Casting a Wide ‘Net’

By summer 2003 we had the commitment and the makings of a strategy, but the technology piece proved to be elusive.

It took us six more months to learn a valuable lesson: When you’re in the business of protecting animals, you shouldn’t also be in the business of developing software. In January 2004, we aborted our attempt to co-develop customized software to power the online program we had envisioned. Seven months later, we hired GetActive, a Berkeley, Calif.-based provider of relationship-management solutions for membership organizations, to provide the software for nearly all our online programs.