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Blackbaud Index Indicates Rise in Overall Giving but Decline from Online

Blackbaud, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLKB) today announced the release of a report focused on fundraising trends based on monthly findings from The Blackbaud Index and featuring commentary from the American Association of Museums (AAM) and noted fundraising and communications consultancy, McPherson Associates.  Additionally, Blackbaud announced the release of a new specialty index focused on arts, culture, and humanities organizations.

"Overall charitable giving once again increased in the latest three month period, rising 3% over prior year results," said Chuck Longfield, Blackbaud's Chief Scientist and Creator of the Blackbaud Index.  "This result represents the seventh consecutive period of increased giving and, though overall giving is still roughly 5% below pre-recession levels, indicates that we are well into a recovery in charitable giving. This result is especially noteworthy given the substantial giving to Haiti in the prior year period."
The Blackbaud Index of Charitable Giving and The Blackbaud Index of Online Giving are updated on the 15th of each month and are based on a three-month moving average of year-over-year percent changes in charitable giving. They provide a comprehensive and timely source of charitable giving. To subscribe to monthly email or text alerts or to read more about the methodology, visit www.blackbaud.com/blackbaudindex.


The Blackbaud Index of Charitable Giving
The Blackbaud Index of Charitable Giving reports that overall charitable revenue increased 3% for the three months ending February 2011, as compared to the same period in 2010. This trend is based on $2.2 billion in 12 months' revenue from 1,430 nonprofit organizations.

Blackbaud also releases additional data and analysis that reports on organizations by size. The Index found that three-month overall charitable revenue for small organizations (prior year revenue of < $1 million) increased by 6.4% in February, while overall charitable revenue at medium organizations (prior year revenue of $1 - 10 million) increased by 4.8%, and overall charitable revenue at large organizations (prior year revenue > $10 million) increased by 1.1%.


The Blackbaud Index of Online Giving
The Blackbaud Index of Online Giving reports that online revenue decreased by 8.6% for the three months ending February 2011, as compared to the same period in 2010. This trend is based on $427 million in 12 months' online revenue from 1,837 organizations.

The Index found that three-month online revenue for small organizations (prior year revenue of < $1 million) increased by 18.8% in February, while online revenue at medium organizations (prior year revenue of $1 - 10 million) increased by 1.3%, and online revenue at large organizations (prior year revenue > $10 million) decreased by 27%.


During the first three months of 2010, the Online Giving Index reported substantial increases in online giving particularly to large nonprofits engaged in Haiti relief efforts. Understanding that these online giving levels are compared against the same period in 2011 provides some context to the reported 8.6% decrease in online giving overall and the 27% decrease for large organizations.  If online giving to international relief organizations is excluded, the online index shows an increase of 2.6% for the three months ending February 2011 as compared to the same period last year.


New: The Blackbaud Index - Arts, Culture, and Humanities
The Blackbaud Index of Charitable Giving reports that arts, culture, and humanities organizations had an overall charitable revenue decrease of 3.1% for the three months ending February 2011, as compared to the same period in 2010. This trend is based on $221 million in 12 month revenue from 163 organizations.
The Blackbaud Index of Online Giving reports that arts, culture, and humanities organizations had an online revenue increase of 9% for the three months ending February 2011, as compared to the same period in 2010. This trend is based on $19 million in 12 month revenue from 153 organizations.

Regarding the spike reflected by both the online and comprehensive indices in giving to arts organizations during September and October (+16.2% and +15.2% respectively), Ford W. Bell, president, American Association of Museums (AAM), attributes the increase to the start of the cultural season. "For many arts and cultural organizations, September marks the beginning of the new season," he explained. "It's a long-standing tradition. This convention holds true for museums, and also for orchestras, opera companies, dance companies and theater groups. The excitement around a new exhibition or performance calendar generates contributions. Likewise, many arts organizations coordinate fundraising efforts at this time of year to best capitalize on the new excitement."


Online giving to arts and cultural organizations reported a steady increase throughout 2010 and early 2011, as reported by the Blackbaud Index of Online Giving. Bell asserts that this will increase as more museums embrace online and mobile methods to engage with their audience. Bell singles out mobile contributions as one that holds considerable potential for cultural organizations. AAM conducted a study, in partnership with Fusion Research + Analytics and Guide by Cell, which  concluded that 10% of museums planned to initiate mobile giving programs in the coming year.


Dick McPherson, president and creative director of McPherson Associates, a fundraising and communications consulting firm, provided commentary on the specialty index focusing on arts and cultural organizations. "Other nonprofit sectors, such as environmental and health and human services experience spikes in giving that do not occur with arts and cultural nonprofits," explained McPherson. "In an economic downturn people still want to help human service organizations when disaster strikes, but they may put off giving to the arts."


Donors' relationships with arts organizations are personal, according to McPherson, while donors' interactions with human service nonprofits are typically from a distance. He said arts organizations see giving increase, as well as attendance, when they employ out-of-the-box, online methods to forge an intimacy with their audience.
"Arts groups are using technology in the most interesting ways, but they don't attract headline news coverage," he continued. "An art museum in a small urban area said daily attendance increased from 5,000 per day to 40,000 once they started a digital gallery on their website. We're finding that arts institutions that have aggressively embraced technology to enhance engagement are seeing increases in attendance and fundraising."


Project-based giving is also becoming more prevalent among arts institutions, said McPherson. It enables donors to specify their gift for an individual project. "In a tough economy, people need extra incentives to give. An example of project-based giving would be a museum with an exhibit by young women artists may highlight that on their website to attract supporters specifically interested in the work of young women artists."


Visit www.blackbaud.com/blackbaudindex for further data on The Blackbaud Index and additional industry subsets, for monthly updates on the 15th or to subscribe to email or text alerts, to view a video about benchmarking and metrics, and to download the latest report.


About Blackbaud
Blackbaud is the leading global provider of software and services designed specifically for nonprofit organizations, enabling them to improve operational efficiency, build strong relationships, and raise more money to support their missions. Approximately 24,000 organizations - including The American Red Cross, Cancer Research UK, Earthjustice, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Lincoln Center, The Salvation Army, The Taft School, Tulsa Community Foundation, Ursinus College, the WGBH Educational Foundation, and Yale University - use one or more Blackbaud products and services for fundraising, constituent relationship management, financial management,  website management, direct marketing, education administration, ticketing, business intelligence, prospect research, consulting, and analytics. Since 1981, Blackbaud's sole focus and expertise has been partnering with nonprofits and providing them the solutions they need to make a difference in their local communities and worldwide. Headquartered in the United States, Blackbaud also has operations in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.blackbaud.com.

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