Blackbaud has introduced a new AI agent built specifically for the social impact sector, marking what it calls the next phase in intelligent automation for nonprofits, schools, healthcare organizations, and corporate social responsibility teams.
Announced at bbcon 2025, the company’s annual technology conference in Charleston, South Carolina, the new “Agents for Good” initiative embeds agentic AI directly within Blackbaud’s suite of solutions. The first of these, the Development Agent, is designed to help fundraisers manage donor portfolios, communicate with supporters, and complete outreach that organizations often lack the staff to handle manually.
According to Blackbaud, this represents a shift from software as a system of record to what it calls a “system of intelligent action,” in which AI functions integrate insights and workflows across finance, development, and operations. More than 70 embedded, sector-specific AI capabilities are either available now or in development, spanning functions from donor stewardship to accounting and grant management.
At the conference, CEO Mike Gianoni described the agent launch as part of a broader transformation. “The rise of AI represents a once-in-a-generation paradigm shift for social impact organizations,” he said. “We’re helping them move with more confidence, connection, and possibility.”
Purpose-Built Tools for Nonprofits
The new AI agent joins a growing suite of purpose-built tools under the company’s Intelligence for Good strategy. Recent product updates include Chat for Blackbaud AI, a conversational assistant that helps staff summarize key information and generate content; Prospect Insights Pro, which uses predictive modeling for prospect segmentation; and Document Intelligence, which automates invoice processing for finance teams.
Other updates focus on donor engagement and efficiency. A redesigned applicant interface for award management, new Expedited Giving workflows to speed corporate donations by up to 95%, and integrations across systems like Raiser’s Edge NXT and Blackbaud CRM aim to create smoother connections between fundraisers, finance offices, and CSR administrators.
These capabilities are grounded in what Blackbaud calls the world’s most robust philanthropic database, an aggregation of fundraising, grantmaking, and donor activity data collected through its platforms. The company says its predictive systems already generate over 30 billion forecasts annually to help organizations identify potential donors and optimize outreach.
The addition of agentic AI builds on that base. Rather than waiting for user prompts, these agents can take initiative within defined boundaries, sending donor follow-ups, drafting personalized messages, or surfacing at-risk donors for review. Blackbaud emphasizes that human fundraisers remain in control, with AI handling the repetitive work that consumes limited staff capacity.
Paul Goldstein, Blackbaud’s head of AI growth and a former Amazon and Glassdoor product leader, said the aim is to make AI feel “less like a tool and more like a team member.” In a Q&A with Blackbaud, he described the Development Agent as a step toward a more collaborative model where organizations can oversee and guide autonomous AI teammates that perform specific mission-critical tasks.
Goldstein added that the next generation of Blackbaud AI will adapt to each organization’s data and goals, remaining grounded in trust and transparency. “People who work in social impact have no shortage of ideas, but limited resources,” he said. “AI has the potential to scale their efforts like never before.”
Responsible Adoption and Sector Collaboration
Alongside the product launch, Blackbaud announced the AI Coalition for Social Impact, a partnership among nonprofits, associations, and technology firms aimed at promoting responsible AI use. Founding members include Anthropic, Databricks, OneTrust, the Responsible AI Institute, GivingTuesday, and the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
The coalition’s first initiative will be a free, platform-agnostic certification course: AI for Social Impact, which will introduce practitioners to AI fundamentals, governance principles, and practical use cases relevant to fundraising, CSR, and nonprofit management. Registration for the first module opens later this year.
Carrie Cobb, Blackbaud’s Chief Data and AI Officer, underscored the importance of ethical governance in her keynote. “AI isn’t just transforming technology, it’s transforming responsibility,” she said. “Fairness, transparency, inclusiveness and trust must be built into governance, training and product design from the start.”
The company’s AI framework emphasizes responsible development across all products, with policies grounded in data privacy, bias mitigation, and regulatory compliance. Blackbaud also collaborates with external ethics organizations and participates in policy discussions around responsible AI adoption in the nonprofit sector.
Continuing the “Intelligence for Good” Strategy
This new launch follows a series of AI expansions throughout 2025. Earlier in the year, at its bbdevdays developer conference, Blackbaud introduced its Copilot feature: a natural-language interface that lets users query their organizational data for real-time insights, and provided developers with new APIs to integrate external AI tools.
The company has also expanded Impact Edge, its CSR reporting and storytelling platform, with predictive analytics and deeper outcome-based data integrations, including partnerships with True Impact and Candid. Together, these updates reflect Blackbaud’s stated goal of embedding intelligence across every layer of its product ecosystem.
The AI initiative coincides with steady business growth. In its mid-year financial update, Blackbaud projected revenue between $1.12 and $1.13 billion for 2025, representing around five percent organic growth. More than $100 billion in funds are raised, granted, or managed annually through Blackbaud’s platforms.
