Blackbaud Acquires Kintera

It was no secret that Kintera was struggling. While their Sphere product was innovative, and their purchase of P!N in 2004 brought one of the most well-known wealth screening services under their umbrella, it was an uphill battle for Kintera to turn a profit and hold its share price. The stock price was under $1.00 a share for most of the year. In the recent past, they had a shakeup at the top of the organization, and had large layoffs of staff.

Yesterday, it was announced that Blackbaud has purchased Kintera.

That is not surprising, given the normal modus operandi of Blackbaud. Just as the purchase of Target Software and eTapestry before, the acquisition of Kintera allows Blackbaud to bring an innovative prodcut under its wing while eliminating competition for its core non-profit services. This time, bringing Sphere allows it to fully develop and integrate the market for their all-encompassing CRM and accounting services, while eliminating a competitor for Blackbaud Analytics and NetCommunity.

While the business deal does make sense for Kintera and Blackbaud, it comes with a price for the non-profit world. Now, there seems to be only three choices for wealth screening, and fewer viable product options that non-profits can choose to reach out to their donors and prospects.

Layoffs At Kintera, Earnings Call Set For Today

From the 5/7/08 NonProfit Time: "One month after Kintera received notice about potential de-listing from NASDAQ, widespread layoffs have begun at the San Diego-based software provider to nonprofits. The cuts are ahead of the firm's quarterly earnings call slated for this afternoon."

Read the full article.

Accelstream to Expand Social Media Capabilities to Kintera Event Clients

Kintera has announced that Accelstream, an online social media provider, has joined the Kintera Connect partner program to integrate enhanced online social media functionality into Friends Asking Friends Kintera Thon, the nonprofit industry's leading online events fundraising software.

Read more of this press release on Kintera's website.

Kintera, Jenzabar Announce Partnership for Higher Ed

Jenzabar, a vendor of software and services for higher education, has announced today a strategic partnership with Kintera.

Read more about this partnership by David Sims, TMCnet Contributing Editor.

Press Release: Kintera Launches Industry's First Open Platform

Kintera has partnered with nearly 30 industry leading organizations - Solid Cactus, Mobile Commons, DailyStrength, TMA Resources, CopperKey, Quantrix, Razorsight and Freecause to name a few - in both the enterprise and nonprofit technology sectors to develop new solutions to the challenges organizations face.

Read more about Kintera Connect.