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Nonprofits · head to head

Blackbaud Grantmaking vs CharityEngine

Blackbaud Grantmaking logo

Blackbaud Grantmaking

Nonprofits

Grants management for foundations and corporate givers inside the Blackbaud ecosystem

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
CharityEngine logo

CharityEngine

Nonprofits

Nonprofit CRM with its own in-house payment processing rather than a third-party gateway

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Blackbaud Grantmaking no pricing is published at any tier, and Blackbaud contracts commonly run multiple years, so a foundation that finds the fit wrong is locked in past the point where switching is cheap.; CharityEngine payment processing rates are negotiated and never published, so the total cost cannot be compared to a licence-only CRM without getting a quote and modelling your own volume in basis points.
  • They diverge on capability: Blackbaud Grantmaking covers Online application portal, CharityEngine covers In-house payment processing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Blackbaud Grantmaking and CharityEngine actually diverge.

Attributes where Blackbaud Grantmaking and CharityEngine differ
AttributeBlackbaud GrantmakingCharityEngine

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), platforms (Web), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Nonprofits).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Blackbaud Grantmaking

  • Online application portal
  • Due diligence checks
  • Board dockets
  • Payment scheduling
  • Grantee reporting
  • Financial Edge integration
  • Reporting and dashboards

Only in CharityEngine

  • In-house payment processing
  • Recurring giving recovery
  • Direct mail segmentation
  • Peer-to-peer and events
  • Advocacy and membership
  • Marketing automation

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Blackbaud Grantmaking

  • A private foundation already running Blackbaud Financial Edge that wants grant liabilities to post to the ledger without manual journalsnot CharityEngine
  • A community foundation managing hundreds of donor advised funds with separate grant recommendationsnot CharityEngine
  • A corporate giving programme needing documented US charity status checks before every paymentnot CharityEngine
  • A foundation whose board approves grants by docket and needs a repeatable, auditable packet processnot CharityEngine

CharityEngine

  • A nonprofit processing high recurring gift volume that wants card updater and dunning built into the CRM rather than bought separatelynot Blackbaud Grantmaking
  • Replacing a stack of a CRM, an email tool and a separate donation gateway with one contract and one reconciliationnot Blackbaud Grantmaking
  • A direct mail heavy organisation that needs offline gift entry and mail file segmentation as first-class features, not add-onsnot Blackbaud Grantmaking
  • An organisation whose finance team wants a single settlement file that already reconciles to donor recordsnot Blackbaud Grantmaking

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Blackbaud Grantmaking

  • No pricing is published at any tier, and Blackbaud contracts commonly run multiple years, so a foundation that finds the fit wrong is locked in past the point where switching is cheap.
  • Implementation and data migration from a legacy GIFTS or Access database are separately priced professional services and regularly exceed the first year licence.
  • The interface carries a long lineage and feels dated next to newer grants platforms, which shows up as training time for programme staff and reluctance among occasional users.
  • Value depends heavily on being inside the Blackbaud stack; a foundation running Sage or NetSuite for accounting loses the integration that is the main commercial argument for the product.
  • Blackbaud disclosed a ransomware incident in 2020 affecting customer backups and later settled with US regulators, so due diligence teams at some funders now require additional security review before approving the vendor.

CharityEngine

  • Payment processing rates are negotiated and never published, so the total cost cannot be compared to a licence-only CRM without getting a quote and modelling your own volume in basis points.
  • Because the vendor is both the software provider and the merchant processor, switching CRM also means re-papering merchant services and re-tokenising every recurring donor, which is a far larger project than a normal migration.
  • Subscription pricing is quote-only and reported entry points come from third parties rather than the vendor, so small organisations often discover the floor is well above what they budgeted.
  • The interface is dense and configuration-heavy, and organisations without a dedicated database administrator tend to use a fraction of what they pay for.
  • Implementation and data migration are billed on top of the subscription and are commonly the largest first-year line item, which is easy to miss when comparing monthly figures.

Pricing, plan by plan

Blackbaud Grantmaking

On request
  • Blackbaud Grantmaking$undefined/year
    • Grant application, review and award management
    • Applicant and grantee portals
    • Payment scheduling and liability tracking

CharityEngine

On request
  • CharityEngine$undefined/year
    • Donor CRM and gift processing
    • In-house payment processing at a negotiated rate
    • Email, SMS and direct mail tools

Which should you pick?

Choose Blackbaud Grantmaking if

  • You need online application portal.
  • You also want due diligence checks.
Blackbaud Grantmaking review

Choose CharityEngine if

  • You need in-house payment processing.
  • You also want recurring giving recovery.
CharityEngine review

Questions people ask

Is Blackbaud Grantmaking or CharityEngine better?
Neither clearly leads. Blackbaud Grantmaking starts at On request and CharityEngine at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Blackbaud Grantmaking or CharityEngine?
Blackbaud Grantmaking starts at On request and CharityEngine at On request.
Does Blackbaud Grantmaking or CharityEngine run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
What is Blackbaud Grantmaking best used for?
Blackbaud Grantmaking is most often used for a private foundation already running blackbaud financial edge that wants grant liabilities to post to the ledger without manual journals, a community foundation managing hundreds of donor advised funds with separate grant recommendations, a corporate giving programme needing documented us charity status checks before every payment, a foundation whose board approves grants by docket and needs a repeatable, auditable packet process. Of those, a private foundation already running blackbaud financial edge that wants grant liabilities to post to the ledger without manual journals and a community foundation managing hundreds of donor advised funds with separate grant recommendations are not what CharityEngine is typically brought in for.
What can Blackbaud Grantmaking do that CharityEngine cannot?
Blackbaud Grantmaking covers Online application portal, Due diligence checks, Board dockets, Payment scheduling. CharityEngine covers In-house payment processing, Recurring giving recovery, Direct mail segmentation, Peer-to-peer and events.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Blackbaud Grantmaking: Is this the same as GIFTS Online?

Yes, in lineage. It comes from MicroEdge GIFTS, which Blackbaud acquired in 2014, and has been rebranded and reworked since.

CharityEngine: Does CharityEngine publish pricing?

No. Both the subscription and the payment processing rate are quoted. Third-party sites report a starter tier around 550 US dollars a month, but the vendor does not confirm this.

Blackbaud Grantmaking: What does it cost?

Blackbaud does not publish grantmaking pricing. Expect a quoted annual subscription plus a separate implementation and migration fee, and expect a multi-year term to be proposed.

CharityEngine: Is the payment processing optional?

In practice no. The processing is the product. Using an external gateway removes most of what distinguishes CharityEngine from cheaper CRMs.

Blackbaud Grantmaking: Do we need Financial Edge to get value?

No, but the general ledger integration is the strongest single reason to choose it. Without Financial Edge, compare it more carefully against Foundant and SmartSimple.

CharityEngine: Is there a nonprofit discount?

Every customer is a nonprofit, so there is no separate discount; pricing is tiered by contact count and gift volume instead.

Blackbaud Grantmaking: Does it verify charity status automatically?

Yes for US grantees, using charity status data as part of due diligence screening before payment.

CharityEngine: How long is the contract?

Annual terms are standard, and multi-year commitments are used to buy down the rate.

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