Jul/Aug 2006

New Functionality Extends Convio5 to Help Nonprofits Capture More Funds

The Internet continues to grow as a mainstream — and often preferred — channel for philanthropy. This year, about 40 million Americans will make an online donation to a nonprofit organization, potentially totaling $3 billion.

That is why earlier this year, Convio announced Convio5 — the new standard in on-demand software for online fundraising — as part of its ongoing commitment to delivering products and services that help nonprofit organizations capture a portion of those funds. Convio5 allows organizations to quickly build customized, campaign-specific online donation forms to improve the donor experience.

Now, the company extends Convio5 with tools that help organizations use the Internet to conduct even more sophisticated and effective fundraising campaigns. Organizations using Convio now can:

• Drive additional revenue and improve retention with online membership sales and renewals. Whether creating an online-only membership or selling a traditional membership via the Internet, now organizations can automatically create and manage membership groups, associated privileges, expiration dates and grace periods. Automated renewal notices can be sent at set intervals in advance of the expiration. For organizations with complex offline membership categories, Convio can synchronize with a wide range of offline donor databases to manage membership categories and business rules.

• Encourage larger donations by allowing donors to allocated gifts across funds with designated giving. Many organizations have complicated gift designations with hundreds of possibilities. Convio provides a master list of gift designations for easier administration, allowing organizations to easily select relevant designations for specific campaigns. This provides a simplified, more successful donor experience while preserving the organizations' ability to present relevant gift designations.

• Increase the amount of a gift by integrating matching gifts. Leveraging Convio's real-time integration with HEP Development's corporate giving database, an organization's donation forms provide constituents with employer matching gift information and instructions on completing the required paperwork. Potential matching gift opportunities also are reported to organizations so that development professionals can conduct necessary follow up with corporations.

Strategies for Internet fundraising and outreach continually grow and evolve, so Convio5 specifically allows for enhanced capabilities. Convio will continually add functionality to Convio5 to ensure nonprofit organizations have the most effective software available for using online fundraising and marketing.

To find out more about Convio5, visit www.convio.com/convio5.