Case Study: The Planetary Society achieves increased sustained giving and fewer declined transactions with Blackbaud’s Credit Card Updater

The Planetary Society Improves Sustained Giving with Credit Card Updater

The Planetary Society, a nonprofit space advocacy organization founded in 1980, needed a more modern donor management and online fundraising system as membership and monthly giving grew. Using an outdated CRM and a manual process—one staff member spending up to a day a month contacting donors—the group struggled to capture updated credit card data and prevent lapsing sustained gifts.

The organization moved to Blackbaud’s Raiser’s Edge and Luminate Online and migrated to Blackbaud Merchant Services, using its Credit Card Updater and a PCI‑compliant Sustainer Migration to automatically update and tokenize card data. In the first month 16% of the society’s 1,100 sustaining gifts were updated, and ongoing automated updates have reduced declined transactions, increased successful payments, and saved staff time on donor outreach.

The Planetary Society

Brandon Schoelz

Systems Administrator