Blackbaud Helps K-12 Independent Schools Extend Their Software to Meet Specific Needs with Partner Solutions

Rhea-AI Summary

Blackbaud has announced its enhanced partner ecosystem for K-12 independent schools, enabling them to customize their software solutions through SKY API. The company's Total School Solution offers comprehensive software for enrollment, student information, learning management, tuition, fundraising, and accounting.

Key partner integrations include:

• Almabase - Two-way integration for alumni engagement and fundraising
• August Schools - Digital hub for student health and wellness
• BrightArrow - Communications and emergency notifications
• Odin - Non-tuition expense management
• PaperSave - Invoice automation and payment processing
• UBIQ Education - School website management

Success stories include Berwick Academy's implementation of Odin for streamlined payments and Calvert Hall College High School's use of BrightArrow and August Schools for enhanced communication and student wellness services.

Positive

• Expanding partner ecosystem enhances Blackbaud's Total School Solution offering, potentially increasing market share
• Successful customer implementations (Berwick Academy, Calvert Hall) demonstrate product adoption and integration capabilities
• Multiple new strategic partnerships (Almabase, August Schools, BrightArrow, Odin, PaperSave, UBIQ) expand revenue opportunities
• SKY API enables easy third-party integrations, making the platform more attractive to potential customers

Negative

• Heavy reliance on third-party integrations could reduce direct revenue potential
• Increased competition in the education software space requiring partnerships to remain competitive
• Integration-dependent strategy may lead to revenue sharing with partners instead of capturing full value

K-12 Independent Schools Have Power of Choice with Blackbaud's Flexible and Open Ecosystem

CHARLESTON, S.C., April 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB), the leading provider of software for powering social impact, today shared how its flexible partner ecosystem is enabling K-12 independent schools to transform their technology stack and create best-in-class experiences for teachers, students, families and alumni.

With SKY API®, Blackbaud makes it easy for K-12 schools to customize their software solutions to their exact needs, meaning schools can benefit from the latest innovation in the space and the reliability of Blackbaud's essential, purpose-built software for enrollment, student information, learning management, tuition, fundraising, accounting and more.

"With Blackbaud's Total School Solution, K–12 independent schools are transforming their business offices, driving enrollment and retention, enhancing the family experience, engaging alumni, and elevating their academic programs," said Mark Davis, vice president, education products, Blackbaud. "We've created a one-stop shop for K–12 software, and with our flexible ecosystem, we're giving schools the power of choice—making it easy to integrate a myriad of third-party solutions to get exactly what they're looking for out of their tech stack. We're proud to power K–12 independent schools and simplify their operations so they can be more efficient and focus on what matters—educating and preparing the next generation."

With more partners expanding the impact of Blackbaud solutions, customers are seeing incredible results. Berwick Academy leverages Blackbaud's Total School Solution to enhance its educational offerings and improve operational efficiencies, and through an integration with Odin has been able to further simplify and streamline their student payment needs. And Calvert Hall College High School is leveraging BrightArrow for school notifications and communication, as well as implementing an integration with August Schools to enhance their student health and wellness offerings. 

Austin Ewachiw, director of technology at Calvert Hall College High School, says, "Extending our Blackbaud solutions through integrated partners allows us to ensure our software meets our school's unique needs. Connected and synchronized platforms provide a single source of truth for student data, enabling us to provide the best experience for our students, families and staff. Setup of the BrightArrow and August Schools connections was simple, and you instantly see the benefits of the linked systems."

Flexibility in Action

With a wide variety of partner solutions available, Blackbaud customers can extend and enrich their product portfolio, adding customization where it's needed. Blackbaud's connected system of products integrates easily with partner solutions, which allows for flexibility across departments, while maintaining one source of truth for data in the central Student Information System.

