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Blackbaud To Spend $160 Million For MicroEdge

Blackbaud is back shopping, this time paying $160 million for MicroEdge, a major player in the foundation, donor advised funds and corporate social responsibility space. Earlier this year, Blackbaud acquired education software maker WhippleHill for $35 million.

The Charleston, S.C. based Blackbaud hopes to finalize the acquisition by the end of the year. There’s no word yet regarding staffing and branding of the products. Representatives from Blackbaud were unable to comment beyond a prepared statement due to federal securities laws regarding pending transactions.

“This acquisition creates a tremendous opportunity for Blackbaud to offer more customers new innovation and end-to-end solutions to meet their needs,” said Joe Moye, president of Blackbaud’s Enterprise Business Unit, via a prepared statement. “In addition to partnering with new charitable foundation customers, we also intend to extend MicroEdge’s Corporate Social Responsibility offerings to help companies maximized their philanthropic impact through cutting edge administration, reporting, employee engagement and other capabilities.”

MicroEdge, founded in 1985, offers donor advised fund services; FoundationPower, a foundation management program; corporate social responsibility management suite AngelPoints; and GIFTS, a grants management program.

“Blackbaud has a rich heritage of technology leadership in the nonprofit sector, and MicroEdge is a leading provider of SaaS (software-as-a-service) and software solutions for foundations in the charitable community,” said MicroEdge CEO Kristin Nimsger. “There are no two companies better positioned to connect these two segments of the market together, to drive significantly greater efficiency and collaboration, and to accelerate our goal of helping our mutual clients effectively measure the outcomes of their work.”

Blackbaud (BLKB), a public company traded on the NASDAQ stock index, closed yesterday at $39.32, and opened today at $39.49. The company’s stock is up 8.35 percent from this time last year. Market capitalization stands at $1.8 billion, with $529.7 million in revenue.

Since 2006, Blackbaud has made at least seven acquisitions, including MicroEdge and WhippleHill. Other companies the firm acquired include Target Analytics, eTapestry and Campaign Associates. It paid $275 million for its biggest rival, Convio, in 2012. Mike Gianoni took the helm as president and CEO in January.