Blackbaud IPO launched

Published on July 23, 2004

By Todd Cohen Shareholders of Blackbaud, a fundraising-software firm in Charleston, S.C., raised $64.8 million in an initial public offering of stock, selling 8.1 million shares at $8 a share. On the first day of public trading July 22, 3.8 million shares changed hands, with the price ranging from $8.25 to $8.67 a share, closing at $8.55. That was below the price of $10 to $12 a share set earlier by Blackbaud’s underwriters. The size of the IPO, the second in seven months by a fundraising-software firm, also fell below the 9.1 million shares set by the underwriters, including joint book-running managers J.P. Morgan Securities and Bank of America Securities, and co-managers Thomas Weisel Partners and Wachovia Capital Markets. Blackbaud, which licenses software and provides services to nonprofits, has said it aims to boost its penetration of the nonprofit industry’s “fragmented” market. Services that Blackbaud provides include fundraising, financial management, data analysis, prospect-targeting, relationship-building and managing student information. The firm charges fees for its products, services and annual support. San Diego-based Kintera, which provides web-based enterprise software to nonprofits, launched its IPO in December at $7 a share, raising $40 million. Kintera’s stock, which has traded as high as $18 a share, closed July 22 at $8. CEO Harry Gruber says Kintera wants to grow in part by buying small tech firms serving nine sectors of the nonprofit world such as higher education, health, hospitals, human services, and arts and culture.

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