Holly's Helpful Hints: How To See Into The Future

Holly Herbert

2016 has been a year of growth and evolution for the Blackbaud Community and today I am proud to announce the most recent step in that evolution - the SKY API Community.


The SKY API Community gives you a glimpse into the future of nonprofit technology. You may have heard about a cool demo at bbcon this year with Amazon's Alexa. Here's how it went:


Imagine saying:

Alexa, find Robert Hernandez.

Alexa, what is his most recent gift?

Alexa, what is his largest gift?

Alexa, what is his major gift capacity?

Alexa, add a confidential note to Robert Hernandez.

And Alexa answers you.


Pretty wild, right? Well, using SKY API, this skill (developed as a proof of concept) and so many more are now possibilities. You can learn more about the Alexa proof of concept skill (and see the video) here.


To access the SKY API Community, go to the products drop down at the top of the community and click on "SKY API."



If you are interested in following along in the evolution of SKY API, update your product selections (here's a reminder on how that's done) to include SKY API.


Finally, if you have ideas for new opportunities in the Blackbaud Community for 2017, sound off in the comments below.


Welcome to the future, Blackbaud Community Members! It's looking pretty awesome!

Lindsay Doran

And don't forget: "Alexa, tell me a joke!"

Graham Getty

Here's the link (I think) to the Alexa demo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR6R4VtlfCk

Rachel Kave

That is truly amazing-always looking for to work more efficiently and save time. This innovation will surely do that not to mention the cool factor.

Joanne Felci

maybe this exists under events - but if it doesn't it might be a good place to put it - but I'd love to have a place that has links to the recorded webinars. So many great ones are offered but I don't always have time to attend - or I'd like to share them with co-workers who didn't attend

Holly Herbert

Hi Joanne! Thank you for the feedback. Right now I put the webinar recordings in the resource library of the product/community that hosts the webinar. In the case of the SKY API webinar, you can find it under the resources tab in the SKY API Community: https://community.blackbaud.com/developer



I'm open to suggestions if there is a more efficient/effective way to get these recordings shared with you all!