BALTIMORE, Oct. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of
bbcon 2017, Blackbaud (Nasdaq: BLKB), the world's leading cloud
software company powering social good, and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:
MSFT), plan to expand their partnership in support of their mutual
goals to digitally transform the nonprofit sector.
The nonprofit sector represents the third largest workforce
behind retail and manufacturing in the
United States with approximately 3 million organizations
globally. Blackbaud, the largest vertical cloud software provider
in the space, announced its intention to fully power its social
good-optimized cloud, Blackbaud SKY™, with Microsoft Azure. The two
companies highlighted a three-point commitment to collaboration for
the good of the global nonprofit community. This announcement comes
just days after Microsoft launched its new Tech for Social Impact
Group, which is dedicated to accelerating technology adoption and
digital transformation with the nonprofit industry to deliver
greater impact on the world's most critical social issues.
"This newly expanded partnership between Microsoft and Blackbaud
will allow both companies to better meet the unique technology
challenges nonprofits face," said Justin
Spelhaug, General Manager of Microsoft Tech for Social
Impact. "By combining Microsoft's cloud platforms and expertise
with Blackbaud's leading industry solutions, we will create new
opportunities for digital transformation to empower nonprofits to
make an even bigger impact on the world."
"The nonprofit community plays a vital role in the health of the
entire social economy, and we've been working for more than three
decades to help these inspiring organizations achieve big, bold
mission outcomes," said Mike
Gianoni, president and CEO of Blackbaud. "For nearly that
long we've also been a Microsoft partner, and we're incredibly
enthusiastic about forging new ground together as we tackle some of
the most pressing issues nonprofits face. Both companies couldn't
be more committed to this space, so the nonprofit community should
expect great things from this expanded partnership."
The newly expanded partnership between Microsoft and Blackbaud
will focus on three key areas:
1.
Deeper integration between Microsoft and Blackbaud
solutions, with Blackbaud's cloud platform for social good,
Blackbaud SKY, powered by Microsoft Azure.
Blackbaud has been developing on
the Microsoft stack for over three decades. As a leading Global ISV
Partner, Blackbaud is already one of Microsoft's top Azure-based
providers. Today, Blackbaud announced its intention to fully power
Blackbaud SKY, its high-performance cloud exclusively designed for
the social good community, in Microsoft's Azure environment.
"Blackbaud's expanded Azure
commitment will be one of the most significant partner bets on
Microsoft's hyperscale cloud, and the most significant to transform
the social good space," Spelhaug added. "We often highlight the
engineering work behind Blackbaud SKY™, because it demonstrates the
power of Microsoft Azure and the kind of forward-looking innovation
and leadership that the nonprofit sector greatly needs."
Details of the investment are not
publicly available but the companies plan to share more about the
partnership in coming months. Blackbaud also announced its plans to
become a CSP (Cloud Solution Provider) partner for the Microsoft
platform, simplifying the purchase, provisioning and management of
Blackbaud and Microsoft cloud offerings. For nonprofits who want
the security, power and flexibility of the cloud plus the services
and support of a trusted solution provider that deeply understands
their unique needs, Blackbaud will be able to deliver both
Microsoft and Blackbaud solutions through a unified purchase
experience.
2.
A commitment to pursuing best-in-class nonprofit cloud solutions
that bring together the best of both companies' innovation for a
performance-enhanced experience for nonprofits—from funding, to
mission operations, to program delivery.
Blackbaud and Microsoft plan to
pursue innovative ways to fully harness the power, security and
reliability of Microsoft's Azure-Powered solutions (ex. Office 365,
Dynamics) and Blackbaud's industry-leading, outcome-focused
solutions that cater specifically to the unique workflow and
operating model needs of nonprofits—all with the goal of improving
nonprofit performance across the entire mission lifecycle.
This includes exploring how both
companies' respective cloud artificial intelligence (AI) and
analytics innovations can be leveraged in new ways to drive even
greater sector impact.
"There is massive opportunity to
empower the nonprofit community through creative tech innovation,"
said Kevin McDearis, chief products
officer at Blackbaud. "Every 1% improvement in fundraising
effectiveness makes $2.8 billion
available for frontline program work. This is just one example of
the type of impact Blackbaud focuses on with our workflows and
embedded intelligence, and we couldn't be more thrilled to team up
with Microsoft to push into new areas of innovation that move the
sector forward, faster."
3.
Joint sector leadership initiatives that make innovation,
research and best practices more accessible to nonprofits around
the world.
Nonprofits are addressing some of
the world's most complicated issues. As shared value companies,
Microsoft and Blackbaud share a commitment to helping nonprofits
meet those needs. Microsoft is globally known for its unmatched
philanthropic reach and impact. And Blackbaud, which exclusively
builds software for social good, invests more in R&D and
best-practice-driven research for global good than any technology
provider. Both companies were among just 56 companies named to the
Fortune 2017 Change the World list.
Together, Microsoft and Blackbaud
intend to partner on initiatives that make innovation more
accessible for nonprofits large and small; while also exploring
ways the companies' data assets, community outreach and sector
leadership can be synergistically and responsibly applied to
improve the effectiveness and impact of the entire nonprofit
community.
Microsoft and Blackbaud will share further details in the coming
months. Learn more about Microsoft's Technology for Social Impact
Group here. Visit www.Blackbaud.com for more on Blackbaud.
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT" @microsoft)
is the leading platform and productivity company for the
mobile-first, cloud-first world, and its mission is to empower
every person and every organization on the planet to achieve
more.
About Blackbaud
Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) is the
world's leading cloud software company powering social good.
Serving the entire social good community—nonprofits, foundations,
corporations, education institutions, healthcare institutions and
individual change agents—Blackbaud connects and empowers
organizations to increase their impact through 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.
Media Contacts
Nicole
McGougan
Public Relations Manager
843.654.3307
media@blackbaud.com
Microsoft Media Relations
WE Communications for Microsoft
(425) 638-7777
rrt@we-worldwide.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 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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SOURCE Blackbaud, Inc.