From the press release:
Blackbaud, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLKB), today unveiled a new release of Blackbaud® NetCommunity™ that includes major enhancements in both function and features. From improved site design features to enhanced web accessibility and a native social networking feature called “Wave,” it will provide nonprofits with an opportunity to further engage their constituents in the vital Internet channel. Additionally, the company unveiled a new set of NetCommunity Open Platform APIs for creating custom parts, integrated web services, and custom transactions.
Links to the new API are:
There was a three-part release on Blackbaud’s Connections blog (not to be confused with Convio’s Connection Cafe).
The social networking piece is puzzling. You can now use BBNC to help you build a social network for your organization. They’re pushing out a lot of information about this. What’s truly puzzling is the social networking piece of the announcement. If you’re self-hosting BBNC, I think you may have to plan on beefing up your Internet connection before you implement social networking. Am I to assume that BBNC should really be hosted by Blackbaud?
Some caveats:
It’s all .NET. The APIs are not RESTful nor can they be consumed as SOAP Web Services (from what I can see). Also, you must own BBNC in order to use these APIs. Interesting fact: Blackbaud claims 600 clients for Blackbaud NetCommunity (BBNC). I think they’ve started getting more wins for BBNC lately although it’s going to be interesting to see how this will all match up with Kintera’s CMS as well.
I believe BBNC to be the most open part of Blackbaud’s core applications (discounting their acquisitions of eTapestry and Kintera here). This makes sense as opening up BBNC doesn’t expose Blackbaud to cannibalizing their sales revenue like it would if they opened up Raiser’s Edge. That is, with only 600 clients for BBNC, the exposure is minimum. I suppose that this is also a part of the internal culture shift at Blackbaud. If BBNC performs well, it might motivate them to consider opening the rest of their product line.
With any luck, we can get screenshots of a sample social networking application from Blackbaud…
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