The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Selects Blackbaud Enterprise CRM

CHARLESTON, S.C., Feb. 3 — Blackbaud, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLKB) today announced that The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) will partner with the company on a multi-year project to change the organization's strategic approaches to constituent relationship management, financial management, and online collaboration. With the aid of Blackbaud's solutions and services, the LCMS will develop new business processes, procedures, and information systems to support a holistic view of the constituent.

"This project will play a key role in our continuing effort to fully engage our members and support our ministries in their work around the globe," said Ron Schultz, LCMS' chief administrative officer. "Blackbaud provides a solution that will help us share the impact of the powerful work of the LCMS and is a company committed to long-term product development and investment in talented people that understand the mission of organizations like ours."

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod is one of the largest Christian denominations in North America and its members and congregations are committed to communicating the love of Jesus Christ by word and deed. The LCMS works to provide for member and non-member spiritual and physical needs through missionary outreach, disaster response, human care, education, and other services and ministries.

Several key issues contributed to the LCMS' desire to evaluate new technology solutions. The LCMS has a diverse set of constituents including donors, missionaries, pastors, local church members, relief workers, ministry partners, educational institutions, and volunteers. The LCMS recognizes that a single view of the constituent is necessary to provide optimal service and stewardship. The organization will unify its applications with Blackbaud Enterprise CRM(TM), powered by the Infinity platform, thereby eliminating its dependency on multiple platforms. The project will also support the LCMS' goal of streamlining financial management and delivering an improved online experience.

"We are pleased to provide the solution that will help The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod achieve its goal of increasing engagement and collaboration with its diverse community of constituents," said Marc Chardon, Blackbaud's chief executive officer. "The LCMS will now be able to achieve a holistic view of its members and supporters across all programs and ministries, enabling a more personalized experience for constituents and resulting in a more committed relationship with the LCMS."

The technology architecture of Blackbaud Enterprise CRM also played a key role in the LCMS' decision. In order to maximize extensibility and data security, organization leadership wanted to shift towards a shared services IT environment based on a .NET architecture with true application integration and interoperability.

"We were very impressed with the new Infinity platform-it is highly scalable and extensible in many different ways to meet the unique requirements of our diverse family of ministries," said Alan Meyer, executive director of Concordia Technologies, which manages LCMS information technology resources and support for users. "In addition, Blackbaud's people have the domain expertise to help our team navigate a large transformation effort."

Hear more about the LCMS partnership in a video interview with Alan Meyer at www.blackbaud.com/customers/faith-based/missourisynod.aspx.

With Blackbaud Enterprise CRM, the LCMS will now be able to:

* Implement a CRM system and approach that extends across all stakeholders and provides a single, 360-degree view of constituent activity
* Empower constituents, including donors, missionaries, volunteers, and internal end users, with online data access, reporting, and collaboration tools that improve the experience of engaging with the LCMS
* Improve fundraising operations to support best practices at all levels
* Integrate relationship, revenue development, and financial management for coordinated multi-channel marketing and effective reporting
* Deliver collaborative Web 2.0 technologies for personalized and dynamic relationship management with constituents

For more information about Blackbaud Enterprise CRM, visit www.blackbaud.com/crm.

About The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
The St. Louis-based Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, founded in 1847, has 2.4 million baptized members in 6,170 congregations served by more than 9,000 pastors. The church, which ranks as one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, owns and operates the KFUO radio stations, two seminaries, 10 colleges and universities, and the largest Protestant parochial school system in America. The LCMS is in full doctrinal fellowship with 30 other confessional Lutheran church bodies on six continents, supports more than 800 missionaries in nearly 90 countries around the globe, and is a founding partner of Lutheran Services in America, an alliance of two Lutheran church bodies and their more than 300 social ministry organizations, with budgets totaling more than $9 billion and serving one in every 50 Americans. For more information, visit www.lcms.org.

About Blackbaud
Blackbaud is the leading global provider of software and services designed specifically for nonprofit organizations, enabling them to improve operational efficiency, build strong relationships, and raise more money to support their missions. Approximately 22,000 organizations - including University of Arizona Foundation, American Red Cross, Cancer Research UK, The Taft School, Lincoln Center, InTouch Ministries, Tulsa Community Foundation, Ursinus College, Earthjustice, International Fund for Animal Welfare, and the WGBH Educational Foundation - use one or more Blackbaud products and services for fundraising, constituent relationship management, financial management, website management, direct marketing, education administration, ticketing, business intelligence, prospect research, consulting, and analytics. Since 1981, Blackbaud's sole focus and expertise has been partnering with nonprofits and providing them the solutions they need to make a difference in their local communities and worldwide. Headquartered in the United States, Blackbaud also has operations in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. For more information, visit www.blackbaud.com.

SOURCE Blackbaud, Inc.