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Convio has announced the availability of core volunteer management features and functionality as part of its new constituent relationship management software—Common Ground CRM. 

 

Convio is a provider of online marketing, fundraising, advocacy and constituent relationship management software and services to non profit organizations.

 

“Common Ground is changing the donor database market for non profit organizations,” said Tom Krackeler, vice president at Common Ground, in a release. He added that Common Ground is designed from the ground-up to improve the way non profits access, share and derive value from their constituent information, regardless of how each constituent chooses to show their support. 

 

With Common Ground, organization can create an overall systemic approach to manage relationships that match their organizational needs, and provide the multiple channels required for engagement and the diversity of opportunities that people have to participate with the non profit organization.

 

Common Ground takes the data from all of an organization’s departments and makes it work together. Company officials said that the features, functionality and software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform behind Common Ground create an efficient and cost-effective way to “maintain, foster and grow relationships with those people who care for and are touched by an organization.”

 

It’s built and delivered natively on salesforce.com’s Force.com Platform. Officials said that the product leverages cloud computing to deliver a SaaS solution that integrates with other open systems including Convio’s online fundraising and marketing applications.

 

Core Common Ground’s volunteer management features include track individual availability and skills that keep track of volunteer’s schedule of availability and record appropriate skills that can be used to match them with upcoming job shifts.

 

Additional features include participation tracking and reporting; find available and qualified volunteers; manage shift registrations and attendance; and integration with donor management.

 

Company officials said that all volunteer history is tracked for every individual shift that allows staff to identify coverage gaps and monitor results through reports and dashboards.

 

Also, potential volunteers are filtered for every shift by availability or qualifications. Moreover, volunteers’ shifts are tracked, including of prospective volunteers, registered volunteers, and individuals on the wait list.

 

“We have custom designed database tools for several of our clients, but Convio has done a superb job of discovering all of the right functionality for event and volunteer management. And, it has been delivered in an elegant fashion on its Common Ground CRM platform,” said Jim Westfall, Senior CRM Consultant for Idealist Consulting, a Convio Solution Partner and one of the four original Salesforce.com Foundation partners.