To protect our intellectual property, we rely on a combination of patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret laws in various jurisdictions, as well as employee and third-party nondisclosure agreements and confidentiality procedures. We have a number of registeredmaintain many trademarks, including, but not limited to “Blackbaud,” “Raiser's Edge NXT” and “Luminate.” We have applied for additional trademarks. We currently have three active patents on our technology and have a total of threetwo pending patent applications.

As of December 31, 2016,2018, we had 3,1563,353 employees, none of whichwhom are represented by unions or are covered by collective bargaining agreements. We are not involved in any material disputes with any of our employees, and we believe that relations with our employees are satisfactory.

For a discussion of seasonal variations in our business, see “Management’s discussionDiscussion and analysisAnalysis of financial conditionsFinancial Conditions and resultsResults of operationsOperations — Seasonality” in Item 7 in this report.

For a discussion of our working capital practices, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations — Liquidity and Capital Resources” in Item 7 in this report.

Our business operations face a number of risks. These risks should be read and considered with other information provided in this report.

The companies we compete with and other potential competitors may have greater financial, technical and marketing resources and generate greater revenue and better name recognition than we do. Also, a large diversified software enterprise could decide to enter the market directly, including through acquisitions. Competitive pressures can adversely impact our business by limiting the prices we can charge our customers and making the adoption and renewal of our solutions more difficult.

Our competitors might also establish or strengthen cooperative relationships with resellers and third-party consulting firms or other parties with whom we have had relationships, thereby limiting our ability to promote our solutions. These competitive pressures could cause our revenue and market share to decline.

We generally recognize our subscription and maintenance and subscriptions revenue monthlyratably over time over the contract term. Our subscription arrangements are generally for a term of the customer agreement.three years at contract inception with one to three-year renewals thereafter. Most of our maintenance arrangements are for a one-year term. Our subscription arrangements are typically either for a one-year term or a three-year term. As a result, much of the revenue we report in each quarter is attributable to arrangements entered into during previous quarters. Consequently, a decline in sales to new customers, renewals by existing customers or market acceptance of our solutions in any one quarter will not necessarily be fully reflected in the revenues in that quarter and willcould negatively affect our revenues and profitability in future quarters.

Our subscription arrangements are generally for a term of three years at contract inception with one to three-year renewals thereafter. Most of our maintenance arrangements are for a one-year term. Our subscription arrangements are typically either for a one-year term or a three-year term. As the end of the annual periodcontract term approaches, we seek the renewal of the agreement with the customer. Historically, maintenancesubscription and subscriptionsmaintenance renewals have represented a significant portion of our total revenue. Because of this characteristic of our business, if our customers choose not to renew their subscriptions or maintenance and support arrangements or subscriptions with us on beneficial terms or at all, our business, operating results and financial condition could be harmed. Our customers' renewal rates may decline or fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, including their level of satisfaction with our solutions and services and their ability to continue their operations and spending levels.

We currently utilize data center hosting facilities to provide cloud-based solutions to somemost of our subscription customers and hosting services to our on-premise license customers. Any damage to, or failure of, ourthese data center systems generally could result in interruptions in service to our customers, notwithstanding any business continuity or disaster recovery agreements that may currently be in place at these facilities. Because our cloud-based solutions and hosting service offerings are complex, and we have incorporated a variety of new computer hardware and software systems at our data centers, our services might have errors or defects that users identify after they begin using our services. This could result in unanticipated downtime for our customers and harm to our reputation and business.business results. Internet-based services sometimes contain undetected errors when first introduced or when new versions or enhancements are released. We have from time to time found defects in our web-based services and new errors might again be detected in the future. In addition, our customers might use our Internet-based offerings in unanticipated ways that cause a disruption in service for other customers attempting to access their data.

Because our customers use these services for important aspects of their businesses, any defects, delays or disruptions in service or other performance problems with our services could hurt our reputation and damage our customers' businesses. If that occurs, customers could elect to cancel their service, delay or withhold payment to us, not purchase from us in the future or make claims against us, which could result in an increase in our provision for doubtful accounts, an increase in collection cycles for accounts receivable or the expense and risk of litigation. Any of these could harm our business and reputation.

The software applications underlying our services are inherently complex and may contain material defects or errors, particularly when first introduced or when new versions or enhancements are released. We have from time to time found defects in our software, and new errors in our existing software may be detected in the future.

