CHARLESTON, S.C., Nov. 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB), the world’s leading cloud software company powering social good, tomorrow will celebrate the ninth annual global giving holiday, GivingTuesday, virtually ringing the opening bell at Nasdaq and amplifying stories of impact throughout the day.
Created in 2012, the GivingTuesday movement encourages people to give, whether it’s time, donations or the power of their voices in their local community. Earlier this year, on May 5, the GivingTuesday organization launched a one-time global day of giving and unity—GivingTuesdayNow—as an emergency response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19. As the pandemic continues, generosity, citizen engagement, business and philanthropic activation continue to be of the utmost importance.
“This year has challenged every organization in unique ways, but it has also underscored the critical role of the social good community,” said Rachel Hutchisson, vice president of corporate citizenship and philanthropy at Blackbaud. “We believe that giving is resilient, that generosity perseveres, and that we have the opportunity to rethink change and turn it into opportunity and impact. We are here to support social good organizations and to connect people with the causes that matter most to them.”
To mark the GivingTuesday holiday, the company will highlight the following stories of organizations that are rethinking change and increasing their impact in these challenging times:
- Chester Zoo: When forced to close due to COVID-19 restrictions, Chester Zoo, which draws 97% of revenue from ticket sales, used JustGiving® to create a “Save Our Zoo” campaign that mobilized over 135,000 people and raised nearly 3 million pounds to help care for animals at the zoo and continue conservation projects around the world.
- Garnet Health Foundation: As its hospital system cared for hundreds of COVID-19 patients, Garnet Health Foundation used a new peer-to-peer fundraising solution to spotlight its Emergency Coronavirus Fund, which raised $150,000 within the first six weeks, and nearly $300,000 within six months, to support its healthcare heroes.
- LEVEL82: Founded by two-time Super Bowl champion Torrey Smith and his wife Chanel, LEVEL82 is leveraging the power of collaboration to enable all Baltimore families to reach their full potential. In partnership with Baltimore Recreation and Parks, LEVEL82 plans to revitalize, staff and program Baltimore’s Hilton Recreation Center and will be using JustGiving to support their community engagement and crowdfunding efforts.
- PepsiCo’s Food for Good: This past March, PepsiCo’s Food for Good ramped up their efforts in response to COVID-19 to bring millions of meals directly to children in need. PepsiCo currently has 30,000 employees registered on Blackbaud’s YourCause® platform, enabling associates to also support their communities during this time through matching grants and volunteer opportunities.
- University of Queensland: While working on a COVID-19 vaccine, the university received help from an unlikely place: a group of fifth graders who asked if $100 could make a difference. This donation kicked off a major crowdfunding initiative, inspiring 2,600 people to give, which helped accelerate the vaccine’s progress by six months.
- Western Carolina University: The annual giving team at Western Carolina University used Blackbaud Guided Fundraising™ to empower student fundraisers and increase its revenue by approximately 100% year over year.
- Blackbaud: In transitioning all of its global employees to remote work to prioritize health and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, Blackbaud also had to rethink change itself, looking for new ways to support its employees virtually. Using Blackbaud’s YourCause, the company launched the Blackbaud After School Program, a volunteer-based program that allowed employees to share their skills and expertise with their colleagues’ children through 115 live, virtual learning sessions that provided entertainment for families and relief for working caregivers.
Tune in tomorrow, December 1, at 9:15 a.m. Eastern time to see Blackbaud virtually open Nasdaq trading and ring in the ninth-annual GivingTuesday. To learn more about the featured impact stories, follow along on Blackbaud and Nasdaq social media channels throughout the day tomorrow.
As a founding partner of GivingTuesday, Blackbaud is committed to helping social good organizations maximize the impact of their year-end fundraising with resources to engage supporters. For more information, visit GivingTuesday.Blackbaud.com.
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.
SOURCE Blackbaud, Inc.
