AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 17, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) --
Leading Drunk Driving Prevention and Victim Support Group Uses
Convio to Boost 'Tie One On For Safety' Holiday Program and
'Rating The States' Advocacy Campaign
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD, www.madd.org) -- the nation's preeminent group fighting drunk driving and underage drinking, and also supporting victims -- is fortifying its Internet infrastructure with Convio(tm) to become even more effective at online fundraising, influencing public policy, raising awareness and developing strong relationships with supporters.
Convio -- the leading online Constituent Relationship Management (eCRM) company serving the nonprofit sector -- provides Internet software and services to help organizations increase their effectiveness in attracting, engaging, motivating and retaining constituents to provide funding as well as other forms of support. MADD's national office is using Convio's comprehensive software and consulting services to support multiple functions including marketing, development, advocacy, constituent communications and more. Initially, MADD is using Convio to accelerate two of its most important initiatives -- "Rating The States," which measures public policy progress, and "Tie One On For Safety," the annual holiday safe driving awareness program.
With Convio, MADD will be able to more effectively and efficiently:
-- Learn about constituents' interests, build rich individual
profiles and store all constituent information in a single
database accessible to national staff in multiple departments;
-- Personalize constituent communications to ensure relevance and
engagement;
-- Wage high impact advocacy campaigns, mobilizing thousands of
activists in real-time;
-- Leverage supporters to conduct online fundraising and raise
awareness on key issues through "forward to a friend," or viral
marketing, campaigns;
-- Cross-market to increase constituent involvement and loyalty,
e.g., solicit activists to donate and donors to respond to action
alerts; and
-- Analyze constituents' online behavior and measure performance of
online campaigns.
"MADD now has more robust Internet tools for communicating frequently in a very personalized manner with a fuller spectrum of constituents -- whether they are existing victims, donors, public policy advocates, event attendees or people who have expressed interest but not yet gotten involved," said Bobby Heard, MADD director of marketing and development. "By sustaining relevant communications with people who are already active or interested, we'll be able to present them with more opportunities to participate in our cause and create stronger relationships, which are key for developing a loyal support base."
MADD Incorporates Convio Into Holiday Program
Convio is enabling MADD to more fully incorporate the Internet into this year's Tie One On For Safety program, the group's largest annual public awareness campaign which is always conducted during the holiday season when the risk of drunk driving crashes rises. The campaign asks motorists to tie a red MADD ribbon or affix a window decal to their vehicles as a pledge to drive "safe and sober" and as a reminder to others to do the same. MADD's objectives for the Internet component are to attract more supporters, increase constituent involvement and raise awareness. The plan includes sending an email to constituents with links to drive them to the organization's Website where they can pledge to help keep the roads safe during the holidays and year-round. They also can: send a message to others to visit MADD's site for taking the pledge and participating in additional ways; make a donation; read safe party tips; and/or sign up for free to receive personalized emails and Web content.
Convio Boosts Activism Through Rating The States
Additionally, MADD is utilizing Convio to support its 2002 Rating the States program which grades all 50 states and the nation on efforts to combat drunk driving and underage drinking. To build its database of activists and learn more about each one, MADD targeted the thousands of constituents that hadn't yet provided their state and zip code information. MADD sent an email to this group offering real-time notification of their states' grades when released on November 21. Almost 10 percent of the recipients signed-up, providing their geographic data in the process. Then, on November 21, simultaneous with the report's release, MADD emailed personalized "report cards" to registered constituents. Each report card had links to MADD Web pages where they could easily send messages to their governors calling for public policy change. The Nov. 21 email also included links for people to donate and increase awareness and activism by forwarding the report card to others. MADD plans to continue using Convio in 2003 to sustain the campaign.
"MADD selected Convio because of the quality of our solution, our ability to help the group create a strong eMarketing plan and our approach of working as partners," said Vinay Bhagat, founder and CEO, Convio. "The organization clearly has embraced use of Convio's fundraising, email, advocacy and analytics tools across the organization to support its campaigns as well as to attract more constituents and convert them to loyal supporters."
About MADD
Mothers Against Drunk Driving is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, grassroots organization with approximately 600 chapters and two million members and supporters nationwide. MADD's mission is to stop drunk driving, support the victims of this violent crime and prevent underage drinking. Since MADD's founding in 1980, alcohol-related traffic deaths have decreased by more than 40 percent, thousands of victims and survivors have been served and programs have been launched across the country to educate young people about the dangers of underage drinking. For more information, please visit www.madd.org.
About Convio
Austin-based Convio is the leading online Constituent Relationship Management, or eCRM, company serving the nonprofit sector. Convio's mission is to increase the effectiveness of how nonprofit organizations attract, engage and retain constituents to provide funding and other forms of support. The Convio(tm) software solution consists of six product suites: Special Events, eFundraising, eMarketing, Advocacy, Content Management, and Constituent Center. Using Convio, nonprofits can send targeted, personalized e-mail communications; conduct fundraising, membership, and advocacy campaigns; publish personalized and fresh Web content; manage registrations, RSVPs, ticket sales, and other event logistics; tap volunteers and their personal networks for campaigns; track constituent interactions; connect online systems to off-line systems (e.g., donor databases); and more. The Convio platform automatically shares data among all six product suites, giving nonprofits a unified view of each constituent so staff can conduct more personalized and targeted marketing. Convio also provides services to help nonprofits adopt online marketing best practices.
Convio serves national and regional organizations in all segments of the nonprofit sector, including disease and disorder, education, healthcare, human services, advocacy, associations, public broadcasting, museums and other visitation facilities, and political campaigns. In addition to MADD, Convio's clients include Easter Seals, The ASPCA, The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, National Trust For Historic Preservation and KCET (PBS, Los Angeles). For more information, please visit www.convio.com.