January 25, 2007 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Two big mergers of software companies that serve charities were announced last week, a sign of growing consolidation among businesses that help charities raise money and undertake advocacy and other activities online:
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Blackbaud, a company that sells software that helps charities keep track of how much donors give, announced last week that it has purchased two companies that provide software and research to help charities run direct-mail and telemarketing campaigns.
Blackbaud, a public company in Charleston, S.C., that has about 15,000 customers, spent approximately $60-million to buy the privately owned Target Software and the Target Analysis Group, both in Cambridge, Mass.
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Convio, a privately owned company in Austin, Tex., announced that it will buy GetActive Software, another privately owned company in Washington, for an undisclosed price. The sale is expected to be completed by the end of April. Both companies sell software that enable nonprofit groups to communicate with their constituents online, offering them ways to get involved through giving money and participating in advocacy campaigns and other events. The combined company will serve more than 1,400 customers.
Convio and GetActive have grown rapidly in recent years. While officials declined to disclose total revenue, they said that Convio’s earnings increased by more than 60 percent last year, while GetActive’s grew by 36 percent.
Blackbaud’s buyout of the Target business, which has about 500, mostly large, charities as clients — is the fourth major acquisition for Blackbaud.
Last year, it purchased Campagne Associates, a competing fund-raising software company, for $6-million, following buyouts of two other companies in 1997 and 2001.
Blackbaud hopes the Target deal will help it attract customers that are larger than the organizations it now serves. Target’s clients include the American Cancer Society and the Nature Conservancy, as well as universities and public-broadcasting stations.
Since going public in 2004, Blackbaud has seen its stock price grow, from $8 in the initial public offering to $25 per share.
Blackbaud officials said that they still expect total revenues to grow by 13 to 14 percent this year. Total revenue was $166.3-million in 2005; the company reported that its revenue also grew in 2006, but it has not yet released final figures.