After the release of our software, defects or errors may also be identified from time to time by our internal team and our customers. The costs incurred in correcting any material defects or errors in our software may be substantial and could harm our operating results. Furthermore, our customers may use our software together with solutions from other companies. As a result, when problems occur, it might be difficult to identify the source of the problem. Even when our software does not cause these problems, the existence of these errors might cause us to incur significant costs, divert the attention of our technical personnel from our solution development efforts, impact our reputation and cause significant customer relations problems.

We expect to continue licensing technologies from third parties, including applications used in our research and development activities, technologies which are integrated into our solutions and solutions that we resell. We believe that the loss of any third-party technologies currently integrated into our solutions could have a material adverse effect on our business. Our inability in the future to obtain any third-party licenses on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, could delay future solution development until equivalent technology can be identified, licensed or developed and integrated. This inability in turn could harm our business and operating results. Our use of third-party technologies exposes us to increased risks including, but not limited to, risks associated with the integration of new technology into our solutions, the diversion of our resources from development of our own proprietary technology and our inability to generate revenue from licensed technology sufficient to offset associated acquisition and maintenance costs.

Many nonprofitorganizations in the social good community, including nonprofits, foundations, companies, education institutions and healthcare organizations, have not traditionally used integrated and comprehensive software and services for their nonprofit-specificspecific needs. We cannot be certain that the market for such solutions and services will continue to develop and grow or that nonprofitthese organizations will elect to adopt our solutions and services rather than continue to use traditional, less automated methods, attempt to develop software internally, rely upon legacy software systems, or use software solutions not specifically

designed for the nonprofitthis market. Nonprofit organizationsOrganizations that have already invested substantial resources in other fundraising methods or other non-integrated software solutions might be reluctant to adopt our solutions and services to supplement or replace their existing systems or methods. In addition, the implementation of one or more of our core software solutions can involve significant time and capital commitments by our customers, which they may be unwilling or unable to make. If demand for and market acceptance of our solutions and services does not increase, we might not grow our business as we expect.

The rules of payment card associations in which we participate require that we comply with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard ("PCI DSS") in order to preserve security of payment card data. Under PCI DSS, we are required to adopt and implement internal controls over the use, storage and security of payment card data to help prevent card fraud. Conforming our solutions and services to PCI DSS or other payment services related regulations or requirements imposed

Fundamental to the use of our solutions is the secure collection, storage and transmission of confidential donor and end user data and transaction data, including in our payment processing business.services. Despite the network and application security, internal control measures, and physical security procedures we employ to safeguard our systems, we may still be vulnerable to a security breach, intrusion, loss or theft of confidential donor data and transaction data, which may harm our business, reputation and future financial results.

A compromise of our data security that results in customer or donor personal or payment card data being obtained by unauthorized persons could adversely affect our reputation with our customers and others, as well as our operations, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity and could result in litigation against us or the imposition of penalties.

We might be required to expend significant capital and other resources to protect further against security breaches or to rectify problems caused by any security breach, including notification under data privacy laws and regulations and expenses related to remediating our information security systems. Even though we carry cyber-technology insurance policies that may provide insurance coverage under certain circumstances, we might suffer losses as a result of a security breach that exceed the coverage available under our insurance policies or for which we do not have coverage. A security breach and any efforts we make to address such breach could also result in a disruption of our operations, particularly our online sales operations.

Further, the existence of vulnerabilities, even if they do not result in a security breach, may harm client confidence and require substantial resources to address, and we may not be able to discover or remedy such security vulnerabilities before they are exploited, which may harm our business, reputation and future financial results.

The effectiveness of our software solutions relies on our customers' storage and use of data concerning their customers, including financial, personally identifying or other sensitive data. Our customers' collection and use of this data for donor profiling, data analytics or communications outreach might raise privacy and data protection concerns and negatively impact the demand for our solutions and services. For example, our custom modeling and analytical services including ProspectPoint, WealthPoint and donorCentrics, rely heavily on processing and using of data we gather from customers and various sources. Privacy and data protection laws could restrict or add regulatory and compliance processes to our ability to market and profit from those services.

