Blackbaud Convenes the AI Coalition for Social Impact

Blackbaud empowers organizations across the global social impact sector through data intelligence, cloud innovation, and purposeful partnerships. By streamlining internal processes and improving operational efficiency for thousands of partners, Blackbaud enables nonprofits, schools, and companies to maximize missions, strengthen fundraising, and drive sustainable social change worldwide.

Briefly describe the nominated organization: history and past performance (up to 1,250 characters):

Founded in 1981, Blackbaud grew from a school billing system to the leading AI company for social impact. As the category creator for software exclusively dedicated to powering social impact, Blackbaud propels impact at scale with the sector's most intelligent solutions for fundraising, nonprofit financial management, digital giving, grant making, corporate social responsibility, and education management.

Millions of users rely on Blackbaud technologies, raising $100 billion in donations, grants, and investments annually. With the deepest expertise powered by the world's largest philanthropic data set, the most connected workflows, and the most powerful impact network, Blackbaud's solutions are building a future where resources are unleashed at the speed of need.

Blackbaud has been recognized by Fast Company, Newsweek, Quartz, Forbes and more for AI innovation, responsible leadership and workplace excellence. A remote-flexible company with annual revenue of over $1B, Blackbaud has operations in the United States, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, India and the United Kingdom, supporting users in 100+ countries.

Outline the organization's achievements since July 1, 2023 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 1,500 characters):

Blackbaud, the only dedicated social impact technology provider who connects every point of the social impact ecosystem, is deeply committed to enhancing the overall health of the social impact sector through technology.

Since AI is the single biggest disruptive force in our lifetimes and has massive potential to advance missions, the more the social impact sector adopts AI-responsibly-the better the sector is positioned to succeed long-term. However, there exists an opportunity gap between the full potential of AI and the knowledge and skills it will take to adopt it effectively and responsibly in service of critical missions.

To address this gap, in October 2025 Blackbaud convened the AI Coalition for Social Impact, a first-of-its-kind, cross-sector alliance convening tech leaders, nonprofits, and associations under a common mission: removing obstacles to responsible AI adoption for the nonprofit sector. Founding members include Blackbaud, Anthropic, GivingTuesday, Responsible AI Institute, and The Nonprofit Alliance, among others, who collaborate to develop frameworks, share best practices, and accelerate the ethical implementation of AI tools that advance social good.

The coalition's flagship achievement is a free, platform-agnostic AI for Social Impact Certification Course which will equip practitioners to effectively and responsibly leverage AI, build trust and accelerate missions.

Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the organization's past performance (up to 1,500 characters):

In this unprecedented year of funding shifts, budget adjustments, and rising community needs, social impact organizations must change the way they respond.

Data from the Blackbaud Institute has shown that the sector is strong, with giving increasing year over year and individual gifts reaching record highs. This growth is a testament to the deep sense of shared purpose that unites the social impact community.

Yet, despite this shared purpose, the sector remains fragmented. Donors, nonprofits, and corporations often operate in silos-connecting around individual initiatives (often with great effort), but not functioning as a truly connected network.

AI has massive potential to connect these pieces into a powerful network that amplifies impact, but there are also risks without the right guardrails in place.

This coalition is the first time a group has come together across industries (and even in some cases across competitive lines) to put their combined weight behind a single unified effort to deliver on the promise of AI for social good.

This isn't about advancing the business interests of any one company; it's about pulling together to support the people and organizations who are changing the world.

Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 1,500 characters):

• Blackbaud Unveils Seismic Shifts in AI Innovation, Rolling Out 70+ Embedded, Sector-Specific Capabilities and Unlocking New Possibility for Social Impact
• Blackbaud Unveils AI Agent Tailored to Social Impact Sector, Announces AI Coalition for Social Impact at bbcon 2025
• How AI can help social impact move at the speed of need | Fortune