At a Glance
- Sector: Cloud software for social impact: nonprofits, schools, foundations and corporate giving teams
- Region: Global, based in the U.S.
- Badges earned: Generative AI Foundation Badge, Responsible AI Foundation Badge, Agentic AI Foundation Badge
- AI types verified: Generative AI, machine learning and agentic AI
- Standards mapped: NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001, EU AI Act, IEEE 7000-2021, Google RAI Practices
- Outcome: Independently verified governance across every type of AI Blackbaud builds
Blackbaud is the world’s leading provider of AI-powered solutions for social impact. In a sector where stakes are high and trust is paramount, it’s important for customers to know that the AI they’re using is governed well. Responsible AI is foundational at Blackbaud, and so, in addition to its own rigorous ongoing evaluations and checks, the company wanted to provide customers with an added layer of confidence. The Responsible AI Institute worked with Blackbaud to independently verify governance across generative AI, machine learning and agentic AI, demonstrating full-spectrum coverage that few companies in the sector can point to.
Meet Blackbaud
Blackbaud’s technology platform serves the entire social impact sector, from nonprofits to education institutions to companies committed to corporate social responsibility. Its products run fundraising, donor management, fund accounting, school management and corporate giving for organizations in more than 100 countries. Their long-term vision is to make decades of social impact expertise more accessible, scalable and actionable through the workflows people already use every day.
AI represents a tremendous opportunity for organizations to accelerate their mission’s impact, and Blackbaud is committed to making sure the sector can fully seize on its potential. From embedded AI capabilities within its own products, to sector-wide insights and training, Blackbaud is leading the effort to support responsible and effective AI adoption in social impact.
The Challenge: Proving Responsible AI in a Sector Built on Trust
Blackbaud operates in a sector where trust is non-negotiable. Donors trust nonprofits with their money, families trust schools with their kids’ data, and foundations trust grantees to spend every dollar the way they promised. When trust is lost, donations, enrollments and grants go with it.
So, when those organizations adopt AI through a vendor, they’re doing more than buying software. They’re staking their reputation, and that hard-won trust, on it. If that AI mishandles a donor record or a student file, it doesn’t stay the provider’s problem. It becomes a compliance issue for the organization.
Blackbaud’s governance team had already built a responsible AI program: six published principles, a governance structure and human oversight woven into how people across the company work. They didn’t need to develop a program from scratch, but they wanted a way to validate that their current program was responsible.
Three pressures made that proof urgent:
- Credibility. A vendor grading its own work doesn’t carry much weight with a board or a buyer. Blackbaud couldn’t simply state that its AI was safe; the company needed an authoritative, independent third party to validate its commitment to responsible AI.
- Alignment. Executives, customers and public stakeholders all needed to understand Blackbaud’s responsible AI practices. That meant educating leadership and communicating clearly outside the company.
- Narrative. As a social impact technology provider, Blackbaud wanted to turn complex AI governance into an honest public story about AI for social good. The story had to be founded on truth.
“Trust has to be built into AI from the start. We’ve been intentional about putting strong governance and safeguards in place, and the assessment provided independent validation of that work. It gives our customers added confidence that responsible AI isn’t just something we talk about. It’s something we put into practice.”
Carrie Cobb, Chief Data & AI Officer, Blackbaud
Why Blackbaud Chose an Independent Nonprofit
Blackbaud had options. For-profit consultancies and proprietary assessment vendors all sell AI assurance, but two things tipped the decision toward the RAI Institute.
Independence. As a vendor-neutral nonprofit, the RAI Institute’s verification carries weight with boards, regulators and the public. There’s no consulting engagement to expand and no product to push.
A partnership beyond the badge. Blackbaud wanted more than a point-in-time technical review. RAI Institute membership includes co-marketing support, so the two organizations could build campaigns together and tell the story publicly.
How Responsible AI Verification Worked: Three RAISE Pathways Badges
Blackbaud completed three verifications through RAISE Pathways, the RAI Institute’s verification program. Each one measures governance in practice against globally recognized standards. The question isn’t what a company intends. It’s what the company actually does.
