Prompt Strategies for Chat for Blackbaud AI

Knowing how to write a clear prompt is a good start. Knowing how to structure one is what separates a useful response from a great one. The strategies in this topic give Chat for Blackbaud AI more context, clearer goals, and sharper boundaries — so it can return responses that are more specific to your fundraising work in Raiser's Edge NXT.

For an introduction to the basics — including how to write specific prompts, include context, and refine through conversation — see the Chat with Blackbaud AI Quick Start Guide.

Strategy 1: Assign a Role

Tell Chat who it should act as before asking your question. When Chat takes on a specific role — like a major gifts officer or a stewardship coordinator — it focuses its response on the priorities, tone, and context that role would bring to the task.

How to use it: Start your prompt with "Act as a [role]." Then state what you need, any relevant facts or constraints, and the format you want.

"Act as a major gifts officer. My prospect gave $10,000 two years ago and hasn't responded to recent outreach. Draft a brief re-engagement message that focuses on the impact of their previous gift — not future giving."

"Act as a stewardship coordinator. Write a thank-you for a first-time donor who gave $500 to the annual fund. Keep it warm, personal, and under 150 words."

Tip: Use roles that reflect your org's real positions — major gifts officer, annual fund manager, events coordinator, grants writer, or prospect researcher. The closer the role matches the task, the more relevant the response.

Strategy 2: Ask for Step-by-Step Reasoning

Ask Chat to work through a problem in steps before giving you a final answer. This is especially useful for complex decisions — like building a cultivation plan or evaluating a prospect — where you want to see the reasoning, not just the conclusion.

How to use it: Ask Chat to break its response into steps. Specify what steps you want to see, then ask for a final recommendation or summary.

"Walk me through the steps to build a 90-day cultivation plan for a mid-level donor who has given three consecutive annual gifts and recently attended our gala. Include what data to review, suggested talking points, and a recommended timeline."

"Work through the key factors I should consider before making a major gift ask to [constituent name]. Cover their giving history, engagement signals, and any relationship connections in my portfolio — then give me a recommendation."

Strategy 3: Explore What-If Scenarios

Ask Chat to imagine a hypothetical situation and suggest how to respond. This is useful for planning ahead, thinking through how to handle an unexpected donor situation, or stress-testing a strategy before you commit to it.

How to use it: Describe the scenario and any constraints (time, budget, relationship boundaries), then ask Chat what it would recommend.

"Imagine a donor who has given a leadership gift every year for the past seven years tells me they need to pause giving for 12 months. What are the best ways to maintain the relationship and keep them engaged without making an ask?"

"What if two prospects in my portfolio are both ready for a major gift conversation, but I only have capacity to prioritize one this quarter? What factors should I weigh, and how should I decide?"

Strategy 4: Compare Options

Ask Chat to compare two approaches, strategies, or scenarios — then recommend one. This works best for qualitative decisions, like choosing between cultivation strategies, weighing timing, or evaluating two ways to engage a donor. Chat draws on fundraising best practices to give you a grounded recommendation.

How to use it: Describe both options, name what matters most to you, and ask Chat to weigh the tradeoffs and recommend one.

"I'm deciding between two cultivation approaches for a major gift prospect. Compare a 90-day outreach plan that leads with an exclusive event invitation against one that starts with a personal phone call and impact update. Based on best practices, which approach is more likely to move the relationship forward, and why?"

"Compare running a spring giving day versus a year-end appeal as our primary annual fund campaign. Which approach typically drives stronger donor acquisition for a mid-size nonprofit, and what are the tradeoffs I should consider?"

Strategy 5: Set Clear Constraints

Give Chat specific limits before you ask for content — like a word count, a required tone, topics to avoid, or elements to include. Constraints make responses more focused, predictable, and ready to use with minimal editing.

How to use it: Specify the output type, any length or word-count limits, the tone, what to avoid, and what to include.

