Austin Children's Museum Partners with Convio, Austin-Based Internet Software Company Serving the Nonprofit Sector

Austin Children's Museum Web Site to Be Launched as Part of Austin Museum Day, October 15, 2000: Convio Applies the Power of For-profit Internet Technologies to Austin Nonprofit

(Austin, TX - September 27, 2000) The Austin Children's Museum and Convio, the online partner for nonprofits, announced today a partnership agreement that brings for-profit technology capabilities to the Austin Children's Museum. On October 15, 2000, Convio and the Austin Children's Museum will officially launch their website as part of Austin Museum Day. With Convio, the Austin Children's Museum, http://www.austinkids.org/ has the capabilities to run fundraising campaigns, maintain a dynamic web presence, create and manage e-mail marketing campaigns to their donors, with no in-house technical expertise.

According to Becky Jones, Executive Director, Austin Children's Museum, "We are pleased to be working with our technological partner, Convio; we are clearly positioning ourselves as a technological leader among museums nationally. There is an expectation from our Board, many of whom are high tech business leaders, to be using the Internet more effectively. Now, we can do that through enhanced personalized communication through the Internet."

Ken Stein, Director of Development, Austin Children's Museum said, "I'm thrilled about what Convio brings to the table - an easy to use Internet technology designed specifically for the nonprofit sector. If you can use email, you can use Convio. I have never done anything online other than respond to and send out e-mails. Had I not had access to this technology, I could never have designed this web site. Finally, there is a solution that can help nonprofits take advantage of the Internet."

The nonprofit sector represents 9% of the U.S. economy. Today, America's 2.5 million nonprofits are extremely capacity constrained in terms of what they can accomplish with scarce resources, including their staff, volunteers and funds.

Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of Convio says, "We are incredibly excited about our partnership with the Austin Children's Museum. We expect to see the Austin Children's Museum migrate much of their fundraising and marketing to the Internet. By automating the administrative functions online, nonprofits can significantly reduce the costs of phone and paper-based communication, and spend more time and money on doing good."

On average, fundraising executives spend 80% of their time on administrative tasks. Those numbers translate into more dollars spent on raising funds for nonprofits. Today, it costs 40 cents to raise one dollar from a current donor. For a new donor, those numbers can reach as high as 85 cents to $1.50. Bhagat sees Austin as a great test case for wiring the nonprofit sector, given the city's high Internet usage rates and incidence of philanthropic giving.

The Austin Children's Museum is the first organization to be powered by Convio. Supporters and/or donors can register on the site to receive newsletters, view personalized content including an events calendar highlighting forthcoming and current exhibits; supporter/donors can join as members and make donations. With Convio's second product release, the museum will be able to accept RSVPs for events, sell tickets online, run surveys, and post photo albums all with no in-house technical expertise.

The Austin Children's Museum plans to officially launch its web site on October 15, Austin Museum Day. For more information on Convio and/or the Austin Children's Museum, or to schedule an interview with Vinay Bhagat or Ken Stein, please contact Susan Tull at (512) 652-2662.

About the Austin Children's Museum

Visited by more than 160,000 individuals annually, the Austin Children's Museum at the Dell Discovery Center, provides innovative, participatory Museum exhibits, resources, and programs, which encourage curiosity, creativity, learning, and appreciation for all children, their families, and those who work with children. The museum has a wide variety of programming for children ages 0-18 years. http://www.austinkids.org/

About Convio Inc.

Convio is an application service provider that enables nonprofit organizations to develop strong relationships with their supporters and donors through high touch, personalized technology. The Convio Relationship Management Solution provides a comprehensive Internet service offering for nonprofit organizations, that enables them to use the Internet as a powerful fundraising and relationship management tool, without requiring technical expertise in-house and without spending a fortune upfront on building a custom web site. Our mission is to achieve $50 billion in cost savings for the nonprofit sector by 2010. Convio is working with a number of both Texas-based and nonprofit organizations spanning the multiple segments of the nonprofit sector, including museums, public broadcast, independent schools, small multi-chapter/regional groups, healthcare organizations, and performing arts groups. To find out more: www.convio.com

About Austin Museum Day

In celebration of National Arts and Humanities Month, many Austin area museums and historic sites will celebrate Austin Museum Day on Sunday, October 15, 2000, by opening their doors to the public free of charge and providing a wide range of activities for children and adults. Coordinators across the city are hoping this will be a great opportunity for Austinites and visitors to celebrate the arts by exploring Austin's museums and historic sites. Check out the following site for more information: www.austinmuseums.org/museumday2000.html