March 20, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
A series of buyouts over the last two years has solidified Blackbaud’s position as the largest
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provider of fund-raising software to nonprofit organizations. With the three new acquisitions, the total number of charities using the company’s products now totals more than 19,000.
In January 2006 Blackbaud spent $6-million to buy Campagne Associates, which made GiftMaker Pro, a program aimed at small to medium-size nonprofit groups.
A year later, the company moved to the other end of the spectrum, paying about $60-million to acquire Target Software and the Target Analysis Group. The organizations that use Target’s Team Approach system tend to be some of the biggest charities in the country — larger than the groups that typically use Raiser’s Edge, Blackbaud’s flagship fund-raising software — and have sophisticated direct-mail and telemarketing programs.
And in August, Blackbaud spent about $25-million to acquire eTapestry, a company that offered a Web-based database to help small and medium-size charities manage their donor records.
Different Results
The fate of the fund-raising systems acquired in the three deals has varied.
ETapestry is run as a separate division of Blackbaud with its own leadership and sales teams. But Blackbaud is phasing out GiftMaker Pro, leaving customers with the option of purchasing Raiser’s Edge or another type of fund-raising software.
Blackbaud continues to provide technical support for Team Approach, but over the next two years, the company plans to integrate it into Blackbaud Enterprise CRM, a new software system it has developed for large organizations.
Company officials stress that the transition will be gradual.
“I fully expect many Team Approach customers to still be on the product five years from now,” says Marc E. Chardon, Blackbaud’s chief executive.
