Higher Education Institutions Rely on Blackbaud Cloud Solutions to Maintain Operations Across Campus During COVID-19

Colleges and universities turn to Blackbaud's Cloud Solution for Higher Education to support admissions, fundraising, alumni engagement and advancement services throughout the pandemic

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Blackbaud

Jul 21, 2020, 11:00 ET

CHARLESTON, S.C., July 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB), the world's leading cloud software company powering social good, continues to be the trusted technology partner to higher education institutions as they adapt operations across campus for COVID-19. Blackbaud powers 24 of the top 25 private U.S. colleges as ranked by Forbes with its comprehensive cloud solutions, which have become even more critical as institutions transitioned all aspects of the student lifecycle – from admissions and advancement services to fundraising and alumni engagement – to a remote environment as a result of the pandemic.

"Like so many industries, the pandemic has had a profound impact on higher education," said Chris Krackeler, president and general manager, Blackbaud Higher Education Solutions. "Not only have institutions transitioned students to distance learning, but they're also shifting nearly all campus operations online. We've been proud to support our customers with reliable and highly efficient cloud solutions to help ease this move, so institutions can focus on their students, staff and faculty as they prepare for the fall semester."

Supporting students in need
Amidst COVID-19, Bradley University relied on its cloud-based fundraising and relationship management solution to raise funds from donors to aid affected students and hold its annual day of giving. With Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT^®, the advancement team was able to engage donors, support gift officer activities, update donor information, process gifts and track campaign activity as well as provide real-time reporting for leadership while working remotely. Alison Morrissey, associate vice president for advancement, noted, "If it weren't for Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT and the support of Blackbaud, we would not have been able to process gifts and update constituent records effectively during COVID-19. Our development officers were able to still engage donors and solicit funds for our #BravesTakeCare giving day to help Bradley students who are facing any unexpected challenges." Bradley raised over $400,000 from more than 451 donors during the day of giving campaign, and the university has established a foundation for the future that accounts for unexpected changes like transitioning to an online environment to ensure the success of Bradley and its students.

Turning fundraising into alumni stewardship
Blackbaud Guided Fundraising™ has become even more mission critical to annual giving teams during the pandemic. Four-year private institution, DePauw University relied on Blackbaud Guided Fundraising to shift a completely on-campus phone fundraising program to a remote setting. The technology enabled them to empower and equip their student workers with the tools to continue their jobs remotely resulting in increased outreach efficiency. Blackbaud Guided Fundraising had enabled a significant improvement in DePauw's phone-a-thon efficiency – with calls up 154% year over year. DePauw's annual giving team also adjusted solicitation messaging to alumni and donors to continue stewarding relationships during a time when giving may not be a priority for some. Amanda Nelson, coordinator for annual giving for campus programs explains, "Because of how efficient Blackbaud Guided Fundraising has made our team, we've had the unique opportunity to pause solicitation calls and focus on checking in on alumni and nurturing those personal connections. We want our alumni to realize that DePauw is not always calling to ask for money, but because we care about them as a part of the institution."

Keeping admissions on track and on schedule
During COVID-19, the admissions team at Virginia Theological Seminary turned to Blackbaud's education management solutions to work remotely without any interruption to their admissions process. With Blackbaud's cloud capabilities for education management, the registrar's office was able to gauge interest in fall courses and create the necessary plans for online learning. "I managed to release admissions decisions remotely and on schedule thanks to Blackbaud's education management solutions. Without the cloud-based nature of the new system, the COVID-19 shutdown would have been much more difficult for us," said Derek Greten-Harrison, director of admissions and financial aid.

For more information about Blackbaud's Cloud Solution for Higher Education, visit www.blackbaud.com/highered.

About Blackbaud
Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) is the world's leading cloud software company powering social good. Serving the entire social good community—nonprofits, higher education institutions, K–12 schools, healthcare organizations, faith communities, arts and cultural organizations, foundations, companies and individual change agents—Blackbaud connects and empowers organizations to increase their impact through cloud software, services, expertise and data intelligence. The Blackbaud portfolio is tailored to the unique needs of vertical markets, with solutions for fundraising and CRM, marketing, advocacy, peer-to-peer fundraising, corporate social responsibility, school management, ticketing, grantmaking, financial management, payment processing and analytics. Serving the industry for more than three decades, Blackbaud is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina, and has operations in the United States, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.blackbaud.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

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