A few examples of partner solutions bringing enhanced value to Blackbaud customers include:

• Almabase: Almabase helps educational institutions grow their donor base with an integrated platform for digital engagement, communications, event management, and online giving. Almabase's TrueSync offers a seamless two-way integration with Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®, ensuring schools have data consistency across platforms while reducing manual effort and eliminating the need for costly third-party plugins. This powerful sync enables automatic updates of alumni profiles, gift data, event information, and payment tracking, giving institutions complete control and accuracy in managing their fundraising and engagement data.
• August Schools: The August Schools platform streamlines daily documentation for school nurses, counselors, and learning specialists, providing a centralized digital hub for student health and wellness information. August Schools empowers staff to work more efficiently and make data-driven decisions, which impacts overall student experience and retention. Through a seamless, bi-directional API integration with Blackbaud, student information stays synchronized across platforms, eliminating duplicate data entry and keeping everyone aligned.
• BrightArrow: BrightArrow specializes in customized communications and emergency notifications delivered via voice, text, email and push notifications—including two-way instant messaging with both private and group chat capabilities. With single sign-on access, schools have an embedded experience within Blackbaud's suite of education management solutions, making it easy for users to access mass communication functionality with lists provided for all their classes, teams and more.
• Odin: Odin simplifies and enhances the management of all non-tuition school-related expenses, making it easier for schools to manage point of sale, cashless transactions and keep parents informed of student spending. Direct integration with Odin enables efficiency for the billing team and reduces complexity in payment services.
• PaperSave: PaperSave is a comprehensive invoice and procure-to-pay automation platform that helps finance teams automate the highly manual accounts payable, procurement, and payments functions, integrating directly with Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT®. In addition, PaperSave also integrates with Blackbaud's fundraising solutions to offer flexible ways to securely capture, process, and store gifts while providing a holistic view to drive donor cultivation and stewardship efforts.
• UBIQ Education: UBIQ provides K-12 schools with a best-in-class option for school websites with AMAIS, an advanced platform that includes several commercial technologies built for schools. With an advanced Content Management System and Digital Asset Management platform, and a connected Digital Experience Platform and Customer Data Platform, school websites can become a single source of truth about prospective audiences, how they consume content and the opportunities that await, leading to better engagement and increased enrollment.

"As a Blackbaud Partner, we love how easy it is to work with their SKY API," said Daniel Clarke, CEO and founder of UBIQ. "It's incredibly rewarding to see the value that our joint customers are receiving from our two solutions working together to improve admissions and enrollment success. The information that we are able to provide admissions offices about family interests and engagement on their school website is so valuable, and by connecting that data directly to solutions like Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT® and Blackbaud's education management portfolio, we are providing data and insights that can change how schools connect with and build relationships with families for years to come."

Learn more about Blackbaud's Total School Solution here, explore our partner solutions here, and register here for the upcoming Blackbaud Product Update Briefings, taking place May 6-9, 2025, to gain insight into the latest innovation and product roadmaps.

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 digital-first company, Blackbaud has operations in the United States, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, India 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; 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.

 

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SOURCE Blackbaud

FAQ

What new partner solutions did Blackbaud (BLKB) announce for K-12 schools in April 2025?

Blackbaud announced integrations with multiple partners including Almabase for alumni engagement, August Schools for student health management, BrightArrow for communications, Odin for payment processing, PaperSave for invoice automation, and UBIQ Education for school websites.

How does Blackbaud's SKY API benefit K-12 independent schools?

SKY API allows K-12 schools to customize their software solutions by easily integrating third-party applications while maintaining Blackbaud's core functions for enrollment, student information, tuition, fundraising, and accounting, all within one unified system.

Which schools are successfully using Blackbaud's (BLKB) partner integrations in 2025?

Berwick Academy is using Blackbaud's Total School Solution with Odin integration for student payments, while Calvert Hall College High School has implemented BrightArrow for communications and August Schools for health and wellness services.

What is Blackbaud's Total School Solution for K-12 education?

Blackbaud's Total School Solution is a comprehensive platform that handles business operations, enrollment, retention, family experience, alumni engagement, and academic programs, with the ability to integrate various third-party solutions through their flexible ecosystem.

How does Blackbaud's partnership with Almabase benefit school fundraising?

Almabase's TrueSync provides two-way integration with Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT, automatically updating alumni profiles, gift data, event information, and payment tracking, while ensuring data consistency across platforms without requiring third-party plugins.