Convio Inc.

Convio announced the formation of a strategic relationship with WealthEngine, the leading provider of sophisticated wealth identification and prospect research, to deliver real-time, cloud-based actionable prospect data into the hands of fundraising professionals at nonprofit organizations. WealthEngine’s integration with the Convio Common Ground database gives nonprofits anytime, anywhere access to data that makes marketing and donor prospecting highly effective.

Grizzard Communications Group and Convio Inc. announced that they have partnered on a new solution for nonprofit organizations that integrates Convio’s online marketing and fundraising platform and best practices model, known as Convio Go!™, with Grizzard’s direct response strategies and capabilities for implementing integrated campaigns. The new offering, Go! Forward, gives nonprofit professionals access to Convio’s online marketing tools and Grizzard’s direct marketing resources.

ARLINGTON, VA (March 19, 2011) — The Association of Fundraising Professionals, the largest community of fundraising professionals in the world, has announced a new strategic relationship with Convio Inc., the leading provider of on-demand constituent engagement solutions that enable nonprofit organizations to more effectively raise funds, advocate for change and cultivate relationships with donors, activists, volunteers, alumni and other constituents.

Convio today released the results of its annual Convio Online Marketing Nonprofit Benchmark Index™ Study. The results of the study indicate that online is the fastest growing fundraising channel for nonprofits. In 2010, Convio’s clients raised more than $1.3 billion online, up 40 percent from 2009. The study shows that online engagement continues to play a crucial role for nonprofits: online legislative advocates grew 20 percent, email files continued to grow at a median 22 percent across all sectors and gift sizes increased in 2010.

This week's insider includes a contact data appliance, a consultant acquisition and a new crowd-funding platform for fundraisers.

Convio announced today the release of its third annual ranking of Most Generous Online Cities. Alexandria, VA, Cambridge, MA and Arlington, VA, topped the list for the second year in a row as the nation's most generous large cities based on online giving in 2010. The biggest movers in the top ten are San Francisco, moving up 5 places to number seven; Minneapolis, falling five places to number ten; and Seattle, moving up two places to number four.

Online donations rose sharply last year, say three big organizations that handle Internet gifts.

Convio says online donations to its 1,300 clients topped $1.3-billion, a more than 40-percent increase.

Giving to 5,000 charity clients of Blackbaud grew by more than 10 percent in December alone, though the company wouldn’t give the precise increase. It's preparing a fuller report on 2010 results to release within the month.

And Network for Good says it processed 20 percent more in charitable donations last year than it did in 2009.

After the dot-com bubble burst and took down his online grocery store, Webvan Group Inc., Coppy Holzman got back in the game by auctioning unique experiences for charities, like a backstage meeting with Paul McCartney. Then he took it global on the Web.

With his Charitybuzz.com, Holzman serves as a broker who finds the celebrity and runs the online auction. Instead of an upfront fee, he gets 20 percent of the sale proceeds. He doubled Charitybuzz’s business to $25 million this year over 2009.

A research study into the charitable giving habits and attitudes of Canadians — the first of its kind for the Canadian market — reveals how donors of different generations learn about nonprofit organizations, their preferred channels for engagement, the most appropriate channels for fundraising, and who and what influences their giving decisions.

Convio estimates that US giving during the 2010 holiday season to nonprofit organizations will be more than $48 billion across all giving channels --including online, direct mail and  donation at checkout – as more than 174 million adult Americans plan to give money to charity between Thanksgiving and year-end. Online giving alone is estimated to account for more than $6 billion, an increase of more than 30 percent from this same period in 2009.