Case Study: Notre Dame de Namur University raises nearly $20M to save Ralston Hall with Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT

Notre Dame de Namur University - Customer Case Study

Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU) faced a urgent fundraising challenge to save Ralston Hall, a historic 1868 campus landmark that needed about $20 million in renovations. Tad Taube issued a one‑year, $6 million matching challenge to spur the campaign, but NDNU had a small advancement team, no true major gifts program, and lacked the technology and processes to raise that amount quickly.

NDNU implemented Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT (with Target Analytics and NetCommunity), using wealth ratings, tags, and cloud access to prioritize prospects, streamline workflows, and enable frontline fundraisers to ask the right amounts. The university raised $6.4 million toward the Taube Challenge, secured the $6 million match, increased average gift size by 881%, and is now roughly 90% of the way to the $20 million renovation goal.

Notre Dame de Namur University

Dino Hernandez

Vice President for Advancement