Convio Reports 250 Percent Growth in Online Donations During 2005

As Nonprofit Marketplace Matures, Organizations Increasingly Adopt Advanced Internet Tools to Drive Giving and Support

Austin, Texas (December 7, 2005) —

Online donations raised by nonprofit organizations using Convio have increased by 250 percent in 2005 year-to-date compared to all of 2004 — suggesting that 2005 has been another watershed year for adoption and use of the Internet to accelerate giving, communicate with constituents, build support for their organizations and advance their missions.

Convio is the leading provider of online constituent relationship management solutions (eCRM) for nonprofits. The company's software and services help organizations use the Internet for building strong constituent relationships to drive fundraising, marketing, advocacy and other forms of mission-critical support. 

Aggregate data from Convio's 450-plus customers shows a sharp rise in use of the Internet for fundraising, advocacy, constituent communications and other activities. From January 1 through November 2005, nonprofit organizations have used Convio to:

• Raise more than $230 million online, a 250 percent increase compared to the amount raised online in 2004;
• Send more than 300 million emails, more than double the 2004 volume;
• Add nearly 16 million online constituents to their databases, an increase of more than 80 percent compared to aggregate growth last year; and
• Prompt constituents to send more than 1.8 million advocacy action alerts, a nearly 3x increase compared to 2004.

While the Southeast Asia tsunami and recent Hurricanes Katrina and Rita contributed to this year's large spike in online donations, Convio's customer base still has more than doubled the amount of funds raised online in 2005 year-to-date compared to 2004 even without factoring in the disasters. 

These disasters are the latest in a series of events in recent years that have raised awareness among nonprofits about the effectiveness of the Internet for constituent communications and fundraising, spurring increased adoption of online solutions. Earlier events included the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and the Dean for America presidential campaign in 2003 and 2004.

"The disasters of the past year have claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, injured countless others, left even more homeless, and seriously damaged or destroyed entire communities," said Gene Austin, CEO, Convio. "The Internet, however, has made it possible for nonprofits to respond quickly to such crises in an unprecedented manner, enabling them to galvanize record numbers of supporters and make it easier for them to donate, volunteer their time and participate in other ways. These events have again dramatically underscored for all nonprofits, not just those involved in disaster relief, that strategically incorporating the Internet into their fundraising, marketing and constituent communications is a necessity."

According to Convio, 2005 will go down as another milestone year for adoption and use of the Internet by nonprofits as well as overall maturation of the marketplace. One sign of marketplace maturation has been growing interest among nonprofits, particularly larger groups, in deploying advanced eCRM solutions to learn more about constituents versus simply driving donations. Understanding constituents' interests and motivations is key for developing communications that build more valuable relationships. Also, more nonprofits are hearing about the online successes of organizations that were early adopters of eCRM solutions and want to generate comparable results.

"The success that we've seen in our own business with customers this year is a snapshot of what's happening across the entire nonprofit sector," added Austin. "A growing number of organizations are ready to invest more in advanced Internet tools like Convio's because either they have achieved or seen other groups achieve strong results by incorporating similar online solutions into their fundraising, marketing, advocacy and communications programs. We expect to see more of this trend in 2006." 

About Convio

Convio is the leading provider of software and services to help nonprofits use the Internet strategically to build strong relationships with constituents for driving fundraising, advocacy and other forms of support. Convio has online solutions for fundraising, advocacy, Web content management, event fundraising, ecommerce and email communications. All solutions include the Constituent360™ platform, a sophisticated, online marketing database that centralizes constituent data and integrates with offline databases.

Convio's clients include the American Red Cross, American Diabetes Association, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, AVON Foundation, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Easter Seals, Farm Aid, KCET Community Television of Southern California, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, National Trust For Historic Preservation, Ronald McDonald House Charities, The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and Thirteen/WNET New York. For more information, please visit www.convio.com.

Press Contact:
Karoline McLaughlin
Director, Corporate Communications
Convio, Inc.
kmclaughlin@convio.com
512-652-7865