Blackbaud revealed its vision for a new era of intelligent action powered by 70+ embedded, sector-specific AI capabilities and groundbreaking agentic AI, and announced a free, platform-agnostic AI certification course

Blackbaud, the leader in AI for social impact, concluded bbcon 2025, its premier annual tech conference for nonprofits, schools, healthcare organizations, universities, and corporate social responsibility teams. The electric three-day event unveiled a new era of intelligent action—powered by Blackbaud AI—driving impact at scale through the world’s largest network of people and causes.

“The rise of AI represents a once-in-a-generation paradigm shift for social impact organizations, and Blackbaud is turning its numerous possibilities into action,” said Mike Gianoni, president, CEO and vice chairman of the board of directors, Blackbaud. “This week has been an incredible opportunity for us to explore new ways to help organizations everywhere move with more confidence, connection, and possibility.”

More Connection. More Possibility.
The company announced two seismic shifts in the way Blackbaud is bringing AI to market for social impact, marking a new era of intelligent action:

• Blackbaud AI is transforming Blackbaud solutions from a system of record to a system of intelligent action able to integrate insights across business units. Underpinned by years of domain expertise and a wealth of data from a variety of sources, new features like AI-powered donor stewardship reports, Recognition Programs, hyper-personalized donor journeys, and more are all able to work in concert to celebrate impact, nurture loyalty, and drive engagement at scale.
• Blackbaud Agents for Good™, are agentic, virtual team members who can proactively take on complex tasks, workflows and initiatives. Seamlessly embedded in the trusted Blackbaud environment, these agents allow human practitioners to focus on the parts of the mission that only they can—relationships, storytelling and vision.

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Energy was high as Blackbaud executives highlighted some of the key product capabilities including 70+ available or planned embedded, sector-specific AI capabilities that will amplify customer success and impact in this new era:

• The Development Agent, the very first Agent for Good, will operate proactively to manage donor portfolios, communicate with supporters, follow through on outreach, and enable organizations to reach prospective donors they simply do not have capacity to today.
• Chat for Blackbaud AI puts the deep insight of Blackbaud AI at users’ fingertips as a smart, conversational AI assistant that helps teams work more efficiently by summarizing key information, generating content, and suggesting next steps.
• Prospect Insights Pro uses predictions to enable greater flexibility for users to customize their prospect segmentation strategy.
• Document Intelligence, designed to empower finance teams, allows you to upload an invoice—PDF, image, even a photo—and Blackbaud AI reads it, extracts the data and creates a draft Accounts Payable record, as an example.
• The Modernized Applicant User Experience in Blackbaud Award Management will infuse the applicant journey with a refreshed interface, including streamlined navigation, modernized visuals, and improved functionality across key areas.
• Expedited Giving will speed up donation disbursement from corporate giving, making it up to 95% faster than traditional distribution methods, embed new modern giving options for employee donors, increase transparency for CSR program administrators with Blackbaud’s new Processing Portal, and save nonprofits time with donor detail integrations that will seamlessly connect to their Blackbaud solutions like Raiser’s Edge NXT and Blackbaud CRM.

“I really enjoyed learning about all the ways that AI can help me summarize board requests for financial data, build forecast models and create budget templates,” said Damaris Herron-Watkins, Chief Finance and Operations Officer, A Better Chance. “bbcon has opened my eyes to what’s possible with AI in my role and I’m excited for the new ways that Blackbaud is incorporating AI into its platforms so we can work smarter and deliver on impact.”

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More Confidence with Responsible AI
Leading on new technology frontiers is a serious responsibility, and Blackbaud Chief Data and AI Officer Carrie Cobb took the stage to deliver a bold truth: “AI isn’t just transforming technology—it’s transforming responsibility. Because AI isn’t just code. It’s decisions. It’s influence.”

In service of its commitment to responsible AI, Blackbaud has convened a coalition of companies, organizations, and leaders who share the vision of removing obstacles to responsible AI adoption for the nonprofit sector: The AI Coalition for Social Impact. Founding members include Blackbaud, Anthropic, Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals, Association of Fundraising Professionals, Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose, Curtis Group, Databricks, Datacamp, Ellis Morgan Enterprises, GivingTuesday, Greater Purpose, OneTrust, Realized Worth, Responsible AI Institute and The Nonprofit Alliance. On behalf of its fellow founding members, Blackbaud announced the coalition’s flagship initiative: a free, platform-agnostic AI for Social Impact Certification Course designed specifically for the social impact sector. The first module in AI for Social Impact will be open for registration later this year.

Celebrating Award Winners
Blackbaud celebrated organizations that are fueling social impact throughout the event:

• Winners of the bbdevdays hackathon were announced on day three of bbcon in the Innovation Hub. Awardees include the Georgia Tech Foundation, Preble Street, Opportunity International, Christendom College, and House of Ruth Maryland.
• The 2025 winners of the Blackbaud Impact Awards were recognized on the bbcon mainstage for transforming potential into progress to achieve more for their missions.
• Winners of Blackbaud’s annual Social Good Startup Program Showcase were unveiled live at the conference, with Daffodil, Pledge, and Revere Software receiving the Judge’s Choice award and Connect to Give receiving the People’s Choice award.
• Partner Network Award recipients represented a diverse group of collaborators who are helping nonprofits, educational institutions, healthcare organizations, and purpose-driven companies maximize their impact through technology.

“bbcon is where our community comes together not just to dream—but to do,” said Catherine LaCour, chief marketing officer, Blackbaud. “This year, we raised the bar: combining transformative, sector-specific AI innovation with a coalition-driven approach to responsible adoption. The journey ahead requires boldness to match the opportunity for organizations changing the world.”