"Write a thank-you email for a $2,500 gift to the scholarship fund. Maximum 120 words. Warm, personal tone. Do not reference future giving. Include the name of the scholarship."

"Draft three subject line options for a year-end appeal email. Each must be under 50 characters, focus on donor impact rather than urgency, and avoid the words 'deadline' or 'last chance.'"

Blackbaud-Specific Tips for Better Prompts

These tips apply specifically to how Chat for Blackbaud AI works within Raiser's Edge NXT — and they aren't covered in most general AI guides.

Name the record type

When your question involves a specific record, name the record type — constituent, fund, campaign, opportunity, appeal, or event — to help Chat focus on the right data.

Instead of: "How much has Jane Smith given?"

Try: "Show me Jane Smith's constituent giving history over the last five years, broken down by fund."

State your fundraising context

Mentioning your role or area of focus — major gifts, annual fund, stewardship, events, planned giving — helps Chat tailor its responses to your specific goals. The same question can yield very different answers depending on the context you give it.

Use positive filters — exclusions aren't supported in lists

List queries in Chat for Blackbaud AI filter records in — they don't filter records out. If your prompt includes phrasing like "but not," "except," or "exclude," Chat won't be able to apply the exclusion when returning a constituent, gift, or opportunity list. You'll get results based on the inclusion criteria only, and the exclusion will be silently ignored.

Instead, rephrase your request using only the records you want to see:

Instead of: "Show me donors to the Annual Fund but not the Building Fund."

Try: "Show me donors to the Annual Fund who gave in the last two years." Then review the results and apply any further filtering in Raiser's Edge NXT.

Tip: If you genuinely need to cross-reference two groups — for example, donors to one fund who didn't give to another — run two separate queries and compare the results. Chat can help you build each list independently.

Data comparisons work differently than strategic ones

Chat handles qualitative comparisons well — comparing two cultivation approaches, two strategies, or two scenarios draws on its fundraising knowledge and returns a clear recommendation. Comparing actual data across two records (which appeal raised more, which fund had the higher average gift) is more limited.

For data comparisons, ask about one metric at a time and use the exact record names as they appear in Raiser's Edge NXT. Chat can look up records by name, but each lookup is a separate step, and results are most reliable when you keep the scope narrow:

Instead of: "Compare total revenue, average gift size, and donor count for our Spring Appeal and Year-End Appeal."

Try: "What was the total revenue for our [exact appeal name] last year?" Then follow up with a separate question for the second appeal.

Start a new chat when you switch topics

Chat uses your conversation history to understand context. When you move to an unrelated task, start a fresh chat to keep responses focused and accurate. For more, see the Clear the Chat to Improve Accuracy section in the Quick Start Guide.

Use the Prompt Library as your starting point

The Chat for Blackbaud AI Prompt Library contains ready-to-use prompts built for common fundraising tasks in Raiser's Edge NXT. Start with a library prompt, then layer in one of the strategies above — such as assigning a role or adding constraints — to get more targeted results.

Combine strategies for stronger results

The five strategies work well on their own and even better together. For example:

  • Role + Constraints — Get expert-focused output within clear boundaries:
    "Act as a stewardship coordinator. Write a 90-word thank-you that acknowledges the donor's history with us but does not reference future giving."

  • Step-by-Step + What-If — Structure your thinking for complex decisions:
    "Walk me through the key factors that signal a prospect is ready for a major gift ask. Then imagine this specific prospect is not yet ready — what cultivation steps should I take over the next 90 days?"

  • Role + Comparative — Get perspective-driven strategy recommendations:
    "Act as a portfolio manager. Compare the case for making a major gift ask to this prospect this fall versus waiting until after they attend our spring gala. Which timing is more likely to succeed, and why?"

Tip: You don't have to master all five strategies at once. Start with the one that fits your most common task — Assign a Role for drafting donor communications or Set Constraints for writing thank-yous — and build from there.