Blackbaud and the State of Giving

January 15th, 2008: Marc Chardon shared his insight on philanthropic giving and Blackbaud, which has dramatically increased revenue and the number of customers since his arrival as CEO. Marc, an Economics Honor Graduate of Harvard, worked for both Digital and Microsoft before joining the company. His involvement in the world of philanthropy, non-profits, and service began early. As a young man he volunteered with the Waterfront Historic Area League, which was founded by his grandmother, to preserve the historic whaling town of New Bedford, MA.

Marc’s move to Blackbaud in 2005 was due to his interest in helping philanthropic organizations be more successful worldwide. We are glad he not only chose helping non-profits, but also that he’s with Blackbaud. He shared insights about clients making important contributions to our society.

As a leading fund raising software developer, Blackbaud has pioneered tools to help organizations develop long-term relationships with donors and currently has 19,000 customers in 56 countries. Blackbaud began as a developer creating payroll software for independent schools. The company’s Target Analytics division conducts research and publishes the Quarterly Index of National Fundraising Performance as a service to the non-profit community. A particularly alarming trend is that the number of people giving is down 2% per year with the number of new donors down 6.3% per year. Research is being done to figure out the cause and the impact on non-profit organizations. One concern is younger generations are not engaged by traditional fund raising. They tend to think, act, and even acquire information differently than previous generations.

Marc shared five key trends of concerns. 1) The needs of individuals in all countries continue to go up, while government is doing less to address them, 2) Globalization is causing a proliferation of fund raising organizations, such as addressing breast cancer with 600 organizations, 3) Donors are becoming more skeptical. They want to know “who” they are giving the money to and they also want to know “where” it is going and “how” it is going to benefit, 4) Generation Y isn’t reached by traditional fund raising methods and there is a great deal of concern with ways to get their attention, and 5) Changes in technology are affecting fund raising just as they are others.

Marc indicated that when he talks with executives in the philanthropic community, they express concern for at least 3 of the 5 trends. More research is being done to understand who has the capability to contribute, the type of gift they might give, and how to best approach them. A “Planned Giver,” who typically leaves money to a non-profit in their will, has a vastly different profile from a “Major Giver” who might donate a significant amount of money at one time. Blackbaud is working to not only provide the tools to contact and develop relationships, but also better ways to understand how to work with them.

The questions high-lighted some great reasons for having Blackbaud in our community. One comment related to the number of people who worked at Blackbaud at one time and had started other businesses. Asked where they source their employees, Chardon commented, “While Charleston is a great place to live, we do need more of a high-tech industry to make it easier to attract mid-level individuals.”

Submitted by Wayne Outlaw, Keyway Committee