Blackbaud has purchased corporate social responsibility and employee engagement software YourCause for approximately $157 million. The acquisition closed yesterday.
Charleston, S.C.-based Blackbaud will continue to offer YourCause as a stand-alone solution and its 155 employees will transition to Blackbaud, including Founder and CEO Matthew Combs.
The Plano, Texas-based Software as a Service (SaaS) provider of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and employee engagement software was founded in 2007 and has estimated annual revenue of more than $12 million. Eight million people can currently engage with YourCause solutions, which “process more than $245,000 in donations every business hour,” according to the purchase announcement.
Blackbaud has almost 3,200 employees and annual revenue of roughly $844 million. Its share price closed at $63.29 on NASDAQ yesterday, up 39 cents per share.
YourCause acquired several of its peers in the employee giving, volunteering and grants management space in recent years. San Diego, Calif.-based Profits4Purpose was purchased in April 2018; Charleston, S.C.-based Good Done Great was bought in August 2017, and Orange Leap in Dallas, Texas was acquired in February 2016.
Providence Strategic Growth (PSG), the growth equity affiliate of Providence Equity Partners, is the majority shareholder of YourCause. The Providence, R.I.-based affiliate, established in 2014, focuses on growth equity investments in lower middle market software and technology-enabled service companies primarily in North America.
The deal brings Blackbaud’s acquisitions to more than $750 million in the past five years. YourCause is the eighth acquisition since Mike Gianoni became CEO in January 2014 and the largest in three years. The cloud software firm has purchased seven companies for a cumulative $600 million:
- Reeher for $40 million (2018);
- JustGiving, $121 million (2017);
- AcademicWorks, $50 million (2017);
- Attentive.ly, $4 million (2016);
- Smart Tuition, $190 million (2015);
- MicroEdge, $160 million (2014); and,
- Whipple Hill Communications, $35 million (2014).
Customers of YourCause will benefit from Blackbaud’s investments in research and development” of YourCause solutions, according to the announcement. Blackbaud customers will advance from a “marked expansion and acceleration of workplace giving and volunteering” while building a source of new donors, volunteers and advocates.