2026 North America Winners and Finalists

The Changemaker Award

You don’t just respond to change; you use tech to embrace it.

Recognizes agile organizations that have embraced new tech capabilities to overcome challenges and deliver results.

Winner: Le Phare, Enfants Et Familles

Challenge

For Le Phare, philanthropy funds more than half of the organization’s operating budget. Following a major CRM transition, fundraising teams were still navigating duplicate records, inconsistent processes, fragmented data, and manual workarounds. Without a reliable data foundation, the organization struggled to maximize donor engagement, recurring giving, and strategic fundraising opportunities.

Solution

Le Phare undertook a comprehensive fundraising transformation centered on Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT®. The team simplified constituent structures, streamlined campaigns, eliminated more than 2,000 duplicate records, expanded online giving forms, and documented more than 20 standardized procedures. With a stronger data foundation in place, the organization activated new capabilities including automated donor receipting, personalized welcome journeys, recurring gift optimization through Credit Card Updater, and Prospect Insights to strengthen donor qualification and portfolio development.

Outcome

The results extended far beyond cleaner data. Monthly giving revenue increased 31%, monthly gift volume grew 28%, and conversions to monthly giving rose 20%. Fall campaign gift volume increased 47%, while stronger segmentation and automation improved the donor experience and empowered staff with greater access to actionable information. By transforming Raiser’s Edge NXT from a database into a strategic fundraising platform, Le Phare built a more sustainable and predictable funding model to support children with life-limiting conditions and their families.

Finalists

Local Office on Aging, Inc.

For unifying five disconnected systems into a single, integrated Blackbaud ecosystem—anchored by Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT®, Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT®, and Blackbaud Integrated Payments, with Ramp and Paycor integrations—eliminating manual reconciliation, reducing month-end close by 10 days, realizing $150,000 in annual labor savings, and earning two consecutive clean audits, enabling them to make more data-driven decisions and become a leading voice among Virginia’s Area Agencies on Aging.

Equality Now

For leveraging Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT®, Prospect Insights and Blackbaud partner Double the Donation to build a smarter, more strategic fundraising operation, identifying untapped major donor potential, personalizing outreach at scale, and consolidating donor data to drive a 26% increase in major donors and 87% retention rate—ultimately fueling the legal advocacy that helped pass 17 new laws and policies and expanded rights for more than 68 million women and girls worldwide.

The Data Strategist Award

Data is your not-so-secret weapon.

Recognizes organizations that showcase how data-informed decisions or problem solving have given them a greater edge.

Winner: A Kid Again

Challenge

For nearly three decades, A Kid Again has provided free adventures for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. While the organization knew the impact of its programs firsthand, it faced a growing challenge: proving that impact with rigorous, independently validated evidence. At the same time, operating across 12 locations nationwide required a consistent, centralized data infrastructure capable of supporting meaningful measurement and analysis.

Solution

A Kid Again built a unified national data ecosystem using Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT®, supported by Blackbaud partner Omatic and Power BI. By centralizing family enrollment, attendance, demographic, and donor data across all locations, the organization established a trusted source of information for both operational and research purposes. This foundation enabled a landmark partnership with the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, which used data from Raiser’s Edge NXT to conduct an independent national program evaluation involving more than 4,000 respondents.

Outcome

The resulting study provided independently validated evidence of the organization’s impact, with 93% to 95% of participants reporting a positive overall impact on their lives and 97% saying adventures enriched their lives. The findings revealed important insights around family well-being, resilience, and access, while also strengthening the organization’s fundraising efforts. Equipped with data-driven proof points, A Kid Again exceeded its Q1 2026 fundraising goal by 56% and now leads major funder conversations with validated outcomes rather than anecdotal evidence. The organization has established a lasting competitive advantage, combining trusted data with measurable mission impact to serve nearly 19,000 families nationwide.

Finalists

Detroit Catholic Central High School

For leveraging Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT®, ResearchPoint, and Claude AI to build a proprietary Shamrock Priority Score that unified data across 20,000+ alumni profiles, uncovered a critical engagement gap among alumni aged 30–45, and drove a 24% increase in new donors and a 34% increase in overall fundraising, setting a new school fundraising record.

Diocese of Toledo

For leveraging Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT, MicrosoftPower BI, and Blackbaud partner Omatic to replace a manual, static Excel reporting process with a live multi-dashboard analytics suite—enabling real-time geographic, parish-level, and appeal performance insights that drove a 63% increase in average gift size and a participation rate jump from 9.6% to 31% in the Annual Catholic Appeal.

Skidmore College

For leveraging Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT®, ResearchPoint, and DonorSearch to build a proprietary 2×2 quadrant model that unified wealth screening and predictive analytics data across prospect records, surfacing hidden giving potential among dormant constituents, and equipping gift officers with a shared prioritization framework—resulting in better identification of constituents with 4.6x likelihood to demonstrate top-giver behavior.

