What, I thought you guys were in already in beta??
Well, somewhat. Today marks the launch of our limited beta, which comes with a new website and an updated blog. For the past few months we have been operating our pilot program with a handful or organizations. Here are a select few case studies. During that time we were able to work through a number of issues ranging from digital campaign setup to donation processing. We were also able to test out some of the core concepts of the platform. That said, we are now at a point where we feel we can release our platform to a larger audience.
Here are some of our key features:
Ease of Use – For us, this was a big one. A lot of non-profit software we encounter tends to be very bloated and stuck in this “early 2000s” enterprise mindset. This means long, expensive setup cycles (sales calls, demos, deployments, hefty monthly price tags, etc.) and feature overkill that were not meant for smaller non-profits. The donor and fundraiser experience also left something to be desired. Our mindset going in was to look at every aspect of the setup and launch of a fundraising campaign and remove what was bloated or confusing.
Customizable – In the age of the social network, new sites want to be “the hub” for information/engagement and the non-profit space is no different. We’ve seen the rise of a lot of destination sites; sites that allow you to expand your reach and exposure, but often times do so at the expense of your message and story. You become another organization in a sea of orgs. This is where running a focused campaign under your “branding” (for lack of a better word) can help immensely. By being able to customize look and feel, you can better preserve your core message. Social integration is still important, but it should extend your message, not compete with it.
Supporter-Driven – We realized that a lot of times, we want a way to help an organization, but don’t know how. Supporter pages were a tangible way of realizing that. Rather than direct our friends to a donation page, we wanted to be able to weave our own story within the cause we support. By allowing us to create fundraising pages that contribute to an overall campaign goal, we can take ownership of the causes that move us and also directly see how our efforts contribute. This isn’t the ultimate solution, but it’s a step toward figuring out how to tackle engagement.
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Our vision for CauseVox has always been to create useful tools for non-profits that are easy to use, effective, and affordable. May we continue to strive toward this goal as we move into the next phase of beta.
