Case Study: Blackbaud achieves 40X referral pipeline growth and millions in influenced revenue with Influitive's AdvocateHub

How Blackbaud’s advocate marketing strategy influenced pipeline and revenue growth, turbocharging one marketer’s career

Blackbaud, a nonprofit software company, faced a shifting buyer landscape as it moved to a SaaS model: buyers wanted peer recommendations, but Blackbaud’s reference program was underused (1,600 dormant contacts) and LinkedIn outreach was slow and unscalable. Michael Beahm stepped into a new advocate marketing role with a goal to increase the referral pipeline 50% year‑over‑year and turn customer enthusiasm into measurable pipeline and revenue.

Michael launched the Blackbaud Champions community using Influitive’s AdvocateHub to engage customers at scale, rewarding and connecting advocates while soliciting referrals and references. Within 10 days he engaged 150 advocates and captured 77 high‑value referrals; over time the program grew to 2,500 advocates, drove a 40x jump in referral pipeline (2013–2015), influenced millions in revenue across 125 opportunities, and produced 100 referrals and 400 references in 2015—results that earned Michael promotions and industry awards.

Blackbaud

Michael Beahm

Customer Advocate Senior Marketing Manager