Convio Partners with Award-Winning Web Crossing to Provide Market-Leading Tools for Building Strong Online CommunitiesWeb Crossing Is Latest Addition to Convio's Solutions Partner Program and Popular Choice Among Top Nonprofits and UniversitiesAUSTIN, TEXAS (June 3, 2004) -- Convio, Inc. today announced a new partnership with award-winning Web Crossing, Inc. to provide nonprofits and higher education institutions with the market-leading Internet tools for building strong online communities. Convio is the top provider of software and services to help nonprofits use the Internet for developing strong constituent relationships that drive fundraising, marketing, advocacy and other forms of support. Organizations using Convio can now add Web Crossing's Internet tools for online discussion boards, chat rooms, "blogs" and email lists to their Web sites. In turn, constituents can connect and communicate directly with each other the foundation for building an online community. An online community is a powerful vehicle for engaging constituents because it increases exposure to a nonprofit's mission, fosters affinity with the group and primes supporters to donate, sign a petition, or take other supportive action. Web Crossing is the latest company to join Convio's growing Solutions Partner Program (online auction company, cMarket, also joined recently for more information, see http://www.convio.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=2601186). The program, designed to offer choice to nonprofits without sacrificing integration, allows Convio to combine its solution for developing constituent relationships and driving results online with complementary, best-in-class products from other top companies. Convio clients benefit because, through a single vendor, they are able to get all functionality they need to be successful on the Internet. (For more information about Convio's Solutions Partner Program, visit www.convio.com/solutionspartners.) "To cultivate strong relationships with constituents, our customers are increasingly turning to blogs, chat rooms and email lists to build true online communities," said Gene Austin, CEO, Convio, Inc. "We're partnering with Web Crossing, the leader when it comes to these capabilities, to make it simple and easy for our customers to incorporate them into their Convio solution." Web Crossing: Popular With Nonprofits and UniversitiesWeb Crossing and Convio integration is transparent to people visiting a Web site powered by both companies' products and services. Visitors move seamlessly from Convio-powered sections of the site to Web Crossing-powered sections. They can access "members only" areas of a nonprofit's site using a single password (known as single sign-on, or SSO, capability) regardless of whether Web pages are powered by Convio or Web Crossing, eliminating the hassle of using multiple passwords. "Web Crossing's leadership position in the online community market is due, in part, to easy customization that lets us integrate so seamlessly into a system like Convio," said Tim Lundeen, president and CEO of Web Crossing, Inc. "The final result is an online presence that simply looks right, empowers people to communicate directly with each other, and provides a meaningful experience the basis for building relationships and community." Many leading nonprofits, including higher education institutions, use Web Crossing's award-winning software. They include the Smithsonian, National Public Radio, National Institute of Health, University of Wisconsin, Stanford University Graduate School, Harvard Medical School, University of California Los Angeles and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Convio client CauseForce an international producer of large scale fundraising events is using Web Crossing tools for two projects: the Weekend to End Breast Cancer in Toronto (http://on.endcancer.ca/site/PageServer) and the Weekend to End Breast Cancer Walk in Vancouver (http://bc.endcancer.ca/site/PageServer). Registered members can access the Web Crossing-powered message boards and speak to other constituents about a variety of topics. "The Web Crossing message boards really facilitate a feeling of community on our sites," said Brian Pendleton, President of CauseForce, Inc. "Constituents can log on and share helpful information with each other, organize a team for a walk, etc. all without staff members being involved. We've seen constituents inspire and encourage each other, build relationships it's been amazing." About Web Crossing, Inc.Privately held, Web Crossing, Inc. is a leader in collaboration tools, committed to providing high-quality software and related services at a fair price. Award-winning Web Crossing is a scalable, tightly integrated collaboration tool serving a broad-spectrum of functionality and serves millions of pages per day at thousands of sites, including well-known, high traffic sites as eBay.com, The NY Times, Salon's TableTalk and Electronic Arts. Team Crossing, Campus Crossing and Support Crossing are turnkey solutions for the group collaboration, online education and technical support markets respectively. Web Crossing Express is a free package, offering superb server functionality for Web, email, and FTP services. Available licensed or ASP, all Web Crossing software is easily customizable and highly extensible without programming. Further information on can be found at http://www.webcrossing.com/. About Convio, Inc.Convio is the leading provider of software and services that help nonprofit organizations and higher education institutions use the Internet to build strong constituent relationships to drive support and participation. Convio has online solutions for fundraising and membership, advocacy, special events, volunteer fundraising, Web site management and email communications. All solutions include the Constituent360™ platform, a sophisticated, online marketing database that centralizes constituent data and integrates with offline databases. This gives organizations a unified view of constituent interests and motivations -- key for personalized and targeted outreach and communications. Convio also provides services and consulting to help organizations achieve success online. Convio's clients include the American Diabetes Association, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, AVON Foundation, Brady Campaign United with the Million Mom March, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Chicago Public Radio, Easter Seals, Farm Aid, Georgetown University, KCET Community Television of Southern California, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, National Trust For Historic Preservation Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization. For more information, please visit www.convio.com. Whitney Wood Otstott |
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