Fifteen Nonprofits Recognized for Their Creativity and Success in Maximizing Convio's On-Demand CRM, Content Management Solutions to Take Relationships to Next Level

Business Wire, Oct 18, 2007

Convio Innovator Award Recipients Honored at 2(nd) Annual Convio Client Summit

AUSTIN, Texas -- Convio, Inc. announced today the winners of its first Innovator Awards, recognizing clients' creative use of Convio's online constituent relationship management (eCRM) and Web content management solutions that helped take their organizations' constituent relationships to new levels. The awards were presented during Convio's second annual Client Summit, where more than 600 nonprofit clients and partners gathered as a community to share experiences and results. In addition attendees learn about Convio's products and discuss the latest strategies and best practices for maximizing the Internet to build strong relationships with constituents.

"It is exciting to see the results our clients are achieving to empower constituents by using Convio and by integrating the Web with traditional communications, fundraising and advocacy campaigns," said Gene Austin, Chief Executive Officer of Convio. "We're proud to honor these organizations in the presence of their peers from across the country, and pleased with their enthusiasm in sharing ideas, strategies and best practices with the community."

Fifteen nonprofit organizations received awards and recognition in eight categories: email communications (newsletters and other email engagement techniques); email list growth; Web site (using Convio CMS or PageBuilder); online fundraising; integrated (online and offline) fundraising; advocacy campaign; use of Web 2.0/peer-to-peer marketing techniques outside of special events (e.g., Convio Tributes, Widgets); and special events fundraising (TeamRaiser[TM]). The awardees were selected from 70 nominations submitted by Convio clients, partners and staff.

"Celebrating our clients' success and results is one of the most important things Convio can do for the community we serve," said Vinay Bhagat, Founder, Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer, Convio, who headed the Innovator Awards committee. "We are delighted to recognize the innovative ways our clients are using Convio software and services to take constituent relationships to new levels."

Winners and Notable Mentions by Category

Email Communications

Lambda Legal received the Innovator Award for its compelling, personalized email communications to donors, members and potential supporters. The organization leverages all of Convio's product features, including highly conditionalized content based on donor level and geographic residence. Using different graphic elements in the header depending on the recipient's donor level, Lambda Legal grew its monthly eNews subscriber list by 35% from July 2006 - July 2007.

Meatless Monday received a notable mention for its "Eater's Digest" weekly e-newsletter. Produced in association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the newsletter offers a clean design with a lot of varied content that appeals to a wide variety of readers. Their open rates of 20%-30% and high click through rate - over 10% - is a testament to their success in making the information accessible to the average reader.

Email List Growth

Conservation International received the Innovator Award for its Great Turtle Race (http://greatturtlerace.com) that doubled the organization's list in just two weeks, from 25,000 to 50,000 subscribers. Embedding a Convio survey/registration form on its partnership page on Yahoo.com, driving traffic to the form using Convio widgets on various social networking sites, including MySpace, Care2 as well as several blogs. The organization emailed new list members using Convio's email marketing tools and created a segmented welcome series to familiarize new list members about the organization's other conservation efforts.

Communications Workers of America received a notable mention for its Speed Matters.org campaign, which grew its email list from 229 to just over 69,000. The campaign to bring high speed internet access to all Americans included a Flash speed test. While an email address was not required, nearly half of all people who took the test entered their email and zip code information, which were fed directly into the organization's online constituent database.

Web site

Precept Ministries International for its new Convio-powered Web site, which transformed its previous Web site from an online brochure into a robust communications platform. Using Convio CMS integrated with Convio's integrated CRM suite of tools, the organization's Web site provides ways to learn more about and stay connected with its constituents through conditionalized email communications, an eStore and donor applications.

Online Fundraising Campaign

America's Second Harvest received the Innovator Award for its matching fund campaign. Its online appeal that provided a link to a landing page where constituents could designate donations by categories of food and featured a virtual refrigerator filled with food based on the constituent's selections. The landing page indicated how many meals the constituent's gift would provide, and included a link to a donation form that was pre-populated with the constituent's pledge amount. Individuals who went to the landing page first donated more per person than those who went straight to the donation form. Providing supporters a visual representation of their giving was so popular that other organizations have used a similar strategy.