Convio Launches New Online Fundraising Solution That Changes the Landscape of Internet Fundraising; Convio5 Represents Major Innovation; Lets Nonprofits Create Highly Customized, Campaign-Specific Fundraising Programs

Business Wire, Feb 15, 2006

AUSTIN, Texas -- Convio, Inc. today announced release of Convio5, making online fundraising for nonprofits easier and more effective than it has ever been. Convio5 sets a new standard for online fundraising solutions because it gives nonprofits an unprecedented level of power, flexibility and confidence in creating effective online fundraising campaigns that accelerate giving and enhance the online donor experience. E[acute accent]Convio is the leading provider of on-demand software and services to help nonprofits use the Internet for building strong constituent relationships and driving support. The company developed Convio5 based on lessons learned over the years from working with customers that collectively have used the Internet to raise hundreds of millions of dollars. Through focus groups and one-on-one interviews, Convio's 500-plus customers have provided extensive input about what today's nonprofits need to optimize their use of the Internet to support integrated marketing and fundraising. E[acute accent]Convio5 enables groups to move beyond the "one-size-fits-all" online donation process. Nonprofits now can quickly build customized, campaign-specific online donation forms instead of relying on third-party technical assistance from their technology vendors or pre-configured templates that cannot be altered which, to date, has been the industry standard. With Convio5, nonprofit professionals can easily modify donation forms to best meet the needs of different types of fundraising campaigns, such as running an annual pledge drive or capital campaign, or quickly creating a micro-site to drive giving in response to a natural disaster. E[acute accent]"In developing Convio5, it is impressive that Convio proactively sought feedback from the nonprofit marketplace and incorporated critical online fundraising functionality that's important to any organization," said Michal Heiplik, Database Administrator, HoustonPBS. "With more fundraising options available to us and the ability to easily create customized, donor-oriented donation forms, HoustonPBS now will truly be able to drive the online donation process and take our online fundraising to a new level."

E[acute accent]More Effective Online Fundraising

E[acute accent]Convio's new offering is based on the fact that the Internet has emerged as a primary channel for giving to nonprofits. The surge in online giving -- fed in part by the unprecedented response to natural disasters including the late 2004 tsunami and last year's Gulf Coast hurricanes -- has placed new demands on the Internet tools used by nonprofits. Organizations need to get online campaigns up and running quickly and tailor the Web experience to the needs of specific donor groups. Prior to Convio5, Internet tools did not provide the power and flexibility nonprofits must have to react quickly and target campaigns in this new era of heightened donor expectations. E[acute accent]Convio5 allows nonprofits to maximize giving because they can, without the delays and costs of tapping a vendor, independently employ more sophisticated fundraising techniques and create campaigns that are most suitable for their organizations' objectives. With Convio5, nonprofits now have significantly increased flexibility to build more effective donation forms and campaigns, including options such as changing language, adding questions, customizing branding and design, changing the order of donation fields, choosing single versus multi-page forms, etc. E[acute accent]Convio5's flexibility enables unprecedented online capabilities for organizations, including the ability to:

E[acute accent]--Create different donation forms to test which form drives the most giving. At the same time, an organization can track which promotions for a fundraising campaign (e.g., Yahoo! banner ad, email, search engine key word, etc.) are driving the most donations.

E[acute accent]--Quickly and easily build micro-sites around fundraising themes or specific, time-based events. An animal welfare group, for instance, could produce and utilize different micro-sites specific to dog owners or cat owners. The same group could instantaneously build and deploy a campaign specific micro-site in response to a natural disaster to drive online giving and support relief efforts. This would include specific landing pages, branding, a customized donation form and auto-responder thank you messaging.

E[acute accent]--Incorporate different branding to match a specific campaign, event, affiliate or institution. A large, multi-affiliate organization, for example, could customize online donation forms that match the individual brands of its chapters, while a university could customize capital campaigns to match the brands of different schools across campus. Or, a cause-based group can brand fundraising campaigns that are specific to a particular issue.

E[acute accent]--Increase giving and donor satisfaction by allowing constituents to choose a giving option most comfortable to them within the context of a specific campaign, such as automatic bank withdrawals for monthly giving or installment payments for a large donation.