You know, of course, that the iconic nonprofit fundraisers’ tool Raiser’s Edge is made by Blackbaud. But did you know that the company trades publicly on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker BLKB? And that the company has a bunch of lines of business and revenue that extend far beyond nonprofits? This is true.
If you think about it, Blackbaud’s model is a great and instructive roadmap for nonprofits; multiple, sustainable lines of revenue in a variety of businesses. Every Development Chief’s ideal model is a five-year plan that looks like a version of the below, tailored, of course, to whatever their charitable nonprofit looks like.
Our point here is simply this: often there is an embedded bias toward traditional, historical fundraising models in organizations. Things work, in our experience, until they don’t. Sometimes there is plenty of notice, and sometimes, there is less. Advance planning – and an array of multiple sources of revenue – is a wonderful way to manage change. A point brought home by the team at BLKB.