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American Bible Society Enhances Fundraising Efforts and Multichannel Communications with Blackbaud's CRM

By Carolyn J Dawson
TMCnet Contributor

Blackbaud, Inc., a provider of software and services designed specifically for nonprofit organizations, announced that the American Bible Society (ABS (News - Alert)) will leverage its Blackbaud CRM to expand its mission by boosting its fundraising efforts and enhancing its supporter’s experience.

In a release, Charlie Cumbaa, president of Blackbaud's enterprise customer business unit said that "We are pleased to partner with American Bible Society, helping this renowned organization optimize its fundraising efficiency and multichannel communications. With Blackbaud CRM, ABS will be able to centralize its fundraising and marketing efforts to better serve supporters at all of the levels they engage with the organization."

ABS's mission is to bring the word of God to people all over the world. The 195-year old organization knows that the only way to reach across to the world’s diverse population is by sharing and spreading the word of God in a language which can be easily understood.

Joey Pierce, ABS's director of development said that "We have a mission that is ever-growing, and we are going to be equipped by Blackbaud solutions to be more intelligent and efficient in our fundraising efforts. The more money we are able to raise and the more efficiently we are able to raise it, the more capable we will be to provide Bibles around the world. Blackbaud CRM is going to enable us to extend our mission by allocating more dollars raised to extending God's word around the globe."

ABS's staff was looking for a solution which could provide effective integration of the organization's marketing efforts, both online and offline. After careful evaluation, the staff selected the CRM solution from Blackbaud as it presents a single platform to merge activities such as fundraising, online applications, and direct marketing efforts.

Carolyn Hobbs, ABS's director of data services said that "It really was an easy decision to go with Blackbaud. Blackbaud has an all-encompassing solution that is strong in all of the areas we were looking for -- direct response, major giving, and online. Other systems we saw were really strong in one area, but did not provide the overarching experience to help us move forward."

The Blackbaud CRM solution will support the ABS by ensuring integration of web services to enable a personalized online experience for its supporters in addition to providing it with self-service tools. The organization's website will offer supporters information on topics of interest, and afford a transparency in its financial activities so donors are aware of how and where their money is used.

The supporter journey enables monitoring of the complete supporter strategy. Tasks related to receiving of funds and donations, and keeping a track of donor appeals and responses among other activities can be easily monitored. Another area of benefit for the organization will be in direct marketing. By using the CRM solution, ABS will be able to enter its annual plan and budget and monitor activities and costs related to it. Furthermore, gifts that come in can be verified, monitored and recorded by the staff immediately.

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