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Blackbaud lays off workers as part of restructuring

Staff //January 14, 2019//

Blackbaud lays off workers as part of restructuring

Staff //January 14, 2019//

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Blackbaud, a Daniel Island-based software firm with global customers, laid off some of its staff last week.

The company said it had to “eliminate positions within the company in order to shift resources from one area of the business to another” as it invests in sales, research and development and cybersecurity, to name a few focus areas.

Blackbaud has more than 40,000 customers in 50 countries. (Photo/Liz Segrist)The company laid off workers in several departments as part of the restructuring; it did not disclose which departments were affected. The company did say that some positions were in Charleston, but the majority were in other locations.

Company spokesman Brian Kosoy said Blackbaud’s “actions are about our responsibility, as a publicly traded company, to our shareholders, customers and employees to regularly explore ways that we can operate more efficiently and put as much investment as possible toward innovation and supporting the growth of the social economy.”

Blackbaud declined to comment on the number of workers affected.

“We are working with those impacted to help find them jobs within the company or supporting them in their transition outside the company,” Kosoy said in an emailed statement. “We will add more than 150 staff in 2019 across our global workforce and many will be in Charleston.”

The news of layoffs came about a week after the tech firm completed a $157 million acquisition. Blackbaud acquired YourCause, a Plano, Texas, software as a service provider focused on increasing corporate giving and volunteering for nonprofits and causes. Its portfolio includes Fortune 500 companies and small businesses.

Blackbaud’s software platform focuses on increasing giving for the nonprofit and education sectors. Blackbaud has more than 40,000 customers in 50 countries.

Blackbaud last reported layoffs in February 2018, when it laid off a small number of workers in Charleston and Austin.

Blackbaud launched its global operations in the Lowcountry in 1989. It now employs 3,400 employees globally, around 1,400 of them in the Lowcountry.

The company operates out of two offices on Daniel Island. The company’s original space at 2000 Daniel Island Drive has been operational since 2000, and Blackbaud has a new building at 65 Fairchild St.

The new building — the first of two planned for the company’s new tech campus — is a four-story, 172,000-square-foot structure with floor-to-ceiling windows. The second building, set to open in 2023, will be about 188,000 square feet, for a total of 360,000 square feet of office space across Blackbaud’s campus.

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