Easter Seals, a U.S. charity dedicated to providing assistance for children and adults with disabilities, has selected Convio to provide an Internet customer relationship management infrastructure for fundraising, marketing and advocacy, Convio said yesterday.
The charity plans to relaunch its Web site using Convio CRM technology. Convio said it would help Easter Seals collect and integrate data gathered from its Web site as well as from offline sources.
Shirley Sexton, director of Internet marketing at Easter Seals, said the charity considered developing CRM infrastructure on its own but found that too expensive. Easter Seals has recognized that more potential contributors are going online for information, and that they expect personalized service, she said.
In addition to data management, Convio's technology will permit Easter Seals to conduct personalized e-mail campaigns as well as manage registration, ticket sales and event logistics.
Easter Seals also will use Convio for Affiliates, a new software product that creates Web portals for use by the charity's affiliates to assist in their online fundraising. Easter Seals local affiliates will work with the charity's headquarters staff to create online fundraising and advocacy campaigns and manage their own content, Convio said.
In addition, Internet marketing staff at Easter Seals headquarters will be able to view detailed information gathered by affiliate fundraising campaigns. Viewing affiliate campaign information will help Easter Seals develop centralized analysis and marketing strategies, Convio said.
Easter Seals primarily provides medical rehabilitation, job training and employment, child-care and recreation services to people with disabilities. The charity serves more than 1 million children and adults and maintains about 90 local affiliates nationwide.
Convio, Austin, TX, is a provider of online CRM technology, serving mainly the nonprofit sector. Other nonprofit Convio clients include the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Planned Parenthood and the National Foundation for Cancer Research.
