Blackbaud to Ring the Nasdaq Closing Bell and Highlight How Nonprofits, Education Institutions, and Corporations are Making an Impact on this Giving Holiday and Year-Round
CHARLESTON, S.C., Dec. 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB), the leading provider of software for powering social impact, today will ring the closing bell at the Nasdaq stock exchange to kick off GivingTuesday, the global movement focused on spreading generosity on the Tuesday following Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
“GivingTuesday marks the start of the holiday giving season, which is an incredibly important time for our social impact customers around the world,” said Catherine LaCour, chief marketing officer, Blackbaud. “Most charitable organizations receive an average of 20% of their donations for the year in the month of December alone, so generosity matters more than ever in the coming weeks to ensure vital organizations––from nonprofits to foundations, schools and universities––can make a difference year-round. We’re proud to play a part in helping power giving and essential operations for these organizations, and we’re encouraging everyone to get involved with a cause they care about this GivingTuesday, whether that means donating, volunteering, or spreading the word.”
Powering Impact
Blackbaud creates essential software for people who change the world, connecting millions of people to hundreds of thousands of causes and institutions in more than 100 countries around the world, and powering the business operations of teams dedicated to purpose-driving work. In honor of GivingTuesday, Blackbaud is shining a light on customers using technology to drive meaningful social impact on GivingTuesday and year-round.
Examples include:
- Apollo Theater Foundation: Celebrating 90 years as the soul of American culture, The Apollo is a vibrant nonprofit organization rooted in the Harlem community and is the largest performing arts institution in the nation committed to Black culture and creativity. In December, the theater will become the first institution to be named a Kennedy Center Honoree, recognized alongside other icons of American culture. Using Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT® and Blackbaud Donation Forms, The Apollo raises funds to support its year-round education, community and signature programs and to sustain its legacy. With an annual appeal kicking off Dec. 3 and running through the end of the year, The Apollo will raise funds to commence the first-ever major restoration and renovation of its Historic Theater.
- Burger King Foundation: The Burger King Foundation makes education more accessible for students through scholarships and school supply drives, and provides emergency relief for over 2,000 Burger King employees worldwide. The foundation raised a record-breaking $8.2 million in 2023, using Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT to track data, manage donations, and report on results. Through the BK℠ Scholars program, the foundation has awarded nearly $60 million to over 51,000 deserving students across North America. Scholarship applications are currently open through Dec. 16, 2024.
- Porter-Gaud School: As one of the premier independent schools in the southeast U.S., Porter-Gaud utilizes Blackbaud’s Total School Solution for education management, as well as Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT for donor management, Blackbaud Donations Forms for online giving, and Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT® for financial management and fund accounting. By recently implementing Blackbaud’s Optimized Donation Forms in Raiser’s Edge NXT, Porter-Gaud has transformed their giving processes, increased efficiency, and improved the user experience for staff and donors alike. Funds raised enable Porter-Gaud to create and sustain a unique and vibrant learning community, supporting students, teachers and programming.
- SiriusXM: SiriusXM, a leading audio entertainment company in North America, recognizes the importance of giving back to the communities it serves and prioritizes employee engagement through giving and volunteering opportunities. The company uses YourCause® from Blackbaud® to facilitate its employer charitable matching program that amplifies the impact of employee donations. In honor of GivingTuesday this year, SiriusXM is encouraging employees to support their favorite nonprofit through this program and by participating in SiriusXM’s first company-wide Volunteer Time Off Day on Dec. 3, bringing employees together across offices to give back to their local communities.
- The National Hockey League (NHL): The NHL, in partnership with the National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA), has leveraged EVERFI® from Blackbaud® for more than a decade to provide the Future Goals™ Hockey Scholar curriculum to K-12 schools across the U.S. and Canada. The course, focused on grades 4-7, teaches STEM concepts through the sport of hockey. Since the partnership inception, the NHL, the NHLPA and EVERFI have directly impacted 4.1M students from 23,000+ unique schools.
Fundraising Innovation with Blackbaud Donation Forms
Through recent innovation and new AI tools, Blackbaud is making it even easier for organizations to manage their fundraising on GivingTuesday and beyond. With Blackbaud Donation Forms, social impact organizations are raising more, streamlining the donor experience, simplifying administrative tasks, and reducing processing costs, so they can sustain and grow their missions.
These new forms include features like Intelligent Ask powered by Blackbaud AI, which ensures fundraisers target the right gift amount for each donor––even those who have never given to the cause before. And Blackbaud’s Optimized Donation Form now includes a new goal meter that allows donors to see the amount raised to goal and how their donation will impact the goal. The forms also offer unique fee cover options that enable organizations to save on processing fees.
“We recently changed our main giving form over to Blackbaud’s Optimized Donation Form,” said Tracey Zirneklis, Advancement Services Manager at Porter-Gaud School. “Being able to see what’s coming in, edit the record, add campaigns or funds or appeals, and being able to adjust what I want to do acknowledgement-wise—it is so much more streamlined and literally cuts my entry time by more than half. We’re really excited to be using the Optimized Donation Form this GivingTuesday to help us reach our fundraising goals while creating more efficiency for our team.”
Tune In to the Nasdaq Bell Ringing
The closing bell ringing will be livestreamed at 3:45 p.m. Eastern Time today and more will be shared on Blackbaud and Nasdaq social media channels.
Social impact organizations looking for resources to maximize their year-end fundraising can access Blackbaud’s free toolkit for more information and insights.
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, India and the United Kingdom, supporting users in 100+ countries. Learn more at www.blackbaud.com or follow us on X/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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