Blackbaud launches new application to leverage social media for nonprofits

Daniel Island-based Blackbaud Inc. has launched a new suite of tools designed to help nonprofits utilize social media.

Called Blackbaud Social, the company’s new offering is directed at private-label and public socially enabled communities, Blackbaud said in a statement.

It is the only integrated social platform that offers organizations an easy way to extend their mission, access user data and leverage it for meaningful constituent engagement, the company said.

“Nonprofits see the rapidly growing potential of leveraging social media to acquire new constituents and engage them with their mission and programs,” said Blackbaud CEO Marc Chardon. “Blackbaud Social finally gives organizations the ability to integrate their social media strategy with their overall communications and, most importantly, with their CRM.”

Blackbaud Social is being offered as a complement to the company’s existing suite of fundraising, Internet and relationship management software and services.

“When integrated with Blackbaud Sphere, it creates the most comprehensive online solution for social media, e-mail marketing, online event management, website management and advocacy,” the company said.

Specifically, Blackbaud Social tools help drive awareness and traffic from public networks such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to a nonprofit’s own in-house social network. The company said Blackbaud Social enhances an organization’s ability to communicate and more effectively gain insight into constituent behavior.

Two organizations have signed on to use Blackbaud Social: the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.

“The fundraising profession advances through open communication, networking and the sharing of knowledge, which is why AFP’s work with The Port and implementation of Blackbaud Social is so important,” said Kathy Compton, chief marketing officer for the fundraising association.

Compton said her organization expects the new social media platform to create an online community in which association members can easily access new, value-added programs, interact with colleagues and work toward their individual philanthropic missions.

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation recently built an online community to connect people living with paralysis to friends, family members, scientists and each other.

“Through the Reeve Foundation Paralysis Community, powered by Blackbaud Social, we are able to provide a community where our members can engage, contribute content and access information that is specific to them,” said Rob Gerth, the Reeve Foundation’s director of digital media. “In turn, we can learn more about our supporters and centralize our chapters’ social media communities, while extending them to public social sites to increase our reach.”

To introduce Blackbaud Social, a free Web seminar series, Blackbaud Social Hour: Engaging Your Supporters through Social Media, will begin Sept. 17 and continue at 1 p.m. the three following Fridays. The series, presented by industry experts, will explore ways to engage supporters using social media.