Governments in some jurisdictions have enacted or are considering enacting consumer data privacy or data protection legislation, including laws and regulations applying to the solicitation, collection, transfer, processing and use of personal data. This legislation could reduce the demand for our software solutions if we fail to design or enhance our solutions to enable our customers to comply with the privacy and data protection measures required by the legislation. Moreover, we may be exposed to liability under existing or new consumer privacy or data protection legislation. For example, when providing our solutions to certain customers in the healthcare industry, we must comply with applicable provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ("HIPAA"), and might be subject to similar provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and related regulations. We are currently evaluating operational and solution changes that need to be made to allow us and our customers to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, which will become effective January 1, 2020, and may apply to some of our customers and areas of business. Even technical violations of these laws may result in penalties that are assessed for each non-compliant transaction.

If our customers or we were found to be subject to and in violation of any privacy or data protection laws or regulations, our business may be materially and adversely impacted and we and/or our customers would likely have to change our business practices. In addition, these laws and regulations could impose significant costs on our customers and us and make it more difficult for donors to make online donations.

We are in the information technology business, and our solutions and services store, retrieve, transfer, manipulate and manage our customers’ information and data. The effectiveness of our software solutions relies on our customers’ storage and use of data concerning their donors, including financial, personally identifying and other sensitive data and our business uses similar systems that require us to store and use data with respect to our customers and personnel. Our collection and our customers’ collection and use of this data might raise privacy and data protection concerns and negatively impact our business or the demand for our solutions and services. If a breach of data security were to occur, or other violation of privacy or data protection laws and regulations were to be alleged, our business may be materially and adversely impacted and solutions may be perceived as less desirable, which would negatively affect our business and operating results.

The introduction of solutions encompassing new technologies can render existing solutions obsolete and unmarketable. As a result, our future success will depend, in part, upon our ability to continue to enhance existing solutions and develop and introduce in a timely manner or acquire new solutions that keep pace with technological developments, satisfy increasingly sophisticated customer requirements and achieve market acceptance. If we are unable to develop or acquire on a timely and cost-effective basis new software solutions or enhancements to existing solutions or if such new solutions or enhancements do not achieve market acceptance, our business, results of operations and financial condition may be materially adversely affected.

To meet our objectives successfully, we must attract and retain highly qualified personnel with specialized skill sets. If we are unable to attract suitably qualified management, there could be a material adverse impact on our business.

Further, in the past, we have used equity incentive programs as part of our overall employee compensation agreements to both attract and retain personnel. A decline in our stock price could negatively impact the value of these equity incentive and related compensation programs as retention and recruiting tools. We may need to create new or additional equity incentive programs and/or compensation packages to remain competitive, which could be dilutive to our existing stockholders and/or adversely affect our results of operations.

We currently have non-U.S. operations primarily in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland,Canada, Australia and New Zealand,Costa Rica, and we intend to expand further into international markets. Expansion of our international operations will require a significant amount of attention from our management and substantial financial resources and might require us to add qualified management in these markets. Our direct sales model requires us to attract, retain and manage qualified sales personnel capable of selling into markets outside the United States. In some cases, our costs of sales might increase if our customers require us to sell through local distributors.

If we are unable to grow our international operations in a cost-effective and timely manner, our business and operating results could be harmed. Doing business internationally involves additional risks that could harm our operating results.

We expect that an increasing portion of our international revenues will be denominated in foreign currencies, subjecting us to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. If we expand our international operations, exposures to gains and losses on foreign currency transactions may increase.

As part of our business strategy, we have made acquisitions in the past.and continue to evaluate opportunities to acquire companies, technologies and/or services. The successful integration of acquired companies requires, among other things, coordination of various departments, including solution development, engineering, sales and marketing and finance, as well as integration in our system of internal controls. Acquisitions and investments involve numerous risks.

Acquisitions also frequently result in recording of goodwill and other intangible assets, which are subject to potential impairments in the future that could harm our operating results. In addition, if we finance acquisitions by issuing equity securities or securities convertible into equity securities, our existing stockholders would be diluted which, in turn, could affect the market price of our stock. Moreover, we could finance any acquisition with debt, resulting in higher leverage and interest costs. As a result, if we fail to evaluate and execute acquisitions or investments properly, we might not achieve the anticipated benefits of any such acquisition and we may incur costs in excess of what we anticipate. Furthermore, if we incur additional debt to fund acquisitions and are unable to service our debt obligation we may have a greater risk of default under our credit facility. In addition, acquisitions may cause a disruption to our ongoing business, including diversion of resources and management's attention from our existing business and a greater than expected investment of resources or operating expenses.

