Jazz Foundation of America and Resource Center Dallas Raise Nearly $75K To Top the ‘Connect with Sage’ Grant Contest

AUSTIN, Texas – January 12, 2011 – Sage North America today announced the winners of its Connect with Sage grant contest, which asked participating organizations to raise funds using the company’s Sage Fundraising Online service. First-place winners in both contest categories – based on annual funds (Small Organizations, Larger Organizations) – are Jazz Foundation of America, with nearly $48,000 raised, and Resource Center Dallas, with more than $24,000 raised. One grant is being awarded to each of the top five fundraisers participating in the 11-week contest.

“Sage Fundraising Online have more flexibility with our online fundraising campaigns and events, plus allows us to manage the event registration and ticket sales processes with minimal staff – something that was unimaginable before,” said Petr Verner, director of operations for Jazz Foundation of America. “The fundraising service’s flexible back-end lets us quickly and easily control everything in-house and adapt online fundraising strategies for customized events.”

“Using Sage Fundraising Online, we can very quickly build forms for a variety of events and donation campaigns,” said Andrea Crowe, database administrator and revenue specialist for Resource Center Dallas. “The service has helped us streamline our online giving from three different sources to just one.”

Verner added, “Sage Fundraising Online’s real-time fundraising widget is an effective motivator for both our donors and staff. At any given time, we know where we stand and how far we are from our goal. We’ll use our unrestricted grant to further develop and strengthen our Sage Fundraising Online system, so we can increase the overall flexibility and effectiveness of our online fundraising efforts.”

Second-place winners are Campaign for Equal Justice (Larger Organizations), with more than $10,000 raised, and CAMBA (Smaller Organizations), with more than $12,000 raised. The third-place winner is St. Peter’s Episcopal School (Smaller Organizations), with nearly $10,000 raised.

The Connect with Sage grant contest, which opened on October 1, 2010, was open to tax-exempt organizations in North America and registered Canadian charities. On December 18, 2010, the top five organizations in each of two categories – Smaller Organization and Larger Organization – with the highest total amounts raised using Sage Fundraising Online were deemed winners. The two Grand Prize winners are receiving a $5,000 grant, with the second and third place winners receiving grants of $1,000 and $500, respectively.

For more information about the Connect with Sage grant contest, or to learn more about the winners, please visit http://sageconnect.saritasa.com/leaderboard. For more information about Sage Fundraising Online and other Sage solutions for not-for-profit organizations, please visit www.sagenonprofit.com or call 800-811-0961.