Overview
Blackbaud Merchant Services (BBMS) is the integrated payment processing offering of Blackbaud, Inc., a Charleston, South Carolina software company that builds fundraising, financial management, and constituent management software for nonprofits, schools, foundations, healthcare organizations, and other social-good entities. BBMS handles credit card, debit card, digital wallet, and electronic check transactions for donations, event registrations, tuition, dues, and other nonprofit payments processed through Blackbaud applications such as Raiser's Edge NXT, Luminate Online, eTapestry, Online Express, and Blackbaud Tuition Management. Settlement, reporting, chargeback handling, and fraud screening are consolidated within the same Blackbaud platform.
Parent Company
Blackbaud was founded in 1981 and is a publicly traded company listed on Nasdaq under the ticker BLKB. The company operates a remote-first workforce and maintains its registered corporate headquarters on Daniel Island in Charleston, South Carolina.
Pricing
Card and ACH Rates
According to Blackbaud product documentation and merchant review sources, standard published Blackbaud Merchant Services rates for non-American Express cards are reported at 2.99 percent plus 0.30 U.S. dollars per transaction. American Express transactions are reported at 3.5 percent plus 0.30 U.S. dollars per transaction. ACH and direct debit transactions are reported at 1 percent plus 0.30 U.S. dollars per transaction, capped at a maximum of 5 U.S. dollars per transaction, with a 5 U.S. dollar return fee. Reported PayPal transactions process at 2.9 percent plus 0.30 U.S. dollars.
Account and Contract Terms
Reported account terms include no setup fee, no monthly account fee, no early termination fee, and a month-to-month agreement. Negotiated custom pricing is available for higher-volume organizations and is not publicly published.
Fee Coverage Options
Blackbaud offers two fee-coverage programs reported by Blackbaud documentation. Complete Cover waives processing fees on eligible online donations up to a published transaction limit. Donor Cover allows the donor to optionally add the processing fee to their gift so the full intended amount reaches the organization.
Legal & Regulatory Actions
SEC Cybersecurity Disclosure Settlement (March 2023)
On March 9, 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced that Blackbaud agreed to pay a 3 million U.S. dollar civil penalty to settle charges that its disclosures and disclosure controls related to a 2020 ransomware attack on its self-hosted environment were misleading. The SEC alleged that after Blackbaud initially told the public that bank account information and Social Security numbers were not accessed, the company later learned otherwise but failed to escalate that information to senior managers responsible for public disclosures. Blackbaud neither admitted nor denied the SEC's findings. See the SEC press release.
Multistate Attorneys General Settlement (October 2023)
Blackbaud agreed to pay 49.5 million U.S. dollars to settle claims brought by 49 state attorneys general and the District of Columbia related to the 2020 ransomware incident. Under the settlement, the company also agreed to data-protection and incident-response commitments.
FTC Order (May 2024)
On May 9, 2024, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission finalized an order with Blackbaud over allegations that the company's lax security practices allowed the 2020 breach to occur. The order, which does not require Blackbaud to pay a financial penalty, requires the company to delete data it no longer needs, prohibits misrepresentation of its data-security practices, mandates the creation of a comprehensive information-security program, and requires notification to the FTC of any future data breach. See the FTC press release.
Multidistrict Class Action Litigation
Multiple consumer class actions arising from the 2020 ransomware incident were consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina under multidistrict litigation in re Blackbaud Inc. Customer Data Breach Litigation, in which plaintiffs assert state-law claims related to handling and protection of personal information.
Contact
Ownership/Leadership: Mike Gianoni, President and Chief Executive Officer
Address: 65 Fairchild Street, Charleston, SC 29492
Phone: (800) 443-9441
Website:blackbaud.com
Merchant Reports
Write a review →Can ANYONE tell me how a company that SPECIALIZES IN SENDING PAYMENT TO MERCHANTS does NOT include a total deposit amount OR a reference #?!
It amazes me that ANYONE is using this service. If they are the must not be aware that Balckbaud DOES NOT INCLUDE ALL THE PERTINENT INFORMATION.
By not totaling their deposits, they leave more room for error, and questions.
Amazed at how unhelpful this is.
The “Payment Enablement Fee” is infuriating! Every time I see that fee on an invoice, I’m angry all over again. I imagine if Blackbaud weren’t still embroiled in the data breach class action suit, that one(s) of us would have launched such a suit about this fee. If it weren’t so complicated and time-consuming to switch databases, we would have done so when this fee came out of the blue, non-negotiable, for a service to which we don’t and won’t subscribe (and which we pay another company to provide to us).
When the fee first came up, along with being disgusted, I imagined some cost center within Blackbaud was not making its numbers, thus this fee to cover.
You know how a disgruntled customer tells 7 people who might each tell 7 more…?
When people ask what database software we use, I suggest they steer clear of Blackbaud.
WE certainly agree with all of these comments regarding this payment service fee
which we did not sign up for and never intend to use. It is an awful way to treat a customer base.
This payment-enabled fee of $50/mth from Blackbaud started at the beginning of March. According to the information, it would only be for customers that use payment-enabled services, such as processing payments, etc. Come to find out that even if you only use the database to store and record donors, and not to process any transactions through your bank, you are still expected to pay this fee. Which by the way they say is a monthly fee of $50, but they will be billing it annually…so $600.00 EXTRA dollars in addition to the renewal amounts that do not list any additional fees after the renewal charge. But all their CEOs and Directors are making bank selling their shares…it’s ridiculous.
Thanks for taking questions. Why is Blackbaud introducing this fee outside of contracted terms after all of your customers had to win back the trust of donors when you had the largest data breach in the history of the nonprofit world? Shame. On. You.
We are equally upset about this. The additional charge $450 annual charge was imposed outside of our signed contract. A Blackbaud rep told us today: “Your account executive or sales person would likely have had no idea of this charge, this was only
recently introduced by the highest levels of Blackbaud, I do not think they would be able to help.” We do not use any merchant services with our subscription as we have a separate setup with PayPal which is adequate (and reasonable!) for a nonprofit our size. Whoever these people are at “the highest levels”, they just lost our business.
On March 3rd Blackbaud implented a $50 per month Payment Enablement Fee to take effect and be billed April 1st for April through December. This is an unexpected and disappointing hit to the budget.