The Fueling Greatness Award

You’ve turned audacious goals into inspiring results.

Recognizes organizations that have reached or surpassed ambitious goals.

North America Winner: Mary Immaculate Catholic Parish & School

Challenge

When Mary Immaculate Catholic Parish & School adopted Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT® in 2023, the advancement team was operating without a unified fundraising platform. Donor records were inconsistent, lapsed giving was difficult to track, and event registrations were largely managed through manual processes. With a one-person advancement team supporting a growing school community, the organization needed a more strategic and sustainable approach to fundraising. Its primary goal was ambitious: surpass $1 million in revenue during North Texas Giving Day for the first time in school history.

Solution

The school used Raiser’s Edge NXT as the foundation for a complete advancement transformation. By leveraging queries to identify and re-engage lapsed donors, utilizing event registration capabilities to streamline supporter experiences, and documenting donor interactions through actions and opportunities, the advancement team created a structured, data-driven fundraising program. Raiser’s Edge NXT became the central platform for donor management, cultivation, event engagement, stewardship, and major gift tracking, giving the organization the infrastructure needed to grow despite limited staff resources.

Outcome

The results were transformational. North Texas Giving Day revenue grew from approximately $500,000 in the organization’s final year on its previous platform to more than $1 million in its most recent campaign, marking the first seven-figure Giving Day in school history and more than doubling revenue over three years. Beyond fundraising growth, the school established a scalable advancement operation built on documented donor relationships, structured major gift cultivation, and data-informed decision- making. For a small Catholic school with a one-person advancement office, the transformation demonstrated how the right technology foundation can fuel extraordinary growth and long-term mission impact.

North America Finalists

Alzheimer Society of Ontario

For leveraging Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT® and Blackbaud Luminate Online® to unify 24 local Alzheimer Societies onto a single data-driven platform—delivering 100+ segmented campaign emails, 30+ automated donor journeys, increasing donor retention from 28% to 31.9%, and raising $3.2 million in the IG Wealth Management Walk for Alzheimer’s for the third consecutive record-breaking year.

Paws for Patrick

For leveraging Blackbaud eTapestry® and the Blackbaud Giving Fund to scale a national youth mental health mission—strengthening donor stewardship, expanding corporate giving through payroll and matching gift programs, and growing from a grassroots volunteer group into a professional team of six—driving a 125% increase in golf outing revenue to a record-breaking $450,000 and staying on track to reach more than 17,000 young people and their families across all 50 states by the end of 2026.

Richard Bland College Foundation

For leveraging Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT® to transform donor data into hyper-personalized, segmented outreach for its Debt-Free RBC Degree campaign and surpassing a bold, record-setting $1 million campaign goal ahead of schedule.

The Futurist Award

Thinking inside the box? No way! You’re a master of tech flexibility.

Recognizes organizations that have pursued technological exploration and creativity within Blackbaud’s flexible ecosystem with notable results.

North America Winner: Boston University

Challenge

At Boston University, advancement teams were looking for new ways to enhance fundraising, donor engagement, and operational efficiency. Building on Blackbaud Enterprise Fundraising CRM™ as the university’s trusted system of record, staff sought faster ways to capture donor insights, automate administrative tasks, and bring new capabilities to market while maintaining strong governance, data quality, and institutional trust.

Solution

Rather than building isolated AI tools, Boston University created AdvancementAI, a reusable artificial intelligence layer designed to extend and accelerate workflows surrounding Blackbaud Enterprise Fundraising CRM. The platform powers applications supporting donor interactions, prospect research, portfolio management, travel preparation, address validation, workflow automation, semantic search, and staff- generated innovation. By combining AI-powered capabilities with Blackbaud Enterprise Fundraising CRM data and user feedback through a community-driven enhancement platform, the university established a scalable foundation for continuous innovation across advancement operations.

Outcome

The impact has been measurable. AI-assisted interaction captures reduced donor contact reporting from approximately 40 minutes to just five minutes, allowing gift officers to spend more time building relationships and less time on administration. More than 113 staff-submitted enhancements have already been delivered with a 96% acceptance rate and an average turnaround time of five days. Beyond any single application, Boston University has created a new operating model for advancement technology, one that empowers staff to shape innovation directly while leveraging the strength and stability of Blackbaud Enterprise Fundraising CRM.

North America Finalists

ServiceNow

For leveraging Blackbaud YourCause CSRconnect to embed a giving and volunteering experience directly within ServiceNow’s internal employee portal—resulting in eliminating friction between employees and the act of giving, and exceeding both a 50% donation participation goal and a 33% volunteer participation goal company-wide.

