“We’re a Small Team”: The Phrase We Heard Most at bbcon 2026

At bbcon 2026, AI got much more hands-on, small teams were candid about how much time they lose editing data by hand, and more finance professionals showed up to talk data than ever before. We got to do one of our favorite things at Blackbaud’s annual conference: hear first-hand from nonprofit professionals about how they are using technology to advance their missions.

This year, bbcon came to Columbus, Ohio, and a team of Omatic’s tech experts and leaders made the trip. The enthusiasm from nonprofit staff was palpable, in packed sessions and in every conversation at our booth. We look forward to this every year, and 2026 did not disappoint.

Here are some of the top highlights from the gathering.

AI moved from hype to hands-on

AI was everywhere again this year, just like at bbcon 2025. The difference was focus. The conversations centered on practical applications and real use cases, instead of introductions to this hot technology.

If you attended bbcon, you understand that the question is no longer whether nonprofits will use AI. It’s how much they’ll let it do. As AI is used more and more, that elevates the importance of the data underlying it.

A bad match or fragmented donor record used to mean cleanup work. Now, with AI, it can mean the wrong recommendation, the wrong stewardship message, or a missed opportunity with donors. As AI gains more authority, trust in the data becomes part of how you protect trust with the donor. Read our advice for getting your data AI-ready.

Small teams tasked with making a big impact

We heard the phrase “We’re a small team” more than any other. It usually meant one thing: everyone wears several hats at an organization, and manual data entry has just become part of the job, with no budget for another hire to lighten the load. One way or another, the work of moving data from point A to point B has to get done. Here are some of the most common challenges we heard about:

• Financial posting: Our team fielded question after question about using automation to cut manual steps and improve the financial posting process. Every nonprofit has a CRM and financial accounting system, but most don’t talk to each other.
• Wealth screening: Healthcare and higher education organizations relayed that their wealth screening processes cannot keep up with the number of donors they want to research. Duplicate records or missing information also slowed down the process, which requires manual effort to fix.
• Capabilities hiding in plain sight: Some of our customers didn’t know about recent enhancements to Omatic Cloud, including more mapping features, and custom code capabilities. They were thrilled to learn there was more automation available than what they were already using.

The takeaway? Small teams don’t need more tools. They need the ones they have to do more of the busy work for them, and they need us to make sure they know what’s possible.

An appetite for technology change

There was a strong sense of optimism and excitement for change throughout the conference. We heard it in one-on-one chats at our booth and as threads in the keynote speeches.

Our session, “Change without Fear: How to Automate the Burden Without Automating the Mission,” met the moment. The team talked through how to build institutional support for automation tools, so leadership and staff see them as ways to free up time for mission-critical work.

We made the case for a confident approach to change management. Instead of leading with fear of what might break or who might be replaced, teams can lead with opportunity. What becomes possible when the repetitive work is handled and people can focus on donors, programs and the communities they serve.

We also led “Import to Impact: Turning Simple Data Workflows into Fundraising Fuel,” where our clients at Wolf Conservation Center shared a first-hand account of how streamlining everyday imports gave his team more time and better data to supercharge their fundraising.

Finally, our team participated in the “Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT® Super User Panel: Real Problems, Real Solutions, Real Fun,” we joined fellow experts to tackle real-world questions from attendees and trade practical tips they could apply immediately.

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What does having good nonprofit data unlock?

We asked the nonprofit professionals who stopped by our booth a simple question: how would knowing your full donor story impact your mission? Then we illustrated it.

Most of the answers resolved around people:

• Understand donor passions
• Cultivate donors better
• Send more personalized thank-yous and reporting
• Build a better supporter network
• Provide better care
• Adapt fundraising efforts faster

That’s the real payoff of clean, connected data. It gives teams the time and confidence to focus on the relationships behind every record.

Why does Omatic attend bbcon?

Blackbaud is one of Omatic’s closest partners. Many Omatic users run their fundraising, finance and engagement workflows on Blackbaud, and Omatic exists to keep the data flowing cleanly between those systems and everything else in their stack. bbcon lets us sit down with those customers in person, hear what’s working and what still needs attention, and get the latest on where Blackbaud is taking its products.

This conference is also where we compare notes with other technology and consulting partners who share our goal: helping nonprofits get more out of the tools they already pay for, so more of their time goes to the mission.

Until next year

Thank you to Blackbaud for another great bbcon, and to every customer and partner who stopped by to talk at our booth.