AI & Fundraising

Blackbaud Puts Fundraising Intelligence Right Inside Microsoft 365 Copilot

Blackbaud has launched a new Microsoft 365 Copilot-enabled agent for Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT, letting customers surface their data and insights across Copilot Chat, Outlook, Teams, Word, and Excel. The move brings trusted, real-time fundraising intelligence into the everyday tools nonprofit teams already use — accessed through simple natural-language prompts.

The idea is to strip friction out of the fundraiser's day. Rather than switching platforms to pull a report, professionals can now ask questions in plain language directly where they work and get answers grounded in their own Raiser's Edge NXT data. Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) frames the update as a flexibility play: meeting users inside Microsoft 365 instead of asking them to come to a separate system.

What Fundraisers Can Actually Do With It

The Copilot integration lets teams access insights and take action without leaving Microsoft 365. Blackbaud outlines a set of concrete capabilities for the new experience:

• Ask questions such as "Summarize this donor's giving history" or "Identify top engagement opportunities" in Copilot, Teams, Outlook, Word, and more.
• Access real-time, contextual insights grounded in Raiser's Edge NXT data without switching tools.
• Take action on fundraising intelligence directly within Microsoft 365 tools.
• Reduce time spent navigating systems and accelerate decision-making.

Our goal is to remove friction from our customers' workflows so they can focus on driving impact, not managing technology. Since many of our customers already use Microsoft 365, this integration meets them where they work and gives them more flexibility in how they access and benefit from Blackbaud's solutions. — Mike Gianoni, President, CEO, and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, Blackbaud

Built on a Trusted, Certified Foundation

Raiser's Edge NXT is recognized as Microsoft Nonprofit AI Certified Software, a reflection of its position as a trusted, industry-leading platform for fundraising and engagement. The Copilot-enabled agent builds on that foundation, extending Blackbaud's AI into the Microsoft ecosystem while maintaining the data integrity, governance, and security that nonprofit organizations rely on.

As nonprofits adopt AI, security and usability are paramount for maintaining trust. This integration brings responsible, purpose-built AI into familiar Microsoft 365 workflows, helping organizations make better decisions with confidence while keeping their data protected. — Justin Spelhaug, President, Microsoft Elevate

Why Marketers Should Pay Attention

The real signal here is distribution, not just intelligence: Blackbaud is pushing its AI to where the work already happens rather than expecting users to log into another dashboard — a workflow-native strategy that marketing and engagement teams should watch closely, because the winning martech isn't the tool with the smartest model, it's the one that shows up inside Copilot, Outlook, and Teams without asking anyone to change how they work.

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About the Research

Recent data from the Blackbaud Institute shows that while most social impact organizations are beginning to adopt AI, the resulting benefits are uneven. Blackbaud says it is focused on helping the sector benefit fully from the technology through educational resources — such as the free AI for Social Impact Certification Course — as well as platform solutions like Agents for Good and integrations with existing AI tools like Copilot.

Background: Blackbaud

Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) is the world's leading provider of AI-powered solutions for social impact. Serving nonprofits, educational institutions, companies committed to corporate social responsibility, and individual change makers, the company delivers intelligent solutions across fundraising and engagement, education, financial management, and CSR and grantmaking. Blackbaud has operations in the United States, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, India, and the United Kingdom, supporting users in 100+ countries.