Sphere eMarketing

  • overview
  • packages
  • features
  • resources
  • pricing
 

Engage supporters through effective email communication and online fundraising.

There’s much more to establishing a powerful and effective online presence than just having a website.

In today’s digital world you need strong online marketing and fundraising strategies coupled with the right tools to keep supporters engaged in your mission. Without them, you’ll quickly get looked over by supporters looking for organizations like yours.

For nonprofits looking to increase their effectiveness online, Blackbaud’s on-demand eMarketing suite delivers the industries most powerful and cost effective online marketing tools available. Complete with email communications, website publishing, and online fundraising tools - you’ll have exactly what you need to acquire, engage, and cultivate supporters online.

You can choose from three distinct offerings designed to meet the needs of your organization.

 
 

Packages

 

Basic

Standard

Advanced

Email Tools & Communications

Fundraising Campaigns & Donation Forms

Sphere Contact Management Database

Content Managed Website

 

eCommerce

 

Member Management

   

Advocacy

   

Volunteer Management

   

Web 2.0 Engagement

   
 
 

Features

Blackbaud Sphere eMarketing comes backed with all the features you’ll need to run effecting online marketing and fundraising campaigns. From email communications to online donation processing, content management to event registrations, eCommerce to volunteer management, it’s all there.

All you need to do is find the offering that’s right for you! Below you’ll find details about all the key features in our eMarketing suite.

Email Communications

Design Professional Emails:

  • Content Editor – Enable non-technical staff to create rich HTML emails with a state-of-the-art What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWYG) editor.
  • Template Library – Create and manage a library of email templates.
  • Dynamic Content – Personalize emails with mail merge field and content based on demographic, behavioral, or other data.

Create, Run, and Track Effective Email Campaigns:

  • Targeted Campaigns – Create targeted email communications to specific segments using an advanced query engine.
  • Forward to a Friend – Allow recipients to forward emails to recruit friends or colleagues while tracking the volume and success of such activities.
  • Auto-Fill Online Forms – Pre-populate forms accessed by constituents to promote database cleanliness and an easier user experience.
  • Split Mail Testing (A/B Testing) – Compare the effectiveness of various email subject lines and messaging.
  • Recurring Email Schedules – Create dynamic email communications that automatically send based on a pre-set frequency, such as daily, weekly, monthly, or annually.
  • Sequential Emails – Automate your email strategy with rules to develop sequences of follow-up emails based on constituent responses.

Optimize Deliverability:

  • eNewsletter Management – Allow constituents to subscribe and unsubscribe to specific eNewsletters.
  • CAN/SPAM Compliance – Maintain proper compliance and enhance your overall list through the use of single or double opt-in while providing a clear path for recipient opt-out.
  • Bounce Management – Tracks individual receipt delivery results to optimize future delivery performance.
  • SPAM Assassin – Test and verify the quality of email content before sending to reduce potential ISP blocking and improve deliverability.

Fundraising

  • Campaign Management – Track the performance of marketing and fundraising activities.
  • Gift Entry – Track and record offline giving, including donations, pledges, and recurring gifts.
  • Giving History/Profile – A giving data summary is automatically calculated for individuals and households.
  • Matching Gifts – Blackbaud’s MatchFinder is integrated with Blackbaud Sphere to provide information to donors about the possibility that their company may match their contribution. Additional fees apply.
  • Contact Forms – Use a form-builder to capture constituent information.
  • Donation Forms – Use a form-builder to create single- or multiple-step forms to collect online donations.
  • Registration Forms – Use a form-builder to create single- or multiple-step registration forms. Forms can be used for volunteers, conferences, or other event types and can have standard and custom fields. Forms come with full reporting.

