BILL and Blackbaud Partner to Automate Accounts Payable for Nonprofits
By Lauren Towner · 1 October 2026
In brief: BILL and Blackbaud have partnered to launch Payment Assistant, embedding automated accounts payable and a 9-million-strong vendor network into the Financial Edge NXT platform for nonprofits.
| Partner | Blackbaud |
|---|---|
| Target Sector | Nonprofit and Education finance teams |
| Network Size | 9 million businesses |
| Primary Integration | Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT |
| Availability | U.S.-based customers (phased rollout) |

Quick Summary
Nonprofit Accounts Payable Automation is transformed through the new BILL and Blackbaud partnership. By embedding BILL’s payment network into Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT, organizations can automate the entire invoice-to-reconciliation lifecycle, significantly reducing manual work for social impact and education finance teams.
How Does Payment Assistant Improve Financial Workflows?
The new Payment Assistant tool leverages intelligent financial operations to eliminate the friction of manual data entry. For many organizations, processing vendor invoices consumes over 10 hours per week, a significant drain on limited resources. By integrating BILL’s capabilities, finance teams gain real-time payment visibility and can manage tiered approvals within a single interface. This streamlined reconciliation process ensures that every dollar is tracked accurately from disbursement to the general ledger. Furthermore, the system supports faster vendor payments across multiple methods, allowing staff to focus on their core mission rather than administrative bottlenecks.
What Role Does the BILL Network Play in This Integration?
Central to this partnership is access to BILL’s proprietary network of 9 million businesses. This massive ecosystem simplifies vendor enrollment processes and ensures that nonprofits can connect with suppliers instantly. By using nonprofit accounts payable automation features, users can accelerate delivery times and safeguard transactions through controlled payment processes. The integration also brings AI-powered financial management to the social impact sector, helping teams handle complex financial operations with greater clarity. With nearly 500,000 businesses trusted on the platform, BILL provides the scale necessary to modernize how educational and charitable institutions handle their outgoing cash flow.
When Can Organizations Access These New AP Features?
The rollout of these embedded finance capabilities will follow a phased approach. Initially, an early adopter program will be launched for select users, followed by limited availability release for U.S.-based Financial Edge NXT customers. During this first phase, the system will support domestic vendor payments only, with plans to expand functionality as the partnership matures. As BILL joins the Blackbaud Partner program, additional integrations are expected to follow, further enhancing the connected-finance vision for the social impact sector. This phased strategy ensures that nonprofit accounts payable automation remains stable and secure during implementation.
FF NEWS TAKE:
This partnership is a significant win for the social impact sector. While many fintechs chase high-growth startups, BILL and Blackbaud are targeting the efficiency gap in nonprofits. By providing nonprofit accounts payable automation at scale, they are moving the needle for organizations that traditionally struggle with legacy systems. It’s a high-impact integration that validates the importance of vertical-specific embedded finance for mission-driven teams.
Frequently asked questions
How does the BILL and Blackbaud partnership help nonprofits?
The partnership embeds BILL’s automated accounts payable and payment-processing capabilities into Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT. This allows nonprofit finance teams to manage the entire lifecycle from invoice to reconciliation within a single system, reducing manual work and allowing them to focus more on their core missions.
What is the Payment Assistant for Financial Edge NXT?
Payment Assistant is a new experience powered by BILL that integrates intelligent automation, tiered approvals, and straight-through reconciliation into Blackbaud's platform. It provides users access to BILL’s network of 9 million businesses to simplify vendor enrollment and accelerate payments.
Which organizations can use the new BILL and Blackbaud integration?
The new capabilities are currently planned for a phased rollout starting with an early adopter program. It will initially be available to U.S.-based Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT customers for domestic vendor payments only.
About the companies
Companies in this story: Blackbaud, BILL
People in this story: Jonathan Leaf, Sudip Datta