Blackbaud announces strategic investment in AI startup Momentum

Blackbaud announced a strategic investment in Momentum, an AI-focused Blackbaud partner, graduate of Blackbaud’s Social Good Startup tech accelerator program, and winner of Blackbaud’s 2022 startup showcase. This investment in Momentum is one way the company is accelerating product delivery and focusing on the creation of AI capabilities embedded in Blackbaud solutions. With Momentum’s integration with Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT, Blackbaud customers can optimize their fundraising and stewardship processes. Momentum, founded by behavioral scientists from Duke’s Center for Advanced Hindsight, launched the first version of its solution in 2019. Key to Momentum’s success is a focus on the use of AI to create fundraising tools that build lasting relationships between high impact charities and their donors. In its current release, the Momentum platform connects donor portfolios with automation and generative AI capabilities to deliver personalized first-draft communications and outreach recommendations directly to a fundraiser’s email inbox. Customers using Momentum thus far have experienced a 400% increase in the number of personalized touchpoints their fundraisers could produce and an average of $60,000 per month in increased donations