Supporter Database

  • Individual Profiles – Record all critical information about your constituents in one easy-to-manage place.
  • Organization Profiles – Create, record, and manage profiles of organizations and primary contacts.
  • Custom Profile Fields – Create and organize custom fields for individual, organization, and transaction records.
  • Static and Dynamic Segments – Categorize your constituents and target your communications.
  • Relationship Tracking – Track interconnected supporters and their highlights.
  • Duplicate Management – Create settings to automatically resolve duplicate records or resolve them manually.
  • Interaction Tracking – Centrally record activities about interactions associated with constituents.
  • Liquid Score – Target your audience and improve direct response ROI with this simple yet accurate wealth score.
  • Query Tool and Import Center – Quickly import, update, or retrieve records using customized export queries and a standardized set of templates covering most all available data.
  • Stand Alone Web Pages – Use a WYSIWYG editor to create administrative dashboards and public web pages hosted independently from each other.

Payment Processing

  • Complete Solution – Get fully integrated payment services requiring no merchant account set-up.
  • Payment Options – Get transaction support for all major U.S. credit cards and direct debit.
  • Low Transaction Fees – Benefit from Blackbaud’s ability to negotiate the lowest rates from payment processors.
  • Simple Administration – Manage all of your online payments through a single interface including the ability for full or partial reversals for collected payments.
  • Real-Time Reporting – Instantly access all transaction activities such as event registrations, donations, and eCommerce purchases.
  • Security Compliance – Blackbaud is certified as a merchant processor by PCI, the industry standard for credit card processing, and has completed full information security audits by third-party companies.
  • Highly Secure Infrastructure – Process payments protected by state-of-the art security measures, such as redundant firewalls, authentication services, and an encrypted SQL database unreachable by any public IP address.
  • Installment and Recurring Payments – Allow supporters to set up secure, recurring, or installment payments on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual basis. The ability to manage future payments is included.
  • International Currencies – Supports credit card processing in non-U.S. currencies and non-U.S. credit cards.
  • Transaction Identifiers – Customize the descriptors that appear on your donors’ credit card statements.
  • Third-Party Payment Processor Service – Get the ability to process funds through a third-party (i.e., non Blackbaud Sphere) payment processor using Verisign Payment Gateway services.

Website Management

Create Websites That Give Visitors a Dynamic and Personal Experience:

  • Content and Article Listings – Create content listings segmented by type or relevancy.
  • Personalization and Relevancy – Provide content to visitors based on their database segmentation and interests to create a rich user experience and acquire new supporters.
  • Event Calendar – Create online event calendar with ability to collect online registration, roll-up events across multiple calendars, or post user-submitted calendar features.
  • Custom Forms – Use the WYSIWYG editor to have complete design control over donation and contact forms.
  • Interactive Site Features – Create specialty website features, such as job boards, resume postings, photo gallery, eCards, bulletin boards, and classified ads.

Empower Non-Technical Content Publishers:

  • WYSIWYG Content Editing Tools – Create and modify content with an easy to use content editor.
  • Surf-to-Edit – Browse your website to identify web pages you want to edit; then click a button to open and directly make your changes.

Produce Database-Backed Websites That Are Fast and Secure:

  • Web Caching and Acceleration – Provide fast website response times for all websites hosted on Blackbaud Sphere through advanced Web Caching Services.
  • Login Security – Secure access to specific web pages or website sections requiring a valid username and password.

Simplify Collaborative Web Publishing:

  • Version Control and Archiving – Allow users to revert back to previous versions of content.
  • Web Publishing Workflow – Quickly and easily publish new content to the web including scheduled automated releases. Use workflows to control who can create, review, and publish content.

Manage Your Website With Powerful Publishing Tools:

  • Website Design Templates – Use templates to simplify your work and maintain consistency. Macromedia Dreamweaver® plug-in available.
  • Navigation Manager – Modify website navigation structure independent from content and design.
  • File and Image Libraries – Upload, store, and manage all files and images.
  • Product Support for Search Engine Optimization – Include a variety of meta-tag data at the webpage and website level to optimize search engine placement.
  • Site Statistics – Analyze real-time website traffic activity to better understand your visitors and constituents.

