AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 25, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Convio, Inc., the leading Internet software company for nonprofits, and Christianity.com, the largest Internet solutions provider for Christian organizations, today announced a new partnership that will enable Christian organizations to accelerate their growth by more fully tapping the online medium for fundraising and communications.
Christianity.com provides software and support to Christian organizations -- ranging from large broadcast ministries to small churches to athletic and social groups -- so they can use the Internet to develop and operate dynamic Web ministries. Currently serving 300 customers, including some of the largest organizations in the Christian market (e.g., Campus Crusade Jesus Film, Fellowship of Christian Athletes), Christianity.com offers: Web site design and content management; domain, email and site hosting; audio, video and live event streaming; Web site registration to build email lists; and online fundraising tools. Christianity.com also is a portal featuring a wide range of Christian content and ministry resources, and ranks among the nation's top five Christian Web sites, as measured by traffic.
Now, in a move to significantly enhance its offering, Christianity.com is reselling under its own brand Convio's robust, hosted online fundraising and email marketing software. In addition to offering Convio's technology platform, Christianity.com will provide consulting services, in conjunction with Convio, to help Christian organizations apply best practices from secular nonprofits to increase online fundraising and improve member communication. For Convio, the partnership represents an opportunity to expand into a major segment of the nonprofit sector.
Convio is the leading provider of software and services to help nonprofits use the Internet for more effective fundraising, communications, marketing and management of constituent relationships. Organizations using Convio have raised as much as $3.6 million online in a single 90-day period and registered more than 400,000 people in less than six months to receive email communications -- a key step for building relationships with constituents and converting them to donors.
"Although we considered other vendors, Convio was the clear choice because of its total partnership approach and attitude, outstanding technology, and reputation for superior customer support," said Duncan Rein, CEO of Christianity.com. "We now can offer Christian organizations the most advanced email and online fundraising tools for: 1) communicating and forming relationships with members; and 2) leveraging those relationships to drive donations and other support. Convio will help transform Web Ministries into engines driving growth for a Christian ministry's entire organization and advancing its mission, just it has done for so many secular nonprofits."
With Convio's email marketing tools, an organization can:
- Build an email list by posting online registration forms throughout its Web site so members sign up to receive email communications; - Create and automatically update a database record for each registered member to build a profile of his interests, donation history, etc., which can be used for personalizing emails to ensure relevance; - Develop and send rich, graphical HTML emails to keep members informed of news and events, and also drive them via links to specific Web pages; - Segment its online database to send targeted emails to different categories of members, based on their interests, giving history and other criteria; and - Track which members open emails, forward emails to others, click on links to the Web site and take action such as making a donation. Convio's fundraising tools allow an organization to: - Create customized online giving forms with options that include multiple giving levels, donations in honor or tribute to someone, anonymous gifts, etc.; - Automatically and securely process online credit card donations; - Automatically acknowledge donations with immediate on-screen messages and real-time, IRS-compliant tax receipts; and - Run detailed reports to monitor campaign status, view donor or member information and analyze giving patterns.
"The partnership with Christianity.com marks Convio's first reseller relationship and allows us to tap into a very large market," said Gene Austin, CEO of Convio, Inc. "Christianity.com exemplifies what we look for in a partner -- a strong reputation in its marketplace and the ability to get Convio's advanced Internet tools into the hands of many organizations so they can optimize use of the online medium for fulfilling their missions. We also value the fact that Christianity.com's culture and customer service approach so closely match those of Convio -- that makes for a better experience not just for our companies but, more importantly, for the organizations that will take advantage of our services through Christianity.com."
About Christianity.com
Founded in 1999 as LifeAudio.com, Christianity.com is the largest provider of Internet technologies to Christian organizations. The company provides software and support that enables churches and other groups to develop and manage online ministries that connect individuals with life-changing resources. Christianity.com helps ministries: design, redesign and effectively operate their Web sites; incorporate streaming audio and video to share sermons, music, radio and TV broadcasts, and other events online; create online stores and donation centers; and promote their missions. In addition to the Campus Crusade Jesus Film and Fellowship of Christian Athletes, ministry partners include: Promise Keepers, Walk Thru the Bible, Leading the Way Ministries, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, Life Outreach International and Love Worth Finding Ministries. For more information, please visit, www.christianity.com.
About Convio, Inc.
Convio is the leading online Constituent Relationship Management (eCRM) company serving the nonprofit sector. Convio's offering of Internet software and services helps organizations attract, motivate and retain constituents for fundraising, marketing and advocacy as well as other forms of support and participation. Convio's product suite includes modules for Web content management, email marketing, general fundraising and membership, advocacy, special events, volunteer fundraising and also online directories and surveys. The Convio platform automatically shares data among all product modules and with offline databases, giving nonprofits a unified and more complete view of each constituent so staff can conduct personalized and targeted marketing. Convio also offers consulting services to help nonprofits adopt online marketing best practices.
Convio's clients include Dean For America, Easter Seals, American Diabetes Association, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, AVON Foundation, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, KCET Community Television of Southern California, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, National Trust For Historic Preservation, the University of Texas at Austin's alumni association -- the Texas Exes, and the Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization. For more information, please visit www.convio.com.