In a move meant to help nonprofits, Convio has made its Database Connector available on Salesforce.com’s AppExchange.
This move, the first in a new working relationship between Convio and the Salesforce.com Foundation, allows nonprofits to synchronize constituent, donation and campaign data between the Convio and salesforce.com platforms. The application is available immediately.
“If you’re participating in nonprofits’ direct mail campaigns or been a volunteer, Salesforce.com is probably going to have that information about you,” explained Gene Austin, CEO of Convio. “But nonprofits also want to know what you are doing for them on the Web because they want a holistic view of you.”
Because it allows them to combine online data and activity from Convio with constituent records in salesforce.com, the combined offering should help nonprofits conduct integrated marketing campaigns
Austin said working with Salesforce.com was attractive to Convio because salesforce.com has had great momentum in the nonprofit space. The two companies also found synergy in the fact that both offer software-as-a-service (SaaS), which Austin sees more nonprofits investing in.
A number of Salesforce.com users are also Convio users. Previously, these clients had to manually import Convio data into salesforce.com in order to use the Salesforce system.
“This provides a much greater value to existing customers who happen to be using both,” said Tucker MacLean, senior director for nonprofits and education for Salesforce.com. “Then, of course a number of Convio customers would be qualified for our donated nonprofit edition license, and it enhances usability of the Convio system by having the salesforce.com backend CRM tool for managing that.”
“Another great thing is the really strong community element of AppExchange,” added Clara Shih, director of the AppExchange product line. “Through community boards and user reviews, nonprofits can learn best practices from one another, and one of those best practices may be using a tool like Convio.”
Together, Convio and Salesforce.com serve more than 4,000 nonprofit clients.
Convio provides on-demand software and services, including its online constituent relationship management, to clients such as the American Red Cross, Sierra Club and National Public Radio. The eCRM product includes modules for fundraising, advocacy, e-mail marketing, Web content management and consulting.
