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Blackbaud Announces Impact Edge, the First AI-Powered Social Impact Reporting and Storytelling Solution for Companies
Blackbaud Impact Edge™ Will Allow Corporate Social Impact Professionals to Use Quantitative and Qualitative Data to Rapidly Articulate Their Impact to Their Organization’s Most Important Stakeholders
Charleston, S.C. (October 3, 2023) — Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB), the leading provider of software for powering social impact, today announced the development of Impact Edge™, a new AI-powered, social impact reporting and storytelling solution for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and social impact teams of all sizes. A first-of-its-kind technology solution that leverages responsible generative AI, Impact Edge will empower corporate impact professionals to easily create a compelling picture of their organization’s social impact using data captured safely and securely from their employee engagement programs, philanthropic programs, educational initiatives, and other trusted external data sources.
More than 70% of leaders who manage social impact initiatives find it challenging to collect, create, and provide data across the range of social impact-related activities, according to independent, anonymous market research conducted in 2022. Additionally, a strong majority said they currently rely on disjointed spreadsheets, email, text documents, and myriad other reports to manage their impact reporting process.
“Social impact is a business imperative for companies of every type and size, and the professionals working in this space need a comprehensive, innovative, and easy way to leverage all of their data and identify insights to tell a powerful story of the work they are doing in support of the communities they serve,” said Tom Davidson, executive vice president, Blackbaud Corporate Impact Solutions. “Impact Edge will bolster resource-constrained corporate impact teams. Leaders will feel the exponential scale it provides as it takes on the numerous and varied data requests they field each day from stakeholders across their organization.”
Impact Edge is the first product to combine the power of YourCause® from Blackbaud® and EVERFI® from Blackbaud® within a single tool. It consolidates all the impact data gathered from trusted sources—both internally and externally—into one centralized location that is powerful, secure, and client-specific for increased visibility, collaboration, sharing and impact storytelling. Further, by incorporating responsible data governance and trustworthy cutting-edge AI technology into Impact Edge, corporate social impact professionals will be able to easily align impact to their stakeholders’ expectations and a wide range of standards.
Development of the innovative Impact Edge is currently underway with a select cohort of Blackbaud customers who are providing regular feedback and insights. The powerful solution will provide transparent data definitions, cite sources, and strong data hygiene. Beyond reporting impact, companies can track goals and historical program performance as well as leverage data to help future strategies.
Blackbaud customers will be able to view and engage with a prototype of Impact Edge at EVERFI Impact Summit Oct. 4-6 in Miami and at bbcon 2023 Oct. 22-24 in Denver.
With the acquisition of YourCause in 2019 and EVERFI in 2021, Blackbaud has doubled down on its focus of empowering purpose-led brands and organizations to achieve their business goals and drive meaningful social impact in their communities through education and employee engagement. With the market’s most comprehensive portfolio of employee engagement and grant-making software and world-class educational content for K-12 schools, organizations of all sizes work with Blackbaud to engage their employees and connect with their communities in meaningful ways.
The development of Impact Edge follows Blackbaud’s earlier announcement of a major new wave of its Intelligence for Good® strategy, with a commitment to creating AI for social impact teams that is accessible, powerful, and responsible.
About Blackbaud
Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) is the leading software provider exclusively dedicated to powering social impact. Serving the nonprofit and education sectors, companies committed to social responsibility and individual change makers, Blackbaud’s essential software is built to accelerate impact in fundraising, nonprofit financial management, digital giving, grantmaking, corporate social responsibility and education management. With millions of users and over $100 billion raised, granted or managed through Blackbaud platforms every year, Blackbaud’s solutions are unleashing the potential of the people and organizations who change the world. Blackbaud has been named to Newsweek’s list of America’s Most Responsible Companies, Quartz’s list of Best Companies for Remote Workers, and Forbes’ list of America’s Best Employers. A remote-first company, Blackbaud has operations in the United States, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica and the United Kingdom, supporting users in 100+ countries. Learn more at www.blackbaud.com or follow us on X/Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.
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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.