Blackbaud takes over JustGiving in a bid to enhance world-wide out peer-to-peer fundraising offering
Blackbaud, the world’s largest non-profit cloud software company, is to buy UK fundraising platform JustGiving for £95m.
The US company said the acquisition of JustGiving will enhance its capabilities to serve both individual donors and nonprofits, expanding the peer-to-peer fundraising capabilities it offers through existing products TeamRaiser and everydayhero.
Anne-Marie Huby and Zarine Kharas co-founded JustGiving in 2001. It has grown into the world’s most trusted social platform for giving, enabling 22 million people to raise over $4.5 billion (£3bn) in 164 countries for more than 26,000 charities
Bringing JustGiving into the Blackbaud family reinforces our strong commitment to catalyzing the impact of individual change agents - Jerry Needel, president and general manager of Blackbaud Consumer Solutions
JustGiving had a turnover of £24.9m last year, making a profit of £821,000 in 2016.
In 2013 it launched the crowdfunding platform Yimby.com, which has since rebranded as JustGiving Crowdfunding.
Blackbaud said the acquisition comes as social and mobile giving continues to grow and fundraising driven by individual supporters rallying others in their networks (referred to as peer-to-peer fundraising) plays a significant and growing role in charitable giving.
The acquisition will enable Blackbuad to role out the personal crowdfunding platform in the United States and elsewhere, as well as position Blackbaud to better serve the UK market, where it has operated for more than two decades.
“Today, people are willing to do more than ever before to support causes they care about, but they want to do it on their own terms,” said Jerry Needel, president and general manager of Blackbaud Consumer Solutions.
“To put their passion into action, they need technology that gives them the power to connect with other change agents and organizations. Bringing JustGiving into the Blackbaud family reinforces our strong commitment to catalyzing the impact of individual change agents. It’s also part of our commitment to helping social good organizations navigate and respond to key shifts in giving behavior.”
Anne-Marie Huby, co-founder and managing director of JustGiving, said: “Social, mobile and the rise of crowdfunding combined are transforming the way people give, and the pace of change is unprecedented. By bringing together JustGiving’s community and social platform with Blackbaud’s unrivalled expertise and capabilities, we will be better able to help great causes reach more people and raise more money, more effectively and intelligently than ever before.”
The financial accounts for Blackbaud in the year to 31 December 2016 revealed revenues of $730.8m (£574m) and a gross profit of $391.6m (£307.6m). Blackbaud will finance the acquisition using cash in its reserves and borrowings under its existing credit facility.
JustGiving is headquartered in London while Blackbaud is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina with operations around the globe, including in London.
JustGiving staff are expected to transition to Blackbaud following the completion of the customary regulatory review and become part of Blackbaud’s London-based International Markets Group, led by Jerome Moisan, senior vice president and president of Blackbaud’s International Markets Group.
