Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLKB) announced today that Tulsa Community Foundation (TCF) has entered into the first phase of a long-term partnership with the company. The Foundation selected a combination of software and services from Blackbaud including The Raiser’s Edge® Enterprise (for constituent management) and The Financial Edge™ (for financial management) with a longer term vision of incorporating Blackbaud NetCommunity.
“Blackbaud’s solution for community foundations will enable us to better execute our mission, serve our donors, and get grants out into our charitable community,” said Phil Lakin, Jr., TCF’s executive director. “TCF’s philosophy of building partnerships in our community has carried over into the partnership we feel as though we have created with Blackbaud.”
Tulsa Community Foundation (TCF) was organized in 1998 to primarily serve the eastern Oklahoma area. Experiencing rapid growth and adding as many as 100 new funds each year, it is now the largest community foundation in the United States. This unparalleled growth drove the need for a technology solution to manage its critical processes, from cultivating relationships with donors and charitable organizations to managing its rapidly increasing number of funds.
“Blackbaud offers a forward-thinking, comprehensive technology platform coupled with superior customer service,” said John Wolfkill, TCF’s director of administration and donor partnerships. “What we’re most excited about is that the Blackbaud solution will allow us to become more efficient in the way we serve our donors—especially in the way we access and share data. Also, based on Blackbaud’s extensive experience serving community foundations, we will be able to incorporate some best practices and streamline our overall operations.”
With ten staff members and inadequate technology systems, valuable staff time was being used to enter data in as many as three different places. Now, with Blackbaud’s integrated solution, TCF will be able to better connect its systems, saving countless hours of staff time each month.
The solution will enable TCF staff to provide better and timelier reports, both from a financial and a grant distribution perspective. Just as TCF provides donors with quarterly statements that demonstrate ROI for the investment side of their portfolios, staff will now be able to create charitable impact reports to help donors leverage their gifts and become more engaged in the giving process.
“We are pleased to partner with Tulsa Community Foundation and to provide a solution that will enable the Foundation to expand on its impressive growth and immense impact on nonprofits in the state of Oklahoma,” said Lou Attanasi, Blackbaud’s senior vice president of products. “There is an ongoing trend in the community foundation space towards an integrated solution with strong online capabilities that meets the needs of both donors and grant seeking organizations. We are dedicated to meeting the unique needs of this critical segment of the nonprofit sector.”
Blackbaud’s solution for community foundations is the industry’s most comprehensive and tightly integrated solution for foundations. Comprised of The Financial Edge for financial management, The Raiser’s Edge for donor management, and Blackbaud NetCommunity for website management, the solution also incorporates Fusion Labs’ GrantedGE for grant management. More than 80 community foundations use components of, or the complete solution.
For more information, visit www.blackbaud.com/communityfoundations.
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 19,000 organizations — including the American Red Cross, Dartmouth College, the WGBH Educational Foundation, Episcopal High School, Lincoln Center, Cancer Research UK, Special Olympics, and Arthritis Foundation — use one or more of Blackbaud products and services for fundraising, constituent relationship management, financial management, direct marketing, school administration, ticketing, business intelligence, website management, 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 Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. 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: uncertainty regarding increased business and renewals from existing customers; continued success in sales growth; general economic risks; management of integration of recently acquired companies and other risks associated with acquisitions; risk associated with successful implementation of multiple integrated software products; lengthy sales and implementation cycles, particularly in larger organizations; 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; 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.
Contacts:
Melanie Milonas, 843-216-6200, ext.
3307
melanie.milonas@blackbaud.com
or
Tulsa
Community Foundation
John Wolfkill, 918-494-8823
jjwolfkill@tulsacf.org