The success of our acquisitions will depend in part on our ability to retain their engineering, sales, marketing, development and other personnel. It is possible that these employees might decide to terminate their employment. If key employees terminate their employment, the sales, marketing or development activities of acquired companies might be adversely affected, our management's attention might be diverted from successfully integrating the acquired operations to hiring suitable replacements and, as a result, our business might suffer.

We incurred a substantial amount of indebtedness in connection with recent acquisitions. As a result of this indebtedness, our interest payment obligations have increased. The degree to which we are leveraged could have adverse effects on our business, including the following:

If we incur additional debt, these risks may intensify. Our ability to meet our debt service obligations will depend upon our future performance, which will be subject to the financial, business and other factors affecting our operations, many of which are beyond our control.

As of December 31, 2016,2018, we had $438.2$545.2 million and $253.7$291.6 million of goodwill and intangible assets, respectively. On at least an annual basis, we assess whether there have been impairments in the carrying value of goodwill and intangible assets. If the carrying value of an asset is determined to be impaired, then it is written down to fair value by a non-cash charge to operating earnings. Changes in circumstances that could indicate that the carrying value of goodwill or intangible assets may not be recoverable include declines in our stock price, market capitalization, cash flows and slower growth rates in our industry. We cannot accurately predict the likelihood or potential amount and timing of any impairment of goodwill or other intangible assets. An impairment of a significant portion of goodwill or intangible assets could materially and negatively affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Our credit facility contains restrictions, including covenants limiting our ability to incur additional debt, grant liens, make acquisitions and other investments, prepay specified debt, consolidate, merge or acquire other businesses, sell assets, pay dividends and other distributions, repurchase stock and enter into transactions with affiliates. There can be no assurance

In the event of a default under our credit facility, we could be required to immediately repay all outstanding borrowings, which we might not be able to do. In addition, certain of our material domestic subsidiaries will beare required to guarantee amounts borrowed under the credit facility, and we have pledged the shares of certain of our subsidiaries as collateral for our obligations under the credit facility. Any such default could have a material adverse effect on our ability to operate, including allowing lenders under the credit facility to enforce guarantees of our subsidiaries, if any, or exercise their rights with respect to the shares pledged as collateral.

As of December 31, 2016,2018, we had deferred tax assets of $55.8$51.1 million. Realization of our deferred tax assets is dependent upon our generating sufficient taxable income in future years to realize the tax benefit from those assets. Deferred tax assets are reviewed at least annually for realizability. A charge against our earnings would result if, based on the available evidence, it is more likely than not that some portion of the deferred tax asset will not be realized.realized beyond our existing valuation allowance. This could be caused by, among other things, deterioration in performance, loss of key contracts, adverse market conditions, adverse changes in applicable laws or regulations, including changes that restrict the activities of or affect the solutions sold by our business and a variety of other factors. If a deferred tax asset net of our valuation allowance was determined to be not realizable in a future period, the charge to earnings would be recognized as an expense in our results of operations in the period the determination is made. Additionally, if we are unable to utilize our deferred tax assets, our cash flow available to fund operations could be adversely affected.

Depending on future circumstances, it is possible that we might never realize the full value of our deferred tax assets. Any future determination of impairment ofcharges related to a significant portion of our deferred tax assets would have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

We may be subject to claims that our technologies in our solutions and services infringe upon the intellectual property or other proprietary rights of a third party. In addition, the vendors providing us with technology that we use in our own technology could become subject to similar infringement claims. Although we believe that our solutions and services do not infringe any intellectual property or other proprietary rights, we cannot be certain that our solutions and services do not, or that they will not in the future, infringe intellectual property or other proprietary rights held by others. Any claims of infringement could cause us to incur substantial costs defending against the claim, even if the claim is without merit, and could distract our management from our business. Moreover, any settlement or adverse judgment resulting from the claim could require us to pay substantial amounts, or obtain a license to continue to use the solutions and services that are the subject of the claim, and/or otherwise restrict or prohibit our use of the technology. There can be no assurance that we would be able to obtain a license on commercially reasonable terms from the third party asserting any particular claim, or that we would be able to successfully develop alternative technology on a timely basis, or that we would be able to obtain a license from another provider of suitable alternative technology to permit us to continue offering, and our customers to continue using, the solutions and services. In addition, we generally provide in our customer arrangements for certain solutions and services that we will indemnify our customers against third-party infringement claims relating to technology we provide to those customers, which could obligate us to pay damages if the solutions and services were found to be infringing. Infringement claims asserted against us, our vendors or our customers may have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

