Blackbaud, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLKB) today announced that leading nonprofit organizations are using Blackbaud Friends Asking Friends® as their fundraising event management solution to expand their online peer-to-peer fundraising programs. These organizations include: March of Dimes, The Arthritis Society Canada, The National Down Syndrome Society, and Rodman Ride for Kids. In addition, on a recent Blackbaud web seminar, organizers of the American Heart Association's Heart Walk shared that continued success with Friends Asking Friends has resulted in a 19 percent increase in year over year online fundraising.

"We are pleased to partner with these leading organizations, four of which have events included in this year's Run Walk Ride 30, to provide them the event fundraising solution they need to reach their goals," said Mark Davis, Blackbaud's director of enterprise Internet solutions. "Our goal is to provide organizations with the tools their supporters use on a daily basis. Friends Asking Friends enables online, mobile, and social giving, making it easy for participants and donors to interact where they spend the most time--including donating right from their smartphones."

Blackbaud Friends Asking Friends, delivered through the Blackbaud Sphere® platform, helps more than 800 nonprofit organizations more effectively manage their event fundraising campaigns. Forty-five million nonprofit supporters have used Friends Asking Friends event fundraising tools supporting over 38,000 individual fundraising events. Participants using Friends Asking Friends raise six times more than non-users largely thanks to their ability to extend their fundraising efforts through a multi-channel approach including mail, mobile, web, email, and social media. A recent Blackbaud study showed that participants using social media tools built into Friends Asking Friends increased their fundraising success 40 percent from the previous year.

March of Dimes, which advocates for stronger, healthier babies through the prevention of premature births, birth defects, and infant mortality, originally selected Blackbaud CRM® in January 2011 and recently added Friends Asking Friends to manage its Bikers for Babies event. In 2010, Bikers for Babies raised about $2 million, primarily through registration fees and corporate sponsorship. In 2011, more than 35,000 people participated in 35 rides across the country. The March of Dimes looked to increase revenue by adding a peer-to-peer fundraising component to the event.

"Blackbaud is uniquely positioned to support our global fundraising efforts through both traditional and online means," said Carolyn Pizzuto, March of Dimes vice president of revenue management. "Blackbaud Friends Asking Friends and the CRM software go hand in hand in enabling us to meet and exceed our fundraising goals. By running our Bikers for Babies events on Friends Asking Friends, we are able to leverage the viral power of online fundraising, enabling our riders to reach out to their individual personal networks, improving participation."

Since 2002, American Heart Association (AHA) has used Friends Asking Friends to fundraise for its annual Heart Walk program. In 2010, Blackbaud partnered with AHA to design and launch a new Heart Walk national website, helping to increase online participant registration by nearly 80,000 in less than two years. Heart Walk online participants use Friends Asking Friends as a single place to manage their online solicitations using email, mobile, Facebook and Twitter, as well as their "offline" checks and cash. While online donations continue to increase for the program, AHA has been able to maintain success in offline giving as well.

During November's Blackbaud Events Boot Camp, Jodie Kolkowski, AHA's national director of digital strategy, said that online continues to be the organization's largest growth opportunity. "As we continue to partner with Blackbaud and invest in our online Heart Walk strategy, we also want to make sure we're maintaining our offline giving," she said. "Programs like Heart Walk began in offices and neighborhoods, and we encourage our participants to take a multi-channel approach to their fundraising by communicating with potential donors for fundraising the same way they communicate with them every day.

"It is important for our tools to support their team building activities, everyday interactions and extend their donor reach online with the social media, email, and mobile giving tools available within Friends Asking Friends."

The Rodman Ride for Kids, an umbrella matching gift charity raising funds for youth-focused social service agencies that support at-risk kids in Massachusetts, will once again use Friends Asking Friends for its 2012 ride. "Since using Friends Asking Friends, our event participation and revenue has experienced tremendous annual growth," said Tracey Goulet, the organization's executive director. "I'm proud to share that in 2011, our fundraising increased by nearly $1 million compared to 2010. We're looking forward to 2012 and feel Friends Asking Friends is the best solution in the marketplace to support our continued growth."

Visit Blackbaud's new event fundraising resource page featuring research, the Friends Asking Amy event fundraising blog, case studies and white papers designed to help nonprofits become more successful event fundraisers at www.blackbaud.com/rwr.

For more information on Blackbaud's event fundraising solutions, visit www.blackbaud.com/faf.

About Blackbaud

Serving the nonprofit and education sectors for 30 years, Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) combines technology and expertise to help organizations achieve their missions. Blackbaud works with more than 25,000 customers in over 60 countries that support higher education, healthcare, human services, arts and culture, faith, the environment, independent K-12 education, animal welfare, and other charitable causes. The company offers a full spectrum of cloud-based and on-premise software solutions and related services for organizations of all sizes including: fundraising, eMarketing, social media, advocacy, constituent relationship management (CRM), analytics, financial management, and vertical-specific solutions. Using Blackbaud technology, these organizations raise more than $100 billion each year. Recognized as a top company by Forbes, InformationWeek, and Software Magazine and honored by Best Places to Work, Blackbaud is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina and has employees throughout the US, and in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Mexico, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.blackbaud.com.

Forward-looking Statements

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. 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 related to our dividend policy and share repurchase program, including potential limitations on our ability to grow and the possibility that we might discontinue payment of dividends; risks relating to restrictions imposed by the credit facility; 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.

Blackbaud, Inc.
Melanie Mathos, 843-216-6200 x3307
media@blackbaud.com