From Freshman to Forever Fan: Making Education Data Work in Blackbaud CRM™

Education data is more than a historical record—it’s how institutions understand, segment, and engage constituents from their first class to lifelong alumni involvement.

In Blackbaud CRM™, the Education tab shows where someone studied, the degrees they earned, their school involvement, and the support they received. When set up well, it helps you:

• Personalize outreach based on shared academic experiences

• Build smarter alumni and donor segments

• Connect students and alumni for mentoring and networking

This multi-part blog series breaks down each section of the Education tab - Education, Involvement, and Scholarship - with practical tips for configuring and using them in ways that support advancement strategy, not just data entry.

The Education Tab in Blackbaud CRM, Simplified

• Education – This section stores details about a constituent’s academic history, including institutions attended, degrees earned, majors, and graduation dates. In this post, we’ll explore the key fields for tracking education history. In a follow-up post, we’ll cover best practices for managing multiple degrees and special cases.

• Involvement – This section tracks a constituent’s participation in extracurricular activities, student organizations, athletics, and other campus engagements. We will discuss how involvement data can enhance affinity-based outreach, giving strategies, and volunteer engagement.

• Scholarship – This section documents scholarships and financial aid received by the constituent. We will cover how this data helps institutions track funding impact, stewardship opportunities, and potential future donor engagement.

Quick Reference List:

Educational Institutions: degrees, majors, and graduation details.

Involvement: clubs, athletics, and campus activities that drive affinity-based engagement.

Scholarship: Grants and awards that support stewardship and future donor insights.

Setting Up the Educational Catalog

The Educational Catalog (found in Administration) is the foundation for education tracking in Blackbaud CRM.

Educational Institutions

Add your institution and check “This institution is affiliated with our organization.”

This enables helpful automation:

• Graduated → Constituency = Alumni

• Currently Attending → Constituency = Student

This means fewer manual updates. Better data consistency.

Academic Code Tables

These tables should align with your registrar’s data.

• Degrees – Combine level and field (e.g., BA in History, BS in Biology). Use short codes for acronyms and full descriptions for reporting.

• Departments – Official academic units (e.g., Department of Economics).

• Subdepartments (Majors) – Pair major with degree level (e.g., Accounting, BS; Accounting, MS) for cleaner segmentation.

Other Key Education Fields

A few additional code tables round out the academic picture:

• Educational Program – Bachelor’s, Master’s, Doctorate, etc.

• Educational Honor Awarded – Magna Cum Laude, Summa Cum Laude

• Educational College/School – Helpful for multi-college or multi-campus institutions

• Educational Division – Concentrations or tracks (e.g., Finance, Marketing)

• Educational Degree Type – Major vs. Minor

When You Need More: Form Extensions

Standard fields don’t cover every scenario. Form extensions can help fill the gaps.

A common example: adding a simple Honorary Degree checkbox to the Education History form so honorary alumni are easy to identify and report on—no notes or workarounds required.

Up next in Part 2: handling multiple degrees, dual majors, and other real-world education scenarios in Blackbaud CRM™.