Blackbaud acquires Attentive.ly

CHARLESTON, SC – Blackbaud, (NASDAQ: BLKB), the leading provider of software and services for the global philanthropic community, announced it has acquired Attentive.ly, a company that allows organizations to conduct social listening, identify key influencers and drive engagement.

“The acquisition of Attentive.ly will dramatically accelerate Blackbaud’s ability to integrate critical social media capabilities into our portfolio of solutions while putting new innovation in the hands of customers,” said Blackbaud President and CEO Mike Gianoni. “This addition complements our vision to offer customers even more effective engagement pathways with their supporters through strategic social, mobile and other digital campaigns.”

As a strategic partner within Blackbaud’s partner network, Attentive.ly has been helping nonprofits turn supporters into vocal advocates for years. The social media engagement platform already integrates with Blackbaud’s digital marketing solution, Luminate Online™, which has proven beneficial for the two companies’ many shared customers. Blackbaud plans to more deeply integrate Attentive.ly’s capabilities into the next generation version of Luminate Online and intends to pursue other opportunities to leverage functionality across its broader portfolio over time. Once deeply integrated, Attentive.ly will activate an advanced level of social listening for Blackbaud customers; helping them organically grow campaigns while providing a new level of service and community to supporters.

Attentive.ly is one such example because an acquisition allows us to better integrate a market-leading leading platform for social listening and engagement into our portfolio now, while giving us a strong foundation to build on as we continue to push the envelope of innovation for the entire philanthropic community.”

Attentive.ly, which was co-founded by CEO Rosalyn Lemieux and Cheryl Contee, has been operating in the nonprofit sector since 2012 and is one of two successful business ventures created and led by the two female executives. Lemieux, along with the company’s 10 employees will join Blackbaud effective immediately, reporting up through McDearis’ Research, Delivery and Operations Group. Contee will serve as strategic adviser to Blackbaud as she continues to lead consulting firm, Fission Strategy.

The acquisition of Attentive.ly allows Blackbaud to offer customers:

• Plug and play cloud tools to enable social listening by finding relevant conversations already happening on social channels
• Improved engagement and conversion with actionable social behavior data integrated into Luminate Online
• An enriched supporter experience with greater cross-channel engagement and connectivity
• Social influencer engagement to amplify their cause, including advocacy, fundraising and awareness-building campaigns

This acquisition also brings expanded advocacy capabilities to Blackbaud customers, specifically in the cause and cure space. Attentive.ly’s capabilities will help nonprofits use grassroots social marketing to turn influencers into advocates, raise awareness, and shape broader conversations around issues, bringing about change in legislation at the local, state and federal levels of government.

About Blackbaud
Serving the worldwide philanthropic community for 35 years, Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) combines innovative software, services, and expertise to help organizations achieve their missions. Blackbaud works in over 60 countries to power the passion of approximately 35,000 customers, including nonprofits, K-12 private and higher education institutions, healthcare organizations, corporations, foundations, and other charitable giving entities.