Blackbaud's Tech Accelerator Program Welcomes 10 Startups Building Generative AI Solutions for Social Impact

Startups in the July 2023 Cohort of the Blackbaud Social Good Startup Program Are Creating AI Solutions to Help Social Impact Organizations Achieve More

CHARLESTON, S.C., July 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB), the leading provider of software for powering social impact, today announced the newest cohort of participants in its Social Good Startup Program. The program is a tech accelerator designed to support diverse, early-stage software companies focused on solving the problems that matter to the social good community.

The July 2023 cohort is specifically focused on mission-driven tech startups using generative AI to increase impact for companies and nonprofits focused on social responsibility. This is one way that Blackbaud is delivering on its commitment to make AI more accessible to customers—by accelerating the availability of AI-driven partner solutions in the Blackbaud Marketplace. Through this partner ecosystem, Blackbaud customers can easily find and integrate AI solutions into their Blackbaud tech stack to meet their specific needs. 

"In addition to the product innovation and AI capabilities we're delivering to our customers, Blackbaud is also investing in our partner ecosystem to give customers a range of ways they can integrate intelligent solutions to drive greater impact in the world," said Kevin McDearis, executive vice president and chief technology officer, Blackbaud. "We're thrilled to invest in this new cohort of startups that are bringing meaningful AI applications to the social impact industry."

The startups in the July 2023 cohort include:

• ChangeFinder: ChangeFinder is ChatGPT for grants. The SaaS grant writing solution (GrantMachine) is focused on increasing efficiency and grant application success rates for nonprofits. ChangeFinder develops Large Language Models (LLM's) for specific nonprofit grant verticals and grant funding categories, such as housing or health equity, empowering customers to drive meaningful change in their communities.
• Donor360: Donor360 is an ethical eCommerce platform that enables charities and their advocates to fundraise by vending Fair Trade, organic and cruelty-free products. Donor360 is an eCommerce ecosystem of nonprofits, advocates, organic and sustainable brands, corporations and conscious consumers. Donor360 eShops are fast, free and easy to set up and manage.
• eSimpleIT: With a mission to double the impact of philanthropic organizations worldwide, eSimpleIT is actively developing an advanced marketing studio tool designed to transform fundraising and philanthropy. With AI-driven targeting and segmentation, this tool empowers marketing professionals to identify and engage with potential donors and sponsors effectively, while its prescriptive insights help to create personalized campaigns that resonate with the target audience to maximize engagement and conversion rates.
• Fundwriter.ai: Fundwriter.ai is an AI-powered platform for the social good sector, empowering every member of the team to become a fundraising powerhouse. Teams leverage their organization's data, content and other resources to create targeted proposals, appeals, prospect outreach and strategy documents.
• FundMiner: FundMiner's B2B software simplifies fund management and automates gift administration for large fundraising organizations like higher education institutions, academic medical centers and community foundations. FundMiner's AI-powered platform aggregates data from siloed systems and automates manual processes to provide organizations with tools like reporting and analytics, workflow automation and compliance monitoring, to ensure that resources are maximized. FundMiner helps clients stay compliant with internal and external regulations and better honor donor intent, driving more effective capital utilization, greater staff productivity and increased fundraising revenue.
• Hatch: Hatch is the first-of-its-kind giving intelligence platform powered by Altruistic Intelligence™. Hatch provides organizations with new information on each individual donor, allowing fundraisers, marketers and volunteers to streamline and maximize their impact, providing a new home for a new world of giving. 
• Humanitas AI: Humanitas AI is building smart assistants and in-kind fundraising tools to help nonprofits and companies accomplish and raise more. Humanitas AI believes a first-principles socio-economic data platform (one that includes social sector data that often are excluded from major algorithms) will be critical to ensure a safe, just and equitable future for everyone. The platform offers various tools, including an AI assistant and a marketplace to better help companies connect with local nonprofits, and strives to serve as the trusted intermediary between all stakeholders in the impact ecosystem.
• ImpactWriter from LifeLegacy: ImpactWriter from LifeLegacy is ChatGPT for nonprofit fundraising content creation. ImpactWriter is designed to give fundraisers the power to create expert content in seconds, saving time, resources and money—allowing organizations to focus on the most critical day-to-day tasks. Whether it's creating fundraising campaigns, donor thank you letters, social content, board letters, newsletters, or impact stories, ImpactWriter elevates a nonprofit's fundraising capabilities.
• Nonprofit Operating System: Nonprofit Operating System is a revolutionary tool that leverages the power of generative AI to assist nonprofits in creating compelling fundraising appeals, engaging social media content, and everything else a nonprofit might need. Designed by experienced nonprofit professionals, this system understands the unique challenges and opportunities in the nonprofit sector. With nearly 200 customers already benefiting from its capabilities, it's transforming the way nonprofits communicate and engage with their audiences.
• b.world: b.world is an AI-powered impact measurement and storytelling app for corporate and social impact teams. It makes impact program design, measurement and storytelling easy, fast and cost-effective so impact teams can focus more on their mission.

"In keeping with Blackbaud's commitment to make AI more accessible to social impact organizations as part of our Intelligence for Good® strategy, we're thrilled to welcome these 10 outstanding companies into the July 2023 cohort," said Lizzie Schaffer, general manager, Social Good Startup Program, Blackbaud. "Partnering with the most innovative startups using AI to power social impact technology allows us to provide even more opportunities for purpose-led organizations to experiment with some of the newest products and solutions in the market, and we can't wait to see all the good we can do with the companies in the July 2023 cohort as AI technology continues to advance."

About the Blackbaud Social Good Startup Program
Since the launch of the first cohort of the Social Good Startup Program in January 2020, Blackbaud has supported a total of 45 startups through six prior cohorts, with these organizations collectively raising upwards of $150 million in funding. In addition, 55% of the startup founders who have participated in the program are from backgrounds typically underrepresented in tech. 

Program participants receive curated access to Blackbaud resources, marketing opportunities and nondilutive grant funding, and Blackbaud works with startup founders to design a unique plan for each company that addresses their goals for growth. Participants have published multiple Blackbaud product integrations in the Blackbaud Marketplace, collaborated with other Blackbaud ISV partners to develop integrations, participated in Blackbaud events and engaged in targeted discovery with Blackbaud customers to get product feedback and implement changes to best suit customer needs. 

Founders are invited to participate in the annual Blackbaud Social Good Startup Showcase, where they can pitch their ideas to Blackbaud leaders for a chance to create networking opportunities and ultimately win cash prizes. This year's showcase will take place at bbcon, Blackbaud's annual tech conference happening in Denver, Oct. 22-24.

Blackbaud accepts applications for the Social Good Startup Program on a rolling basis. For consideration in the January 2024 or other future cohorts, learn more and apply here.  

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 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.