Charleston, S.C. and San Francisco, C.A. (March 8, 2022) — Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB), the world’s leading cloud software company powering social good, and Change, a technology platform powering giving experiences, today announced they will partner to provide companies with customer-facing giving experiences. This will provide Blackbaud’s corporate customers with an option to run charitable campaigns at point of sale, match customer donations and offer donation options in loyalty programs.
Nearly nine in ten Americans would switch brands to one that is associated with a good cause (Cone). In response to the rising generation’s passion for social impact, companies are refreshing their CSR strategies. “More and more companies are approaching Blackbaud looking for new social impact activations,” said Brandon Sharrett, vice president and general manager, Blackbaud Corporate Solutions. “Our role is to provide companies with innovative technology that helps them make a difference in the world. We’re thrilled to partner with Change to offer a solution that enables our corporate clients to engage their customers with give-back opportunities.”
Change participated in the January 2021 cohort of the Blackbaud Social Good Startup Program, which is a unique, year-long accelerator designed to support early-stage software companies dedicated to solving problems that matter to the social good community. Participants chosen for the program show strong potential for providing Blackbaud customers with added value through complementary solutions. “The goal of the Social Good Startup Program is to give up-and-coming social good tech companies a platform to create positive change in the world and to provide Blackbaud customers with unique, innovative solutions that can help drive their missions forward,” said Lizzie Schaffer, senior program manager for innovation culture at Blackbaud. “Change is a great example of the program in action, and we’re thrilled that our corporate customers can now benefit from their donation technology.”
Change’s platform offers a suite of modern services that drive community engagement, ranging from carbon-neutral shipments to donation options in loyalty programs. “Very few companies have been a leader in social good for as long as Blackbaud,” said Amar Shah, Co-Founder and President of Change. “We’re very excited to partner and learn from them.” Change has already made a splash in mission-driven commerce. They have worked with Care/Of to add donations into their loyalty program, SuperRare to power a non-fungible token (NFT) drop for Porsche and Zac Brown Band to add roundups after purchase.
Given the recent increase in cryptocurrency donations, Change is rapidly expanding its giving infrastructure to power consumer-facing opportunities in web3. Fidelity Charitable reported that crypto donations grew 464% in 2021, with donors contributing over $158 million in cryptocurrency assets. Change recently announced support for donations in cryptocurrency and even launched a blockchain-based infrastructure to embed giving directly in NFTs.
“We’re very excited to pioneer a new frontier of giving as companies look to give transparently with cryptocurrency,” said Sonia Nigam, CEO and Co-Founder of Change. “By partnering with Blackbaud, we can take digital philanthropy to the next level.”
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