Blackbaud to integrate donations by text into Raiser's Edge
Howard Lake | 14 December 2007 | News
Blackbaud Europe is to add SMS (Short Messaging Service) capabilities to The Raiser’s Edge®, its fundraising CRM software for the not-for-profit sector.
Blackbaud has worked with mobile applications and content developer Sponge to enable not-for-profit organisations to communicate with supporters in their preferred medium, and provide them with the option to text donations. Although donations by text are still too expensive for its widespread use, Blackbaud is keen for its clients to have the capability to handle and integrate such donations within The Raiser’s Edge.
Martin Jervis, Blackbaud Europe’s managing director, said: “The value of SMS benefits all parties, both by enabling organisations to communicate with immediacy, and by best serving the preferences of their supporters. We already know a number of applications that benefit from SMS; for example, we’ve seen it effectively used for event management and condition-related communications.”
With SMS capabilities, The Raiser’s Edge will enable organisations to communicate instantly with volunteers and supporters about projects, provide quick alerts to supporters with personalised news and actionable information, enhance direct-response marketing efforts by allowing supporters to reply via SMS, and gain insight by conducting quick polls within their supporter bases.
All SMS communications will be tracked directly in The Raiser’s Edge, enabling organisations to achieve an overall view of supporters and all of their interactions.
www.blackbaud.co.uk
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.