September 2010 - Posts
Charleston, S.C. (September 30, 2010)-- Blackbaud, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLKB), the leading global provider of software and services designed specifically for nonprofit organizations, announced its inclusion on Software Magazine’s Software 500 ranking of the world’s largest software and service providers, now in its 28th year.
Blackbaud ranked 121, with 2009 software and services revenue of $302.6 million and corporate revenue of $309.3 million. The ranking positioned Blackbaud as the largest provider of nonprofit software on the Software 500 list.
“The 2010 Software 500 results show that revenue growth in the software and services industry was healthy, with total Software 500 revenue of $491.7 billion worldwide for 2009, representing virtually flat growth from the previous year,” says John P. Desmond, editor of Software Magazine and Softwaremag.com.
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Charleston, S.C. (Sept. 28, 2010) – Blackbaud, Inc. (Nasdaq:BLKB), announced that The Shipley School has implemented Blackbaud’s Online Campus Community™ and AlertNow® to improve parent access and increase interaction within the school community. Online Campus Community is an independent K-12 school website solution that now includes custom web design and interactive web strategy services. The addition of AlertNow provides schools with a way to quickly communicate with parents according to their preference; via voice, email, or text messages.
“The Shipley School is a large community of teachers, students, families, alumni, and friends—so communicating with each group and each other was a challenge with disparate databases and processes,” said Rachel Welsh, The Shipley School’s webmaster and director of data operations. “With Online Campus Community, we’ve streamlined communication between offices and developed an engaging website with valuable content. Thanks to AlertNow, we can easily and effectively inform our school community about time-sensitive events or inclement weather."
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Free online events explore how nonprofits can engage their supporters through social media
and how independent fundraising events can help nonprofits make an impact on their missions
Blackbaud Social Hour: Engaging Your Supporters Through Social Media
Series Description: Each month, 25 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook alone. And each year, Americans generate more than 500 billion peer-influenced impressions via social media. This social media phenomenon could have a huge impact on methods for engaging and cultivating the next-generation of lifelong donors. Blackbaud is hosting a free virtual “Blackbaud Social Hour” web seminar series where industry experts will share best practices for engaging supporters through social media.
Part 3 Private-Label House Social Networks — 10 Really Good Reasons to Build Community on Your Organization's Website
The third session of the web seminar series will review key industry benchmarks to examine not only the ROI of various social media strategies, but also the value comparison between house networks (also known as private-label communities) and Facebook.
When: October 1, 2010, 1:00 p.m. ET
Who: Jeff Patrick, President and Founder, Common Knowledge
Part 4 Achieving Success with Blackbaud Social: A Reeve Foundation Case Study
The fourth and final session of the web seminar series will focus on the Reeve Foundation’s launch of its own private social network - the Reeve Foundation Paralysis Community.
When: October 8, 2010, 1:00 p.m. ET
Who: Rob Gerth, Director of Digital Media, The Reeve Foundation
Where: Register for these free web seminars.
Raise More Funds with Independent Fundraising Events
Event Description: For the last 10 years, Blackbaud has successfully supported more than 33,000 events, which have collectively raised more than a $1 billion online. The growth of peer-to-peer fundraising has helped walk, ride, and marathon events raise billions to support many causes. Online peer-to-peer fundraising has now expanded, and constituents are raising funds outside of traditional walk/ride/marathon events. These are now known as independent fundraising events. Attend this seminar to learn more about independent fundraising events and how they can help move your mission.
When: October 13, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. ET
Who: Presented by Amy Braiterman, Principal Strategy Consultant, Blackbaud, Inc.
Where: Register for the free web seminar.
In addition to these topical web seminars, Blackbaud offers a wide variety of daily web seminars featuring Blackbaud products and services and tips and tricks to help nonprofits be more effective. All web seminars are free, last approximately one hour, and can be accessed at www.blackbaud.com/events/overview.aspx.
About Blackbaud
Blackbaud is the leading global provider of software and services designed specifically for nonprofit organizations, enabling them to improve operational efficiency, build strong relationships, and raise more money to support their missions. Approximately 22,000 organizations — including University of Arizona Foundation, American Red Cross, Cancer Research UK, The Taft School, Lincoln Center, In Touch Ministries, Tulsa Community Foundation, Ursinus College, Earthjustice, International Fund for Animal Welfare, and the WGBH Educational Foundation — use one or more Blackbaud products and services for fundraising, constituent relationship management, financial management, website management, direct marketing, education administration, ticketing, business intelligence, prospect research, consulting, and analytics. Since 1981, Blackbaud’s sole focus and expertise has been partnering with nonprofits and providing them the solutions they need to make a difference in their local communities and worldwide. Headquartered in the United States, Blackbaud also has operations in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.blackbaud.com.
Charleston, S.C. (September 20, 2010) – Blackbaud, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLKB) today announced that it has hired Brad Holman as president of its International Business Unit. Based in Sydney, he will lead Blackbaud’s international operations including Blackbaud’s England, Hong Kong, Australia, and Netherlands offices, as well as all international business development activities.
“Brad’s broad range of skills and leadership abilities combined with his extensive international experience will be invaluable as we expand our range of product and services offerings around the globe,” said Marc Chardon, Blackbaud’s chief executive officer.
Holman has led a number of mergers and acquisition opportunities in both Europe and Asia and established many distribution partners across international markets. Before joining Blackbaud, he worked in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Australia, and managed operations in the Middle East and India.
“I am excited to join Blackbaud at such a pivotal time in the company’s international expansion,” said Holman. “Blackbaud has a clear market leadership position in the nonprofit industry. With eight global offices, I believe the company is well-positioned to support the evolving needs of nonprofit professionals around the world, and I look forward to leading the team that will bring the industry’s leading software and services to a global audience.”
