Save the Children has been recognized with the 2025 Blackbaud Impact Changemaker Award, celebrating bold innovation in donor engagement and technology transformation to drive greater impact for children worldwide.
For over a century, Save the Children has evolved to meet the changing needs of children and stretch every dollar of support —adapting to shifting landscapes and embracing innovation to remain effective and sustainable. In today’s digital era, that progress demands state-of-the-art data infrastructure.
Save the Children received the Changemaker Award for moving away from its long-standing child sponsorship program. Pioneered in the early 1900s and tremendously impactful over the course of decades, sponsorship inspired a number of signature Save the Children programs, but in a rapidly changing world, no longer meets children’s needs as effectively. The shift to a more flexible monthly giving program required a full overhaul of technical systems, including decommissioning legacy infrastructure and building a new centralized data platform.
“We transitioned to a recurring giving program that enables a more locally led, community-focused approach, enhanced efficiency and more adaptable programing,” said Ron Guerrier, Chief Technology Officer at Save the Children. “This transformation sparked a broader organizational change that touched nearly every technical system involved in donor management, marketing automation, data privacy, and reporting—made possible by remarkable cross-team collaboration, whose tireless dedication and resilience under dynamic conditions drove this success.”
Blackbaud CRM™, Luminate Online®, and Integrated Payments were central to the implementation of this initiative, enabling streamlined donor management, secure transactions, and personalized engagement. As a result, Save the Children’s systems are more reliable, secure, and efficient —reducing outdated processes and improving data integrity.
“Save the Children is now better positioned to adapt to future donor needs. More broadly, this project has become a model for cross-functional agility and innovation, reaffirming our position as a sector leader in modern donor engagement,” Ron added. “Looking ahead, we plan to continue scaling data capabilities, explore new Blackbaud integrations, and use this transformation as a blueprint for future modernization efforts—all to ensure every child grows up healthy, educated, and safe.”
For over 40 years, Blackbaud has partnered with changemakers, organizations, and companies across the globe to fuel impact through essential software solutions.
“Our 2025 award recipients exemplify how innovative use of technology can drive meaningful change for the missions and communities they support,” said Todd Lant, Chief Customer Officer at Blackbaud. “We’re honored to play a small role in their success—it’s stories like this that motivate us to continue pushing the needle for social impact technology.”
The Blackbaud Impact Awards were created to spotlight the incredible work of organizations worldwide using Blackbaud’s software to power social impact. Winners will be celebrated at the bbcon 2025, Blackbaud’s annual technology conference. For more details about the finalists, the winners, and the awards, visit: https://www.blackbaud.com/impact-awards.
