„Clients inevitably need both software and services. As partners, we can address both requirements.”
The partnership between Donor Community, a developer of a cloud computing platform specifically targeted at nonprofit organizations, and Planned Growth, a fundraising and sales consultancy for nonprofits was announced a few days ago in late November. According to the alliance, Donor Community was named Planned Growth’s exclusive provider of fundraising and CRM platform, while Planned Growth, in turn, became Donor Community’s exclusive content development partner. Both companies hope that their newly forged parnership may bring both services to whole new levels.
Donor Community CSO Eric Block: Together, we provide the software and services client need for a dynamic and interesting Website
„We first learned about Planned Growth when The Boys and Girls Club of Broward retained them to perform an in-depth technical evaluation of the DonorCommunity platform,” Eric Block, the Chief Strategy Officer of DonorCommunity Inc. tells Fundraisr.org when asked about the background and history of the cooperation between the companies. „The Club had already decided that we offered the most comprehensive and cost-effective solution. But, they wanted to be sure our cloud computing technology had the stability and scalability they would need long-term. After a lengthy evaluation. Planned Growth endorsed our cloud computing technology and recommended that the Club become a DonorCommunity subscriber.”
According to Block, the first steps were made by Planned Growth shorty after this evaluation, back in October, 2011. „Planned Growth was so impressed with our software that they approached us soon afterwards about forming an alliance. We were happy to agree, since they provide the kinds of surround services our clients often request. We’re also glad to have Planned Growth offer DonorCommunity as their exclusive fundraising and CRM solution,” he told us referring to the mutual nature of the agreement.
While the agreement can become a milestone for both companies, the forming of the partnership didn’t require major changes on either company’s behalf. „Both companies continue to operate exactly as we did before,” stated Erick Block. The only difference is that the spectrum of the services both company can offer now became a lot broader. “DonorCommunity can now offer clients a new spectrum of surround services that are fulfilled through Planned Growth. Likewise, Planned Growth can now offer their consulting clients convenient access to our software platform,” explains the CSO.
„Consider the typical nonprofit Website. Many organizations lack the on-site expertise needed simply to update the content on an ongoing basis. Our Website Content Manager Management application makes this extremely easy. But, someone still has to decide what the nonprofit should be saying on its Website and then produce the content. That’s where Planned Growth comes in. Together, we provide the software and services client need for a dynamic and interesting Website. The same benefits apply to online fundraising, social networking and event management. Planned Growth helps clients with the content and strategy. DonorCommunity makes the program execution easy and efficient,” says Eric Block, concluding „Clients inevitably need both software and services. As partners, we can address both requirements in a way that is seamless and convenient for our clients.”
On top of the actual professional work, the cooperation of the two will, obviously include joint marketing and sales efforts as well.
Although it’s still early days to talk numbers, but the cooperating partners will definitely focus on nonprofits with a large volume of affiliates as their potential clients. Boys and Girls Clubs, for one, is among both companies’ clients. The nonprofit holds some 3,000 big affiliate base, so even a pessimist forecast on successful sales conversion can mean a substantial number of new accounts opened.
In the meantime, Boys and Girls Clubs also agreed to become the reference program of the new partnership. “They immediately agreed to […] participate in a direct mail campaign we launched to inform their affiliates and national headquarters about the benefits of working with us. We’ve already met with a number of affiliates and the feedback has been extremely positive,” Eric Block concluded.