K-12 Schools Select Blackbaud Software to Create a Unified Total School Experience

Blackbaud’s Total School Solution Offers One System for K-12 Private Schools to Manage Their Entire School Community

Charleston, S.C. (April 3, 2024) Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB), the leading provider of software for powering social impact, is enabling K-12 private schools to save time and money by unifying their software with Blackbaud’s Total School Solution. Through Blackbaud’s connected systems, school administrators are breaking down silos to simplify their operations and connect the entire school community, from the school’s website to enrollment, student information, learning management, tuition, fundraising and accounting.

“Our very first customer was a K-12 school, and they are still with us today,” said Mike Gianoni, president, CEO and vice chairman of the board, Blackbaud. “We’re building on forty years of expertise in this space and continue to innovate to help schools leverage their data in a way that improves the experience of their staff, students and families.”

With Blackbaud’s Total School Solution, K-12 private schools can: 

  • Harness the power of one system and one login to create a consistent and unified experience where families can go from creating an enrollment application to monitoring coursework and grades; staff can track enrollment, contracts, billing and accounting, providing a single source of truth; and educators can access dynamic learning resources, create interactive assignments and automate grading.  
  • Leverage Blackbaud’s ongoing investment in innovation with new features in progress, like an AI-enabled question generator, powered by Blackbaud’s Intelligence for Good® strategy, that will help educators develop quizzes and assessments to save time in their day.  
  • Better connect their education management portfolio to Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT® with the planned new release of Blackbaud’s common records engine later this year. With this improved connectivity, fundraisers can easily track and engage students as alumni once they’ve graduated and improve fundraising efforts targeting newly enrolled families. 
  • Extend their software with Blackbaud’s open APIs and partner integrations that help schools meet their specific needs, like utilizing BrightArrow for mass communications or August Schools for school medical office and student wellness needs, while maintaining one system of truth within their Blackbaud solution. 
  • Rely on best-practice cybersecurity protection to help keep their data secure. 

Many schools—including the IDEAL School of Manhattan, Maui Preparatory Academy, Oak Hill School, Rockford Christian School and St. Francis School—have recently chosen Blackbaud’s Total School Solution to provide one fully connected system that will offer a better user experience and streamline their data and decision-making processes. Other Blackbaud customers like Boyd-Buchanan School, Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School and Lyndon Institute have expanded their portfolios, moving from individual solutions to the fully connected platform. 

“What school administrators need and want is easy access to and control over their data,” said Mark Davis, vice president, education products, Blackbaud. “We’re giving schools purpose-built software through a connected platform that allows them to bring in each piece of their education management portfolio, get a holistic view of their operations, and take meaningful action to drive impact for their students, families and school.” 

Customer Spotlights 

Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School
Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School was looking to streamline their overall school operations to better manage their admissions needs, measure financial performance and engage students. After using Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT®, the school chose to expand their portfolio to leverage Blackbaud’s Total School Solution by adding Raiser’s Edge NXT, Blackbaud Tuition Management, Blackbaud Financial Aid Management, Blackbaud Student Information System, Blackbaud Learning Management and Blackbaud Enrollment Management System. “As our school grows and scales, it’s critical for us to have timely financial information and accurate reporting available all in one system,” said Camille Naughton, president, Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit. “We’re excited to strategically leverage our technology stack to connect all of our information systems across the school so that our faculty and staff can focus their time on preparing our students for college and life.”

Maui Preparatory Academy
When the Lahaina fire struck, displacing thousands and causing widespread devastation in the community last August, Maui Preparatory Academy extended its services to new students, some with minimal charge, despite facing space constraints. Subsequently, school administrators chose to strategically allocate funds by investing in Blackbaud’s Total School Solution. This will enable them to streamline their operations by managing their data more efficiently, facilitating seamless communication with families, and improving their ability to forecast and manage finances. Moreover, it will allow them to effectively engage with the donors who contributed to their cause. 

Rockford Christian School
Rockford Christian School selected Blackbaud as a partner to drive outcomes that align with their strategic plan. With Blackbaud’s Total School Solution, the school will focus on fostering community engagement by creating an online extension of the school community and building a greater sense of belonging for their students and families. “We’re investing in technology that will help us reach our long-term goals,” said Dr. Jahna Duda, head of school, Rockford Christian. “By giving families a unified and consistent experience that helps them stay connected to the school and involved in their child’s success, we can build lasting relationships that we continue to nurture as our school grows through student enrollment, retention and giving.”

For more information on Blackbaud’s K-12 private school solutions, visit https://www.blackbaud.com/who-we-serve/k-12-schools.

About Blackbaud
Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) is the leading software provider exclusively dedicated to powering social impact. Serving the nonprofit and education sectors, companies committed to social responsibility and individual change makers, Blackbaud’s essential software is built to accelerate impact in fundraising, nonprofit financial management, digital giving, grantmaking, corporate social responsibility and education management. With millions of users and over $100 billion raised, granted or managed through Blackbaud platforms every year, Blackbaud’s solutions are unleashing the potential of the people and organizations who change the world. Blackbaud has been named to Newsweek’s list of America’s Most Responsible Companies, Quartz’s list of Best Companies for Remote Workers, and Forbes’ list of America’s Best Employers. A remote-first company, Blackbaud has operations in the United States, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica and the United Kingdom, supporting users in 100+ countries. Learn more at www.blackbaud.com or follow us on X/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 organization; 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.