Blackbaud licensing is the set of terms under which Blackbaud, Inc. sells software and payment services to nonprofits, foundations, schools, higher education institutions and corporations. Blackbaud describes its portfolio as delivered primarily through cloud solutions for nonprofits and foundations, educational institutions, individual change makers and corporate social impact programs.[1] On-premises solutions also exist, since Blackbaud reports fees from maintenance services for them in its contractual recurring revenue.[1]
One agreement governs most purchases: the Blackbaud Solutions Agreement, which Blackbaud describes on its terms page as the standard governing terms agreement for all Blackbaud Solutions and Services.[2] Product-specific documents sit underneath it. They include a Subscription Description with service levels and hosting terms, a separate description for Blackbaud CRM, a Scope of Customer Support, AI Terms, payment terms, and regional terms for Canada, Europe and the Pacific.[2] Blackbaud publishes these documents openly, but it publishes no price list.[3]
Editions
Blackbaud sells solutions, not editions. Its annual report names, among others, Raiser’s Edge NXT as the flagship fundraising and relationship management solution, Financial Edge NXT for fund accounting, Blackbaud CRM (described there as Enterprise Fundraising CRM), Luminate Online, TeamRaiser, Altru, Grantmaking, Award Management, Tuition Management and school management products such as the Student Information System.[1]
| Family | Examples named by Blackbaud | Catalog rows |
|---|---|---|
| Fundraising and CRM | Raiser’s Edge NXT, Blackbaud CRM, Luminate Online, TeamRaiser, eTapestry, ResearchPoint[1] | Raiser’s Edge NXT, Blackbaud CRM (Enterprise Fundraising CRM), Luminate Online, TeamRaiser, eTapestry, ResearchPoint |
| Financial management | Financial Edge NXT, Purchase Cards[1] | Financial Edge NXT, Blackbaud Purchase Cards |
| Arts and culture | Altru[1] | Altru |
| Education | Student Information System, Learning Management System, Enrollment Management System, School Website System, Billing Management, Financial Aid Management, Tuition Management[1] | Student Information System, Learning Management System, Enrollment Management System, School Website System, Billing Management, Financial Aid Management, Tuition Management |
| Giving and grants | Grantmaking, Award Management, YourCause CSRconnect and GrantsConnect, JustGiving[1] | Grantmaking, Award Management, YourCause CSRconnect and GrantsConnect, JustGiving from Blackbaud |
| Payments | Blackbaud Integrated Payments[1] | Blackbaud Integrated Payments |
| AI | AI features and agents, enabled by the customer[4] | Blackbaud AI features (Intelligence for Good) |
Blackbaud publishes no part numbers or list prices, so SKU rows carry the product name and the delivery term only.
Metrics
The Agreement itself contains no unit prices or quantities. It states that Subscriptions, pricing, quantities ordered, payment of fees and related financial terms are set out in the Order Form.[5] Blackbaud’s pricing page says pricing is based on several factors, including the organisation’s size, number of users, selected solutions or modules, and the level of support and services desired.[3] The page adds that Blackbaud uses a tailored pricing model instead of a published list.[3]
| Metric | Catalog row | Source of the rule |
|---|---|---|
| User | User | The Agreement defines Users as the customer’s employees, its affiliates’ employees and its contractors, if included in the itemization of permitted users given to Blackbaud[5] |
| Concurrent license | Concurrent license (Blackbaud CRM) | Blackbaud CRM non-production environments have the same number of concurrent licenses as production[6] |
| Organizational site ID | Organizational site ID | The payment enablement fee is charged once per site ID[7] |
| Storage space | Storage space | Default maximum storage per product, growing in 5 GB increments[8] |
| Payment transaction | Payment transaction (BBIP) | BBIP fees and the USD 50,000 per-transaction limit[9] |
Counting and floors
Blackbaud publishes no minimums for the user metric. For support, it uses a different threshold: customers must reach a recurring annual investment of ten thousand US dollars to be considered for enhanced support benefits, and a Subscription allows up to three Authorized Support Contacts.[10] The Agreement states that Users must be named in an itemization provided to Blackbaud if they are contractors or affiliate employees, which implies that the Order Form or a related schedule holds the permitted-user list.[5] The implication is commentary: the text does not say where the itemization is kept.
Virtualization and partitioning
Blackbaud’s SaaS solutions run in Blackbaud’s hosting, so processor and virtualisation rules do not appear. The Subscription Description states a related restriction: Subscriptions are intended for individual users only and the customer may not lease its Subscription or its capacity to third parties.[8] For hosted solutions, locally installed instances are not supported by Blackbaud Customer Support.[10]
Cloud and bring-your-own-licence
There is no bring-your-own-licence model. The Agreement defines Solutions as Blackbaud SaaS applications that the customer has the right to access and use in a subscription model under an Order Form.[5] The European local terms state that the servers used to provide Subscriptions and hosting to UK and EU customers are operated by Blackbaud, Inc.[11]
Programs
| Program | Catalog row | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Standard subscription term | Blackbaud standard subscription term | Three years initial and renewal; renewal pricing subject to annual adjustment[12][13] |
| Auto-renewal and cancellation | Auto-renewal and cancellation | Cancel at least 45 days before term end; no mid-term cancellation except uncured breach[12] |
| Payment enablement fee | Payment enablement fee | Monthly fee, invoiced annually, per site ID[7] |
| Integrated Payments | Blackbaud Integrated Payments services | Transaction fees under a Fee Schedule[9] |
| Customer Support | Customer Support (standard) | Three authorised contacts; enhanced benefits at USD 10,000 annual investment[10] |
| Availability commitment | Subscription availability commitment | 99.9% monthly with credits[8] |
Blackbaud’s annual report states that most software customers now operate on standard three-year contract terms with mid-to-high single-digit price increases at renewal and embedded annual price increases.[1] Its contractual recurring revenue contracts are described as generally three years at inception with three-year renewals thereafter, billed annually in advance and non-cancelable.[1]
Compliance and audit
The Solutions Agreement contains no software-usage audit clause. The only audit reference is that the customer may obtain Blackbaud’s most recent third-party security audit summary report, for example a SOC 2 Type 2.[5] Compliance is instead enforced through the Order Form quantities, the User itemization, suspension rights and the acceptable use policy. Blackbaud may suspend access on ten days’ written notice for unpaid fees and immediately on notice for violating the Agreement or the Acceptable Use Policy.[5]
Change of control matters. Either party may sell all or substantially all of its assets or stock, or merge with another entity, without the other party’s consent, with notice.[5] A customer that merges with another organisation should review the Users itemization and the Order Form scope.
Out of scope
This article does not cover Blackbaud’s litigation, data-security incident or regulatory matters, which are not licensing terms. It does not cover third-party applications bought through the Blackbaud marketplace, for which Blackbaud gives no warranty and which are governed by the third party’s agreement.[5] It gives no prices because Blackbaud publishes none.