Blackbaud Announces New Measures to Support Customers and Global Community in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic
CEO of social good software leader voluntarily forgoes paycheck; releases free resources to customers; gives donation to fight virus; expands employee matching gift program
CHARLESTON, S.C., March 30, 2020 /CNW/ -- Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB), the world's leading cloud software company powering social good, announced new measures to support its customers and the broader social economy as many organizations are thrown into crisis mode in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the COVID-19 crisis evolves around the globe, social good organizations are experiencing unprecedented challenges, and even disruptions to their operations. The need for funding, support and resources is significant as organizations work to pivot their models, activate supporters and minimize disruptions to their services and work.
When addressing Blackbaud's global workforce this morning, president and CEO Mike Gianoni outlined a series of measures to support customers, fuel critical innovation and help employees. Among the measures outlined, Gianoni announced he would stop taking a paycheck until the business stabilizes.
"At Blackbaud, we believe the world will be a better place when good takes over," said Gianoni. "And, that higher purpose has taken on entirely new meaning and importance during this unprecedented time. We are taking measures to ensure business continuity while remaining critically focused on the success of our customers. We want to empower them to not only survive this pandemic, but to thrive. We also want to do our part to help bring the global economy back to a powerful place. And, most importantly, we want to do our part to help save lives."
Blackbaud is seeing the needs and impact of COVID-19 manifest in many ways for its customers depending on the organization type. Many private K–12 schools across the U.S. are benefitting from Blackbaud's cloud solutions by being able to swiftly move classes online. Food banks are receiving record high donations through Blackbaud Merchant Services™ – up more than 500% year-over-year. Meanwhile, other nonprofits like arts and cultural organizations face entirely different challenges, which Blackbaud is working diligently to support through resources and guidance. Blackbaud is helping churches recapture weekly offering by quickly setting up virtual platforms. Blackbaud solutions support virtual events, so as organizations around the world are having to cancel important in-person events—even marathons—they're able to quickly move fundraising aspects online and recapture revenue. For example, Blackbaud's JustGiving platform is experiencing a rise in COVID-19-related virtual events, individual crowdfunding and direct donations from charities, individuals and celebrities. In support of this, Blackbaud's team is working hands-on with organizations and redeploying resources to accelerate the "go live" of all COVID-19 campaigns.
Below are some of the announcements that Blackbaud made today to further support its customers.
Blackbaud to Now Offer Customers Free, Universal Access to All Recorded eLearning Resources
Many social good organizations—nonprofits, higher education institutions, K–12 schools, healthcare organizations, faith communities, arts and cultural organizations, foundations and companies—are relying on software in an unprecedented way to fuel communications, fundraising and more during this crisis. To make it easier for its customers to get the training and education they need, the company announced free universal access to its entire curriculum of recorded eLearning resources through Blackbaud University. Customers can learn more here.
Blackbaud Releases More than 100 New Resources at No Cost to the Social Good Community
Social good organizations are seeking best practices and advice on how to operate and pivot amidst the unforeseen challenges of COVID-19. To help arm these organizations with the knowledge and resources they seek, Blackbaud created new webinars, virtual user groups, community forums, podcasts, e-books and more over the last two weeks; making them available at no cost. Topics include change management, managing a global remote workforce, virtual fundraising, financial management, donor communications and more. Blackbaud's resource library is being continually updated and can be accessed at Blackbaud.com/COVID-19-Resources. Additionally, Blackbaud launched job boards and a COVID-19 discussion thread as part of its Blackbaud Communities platform to help customers further connect and share best practices with each other during this time.
Blackbaud Donates to World Health Organization and UN Foundation's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund
Blackbaud's mission is to empower and connect people through technology to drive impact for social good, which is especially critical during these times. Throughout all major disasters, Blackbaud is on the frontlines with its customers and supporting the social good community globally. Blackbaud will be making a donation to the World Health Organization and the UN Foundation's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund to put technology in place to fight the spread of the virus. This technology will help track the virus and provide powerful insights into how it is spreading, ensuring patients are getting the care they need; improving the buying and shipping of essential medical supplies; and accelerating efforts to develop a vaccine.
Blackbaud Employees Empowered with New Programs and Expanded Employee Gift Matching Program
Blackbaud's employees are committed to social good professionally and personally – as evidenced by employee participation in the company's matching gift program being consistently more than two times the national median, according to company data. To continue to empower employees' drive to support causes they care about, Blackbaud today increased its employee matching gift program for the second time since January, bringing the increase to 30% in 2020. The company also began rolling out "virtual volunteerism" programs, which will augment the more than 100,000 hours its employees physically donate each year.
Learn more about the resources and measures that Blackbaud is taking for its customers here.
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.
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