Case Study: California Lutheran University achieves unified scholarship management and improved donor stewardship with Blackbaud Award Management

California Lutheran University - Customer Case Study

California Lutheran University faced fragmented scholarship workflows: fall awards were handled with a campus reporting tool while donor acknowledgements were managed separately by advancement, and spring scholarships relied on an unstable, browser-limited system for applications. The split processes created delays, administrative burden, and a poor experience for students and donors.

By adopting Blackbaud Award Management the university consolidated both cycles into one platform—importing student data, matching awards, accepting online applications, and collecting donor acknowledgements directly through the system. The change streamlined operations, cut administrative time and costs, improved donor stewardship (with over 100 acknowledgements in the first few days), and enabled management of departmental and off-cycle scholarships within a single solution.

California Lutheran University

Carol Lingrosso

Financial Aid Counselor