Blackbaud announces new President and General Manager of everydayhero

CHARLESTON, SC – Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB), the world’s leading cloud software company powering social good, today announced the appointment of Jerry Needel as president and general manager of everydayhero^®, a Blackbaud company and innovative crowdfundraising solution.

everydayhero’s mission is to make giving easier, more accessible and more enjoyable for people who want to help the charities and causes they care about. As a founding partner of #GivingTuesday, Blackbaud wants to honor those who give to meaningful causes. Again this year, the company will waive its administrative fees for any U.S. donations made on #GivingTuesday through www.everydayhero.com.

“everydayhero is uniquely positioned to help organizations and individuals alike. I’m excited to have an opportunity, within my first month, for our team to give back to the community we serve by waiving the fees for #GivingTuesday,” said Needel. “Our platform takes a holistic look at giving and helps our customers better tap into the full scope of how people support causes – their time, voice, effort, energy, donations and their passion.”

Most recently, Needel served as senior vice president at Indiegogo^®, leading its corporate partnerships and global sales and marketing efforts. Prior to that, he helped leading organizations better understand, track and leverage social media as the general manager of BuzzMetrics, a social media analytics firm. After BuzzMetrics was acquired by The Nielsen Company, Jerry continued to run that business, including establishing a social-media focused joint venture between Nielsen and McKinsey & Company, where he served as chief operating officer.

Blackbaud’s everydayhero solution has rapidly gained ubiquity in Australia and New Zealand where one in four adults use or donate online through everydayhero. With Needel’s hire, the company intends to dramatically grow the everydayhero brand in the United States while accelerating adoption globally.

“There is a strategic, long-term opportunity for Blackbaud to increase our value to customers in the peer-to-peer and crowdfunding space,” said Charlie Cumbaa, executive vice president of Corporate and Product Strategy for Blackbaud. “We’re confident that Jerry’s vast leadership experience in the digital, crowdfunding and social media space will allow us to gain significant momentum as we offer leading solutions that empower and connect individual change agents and the organizations that inspire them to action.”

One example is everydayhero’s ‘If Girls Ran The World’ virtual campaign, which focuses the passion that thousands of people have for running to support global charities that empower women and girls. Throughout October, participants will fundraise online and run in their own neighborhoods while tracking their miles to virtually add to the group’s collective effort to circle the world. “This trend in virtual events has caught on, allowing organizations to reach beyond their walls, their communities, and their existing donor databases to educate and engage new like-minded donors and volunteers,” said Needel.

The trend is clear. Virtual events will be an important component of successful fundraising efforts going forward. Crowdfunding for social impact is on the rise, sites raised $1.9 billion last year through campaigns, with giving expected to grow at a 25 percent for the foreseeable future. everydayhero is powering this new era of virtual crowdfundraising making giving easier for organizers, charities, participants and donors.

Needel began leading Blackbaud’s everydayhero company in late August. He will oversee his global organization from Blackbaud’s New York office. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in public relations and marketing fromPennsylvania State University.

For more information about Blackbaud’s innovative crowdfundraising solution, visit www.everydayhero.com.

About Blackbaud
Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) is the world’s leading cloud software company powering social good. Serving the entire social good community—nonprofits, foundations, corporations, education institutions, and individual change agents—Blackbaud connects and empowers organizations to increase their impact through software, services, expertise, and data intelligence.