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.