal Help.

Note: This update will remove saved settings, so you'll need to set them up again.

Note: Don't see these changes? Expect their wider release in a future update.

Navigation updates

To improve navigation and provide a more consistent experience with other Blackbaud solutions, we moved the web portal menu to the left sidebar. It adapts to your screen size and viewing preferences — expanding or collapsing as needed — so you can stay focused while keeping key tools within reach.

As part of these changes, Settings and Security are now separate menu items.

Tip: To collapse the sidebar, select Collapse at the end of the list. To expand it again, select the double arrows.

Homepage updates

We released the following enhancements to the web portal homepage:

• Under Recent disbursements, view high-level details about recent disbursements such as total amounts and number of transactions.

• Under Disbursement schedules, view information about disbursement calendars and dates. Previously, you accessed these schedules under Updates.

• Under Updates, view important system messages and alerts about your account.

• Under What's new, access Help resources to learn about recently released features.

Tip: To rearrange the order of how information appears, drag and drop each section.

To improve usability and provide a more consistent experience with other Blackbaud solutions, we updated the look and feel of the web portal.

Also, to improve navigation and provide quicker access, the web portal menu will soon move to the left sidebar, and Settings and Security will be separate menu items. The new menu will adapt to your screen size and viewing preferences — expanding or collapsing as needed — so you can stay focused while keeping key tools within reach.

To improve the donor giving experience with no scheduled payments downtime, a new dynamic, secure, and PCI v4-compliant checkout is available for Standard Donation Forms. It lets donors use:

• Google Pay and Apple Pay for their one-time and recurring gifts

• PayPal on fee coverage–enabled forms

For more information, see Standard Donation Forms Improved Checkout.

To offer supporters more ways to pay, those of you with Raiser's Edge NXT in Canada can now accept Canadian direct debit on donation forms and when you add a gift in the web view.

For more information, see What's New in Raiser's Edge NXT.

To make it easier to review the permissions associated with a role for a user, admins can now view the details in context. If a user doesn't have access to all tasks and permissions associated with a role, admins can select the role from the user's profile or from the Users page to see the tasks and permissions assigned to the user.

For more information, see View User Access for a Specific Role and View User Role Details.

Join us from June 3-5 for bbdevdays, a virtual conference designed for developers of all skill levels! Over the course of three days, participants explore innovative ways to automate and extend their Blackbaud solutions alongside Blackbaud pros, partners, and peers. Learn how to process payments in other applications with your existing Blackbaud Merchant Services account, or hear from other customers and Blackbaud Partners about available integrations.

For Payments, we’ll offer many enlightening sessions, such as:

• Upgrade Your Payments Checkout Experience with the SKY Payments API

• Blackbaud Integrated Payments Partner Showcase

• Using the Payments API to Streamline the Text-to-Give Experience

• How-to: Blackbaud Integrated Payments Using the Payments API

Wherever you are on your developer journey, bbdevdays is ready to welcome you. You'll learn new skills, grow your professional network, and see what's possible with your Blackbaud solutions. For more information, see bbdevdays 2025 or register here.

To provide supporters with more ways to pay, Luminate Online now supports one-time and recurring direct debit payments through the Automated Clearing Settlement System (ACSS) for accounts that process with the Canadian dollar (CAD). With ACSS direct debit, payers agree to a pre-authorization agreement (PAD), which authorizes the organization to withdraw funds from the payer’s account.

For more information, see Luminate Online Version 25 Release Notes.

MobilePay Terminal now supports Tap to Pay on iPhone! Now you can use your smartphone as a reader to securely accept contactless card and wallet payments — no extra terminals or hardware are needed.

To use Tap to Pay in MobilePay Terminal, you need:

• The latest version of MobilePay Terminal

• A Blackbaud Merchant Services account that processes in U.S. dollars

• An iPhone XS or later

For more information, see Tap to Pay for iPhone in MobilePay Terminal Help.

To help you refine your search criteria, from Transactions, Transaction lists, under Filter, you can now filter transactions above, below, or between certain amounts. Previously, you could filter only by exact amounts.

For more information, see Transaction List Filters.

To ensure accurate disbursement reporting, now when a direct debit return occurs due to a failed transaction, it appears as two separate line items in lists and reports:

• Direct Debit Return reflects the returned amount

• Adjustment includes the direct debit return fee

Previously, these returns appeared as single line items that included both the returned amount and the return fee.

Note: This change only affects direct debit returns from failed transactions. Direct debit returns that occur due to disputed transactions continue to appear as a single line item.

For more information, see Direct Debit Returns.

Blackbaud is committed to compliance with the federal Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and other applicable financial regulations as a reporting entity under the BSA. As part of the federal financial requirements, organizations must annually review and confirm signatory information within financial accounts.

Blackbaud audits and reviews Blackbaud Merchant Services accounts to ensure compliance with these regulations. To help you avoid interruption in payment processing, once a year, the web portal home page now displays an alert that asks you to confirm if your signatory information is still correct or to make any necessary updates.

For more information, see Signatory Authorities.

To help you know when to contact a donor for updated card info, you can now see whether the last attempted card update was successful with Credit Card Updater.

From Reports, Credit card updater, under Status, the report now displays if a card was marked as Updated or Card not updated – contact payer.

For more information, see Credit Card Updater.

Based on your feedback, we’ve clarified the verbiage used in transaction lists. From Transactions, Transaction lists, under Donor covered fee and Blackbaud paid fee, you can now see clear Yes and No indicators. Also, under Donor covered fee, when donor cover isn't offered as an option in checkout, the list now displays as Not available.

For example, the field reads Not available when donor cover isn't enabled on the form or when the transaction isn't eligible. Previously, when donor cover wasn’t offered as an option, the field remained blank.

For more information, see Transaction Information.