Blackbaud made one smart call early: verify the core AI capabilities underneath its products instead of one feature at a time. Every product built on those capabilities carries the verified governance with it.
| Badge | What It Covers | Standards Mapped |
|---|---|---|
| Generative AI Foundation Badge | Generative AI experiences across Blackbaud’s solutions | NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC standards, EU AI Act |
| Responsible AI Foundation Badge | The machine learning models and data practices behind every AI-powered feature, assessed against 74 controls across the full AI lifecycle | IEEE 7000-2021, Google RAI Practices, NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001 |
| Agentic AI Foundation Badge | Blackbaud’s autonomous agent capabilities | [CONFIRM standards and control count] |
The work ran in three parts:
- Guided self-assessment. Blackbaud’s teams documented how their AI systems are designed and how risks get identified and managed. They also showed where oversight, transparency and accountability live in daily work.
- Collaborative review sessions. The RAI Institute team worked through each verification alongside Blackbaud’s product, marketing and governance leads, reviewing evidence and pointing out gaps.
- One capability at a time. Blackbaud started with generative AI and machine learning, then came back to verify agentic AI as those capabilities matured.
The Results: Verified Governance for Every Type of AI Blackbaud Builds
- Full-spectrum coverage: independently verified governance across generative AI, machine learning and agentic AI
- Platform-level credibility: verification sits at the core capability layer, so it extends to every product built on top
- Stronger proof, not just stronger policy: the assessment sharpened how well Blackbaud can demonstrate its governance, not only document it
- A public milestone: Blackbaud announced the verifications and featured its responsible AI journey with the RAI Institute on the main stage of its annual industry conference
The verification also gave Blackbaud the proof it needed to back up its dedication to its values and responsible AI. Ren Nunes, Senior Manager of Data and AI Governance, wrote in Blackbaud’s announcement that the verifications reinforce “the trust that distinguishes Blackbaud AI.” In a sector where trust is foundational, he noted, the bar should be high.
“The verification process reinforced that Responsible AI governance is about more than having the right policies and controls in place. It’s about demonstrating how those practices work, supporting them with evidence, and continuously identifying opportunities to improve. The assessment not only validated our approach but strengthened our ability to demonstrate accountability and build trust with our customers and stakeholders.”
Ché Edwards, Data & AI Governance Sr. Product Manager, Blackbaud
What Made Blackbaud’s Responsible AI Verification Work
- Company-wide sponsorship. Leaders across security, product, sustainability and marketing all backed the effort. They treated responsible AI as a company initiative, not one team’s side project.
- Staying with it. The team didn’t stop at one badge. They kept pursuing verification as each new AI capability matured.
- Verifying the foundation. Targeting shared AI capabilities instead of single features gave the verification reach across the whole product line.
Responsible AI for Companies Operating Trust-Based Sectors
If your customers are nonprofits, schools, hospitals or banks, they’re going to ask how your AI is governed. Plenty already are. A policy page answers that question once, but independent verification answers it every time, with evidence a board or procurement team can check.
Blackbaud’s path is a practical playbook: verify the capabilities your products share, bring in every team that touches AI and add coverage as your AI grows.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Responsible AI Verification?
Responsible AI verification is an independent review of how an organization designs, deploys and governs its AI systems, measured against recognized standards such as NIST AI RMF and ISO/IEC 42001. It checks governance in practice, including bias, data handling, transparency and human oversight, not just written policy.
What Did Blackbaud’s Verifications Cover?
Blackbaud verified its generative AI experiences, its autonomous agent capabilities and the machine learning models and data practices behind its AI features.
Why Choose a Nonprofit for Responsible AI Verification?
A nonprofit verifier has no product to sell and no consulting work to win. That independence is what gives the result weight with boards, regulators and customers.
How Can My Organization Get Verified?
Verification is available through RAI Institute membership. Strategic members can choose an AI governance assurance badge pathway, and Partner members get a custom engagement.
Build AI Governance Your Customers Can Check
Blackbaud’s customers don’t have to take its word on responsible AI. They can check. If your organization wants that same credibility with boards, regulators and buyers, the Responsible AI Institute community is where it starts. Discover membership options.
