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Blackbaud Newsroom

Blackbaud Announces Winners of 2023 Social Good Startup Showcase

  • Blackbaud
  • Oct 26, 2023
Photography Credit: EPNAC.com

12 Startups Pitched Their Solutions for Social Impact to Blackbaud Leaders and Customers This Week at bbcon, Blackbaud’s Annual Technology Conference; Applications for January 2024 Cohort are Now Open 

Charleston, S.C. (October 26, 2023) — Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB), the leading provider of software for powering social impact, today announced that FundMiner, Trellis, and Hatch have been named the winners of Blackbaud’s annual Social Good Startup Showcase. FundMiner was also named the peoples’ choice winner by bbcon attendees. The showcase provides an opportunity for founders in the Blackbaud Social Good Startup Program to pitch their impactful and innovative solutions to a panel of judges. This year for the first time, the showcase took place at bbcon, Blackbaud’s annual technology conference, giving startup founders a chance to interact directly with Blackbaud customers.  

“The idea for the Blackbaud Social Good Startup Program was born at bbcon four years ago with the launch of our first challenge, which grew into a full program supporting two cohorts each year,” said Jerry Needel, vice president, fintech and innovation, Blackbaud. “We’ve now come full circle, bringing our annual Social Good Startup Showcase to bbcon, giving our customers and attendees a front-row seat to see the incredible innovation these up-and-coming companies are bringing to our sector. We saw demos and examples of ways that this cutting-edge technology can help our customers go further, faster, with a large focus on the potential of generative AI. Congratulations to our winners and to all the companies that participated—we can’t wait to bring more of these solutions directly to our customers.”  

For the showcase, 12 companies from this year’s program had three minutes to pitch their solution, followed by five minutes of Q&A from the judges’ panel, which included Blackbaud’s Catherine LaCour, chief marketing officer, Todd Lant, chief customer officer, and Jerry Needel. Voting was then opened to all bbcon attendees, who had the option to interact directly with startup founders in the expo hall.

Participants included: 

  • FundMiner, Chelsea Lamego, Co-Founder and CEO, and Alejandro Stevenson-Duran, Co-Founder and CTO 
  • Trellis, Justin Goodhew, Co-Founder and CEO 
  • Hatch, Moshe Hecht, Founder and CEO 
  • Changefinder, Ian Winbrock, Co-Founder and CEO, and Harry Herzberg, CTO 
  • Donate Stock, Steve Latham, Co-Founder and CEO 
  • Donor 360, Vijay Prathap, CEO 

Feedback from the Winning Founders
FundMiner‘s B2B software simplifies fund management and automates gift administration for large fundraising organizations with an AI-powered platform that aggregates data from siloed systems. “Being part of the Social Good Startup Program has given us incredible value in reaching potential customers, crafting innovative visions with our partners, and understanding how we can be best positioned in the product ecosystem to solve challenges for our customers,” said Chelsea Lamego, co-founder and CEO of FundMiner. Alejandro Stevenson-Duran, co-founder and CTO, added “We have greatly benefitted from being able to have a direct channel between FundMiner and Blackbaud so we can tap into their domain expertise, improve the experience for our users, and further our mission to simplify fund management for fundraising organizations.”

Trellis is a SaaS platform that allows charities to easily create fundraising events, handling ticketing, auctions and government approved lotteries all in one place. “The Social Good Startup Program really gave us every opportunity that we asked for,” said Justin Goodhew, co-founder and CEO of Trellis. “By combining Blackbaud’s Raiser Edge NXT® with Trellis.org, we can streamline fundraising auctions and events so organizations can raise more and better serve their beneficiaries.”

Hatch is a first-of-its-kind giving intelligence platform powered by Altruistic Intelligence™. Hatch provides organizations with new information on each individual donor, allowing fundraisers, marketers and volunteers to streamline and maximize their impact. “Overall, being a part of the Social Good Startup Program has been invaluable, and it’s an honor to be part of a company that is at the forefront of changing the world,” said Moshe Hecht, co-founder and CEO of Hatch. “bbcon has been one of the best conferences I’ve ever been to in terms of the education, collaboration and community that we’ve experienced, as well as exposure to world-leading social good organizations.” 

About the Blackbaud Social Good Startup Program
The program is a unique, year-long tech accelerator that supports early-stage software companies that are dedicated to solving problems that matter to the social impact community. Participants receive curated access to Blackbaud resources, marketing opportunities and nondilutive grant funding, and Blackbaud works with startup founders to design a unique plan for each company that addresses their goals for growth. All companies chosen for the program are fast-tracked into Blackbaud’s ISV partner program, which provides the opportunity to publish product integrations in the Blackbaud Marketplace, where Blackbaud customers can find and implement their unique solutions.  

Since the launch of the program, Blackbaud has supported a total of 55 startups through seven cohorts, with these organizations collectively raising upwards of $150 million in funding. In addition, 55% of the startup founders who have participated in the program are from backgrounds typically underrepresented in tech. More information on the companies in the 2023 program can be found here and here. 

Apply for the January 2024 Cohort
Blackbaud runs two cohorts of the Social Good Startup program each year beginning in January and July. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. For consideration in future cohorts, including the January 2024 cohort, learn more and apply here. Priority attention will be given to companies developing AI solutions, as well as companies with founders from backgrounds typically underrepresented in the technology industry. 

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. 

Photography Credit: EPNAC.com