Blackbaud CRM™ Accelerates Advancement and Campus-Wide Collaboration for Enterprise Higher Education Institutions

CHARLESTON, S.C., March 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB), the world's leading cloud software company powering social good, is proud to share that leading enterprise higher education institutions are relying on Blackbaud CRM^™ to empower teams across campus, strengthen constituent engagement and achieve better fundraising results.

With the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating the need for powerful cloud-based systems that allow for easy collaboration, Blackbaud CRM has been the trusted CRM solution for a growing number of institutions to support their overall advancement needs. Institutions including Baylor University, Clemson University, University of Houston, University of Louisville, University of Saskatchewan, University of South Carolina and West Virginia University Foundation have recently gone live on or selected Blackbaud CRM in Microsoft Azure.

"As the market leader for advancement and development CRM solutions, we understand that in today's evolving environment, institutions need reliable cloud solutions now more than ever," said Chris Krackeler, president and general manager, Higher Education Solutions, Blackbaud. "Blackbaud CRM provides enterprise institutions with a strong foundation to support broader technology initiatives across campus, enabling them to drive fundraising and engagement success. With Blackbaud solutions, customers are realizing a new era of innovation, campus-wide alignment and transparency."

Blackbaud CRM is a comprehensive, customizable fundraising and relationship management solution that enables education institutions to improve fundraising outcomes, fortify alumni relations and increase collaboration across campus. A recent study by the Zuri Group found that institutions using Blackbaud CRM were able to raise more money at a faster rate with:

• An average annual increase of $55.1M in funds raised after Blackbaud CRM implementation
• A 63-percentage-point increase in funds raised compared to non-Blackbaud CRM institutions
• An 8.9% average annual growth rate after Blackbaud CRM adoption

Blackbaud CRM, part of The Cloud Solution for Higher Education Institutions—which also includes financial management, award management, scholarship management and fundraising performance management—also connects with third-party solutions, allowing customers to create end-to-end experiences and connect multiple facets of campus digital transformation seamlessly.

"Our mission is to serve our alumni, donors and friends of the university and ensure that they remain engaged and connected to the university in meaningful ways," said Jasmine Farrier, PhD, vice president, university advancement at University of Louisville. "We chose to work with Blackbaud after an extensive RFP process because we trust that its comprehensive alumni and development CRM solution will empower our team to achieve this important mission and keep us connected to the broader Cardinal family."

"Blackbaud CRM has helped accelerate the University of South Carolina's move to the cloud and powered our ability to foster stronger relationships and transparency across campus, even amidst a global pandemic," said Derek Clark, assistant vice president of advancement services, University of South Carolina. "By connecting our Blackbaud solutions for advancement, award management, and fund accounting, we are able to achieve a system-wide realignment that had not previously been possible. Further, the openness of Blackbaud CRM allows us to securely connect with additional systems across campus to advance our technology vision and drive innovation."

"Even while switching to a fully virtual implementation mid-way through the project due to COVID-19, we launched Blackbaud CRM on time and on budget," said Lori Shockey, executive director, operations and services at the University of Saskatchewan. "A great benefit of moving to the cloud with Blackbaud CRM was that it allowed us to maintain business continuity throughout the pandemic. We look forward to expanding our use of the solution to bring together additional departments across campus."

For more information about Blackbaud CRM for higher education institutions, visit www.blackbaud.com/highered.  

About Blackbaud
Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) is the world's leading cloud software company powering social good. Serving the entire social good community—nonprofits, higher education institutions, K–12 schools, healthcare organizations, faith communities, arts and cultural organizations, foundations, companies and individual change agents—Blackbaud connects and empowers organizations to increase their impact through cloud software, services, expertise and data intelligence. The Blackbaud portfolio is tailored to the unique needs of vertical markets, with solutions for fundraising and CRM, marketing, advocacy, peer-to-peer fundraising, corporate social responsibility, school management, ticketing, grantmaking, financial management, payment processing and analytics. Serving the industry for more than three decades, Blackbaud is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina, and has operations in the United States, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.blackbaud.com or follow us on 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.