Migrate from Blackbaud to HighLevel

Blackbaud individual constituents map directly to HighLevel Contacts. Name fields (first, last, preferred), email addresses, phone numbers, mailing addresses, and system IDs transfer as-is. Blackbaud's constituent ID is stored as Source_System_ID__c on the HighLevel contact for delta-run deduplication and audit traceability. Constituents with inactive status are migrated as archived HighLevel contacts.

Blackbaud organizational constituents (companies, foundations, government entities) map to HighLevel Companies. Organization name, type, address, website, and employer identification number transfer to corresponding HighLevel Company fields. Multi-contact organizations receive a primary Company record with related individual constituents linked via HighLevel's contact-to-company relationship model.

Blackbaud households group family members under one constituent record with shared address and combined giving history. HighLevel has no native household object, so the primary adult constituent becomes a HighLevel Contact, the household name and shared address attach to a Company record, and other household members become linked Contacts with a custom Household_Member__c relationship field set to the primary Company.

Blackbaud gifts (donations, grants, pledges, in-kind gifts) require a custom Gift object in HighLevel since no native equivalent exists. We create Gift__c with fields for gift type, amount, date, payment method, fund, campaign, and designation. Gift records are linked to the donor Contact via a lookup relationship. Gift__c supports the full Blackbaud gift type taxonomy including recurring gifts and pledge installments.

Blackbaud soft credits attribute gift influence to non-donors (employer match, fundraiser facilitator, spouse). HighLevel has no native soft-credit model, so we create a lookup field on Gift__c pointing to a secondary Contact record representing the soft-credit recipient. Soft-credit type (employer match, matching gift, cause champion) is stored as a picklist value on the Gift__c record for reporting segmentation.

Blackbaud Campaigns organize gifts towards a fundraising goal with a defined start and end date, target amount, and associated appeals. We create a Campaign__c custom object in HighLevel with fields for campaign name, start date, end date, goal amount, and status. Campaign__c links to Gift__c records so that gift totals can be aggregated against campaign goals using HighLevel's reporting and custom dashboards.

Blackbaud Funds represent accounting designations for gifts (unrestricted, temporarily restricted, permanently restricted) with fund-type categorization. HighLevel has no fund accounting model, so we create Fund__c as a custom object with fund name, type, and description. Gift__c records carry a Fund lookup so that gifts can be segmented by restriction type in HighLevel reports and pipeline views.

Blackbaud Appeals are sub-components of Campaigns representing specific solicitation vehicles (direct mail, event, email). We create an Appeal__c custom field on Gift__c with value-mapping from Blackbaud appeal codes to HighLevel pick-list values. This preserves the appeal-level attribution hierarchy without requiring a separate object, keeping HighLevel's data model lean while maintaining reporting granularity.

Blackbaud Membership enrollments track member status, type, level, and renewal dates. We map membership records to a Membership__c custom object linked to the Contact record, and create a dedicated HighLevel pipeline called 'Membership' with stages representing membership status (Prospect, Active, Lapsed, Renewed). Membership type and level are custom pick-list fields on Membership__c. Renewal date triggers workflow rebuilds in HighLevel using the renewal date as a workflow trigger.

Blackbaud Events with constituent registrations map to an Event__c custom object in HighLevel with event name, date, type, and venue. Registration records become linked Opportunity records in a dedicated Events pipeline, with stage representing registration status (Registered, Attended, No-Show). Attendee-specific data (meal preference, session selection) migrates as custom fields on the Opportunity record.

Blackbaud Actions (cultivation steps, stewardship tasks, call logs) map to HighLevel Tasks with the action description as task subject, original date preserved, and assigned user resolved by email match. Completed status, priority, and category transfer to HighLevel task fields. Action types (call, email, meeting) map to HighLevel's built-in task categorization.

Blackbaud Notes on constituent records migrate to HighLevel Notes with original create date and author preserved. Notes linked to specific gifts attach to the corresponding Gift__c record via a lookup. Rich-text formatting in Blackbaud notes is preserved where HighLevel's note format supports it. System-generated audit notes are migrated with a source-system flag.

Blackbaud document attachments on constituent records, gifts, and events are re-uploaded to HighLevel as Files associated with the corresponding record. File names, original upload dates, and file size metadata are preserved. Inline images within rich-text notes are extracted and re-hosted as separate HighLevel files where the note format does not support inline embedding.

Blackbaud custom field categories (text, currency, date, Boolean, code table, number) are created as custom fields on the corresponding HighLevel object. Code-table fields with defined pick-list values map to HighLevel pick-list custom fields with value-by-value mapping. Boolean and date custom fields transfer directly. Multi-value custom fields where Blackbaud allows multiple entries become comma-delimited text fields in HighLevel or trigger tag application based on the field value.

Blackbaud relationship records define how constituents relate (spouse, employer, board member, volunteer). HighLevel stores relationships on Contact records using custom relationship fields or tags. We map spouse relationships to a custom Spouse__c contact lookup, employer relationships to the Contact's Company field, and other relationship types (board, volunteer, referral) to a Relationship_Type__c pick-list on the Contact record with the related Contact stored in a Related_Contact__c lookup field.