Blackbaud

Having a social-media strategy is not its own objective. Rather, social-media strategies can support your existing objectives. Reflect on your organization's current objectives: Do you want to cultivate supporter relationships, build cause awareness, do online fundraising or connect with new supporters? Those are all goals social media can help support.

Blackbaud announced that the United States office of World Vision, the Christian humanitarian organization, recently selected Blackbaud CRM to equip World Vision fundraising teams with technology to enhance relationships with donors and increase the number of major donors, churches and corporate partners supporting its mission.

The announcement that Blackbaud has agreed to acquire Convio has certainly made the day more interesting. A surprise to me and most of my colleagues, clients and partners, the press release has inspired more Twitter, e-mail and phone activity than I can remember in quite a while. Nearly everyone has asked the same questions: What will it mean? Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

As part of our January cover story, we asked some fundraising pros to fill in these blanks: "My favorite trend right now is ______. I would like to see _____ just go away." Some of their answers were pretty surprising, with things likes mobile giving, special events and good ol' No. 10s being wished off the face of the fundraising earth.

Blackbaud announced that fundraising has returned to pre-recession levels. Through the first 11 months of 2011, overall giving is up 3.4 percent over 2010, and is now officially above the level of giving last seen in 2007.

Chuck Longfield, Blackbaud's chief scientist and creator of The Blackbaud Index, noted that while giving is up, the increase is not uniform across all sub-sectors. However, most nonprofits saw greater stability and predictability in their 2011 fundraising than in the past few years.

Blackbaud, a provider of software and related services designed for nonprofit organizations, announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Convio, a provider of on-demand constituent engagement solutions that enable nonprofit organizations to more effectively raise funds, advocate for change and cultivate relationships. Blackbaud and Convio share the belief that fully engaged supporters drive maximum value for nonprofit organizations.

Recent tweets from folks you should be following.

Nonprofit software provider Blackbaud has been named to ZDNet's CRM Watchlist 2012, receiving the top score for technology firms. Blackbaud not only received the highest score for technology firms, but the highest overall score of any CRM company on the list.

Blackbaud announced that more than 70 organizations, including Dia Art Foundation, The Kansas Children's Discovery Center, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Taubman Museum of Art, and the Young at Art Children's Museum, are now using Altru, the company's comprehensive solution for managing arts and cultural organizations.

Altru helps general admissions arts and cultural organizations gain a clear view of their entire operation. It is designed to enable these organizations to cultivate supporters, sell and schedule programs, manage earned and contributed revenue, and keep everyone focused on the mission.

Blackbaud announced new features coming to The Raiser’s Edge®, including The Giving Score® and several database administration operational improvements, which will be available to customers in March, 2012. In addition, users will benefit from a planned mobile application during the first half of the year.