Raiser's Edge "Squeezing" More Profits Out of Customers November 1, 2006

Blackbaud, which makes Raiser's Edge, just posted its earnings, proudly announcing an increase in profit of 16%, and that their average sale is now $40,000.

"Charleston-based software maker Blackbaud Inc. announced a 30 percent increase in third-quarter profit Monday, as it closed larger sales and continued to squeeze big gains out of the product that it has built its business on.

Blackbaud's earnings for the three-months ended Sept. 30 increased to $9.9 million from $7.6 million. Revenue for the quarter jumped to $49.9 million, a 16 percent increase."

(from the Charleston Post & Courier).

We're a different kind of company. While their CEO is pushing for bigger sales and more and more revenue per customer, we are giving all nonprofits great software at an affordable $299 per license. We're a socially responsible business dedicated to the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit.

And comparing GiftWorks to Raiser's Edge is like apples and oranges anyway; we're affordable, easy to use and appropriate for most organizations, while Raiser's Edge is expensive, hard to use, and designed for large enterprises that can afford $40,000 on fundraising software.

So if you are an apple, make sure you're buying software designed for apples. If you're an orange, then you have a large enough bank account where you don't need to worry about a $40,000 charge for software. But just make sure you aren't getting the squeeze put on you when you're closing your deal with Blackbaud--their revenues should be based on superior software and service, not on unnecessary extras that you may never use.

Any comments from the Raiser's Edge crowd? Click comments below--thanks!

nptech | fundraising | software | giftworks | blackbaud