University of Georgia achieves $250 million rolling fundraising average with Blackbaud CRM

As the birthplace of public higher education in the United States, the University of Georgia has inspired generations of entrepreneurs, researchers, and citizens to change the world since its founding in 1785. To continue this tradition, UGA relies on Blackbaud software to assist raising funds from donors to help remove obstacles and open doors for students.

With Blackbaud CRM, UGA has a single source of truth with a holistic view of its constituents, which includes alumni, donors, and other stakeholders. This allows the university to effectively manage and analyze data, leading to more targeted and successful fundraising campaigns.

“We have utilized Blackbaud CRM for over 10 years and have consistently experienced significant success in fundraising and donor management,” said Jeff Garmon, executive director of advancement information technology, Advancement IT. “We set a goal to hit a rolling fundraising average of $250 million annually earlier this year, and Blackbaud CRM was a core reason we successfully accomplished it.”

Having modern payment methods like PayPal and Venmo integrated into their giving pages through Blackbaud CRM has made it easier for donors, especially those of younger generations, to contribute, leading to an increase in donations and positive feedback from fundraisers. Blackbaud CRM’s batch processing automation capabilities help the UGA team streamline their gift processing and ensure timely crediting of donations. They use these capabilities for their credit card and online transactions which automatically create batches for the gift processing team.

“During our most recent Dawg Day of Giving, we processed around 6,000 individual transactions—all of which were batched, committed, and applied to the constituent records within 72 hours,” said Garmon. “With nearly 100% of our gift processing being batch-based, having this task automated has been crucial, especially during high-volume fundraising events like these.”

Optimizing Efforts through Extensible Software

UGA is able to leverage the extensibility of Blackbaud CRM through its software development kit, allowing them to build a robust goal metric system for fundraisers. This system is used to set annual goals and track progress, ensuring that their fundraising efforts are aligned with the university’s strategic objectives. An integration between Blackbaud CRM and analytic tools for visualization for near real-time data visualization and reporting, providing insights into the effectiveness of their campaigns and helping them make data-driven decisions.

“By integrating Blackbaud CRM and visualization tools, we’ve helped optimize our fundraising strategies, improved data management, and are achieving our financial goals more efficiently,” said Garmon.

By leveraging insights from Blackbaud’s wealth screening and analytics tools, such as ResearchPoint and donorCentrics, UGA has been able to match donors with the right opportunities at the right time, resulting in increased donations and stronger relationships with constituents. “ResearchPoint in Blackbaud CRM provides valuable data and analytics that help our research team identify potential donors and streamline their efforts,” said Garmon. “The integration with visualization tools further enhances their ability to visualize and interpret this data, making it easier to track and measure KPIs and other metrics.”

UGA has also successfully utilized Blackbaud CRM’s integration capabilities with Salesforce Marketing Cloud to enhance their marketing efforts. This integration has allowed UGA to automate and manage their marketing campaigns more efficiently, capturing valuable data and insights that further support their fundraising initiatives.

“The integration of Blackbaud CRM and Salesforce Marketing Cloud facilitates more effective engagement with constituents through streamlined data management,” said Garmon. “Our system records all communications within the CRM platform, while Salesforce Marketing Cloud manages emails and related tasks. This setup enables precise monitoring of interactions, including open rates and other engagement metrics.”

Looking Ahead

UGA will continue to explore new integrations for Blackbaud CRM, such as Blackbaud Donation Forms, which provide fee coverage options and other capabilities that can help reduce costs and improve donor relationships.

“Blackbaud CRM continues to be instrumental in our ability to achieve and surpass fundraising goals,” said Garmon. “We look forward to accomplishing so much more as we grow and develop alongside Blackbaud.”