We use open source software in connection with certain of our solutions. Such open source software is generally licensed by its authors or other third parties under open source licenses, including, for example, the GNU General Public License, the GNU Lesser General Public License, “Apache-style” licenses, “BSD-style” licenses and other open source licenses.  There is little legal precedent governing the interpretation of many of the terms of some of these licenses and, therefore, the

Our success and ability to compete depends to a significant degree upon the protection of our proprietary technology rights. We might not be successful in protecting our proprietary technology and our proprietary rights might not provide us with a meaningful competitive advantage. To protect our core proprietary technology, we rely on a combination of patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret laws, as well as nondisclosure agreements, each of which affords only limited protection.

Pending and enacted legislation at the state and federal levels and internationally, including those related to taxation, fundraising activities and payment processing, may also restrict further our information gathering and disclosure practices, for example, by requiring us to comply with extensive and costly registration, reporting or disclosure requirements. Any

substantial increase in government regulation affecting our business, or any failure to comply with existing regulations, could require substantial investments to achieve compliance, which could adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.

We depend on our principal executive offices and other facilities for the continued operation of our business. Although we have contingency plans in effect for natural disasters or other catastrophic events, these events, including terrorist attacks, computer hacker attacks and natural disasters such as hurricanes, flooding and earthquakes, could disrupt one or more of these facilities and adversely affect our operations. Our principal executive offices are located in a coastal region that has experienced hurricanes in the past. Even though we carry business interruption insurance policies and typically have provisions in our commercial contracts that protect us in certain events, we might suffer losses as a result of business interruptions that exceed the coverage available under our insurance policies or for which we do not have coverage. Any natural disaster or catastrophic event affecting us could have a significant negative impact on our operations.

None.

We lease our new headquarters facility in Charleston, South Carolina, which consists of approximately 172,000 square feet (the "New Headquarters Facility"). The lease on our New Headquarters Facility expires in April 2038 and we have the option for four 5-year renewal periods. The lease agreement also grants us a Phase Two option to request that the landlord construct and lease to us a second office building and related improvements. We continue to lease our former headquarters facility, now called our Customer Operations Center, in Charleston, South Carolina, which consists of approximately 218,000 square feet. The lease on our Charleston headquartersCustomer Operations Center expires in October 2023, and we have the option for two 5-year renewal periods. Please also see discussion about the construction of our new headquarters facility in Note 11 to our consolidated financial statements in this report.

We also lease or have purchased the right to use additional office space in Austin, Texas; Bedford, New Hampshire; Charleston, South Carolina; Austin, Texas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Washington D.C.; San Diego and Emeryville, California; Overland Park, Kansas; Lincoln, Nebraska; Bedford, New Hampshire; Edina, Minnesota; New York, New York; Middlesex, New Jersey; Toronto, Canada; Glasgow, Scotland;

From time to time we may become involved in litigation relating to claims arising from our ordinary course of business. We do not believe that there are any claims or actions pending or threatened against us, the ultimate disposition of which would have a material adverse effect on us.

Not applicable.

Our common stock is trading on the NASDAQNasdaq Stock Market LLC (“NASDAQ”Nasdaq”) under the symbol “BLKB.” The following table sets forth, for the quarterly reporting periods indicated, the high and low market prices for shares of our common stock, as reported by NASDAQ, and dividend per share information.

The following performance graph shall not be deemed to be “soliciting material” or “filed” or incorporated by reference in future filings with the SEC, or subject to the liabilities of Section 18 of the Exchange Act except as shall be expressly set forth by specific reference in such filing. The performance graph compares the performance of our common stock to the NASDAQNasdaq Composite Index and the NASDAQNasdaq Computer and Data Processing Index. The graph covers the most recent five-year period endingended December 31, 2016.2018. The graph assumes that the value of the investment in our common stock and each index was $100.00 at December 31, 2011,2013, and that all dividends are reinvested.