University of Manitoba

For building a custom AI orchestration platform on Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT® and SKY API—using six specialized MCP servers with deterministic query execution, semantic retrieval, and layered safety guardrails to deliver reliable, consistent donor insights through natural language, reducing query response times from 15+ minutes to 1–2 minutes and positioning the University of Manitoba as a pioneer in enterprise-grade AI-driven advancement.

University of Nebraska Foundation

For advancing prospect intelligence through a generative AI-assisted workflow embedded within Blackbaud Enterprise Fundraising CRM™—built in partnership with Blackbaud partner Esgenio and powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI—helping Prospect Information Managers review contact reports faster and more consistently while maintaining human oversight, and establishing a scalable model for responsible AI innovation in advancement.

The Silo Buster Award

Silos never stood a chance at your org.

Recognizes organizations that have broken down silos and increased collaboration for greater impact.

North America Winner: Starfish Family Services

Challenge

As Starfish Family Services expanded programs across behavioral health, maternal health, early childhood education, workforce development, and family support services, teams often operated within separate workflows and systems. Families seeking assistance frequently navigated multiple programs, repeated information, and encountered disconnected processes. The organization recognized that improving outcomes for children and families required breaking down internal silos and creating more coordinated pathways of support.

Solution

Starfish intentionally strengthened collaboration across departments by connecting program, development, finance, and operational teams around a shared model of service delivery. Using Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT®, Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT®, and Blackbaud Award Management™, the organization improved visibility into funding, reporting, responsibilities, and outcomes across multiple initiatives. Shared dashboards, standardized workflows, and coordinated reporting structures helped align teams around common goals while supporting stronger communication with community partners and stakeholders.

Outcome

The organization significantly improved collaboration across more than eight major initiatives while strengthening coordinated care for the more than 4,000 children and families it serves annually. Referral turnaround times improved by an estimated 25% to 30%, grant reporting compliance increased to more than 90%, and teams established stronger connections across behavioral health, early childhood education, maternal health, and family support programs. By creating a unified view of relationships, funding, and outcomes, Starfish transformed how departments work together and built a more coordinated, family-centered approach to care.

North America Finalists

Applied Materials

For employing YourCause CSRconnect by Blackbaud to reimagine the Fight Against Hunger campaign from a collection of competing business unit efforts into a single, enterprise-wide “One Applied” movement—introducing participation-based metrics, shared goals, and milestone-driven Foundation contributions that sparked a 33.35% year-over-year increase in employee participation as well as an increase in donated fund, culminating in $1.71 million raised for hunger relief organizations nationwide in 2025.

East Coast Zoological Foundation

For harnessing Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT, Blackbaud Online Giving, JustGiving from Blackbaud, and Blackbaud partner Omatic to unify fragmented workflows across philanthropy, finance, events, and marketing—achieving a 30–40% reduction in reconciliation and reporting time, fewer duplicate records and misapplied gifts, and faster donor acknowledgments, positioning East Coast Zoological Foundation for scalable growth ahead of its expansion.

NSU University School

For dismantling decades of siloed, legacy systems by implementing Blackbaud’s education management suite and leveraging SKY API to automate workflows, saving over 450 staff hours in the first year, achieving 90% family adoption of auto-pay, increasing financial aid applications by 20%, and saving $25K in redundant SaaS vendors—shifting the organizational culture from one that serves systems to one where systems serve people.

The Outstanding Leadership Award

A leader who empowers teams and pushes boundaries.

Celebrates exceptional executive-level leaders who empower their teams and organizations.

North America Winner: Michelle Edgerton, Executive Vice President and Chief Advancement Officer, YMCA of the North

Context

As one of the largest YMCA associations in the world, YMCA of the North needed to sustain fundraising growth while navigating increasingly complex donor expectations, organizational priorities, and revenue goals. Leading a team responsible for annual giving, major gifts, planned giving, capital campaigns, and institutional fundraising, Michelle Edgerton faced the challenge of strengthening long-term philanthropic sustainability while ensuring donors, volunteers, and staff remained deeply connected to the organization’s mission.

Leadership

Michelle built a culture of philanthropy grounded in strategic relationship management, technology adoption, and donor-centered engagement. She championed the use of Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT® as the organization’s fundraising system of record, helping transition institutional fundraising operations from spreadsheets to integrated grant management and reporting. She also supported data-driven stewardship strategies, including personalized donor workflows and video stewardship through Blackbaud partner Gratavid. Beyond technology, Michelle fostered cross-organizational engagement through philanthropy education initiatives, strengthened board involvement, and guided long-term endowment and recurring giving strategies to position the organization for future growth.

