Blackbaud acquires U.K.-based fundraising platform JustGiving for $120 million

Peer-to-peer (P2P) online fundraising platform JustGiving has been acquired by Blackbaud, a U.S.-based software and services provider for not-for-profit organizations.

Blackbaud is paying £95 million ($120 million) to procure “all outstanding equity interests of JustGiving,” according to a statement issued to VentureBeat, with the deal expected to close later this year following the usual regulatory approvals in the U.K.

Founded out of London in 2000, JustGiving is perhaps better known in its home country and is the default fundraising platform for thousands of charities and individuals. The platform launched in the U.S. in 2003, later changing its name there to FirstGiving, and is now available to fundraisers in 164 countries where it says it has helped raise more than $4.5 billion for good causes since its inception. The company expanded into crowdfunding back in 2013.

Founded out of New York in 1981, Blackbaud — which is now headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina — provides a range of software and services for nonprofit organizations, with products across CRM, analytics, website management, ticketing, and more.

The company went public on the Nasdaq more than a decade ago, and its shares hit an all-time high of $89.50 last week, around 10 times its IPO price.

Blackbaud already offers a couple of peer-to-peer fundraising services in the form of TeamRaiser and Everydayhero, but with JustGiving on board, this will help it expand its P2P offering into crowdfunding and give it a better entry point to the U.K. market where JustGiving is well-known.

“Today, people are willing to do more than ever before to support causes they care about, but they want to do it on their own terms,” noted Jerry Needel, president and general manager of Blackbaud Consumer Solutions. “To put their passion into action, they need technology that gives them the power to connect with other change agents and organizations. Bringing JustGiving into the Blackbaud family reinforces our strong commitment to catalyzing the impact of individual change agents. It’s also part of our commitment to helping social good organizations navigate and respond to key shifts in giving behavior.”

JustGiving staff are expected to join Blackbaud as part of its existing London-based International Markets Group, and the two companies will “determine their full integration strategy” once the acquisition is finalized.

“By bringing together JustGiving’s community and social platform with Blackbaud’s unrivalled expertise and capabilities, we will be better able to help great causes reach more people and raise more money, more effectively and intelligently than ever before,” added Anne-Marie Huby, cofounder and managing director of JustGiving.