CHARLESTON, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB), the leading global provider of software and services to the nonprofit sector, continues to improve offerings with product roadmap updates, product enhancements, and key product integrations following the Convio acquisition.
“The past few months have been exciting as we refine our product plans, release new product enhancements, and continue to move forward with the integration of Convio,” said Jana Eggers, Blackbaud’s senior vice president, products and marketing. “Our ultimate goal is to be very deliberate and comprehensive with the products and services we deliver to nonprofit organizations to ensure they can focus on their missions, rather than technology.”
Eggers continued, “With the recent product enhancements and roadmap updates shared at the bbcon conference this past month, we are excited about the expanding opportunities to help nonprofits succeed.”
- Watch the recording of Jana’s Blackbaud product roadmap overview from bbcon, Blackbaud’s conference for nonprofits
Major product/service enhancements and business milestones include:
-
Fundraising –
- The Raiser’s Edge®: Since its launch less than two months ago, more than 2000 organizations and nearly 6000 individuals are using The Raiser’s Edge mobile application. The mobile application helps users identify frequently visited constituents as Favorites to access records quickly; access key constituent information like giving history, notes, actions and relationships; enter, edit or use voice recognition to record Actions and Notes following a visit; and check the Giving dashboard daily for a quick view of all recent gifts and YTD giving totals.
- eTapestry®: eTapestry has received a brand new look and feel with user interface enhancements that include usability and visual design upgrades; Account Summary Report has been added that lists all interactions with a given constituent; and the dashboard has been upgraded, including campaign performance, favorite queries/reports and support resources.
- Financial – version 7.84 of The Financial Edge™ will be generally available on November 26 and features negative distributions in accounts payable, line item descriptions on accounts payable invoices, and improved bank reconciliation reporting. Blackbaud Strategic Benchmarking is also now available as a subscription offering, allowing nonprofit organizations to compare their financial performance to peers.
- Convio Integration – The roadmap updates covered at bbcon were the largest milestone reached for the integration in the last few months. Integration between Blackbaud and Convio products continues to meet project milestones on schedule: Luminate™ Online and The Raiser’s Edge, as well Luminate and Blackbaud Merchant Services ™ integrations will both be available in the first quarter of 2013.
- Analytics – Target Analytics Fundraising Essentials™ was introduced for The Raiser’s Edge, offering easy-to-use database segmentation for key areas of annual and major giving; NOZAsearch™ was enhanced with a new user interface and new subscription access plans for $99 a month; and Connection 360™ was released allowing nonprofit organizations to connect with their specific prospects and donors whenever and wherever they are online.
- CRM – Recent updates to Blackbaud CRM™ include enhancements to help users save time and more efficiently manage constituent relationships; completely redesigned prospect and research management capabilities allowing quicker and easier access to key wealth and modeling data; centralized events management and enhanced data lists with advanced filtering tools; and other new data management features. Luminate™ CRM updates include list builder enhancements, as well as automated pledge recalculation and improved data merge capabilities.
- Interactive – Since its launch in late September, more than 700 events are using Fundraise with Friends™, a mobile application powered by Blackbaud Sphere™ designed to equip individuals with mobile tools to fundraise for events they are participating in. Additional Blackbaud Sphere product updates include: a streamlined implementation process, making it much easier for customers to get up and running on Friends Asking Friends; a new set of event templates with a new look for greeting, team and personal pages; and social sign-on and social share upgrades for Friends Asking Friends, greatly enhancing the way participants utilize their social networks to fundraise. Blackbaud NetCommunity™ enhancements include a redesign to the editor allowing users to easily manage content across all areas, as well as cut and paste content from Word/HTML.
- Education – Blackbaud for Small Schools™ now includes a pre-configured best practice Education Edge database for K-12 schools, making it easier for customers to get up and running more quickly. Additionally, donorCentrics™ dashboard for higher education institutions provides an in-depth analysis of constituents’ giving behavior through an intuitive visual interface, making it easier than ever to analyze program performance and donor behavior.
- Arts and Culture – With the latest release of The Patron Edge™ and The Patron Edge Online™, organizations can now take advantage of new reports to make better business decisions. Plus, nonprofits can consider a transition to Blackbaud Merchant Services for managing credit card transactions for both the back office and online, and take advantage of the single sign-on functionality associated with Blackbaud NetCommunity and The Patron Edge Online.
For more information about Blackbaud solutions and services, visit www.blackbaud.com.
About Blackbaud
Serving the nonprofit and education sectors for 30 years, Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) combines technology and expertise to help organizations achieve their missions. Blackbaud works with more than 27,000 customers in over 60 countries that support higher education, healthcare, human services, arts and culture, faith, the environment, independent K-12 education, animal welfare and other charitable causes. The company offers a full spectrum of cloud-based and on-premise software solutions and related services for organizations of all sizes including: fundraising, eMarketing, advocacy, constituent relationship management (CRM), financial management, payment services, analytics and vertical-specific solutions. Using Blackbaud technology, these organizations raise more than $100 billion each year. Recognized as a top company by Forbes, InformationWeek, and Software Magazine and honored by Best Places to Work, Blackbaud is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina and has operations in the United States, Australia, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.blackbaud.com.
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. 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 related to our dividend policy and share repurchase program, including potential limitations on our ability to grow and the possibility that we might discontinue payment of dividends; risks relating to restrictions imposed by the credit facility; 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.