Charities, Individuals and Companies Use Technology to Amplify Generosity and Provide Humanitarian Aid
CHARLESTON, S.C., April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB), the world's leading cloud software company powering social good, is pleased to share how its customers are unleashing incredible generosity and raising funds for humanitarian relief to help the people of Ukraine.
"We are in awe of the critical work our customers are doing in this time of crisis and the ways people around the world are getting involved," said Mike Gianoni, president and CEO, Blackbaud. "We applaud the organizations and individuals that are contributing their money, time and resources to causes for Ukraine. Blackbaud's vision has always been to create an Ecosystem of Good® that builds a better world. With nonprofits, individuals and companies all working together as a force for good, we can make a real difference in the countless lives that have been upended by this devastation. We are honored to power giving to help those in need, and our hearts go out to the people of Ukraine."
Nonprofits and Charitable Organizations Providing Critical Funds and Services
Since the start of the conflict on February 24, Blackbaud's nonprofit customers have rallied their staff and supporters to quickly react to the evolving situation—from raising funds to deploying teams and resources on the ground in Ukraine and surrounding countries.
Examples of organizations leveraging Blackbaud technology to engage supporters and raise funds for humanitarian relief include:
- CARE, which is providing food, water, supplies and services for families fleeing Ukraine. CARE's crisis relief efforts have a goal of reaching four million people in need.
- Direct Relief, which has worked with Ukraine's Ministry of Health and other on-the-ground partners to provide critical shipments of 164 tons of medical aid, including insulin supplies, critical care medications, oxygen concentrators and other essential resources.
- TiKVA Children's Home, whose mission is to provide aid and education for at-risk Jewish children and impoverished families in Odessa, Ukraine. TiKVA has successfully evacuated over 3,000 people out of Ukraine and currently has 950 refugees in their care, including 350 orphans.
Individuals Showing Incredible Generosity
On Blackbaud's JustGiving platform, more than $55 million has been raised for Ukraine-related causes through individual giving, with approximately $43 million going direct to charities and $12 million going to people in need or personal causes. More than 14,500 fundraising appeal pages have been created.
Touching examples of generosity through JustGiving include:
- Louenna Hood, a nanny who is crowdfunding to give essential supplies—like diapers, wipes, blankets, clothes and food—to Ukraine refugees in Moldova and has raised more than £170,000 so far
- Deanston Bakery in Glasgow, Scotland, which held a bake sale for Ukraine and raised over £88,000 for the Disasters Emergency Committee Ukraine appeal
- Reuben, a five-year-old boy who played his violin on the streets in London to raise almost £2,000 for Save the Children's Ukraine appeal
- Raj Singh, owner and chairman of the Hartlepool United Football Club in England, who personally donated £250,000 to the club's crowdfunding appeal for Ukraine—the largest single individual contribution in JustGiving history
Companies Stepping Up for the Cause
One in three Fortune 500 companies relies on Blackbaud's YourCause® CSRconnect® solution to power their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, including employee giving, matching gifts and volunteering. With the start of the conflict, Blackbaud quickly launched resources to help customers build response programs for the crisis, providing a list of verified organizations focused on humanitarian relief for Ukraine that companies and their employees could give to. Since February 24, nearly $12 million has been raised for those organizations from hundreds of companies through employee donors, spanning nearly 70 countries.
Many companies are running dedicated response programs for Ukraine on the YourCause platform. Of those, 40% have created special match campaigns for the crisis to maximize employee impact, with 20% offering a 2:1 match for employee contributions.
Wells Fargo employees have donated more than $330,000 to the Ukrainian relief effort. The company encouraged donations by featuring relief organizations in their YourCause portal and rewarding employee donations through a grant program. "Wells Fargo has a deep commitment to supporting communities and to responding in times of need," said Anna Bard, senior vice president, head of employee volunteerism and charitable giving, Wells Fargo. "Using the YourCause platform, Wells Fargo rewards employees' contributions through our Community Care Grants program, which provides grants to employees of up to $2,000 annually for their volunteer service and charitable giving and these grants are donated to the charity of their choice. As part of our support for the people of Ukraine, we temporarily increased our employee grants program by 50%, for a maximum of up to $3,000 that employees can direct to charities. We have also pledged $1 million to support humanitarian relief and U.S. service members in the region."
Blackbaud's Commitment
Blackbaud is dedicated to helping social good organizations around the world engage supporters and donors to achieve their critical missions. Our teams are working to enable customers to quickly respond to the crisis in Ukraine, stand up fundraising campaigns, process donations and spread awareness of their efforts.
Blackbaud has made a donation to the International Rescue Committee, which helps people affected by humanitarian crises to survive, recover, and rebuild their lives. In addition, we are encouraging our employees to leverage our matching gift program, which is designed to support employees' choice. Blackbaud will match employee donations to 501c3 charities, ensuring that individual contributions go further.
About Blackbaud
Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) is the world's leading cloud software company powering social good. Serving the entire social good community—nonprofits, higher education institutions, K–12 schools, healthcare organizations, faith communities, arts and cultural organizations, foundations, companies and individual change agents—Blackbaud connects and empowers organizations to increase their impact through cloud software, services, expertise and data intelligence. The Blackbaud portfolio is tailored to the unique needs of vertical markets, with solutions for fundraising and CRM, marketing, advocacy, peer-to-peer fundraising, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental, social and governance (ESG), school management, ticketing, grantmaking, financial management, payment processing and analytics. Serving the industry for more than four decades, Blackbaud is a remote-first company headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina, with operations in the United States, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.blackbaud.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.
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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, including statements regarding expected benefits of products and product features. 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 associated with management of growth; lengthy sales and implementation cycles, particularly in larger organizations; 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.
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