The Raiser's Edge Connector:

  • Synchronizes online fundraising, registration forms, Friends Asking Friends, and email addresses
  • Configure business rules that allow you to define the approval process and merge behavior for data flowing from one system to the other
  • Grant administrators full review, edit, and modify control of the data entering The Raiser's Edge
  • Utilize The Raiser's Edge batch functionality
  • Schedule data transfers or run on-demand
 
 

Resources

Sphere eMarketing Resources at a Glance:

Multichannel Engagement is the Key to Long-Term Growth

It’s become increasingly common for new donors to give their first gift online and those donors have much higher cumulative value over the long term than traditional mail-acquired donors. That’s why you need a complete online marketing and fundraising solution like Blackbaud’s eMarketing suite. Download the 2011 Multichannel Fundraising Report to learn more about how online donors are worth 3X more than offline donors.

Learn how Sesame Doubled Online Results Now!

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Pricing

To learn more about flexible pricing plans for Sphere eMarketing, please contact us or chat with a live representative.

 

Sphere eMarketing at a Glance:

Sesame Workshop Doubles Online Donors with Sphere eMarketing

Learn how Sesame Workshop used Sphere eMarketing to help drive its “Tickle Me Elmo Giveaway” campaign, which resulted in 8,000 new email addresses in a month and double the number of online donors after the first year.

Learn how Sesame Doubled Online Results Now!

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Learn More about Blackbaud’s eMarketing Offerings

Blackbaud has three eMarketing packages to choose from depending on your organizations needs. Learn more by clicking on the one that looks most suitable for you needs.

eMarketing Basic
Email communication and online fundraising.

eMarketing
Email communication, online fundraising and website publishing.

eMarketing Advanced
Email communication, website publishing, online fundraising, advocacy, eCommerce, and volunteer management

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Send Effective Email Communications

Create, send, and manage email communications through a powerful online solution.

Whether it’s a monthly newsletter, targeted fundraising campaign, advocacy action, breaking news announcement, annual appeal, or year-end ask we’ve got you covered. With Sphere eMarketing you’ll be sending targeted, customized email communications to your supporters in no time. All while being able to easily track your effectiveness by measuring opens, click throughs, conversions (i.e. donations), and unsubscribes.

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Raise Money Online

Create online donation forms, implement recurring giving options, send donor receipts, and manage your donors – all in one place.

Sphere eMarketing enables nonprofits to easily and effectively create digital fundraising campaigns that leverage built-in email communication, online fundraising, and reporting tools. By combining these features and running your fundraising campaigns through a single on-demand platform built in the cloud you’ll be able to manage, track, and measure your results more effectively over time. While also reducing staff time.

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Process Payments Securely

On top of integrating all the tools you need to run effective online fundraising campaigns we’ve integrated full payment processing which get’s you out of merchant account set-up and management.

You’ll be accepting donations online in no time and won’t have to worry about security or compliance issues because Blackbaud is both PCI and SAS 70 compliant. Our payment processing solution takes out the manual work and headaches typically associated with taking donations online.

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Produce a Compelling Website

Quickly create, customize, and launch your website, microsites, and/or campaign landing pages.

No longer are the days where you have to rely on developers, coders, and technical wizards to manage your website. With Blackbauds eMarketing solution you’ll be on your way to effectively engaging your supporters through a highly personalized website that inspires interaction and engagement. All while being able to manage the content yourself.

Content creators will be empowered to produce and mange content, which will reduce reliance on technical staff for day-to-day operations, changes, and upkeep.

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Manage Your Data in the Cloud

Gather and build comprehensive profiles that give you a complete view of supporter interactions, relationships, and affinity to your organization.

While you’re focused on running your online fundraising initiatives Sphere’s Supporter Database will be behind the scenes capturing and storing all the data your supporters give you in an on-demand, web accessible toolset. This allows you to easily track the performance of online fundraising activities while also capturing the data you need to engage, cultivate, and retain your loyal supporters.

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Connect with The Raiser’s Edge

Synchronize critical data between your Sphere eMarketing solution and The Raiser's Edge fundraising solution. This link lets your organization reduce the amount of time spent on operational synchronization processes and decreases the chance for error.

With both systems having the right data available at the right time, your fundraising solution can produce timely, complete reports and your eMarketing solution can produce properly targeted and well-developed marketing campaigns.

All while helping you spend less time on management, administration, and headaches and more on your mission.

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