Impact

Michelle’s leadership has delivered historic fundraising results. In 2025, YMCA of the North raised $36.4 million, surpassed its endowment goal by 25%, engaged 10,893 active donors, and achieved 100% board participation. Under her leadership, the organization established stronger donor stewardship practices, increased staff giving participation, improved donor retention, and built greater long-term philanthropic resilience. By combining strategic vision, innovation, and a commitment to relationship- centered fundraising, Michelle has helped position YMCA of the North as a leader in advancement excellence across the nonprofit sector.

North America Finalists

Leah Markham, Executive Director, Community Relations, Mizuho Americas

For leading the technological transformation of Mizuho’s community impact program — championing YourCause® from Blackbaud® and Blackbaud Grantmaking™ to replace manual processes with scalable, secure workflows, expanding the platform to reach more employees, and driving record employee participation across all US offices — all through relentless self-direction, persistence, and a deep commitment to making giving work at scale.

Anne Posey, Chief Executive Office, Tykes and Teens, Inc.

For transforming a children’s mental health organization in crisis into a flourishing $8.5 million operation with 390% philanthropy growth, $500,000 in reserves, and innovative Walk-In Assessment Centers serving 500+ children—all through steady, compassionate leadership and strategic use of Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT.

Jennifer Sniderman, Vice President, Corporate Communications, Wesco International University of Indianapolis

For transforming Wesco Cares from a localized giving program into a globally scalable, data-informed social impact strategy—using Blackbaud CSR Connect and Impact Edge to embed measurement and drive $600,000+ in 2025 donations across 490+ charities, while securing a 5x increase in the matching gift cap, launching an EMEA expansion with 442% U.K. engagement growth, and rallying cross-functional leadership around a shared vision of employee-driven community impact.

Sherrie C. Snipes, Chief Executive Office, Charleston Promise Neighborhood

For leading a place-based community organization, since 2012, which serves one of South Carolina’s most historically underserved neighborhoods — serving 20,000+ students, growing school-based healthcare visits by 62%, connecting 121 middle schoolers with career development opportunities, offering thousands of hours of enrichment programs, and increasing organizational profitability by 150%—all while building the long-term infrastructure to ensure the community’s most vulnerable children and families thrive for generations to come.

The Rising Star Award

A go-getter with exceptional potential in their field.

Celebrates ambitious individuals at manager-level or below (non-executive or director level) who demonstrate exceptional potential in their field.

North America Winner: Leah Cooper, Program Manager, MillerKnoll Foundation

Context

When Leah Cooper joined the MillerKnoll Foundation as Program Manager, she saw an opportunity to build upon the company’s strong culture of community, engagement and make participation in social impact programs even more accessible across its global workforce. While MillerKnoll associates were already actively volunteering, fundraising, and supporting causes in their communities, the Foundation was focused on strengthening the systems, resources, and visibility needed to amplify that impact. Leah played a key role in helping associates connect their efforts to the Foundation’s broader community impact strategy. This ensured more associates could easily participate in and celebrate the difference they were making.

Leadership

As part of her Foundation Leah immersed herself in YourCause® CSRconnect®, GrantsConnect®, and Impact Edge™, approaching these tools through the lens of the associates experience rather than technology adoption alone. She met directly with associates,, visited manufacturing sites, and gathered feedback to better understand opportunities to improve engagement and drive impact. Using those insights, she developed multilingual resources, created more than two dozen instructional videos, introduced practical tools tailored for non-desk workers, and expanded support through one-on-one coaching and relationship building. She also enhanced reporting and data visibility through Impact Edge, helping the Foundation better understand engagement patterns and opportunities across the MillerKnoll organization. Meanwhile, her participation on the YourCause Customer Advisory Board allowed her to share associate feedback directly with Blackbaud and help shape future product development.

Impact

Within her first six months, Leah helped accelerate associate participation and broaden engagement across teams globally, including expanding involvement manufacturing and operations associates. Her work transformed how the Foundation leverages Blackbaud technology, creating a more accessible, associate-centered experience and a strengthening a culture of shared ownership around community impact. By connecting to our purpose through technology, storytelling, and human-centered engagement, Leah has helped position associates not simply as participants in corporate philanthropy, but as leaders of impact within their communities while contributing valuable insights that help shape the future of social impact technology for organizations around the world.

North America Finalists

Taha Bhatti, Data Analyst and BI Developer, Skidmore College

For quickly making a big impact with her data-driven approach that has enabled the Mary’s House Services team to better understand donor behavior and history, helping them achieve 123% year-over-year growth in revenue and 85% donor growth within her first fiscal year.

Jenni Cornella, Donor Data Specialist, Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver

For her use of Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT® and move toward smarter, integrated systems that reduce friction, increase accuracy, and scale with minimal effort.