Every year, bbdevdays offers a glimpse into where the Blackbaud developer ecosystem is headed. A few years ago, conversations focused on APIs, integrations, and custom applications. Today, they include AI agents, natural language interfaces, embedded experiences, and new ways for users to interact with data.
Developers are using AI as a teammate. Natural language is becoming another interface to data. APIs are enabling entirely new experiences. And perhaps most importantly, a growing community of developers, partners, builders, and innovators is finding new ways to put these technologies to work in support of social impact organizations.
AI Is Part of the Development Workflow
One of the clearest themes at bbdevdays was that AI is no longer something developers are experimenting with on the side. It's becoming part of the day-to-day development process.
In Blackbaud's "Solution, Vision, and Innovation Announcements” session, teams shared examples of using AI throughout the product lifecycle—from requirements gathering and prototyping to implementation and testing. One example highlighted a product developed from idea to launch in four weeks using AI-assisted workflows, demonstrating how AI can increase both speed and quality without sacrificing governance and trust.
Speakers demonstrated how tools like Claude can serve as planning partners, programmers, troubleshooting assistants, and security reviewers throughout the development process.
Sessions to explore:
Natural Language Is Becoming a New Interface
Traditionally, interacting with software meant navigating screens, building queries, or using command prompts. Increasingly, organizations are exploring what happens when users can simply ask questions.
Several sessions highlighted conversational interfaces as another way to interact with data and workflows. Chat for Blackbaud AI is designed to work alongside workflows, rather than replacing them—helping users explore data, answer questions, and take action more naturally.
Getting Started with the Blackbaud for Claude Connector showed how users can retrieve constituent information, review giving history, draft communications, and interact with Raiser’s Edge NXT® data using natural language.
Whether through Chat for Blackbaud AI, AI assistants, or future agent-based experiences, natural language is quickly becoming another way to interact with systems and data.
Sessions to explore:
APIs Are the Building Blocks for AI Experiences
A recurring theme throughout bbdevdays 2026 was that APIs are no longer just integration tools. As organizations connect data with assistants, agents, and other intelligent applications, reliable APIs are becoming even more important for creating new user experiences, automation patterns, and AI-powered workflows. Several sessions highlighted continued investments in the SKY API platform, including new Import and Export capabilities for Raiser’s Edge NXT® and the addition of GrantsConnect APIs.
As AI tools become more capable, APIs increasingly serve as the connective tissue that makes those experiences possible.
Sessions to explore:
The Developer Ecosystem Is Expanding
Perhaps the most significant takeaway wasn’t a technology at all.
Across many sessions, developers, partners, customers, students, and product teams were contributing ideas and innovations. The University of Manitoba’s MCP project is one example: a group of students leveraged public APIs, AI tooling, and Blackbaud developer resources to create something entirely new.
As new tools lower barriers to building, the developer community is becoming more diverse. Pro-code developers, low-code builders, implementation consultants, product administrators, and AI enthusiasts increasingly find themselves solving many of the same challenges together.
Sessions to explore:
Looking Ahead
If there was a single lesson from bbdevdays 2026, it might be this: the future of the Blackbaud developer ecosystem isn't defined by a single technology. It's being shaped by the convergence of AI, APIs, automation, extensibility, and community.
