CHARLESTON, S.C., Oct. 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Blackbaud (NASDAQ:BLKB), the world's leading cloud software company powering social good, today concluded bbcon 2018, the premier tech gathering for organizations and change agents driving social good, at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. Approximately 3,000 attendees shared the latest insights, trends and innovations in the social good community, from raising resources and delivering programs to managing operations and measuring outcomes. Over the course of the three-day event, Blackbaud announced more than 80 product and innovation updates.
In addition to more than 250 expert-led sessions, bbcon featured a keynote address from award-winning actor and humanitarian Blair Underwood, along with featured speakers including Jeremey Heimans, co-author of the bestselling book New Power: How Power Works in Our Hyperconnected World—and How to Make it Work For You; Michael B. Moore, president and CEO of the International African American Museum; Mike Gianoni, president and CEO of Blackbaud; Kevin McDearis, chief products officer at Blackbaud; and Mary Beth Westmoreland, chief technology officer at Blackbaud.
New Partnership with Points of Light
In addition to the introduction of Blackbaud's Cloud Solution for Higher Education and the announcement of the Integrated Cloud Initiative for Nonprofits™ with Microsoft, the company also announced a new partnership with Points of Light, the world's largest organization dedicated to volunteer service. Points of Light is leading a sector-wide effort to define new uniform standards that will help the social good community measure and understand the impact of volunteerism. Blackbaud is a key partner in the effort, using its experience in constituent engagement and deep knowledge of nonprofits and volunteer programs to help build the social good community's ability to collect and manage data, providing actionable insights to yield improved performance and outcomes in volunteer programs.
The common taxonomy will enable nonprofit organizations to leverage standard metrics and benchmarking, use common measures to calculate the value of volunteerism toward their program outcomes, and utilize standard reports, driving new insight into volunteerism that will enable the social good community to maximize volunteer resources. Blackbaud will leverage this taxonomy in the enhanced volunteer management capabilities it is developing, enabling customers to measure progress and better connect with others across the social good community to source, engage and maximize the impact of volunteers.
Blackbaud and Points of Light will also work together on new research insights that combine the strength, thought leadership and expertise of the two organizations to better understand how to measure and explain the value volunteerism provides across the social good space—and how to best expand that value through improvements in volunteer engagement and program management. These efforts aim to provide insight into the monetary value provided by volunteers, the impact of volunteerism on overall engagement and fundraising, and overall program efficiencies gained by using volunteers.
"Volunteers, through their firsthand experience with the mission, are nonprofits' greatest asset, representing 58% of the nonprofit sector's human capital output—yet many volunteer programs don't have the tools or industry standards to measure, benchmark, improve and keep pace with societal needs," said Natalye Paquin, president & CEO of Points of Light. "Points of Light and Blackbaud share a vision of a world where volunteering and volunteerism are valued, promoted, and effectively leveraged to drive meaningful change that motivates social good."
"Volunteerism is a powerful source of strength in the social economy, driving significant benefit throughout the social good community," said Mary Beth Westmoreland, chief technology officer at Blackbaud. "Despite the overwhelming benefits of volunteerism, our ability to truly harness the transformative potential of volunteerism through cross-sector collaboration is slowed by a lack of data proving the impact of volunteerism and a lack of meaningful cross-sector standards for the measurement and tracking of volunteerism. We're excited to work with Points of Light to help them address this important need."
bbcon 2018 Gives Back
bbcon 2018 attendees were also active participants in giving back. For every tweet, Facebook post and Instagram post using the hashtag "#bbcon" during the event, Blackbaud made a donation to Tech Sassy Girlz, an Orlando-area organization designed to provide girls in grades 6-12 with exposure and access to STEM fields through college preparation, career readiness, events, mentoring and hands-on learning experiences. Additionally, attendees assembled hygiene kits with World Vision to be delivered to victims of Hurricane Florence.
Voices of bbcon 2018
"This is my fourth bbcon. I come back every year because it's a great opportunity to interact with people who experience the same challenges and opportunities that we do," said Ann Symmonds, database and stewardship manager, Central Texas Food Bank. "There's a sense of community—I really feel like everyone here is invested in each other's mission and not just their own."
"I love bbcon because it embodies everything about Blackbaud. It's innovative, it's fun, it's exciting, and it provides different learning opportunities for people across the social good community," said Margaret Cox, treasurer, Florida United Methodist Foundation
bbcon 2019 Visits the Music City
Blackbaud will host bbcon 2019 on October 15-17, 2019 at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, Tenn. To register for bbcon 2019 at a discounted early rate, visit www.bbconference.com.
Click to Tweet: That's a wrap! @blackbaud concludes #bbcon 2018 and announces a new partnership with @PointsofLight https://blkb.co/bbcon18wrap
About Blackbaud
Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) is the world's leading cloud software company powering social good. Serving the entire social good community—nonprofits, foundations, companies, education institutions, healthcare organizations 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 and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.blackbaud.com.
Blackbaud Media Contact
Brian Kosoy
Director, External Affairs
843.654.3004
media@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, 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 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.
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