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Economic conditions, natural disasters, and market fluctuations have made it extremely difficult for nonprofits to make fundraising decisions informed by the latest donor behavior. That is why we created the The Blackbaud Index of Charitable Giving and The Blackbaud Index of Online Giving — to provide fundraisers with up-to-date data on fundraising trends and to couple that information with valuable analysis by leaders in the sector.
The Blackbaud Index of Charitable Giving is a broad-based fundraising index that reports total revenue trends of 1,380 nonprofit organizations representing $2.2 billion in yearly revenue on a monthly basis, both offline and online. The Index is based on actual revenue statistics from nonprofit organizations of all sizes representing arts, culture, and humanities; education; environment and animals; healthcare; human services; international affairs; public and society benefit; and religion sectors. Read more about the methodology.
The Blackbaud Index of Charitable Giving reports that overall revenue decreased by 4 percent for the 3 months ending July 2010 as compared to the same period in 2009.
» View the Index by size of organization
The Blackbaud Index of Online Giving is a broad-based fundraising index that reports online revenue trends of more than 1,710 nonprofit organizations representing $404.9 million in yearly online revenue on a monthly basis. The Index is based on actual revenue statistics from nonprofit organizations of all sizes representing arts, culture, and humanities; education; environment and animals; healthcare; human services; international affairs; and public and society benefit sectors.
The Blackbaud Index of Online Giving reports that online revenue increased by 11.6 percent for the 3 months ending July 2010 as compared to the same period in 2009.
» View the Index by size of organization
Visit www.blackbaud.com/blackbaudindex for more information and check back on the 15th of each month for updated numbers.
How did your organization fare in July?
Charleston, S.C. (September 15, 2010) – Blackbaud, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLKB), the leading global provider of software and services for nonprofits, today announced that it made this year’s InformationWeek 500, an annual listing of the nation’s most innovative users of business technology. Blackbaud debuted on the list this year at number 209. The 2010 list was revealed last night at a gala awards ceremony at the exclusive InformationWeek 500 Conference taking place at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort, Dana Point, CA.
“We are honored to be recognized among the leading technology innovators in the United States as part of the 2010 InformationWeek 500,” said Todd Lant, vice president of corporate IT. “The entire employee base at Blackbaud took our corporate values to heart by participating in a company-wide project called ‘B the Difference’, and we are pleased to be recognized for this innovative program. Blackbaud’s ability to improve customer service, implement new technologies and maintain momentum on existing strategic IT initiatives while consolidating significant operations illustrates the success.”
“B the Difference”, Blackbaud’s employee-driven program, focused on improving customer satisfaction and reducing cost. The program led to numerous initiatives focused on strengthening the business. Most notably, on the IT front, multiple subsidiary operations were integrated. The scope of this effort included consolidation of major data centers and infrastructure, centralization of ERP and CRM applications and business processes and reorganization of IT operations to more adequately reflect the needs of external and internal customers.
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Charleston, S.C. (September 14, 2010) – Blackbaud, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLKB) today announced that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) will use Blackbaud Enterprise CRM™ to gain a more comprehensive view of its constituents’ relationships to UNC across several units and schools while increasing fundraising revenue, and reducing costs and data silos.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was the nation’s first state university to open its doors and is one of the original eight “Public Ivy” schools. With total enrollment of 28,916, UNC offers bachelor's, master's, doctoral and professional degrees in academic areas critical to North Carolina's future. The University is the flagship of the consolidated University of North Carolina system.
“We are pleased to partner with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and to help the institution gain a better view of its constituents and the multiple ways they interact with them,” said Marc Chardon, Blackbaud’s chief executive officer. “With Blackbaud Enterprise CRM, the University will be able to build a constituent journey for its alumni and donors that will result in lasting support.”
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Place your vote today for the 2010 Getting Attention Nonprofit Tagline Awards. Vote here.
The 70 tagline finalists have been culled from over 2,700 entries in 13 vertical sectors. These orgs have done a fantastic job in putting well-selected words to build their brands. Now it's your turn to select the best. Through voting, you’ll get a stronger sense of what makes messaging work and learn to assess how your organization's taglines measure up.
Vote today - it'll take you 8 minutes or less. Polls close midnight, Wednesday, October 6.
from the Philanthropy Journal
by Susan U. McLaughlin, CFRE, is Blackbaud Principal Consultant for Healthcare & Human Services
When recruiting members to serve on your board, it's a best practice to provide a job description that states the duties, qualifications and responsibilities of board membership.
In addition to attending meetings, articulating the organization's mission, providing governance and fiduciary oversight and making a gift, board members must be an active participant in raising money.
And that is where you might find the most reluctance and resistance from your board.
Your annual goals are set and board members are receptive to your Fundraising 101 pitch and how they can support your organization's efforts.
But repeated requests to board members for names of prospective donors or for them to arrange for a personal visit with the prospect garner no results. How can you help your board members get past the fear of asking for money?
Instead of pushing your reluctant board members into cultivating and soliciting donors, ease them into fundraising at the stewardship phase of the donor lifecycle. Engage your board members in a simple thank you or stewardship program.
The impact of a board member's thanks
Author Penelope Burk provided study results in "Donor-Centered Fundraising," which suggests that 95 percent of study donors would be very appreciative if a member of the board of directors called just to say thank you within a day or two of receiving their gifts.
Additionally, 85 percent of individual donors and 100 percent of corporate donors said this would influence them to give again to the organizations that made this gesture.
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