Blackbaud

Blackbaud announced the release of a report focused on fundraising trends based on monthly findings from The Blackbaud Index. The Blackbaud Index of Charitable Giving reports that overall revenue increased by 1.4% for the 3 months ending August 2010 as compared to the same period in 2009. The Blackbaud Index of Online Giving reports that overall revenue increased by 20.4% for the 3 months ending August 2010 as compared to the same period in 2009.

Causes, a for-profit company that lets Facebook Inc.'s users give money to charities, raised $9 million in new funding and began selling gift cards in supermarkets as it tries to bring more philanthropy to the Web.

Causes' Facebook application connects 119 million people to a range of charities, making it easy to donate small amounts.

In order to reactivate lapsed donors, you must first know who your lapsed donors are, how long they have been gone and why they left. Then use analytics and reactivation models to get the best lapsed donors back.

This week features major acquisition news, a new source for nonprofit knowledge sharing and a new multiplatform API launch.

Blackbaud announced its inclusion on Software Magazine’s Software 500 ranking of the world’s largest software and service providers, now in its 28th year.

Blackbaud ranked 121, with 2009 software and services revenue of $302.6 million and corporate revenue of $309.3 million. The ranking positioned Blackbaud as the largest provider of nonprofit software on the Software 500 list.

It’s impossible to target personalized messages and relevant communications to your donors if you first don’t know who they really are. But “how do you find out who your donors are?” Austin asked. The answer is crucial for identifying affluent donors for major-gifts campaigns and planned-giving prospects, as well as unearthing the proper marketing messages, corporate relationships — “Corporations want to work with organizations that have an overlapping market,” Austin said — and more.

Blackbaud announced that it has hired Brad Holman as president of its International Business Unit. Based in Sydney, he will lead Blackbaud’s international operations including Blackbaud’s England, Hong Kong, Australia, and Netherlands offices, as well as all international business development activities.

In a struggling economy, many other charities will also be conducting year-end campaigns that mix e-mail, social media, traditional mailings, and advertising. What’s more, many of them will be making pitches for gifts right up until New Year’s instead of wrapping up earlier as they did in the past.

Charities have little choice, says Ms. Dyer. “This is a busy time of year for donors, and it is cluttered in terms of competing messages. It is all the more important for us to make a bigger impact.”

This week's insider roundup features a new site launch, a fundraising technology company cracking the 2010 InformationWeek 500 List, and new hires and promotions.

In one of the final sessions of the New York Nonprofit Conference, the presenters described three ways fundraisers can "think about taking calculated risks in these times" using analytics.