Blackbaud Announces Major Wave of Innovation in Essential Social Impact Technology at bbcon 2023

Product innovation highlights include more seamless integration, built-in artificial intelligence and enhanced flexibility

CHARLESTON, S.C., Oct. 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB), the leading provider of software for powering social impact, kicked off its annual technology conference, bbcon, announcing the latest innovations for its purpose-built, essential software that's used worldwide to power fundraising, nonprofit financial management, company volunteering and giving, and education.

"Our customers are dedicated to the purpose-driven work that makes the world a better place, and we are laser-focused on providing them with software that fuels their impact and unleashes unprecedented potential," said Mike Gianoni, president and CEO, Blackbaud. "This year at bbcon, we're thrilled to show the world how our research and development investments exclusively focused on the social impact space are going to transform the essential business operations of this sector."

Product Innovation
During the opening keynote, Blackbaud announced the new features and solutions it will be investing in across three main themes, each with exciting product reveals, sneak peaks, and software demos.

Connected Systems
Chief Product Officer Sudip Datta shared Blackbaud's intention to move beyond individual products to deliver integrated experiences that put the most useful information and insights at the fingertips of users and connect customers more seamlessly than ever with their external audiences. Key announcements powering this vision include:

• The modernization of Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT® with 100% functionality in web view coming in 2024 to bring more information into one view and simplify reporting, as well as the launch of Payment Assistant to provide a consolidated payment workflow that will save customers millions of dollars.
• New Online Giving donation forms that have outperformed traditional forms, raising 2-3x more in early access testing and enable native integration with major products across Blackbaud's portfolio.
• A new partnership with Stripe, combining their leadership in highly optimized e-commerce checkout experiences with Blackbaud's expertise in donation transactions and processing, to harness the potential for generosity from millions of online shoppers across the internet. 
• A new grant applicant experience in Blackbaud Grantmaking™ that will make the entire process easier for every participant.
• The optimization of data flow between Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT® and Blackbaud's suite of education management solutions for education fundraisers.

Intelligence for Good®
Earlier this year, Blackbaud launched its next generation Intelligence for Good strategy, committing to AI that's powerful, responsible, and accessible for the social impact community.  Building on this, Blackbaud announced several new AI features coming to its products including:

• The launch of new Prospect Insights PRO capabilities to improve the prospecting of donors within Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT with new features to recommend when to pull in planned giving resources and when to ask for blended gifts.
• An AI-enabled thank you note generator for donor stewardship within Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT and Blackbaud CRM™.
• An AI-enabled story enhancer to help individuals raise more through their JustGiving fundraising pages.
• Features within AI-enabled donation forms that prompt recurring gifts, suggest donation amounts and provide customized donor journeys.
• An AI-enabled question generator to help K-12 educators develop quizzes and assessments.
• The launch of Blackbaud Impact Edge™, a new AI-powered, social impact reporting solution for companies that creates a "single pane of glass" through which companies can view all their impact reporting.

Growing, Flexible Ecosystem
With an expanding ecosystem of partners, developers, and options to extend Blackbaud software, the company is providing more flexibility and choice, enabling social impact organizations to customize their solutions and expand possibilities with:

• More low-code and no-code solutions: this year, 1,000+ Blackbaud customers leveraged Microsoft Power Platform Connectors to build automations and apps to meet their hyper-specific needs with Blackbaud solutions. No coding experience is required for them to transform their workflows and save hours every week. 
• A growing community of developers: in the last year, Blackbaud has seen more than 40% growth in its developer ecosystem, with over 10,000 developers delivering everything from workflow automations to game-changing integrations.
• Expanded SKY APIs® and enhanced developer tools: with new SKY APIs and developer tools, partners receive the same consistent developer experience across multiple Blackbaud products to deliver solutions to customers faster and easier, with added security.
• Developer support and resources: bbdevdays events provide citizen developers a safe space to experiment, learn new skills, share code, and build innovative solutions to drive their missions forward. 
• Blackbaud Social Good Startup Program: a tech accelerator program through which Blackbaud supports bold new innovators, providing business and technical guidance to help them bring their applications to customers within the Blackbaud Marketplace.

Happening at bbcon 2023
Held in person for the first time in three years, bbcon 2023 is taking place this week in Denver, CO, welcoming thousands of social impact professionals for three days of unmatched networking, the latest in industry trends, and inspiring keynotes.

The day two agenda features keynote conversations with renowned actress and activist America Ferrera and Olympian and survivor Chaunté Lowe, in addition to a fireside chat with the co-chairs of the Generosity Commission—Blackbaud's CEO Mike Gianoni and Jane Wales, vice president of the Aspen Institute. Mainstage sessions can be livestreamed for free through the bbcon virtual pass, with replay content available Nov. 6–Dec. 31.

This year, Blackbaud will host its annual Blackbaud Social Good Startup Showcase at bbcon for the first time, giving founders in the 2023 program a chance to pitch their ideas to Blackbaud leaders and customers. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear from 13 startups and vote for which solution they think will help them drive the most impact.

In the spirit of putting social impact into action at bbcon, attendees will be assembling hygiene kits for the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless with the goal of providing 2,000 kits. In addition, Blackbaud will make a donation to the organization.  

Visit bbconference.com for more information, and for more details on Blackbaud's product roadmap, register to attend the Blackbaud Product Update Briefings, happening Nov. 13–16.

About Blackbaud
Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) is the leading software provider exclusively dedicated to powering social impact. Serving the nonprofit and education sectors, companies committed to social responsibility and individual change makers, Blackbaud's essential software is built to accelerate impact in fundraising, nonprofit financial management, digital giving, grantmaking, corporate social responsibility and education management. With millions of users and over $100 billion raised, granted or managed through Blackbaud platforms every year, Blackbaud's solutions are unleashing the potential of the people and organizations who change the world. Blackbaud has been named to Newsweek's list of America's Most Responsible Companies, Quartz's list of Best Companies for Remote Workers, and Forbes' list of America's Best Employers. A remote-first company, Blackbaud has operations in the United States, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica and the United Kingdom, supporting users in 100+ countries. Learn more at www.blackbaud.com or follow us on X/Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

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Forward-looking Statements
Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations, and assumptions contained in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding expected benefits of products and product features. Although Blackbaud attempts to be accurate in making these forward-looking statements, it is possible that future circumstances might differ from the assumptions on which such statements are based. In addition, other important factors that could cause results to differ materially include the following: general economic risks; uncertainty regarding increased business and renewals from existing customers; continued success in sales growth; management of integration of acquired companies and other risks associated with acquisitions; risks associated with successful implementation of multiple integrated software products; the ability to attract and retain key personnel; risks associated with management of growth; lengthy sales and implementation cycles, particularly in larger organization; technological changes that make our products and services less competitive; and the other risk factors set forth from time to time in the SEC filings for Blackbaud, copies of which are available free of charge at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or upon request from Blackbaud's investor relations department. All Blackbaud product names appearing herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Blackbaud, Inc.

SOURCE Blackbaud, Inc.