PlayPumps International, a nonprofit collaborative that enables individuals, governments, foundations and companies to donate PlayPump® water systems to rural African communities and schools, exceeded its online donation goal with the help of Kintera's easy-to-use content management system (CMS). Prior to Kintera, the organization had limited ability to add content to its site and needed a single system with three key components. The organization needed an easy-to-use content management system, online donation capabilities and e-newsletter functionality. Most importantly, all of these functionalities needed to work together in a single, unified system. The system that best met this need was Kintera.

Because PlayPumps International does not use direct mail, the organization relies on the Web as its primary source to build awareness, solicit donations, and educate the public. However, without a single system to send e-mail appeals, accept donations, update content, and send e-newsletters, the organization was spending approximately 10-15 hours a week on administrative tasks such as uploading names, printing and sending donor acknowledgements.With the Kintera technology platform, the organization has this time back to work on educational initiatives.

PlayPumps first used Kintera to support the organization's "100 Pumps in 100 Days" campaign. The goal of the campaign was to raise $1.4 million, which is enough to fund 100 PlayPump water systems to 100 communities. The organization exceeded this goal and raised enough to fund 111 pumps, approximately $1.6 million. Kintera's ability to offer tiered giving levels online was instrumental in helping the organization surpass its goal. The organization received two individual online donations for $14,000, the exact cost to build and install a single pump. Before Kintera, the organization's online giving system did not offer tiered giving. Now PlayPumps is able to inform donors how much it costs to build a PlayPump system and then easily enable those willing to give the ability to do it quickly and securely online. According to PlayPumps, the two donors had received e-mails from the organization and then went online to give. Such success is a true testament to the power of online appeals and giving.

"Kintera has brought PlayPumps International the structure, tools and resources for effective online fundraising," said Garth Moore, who heads online development for PlayPumps International. "Because of the success we have had, both in our amount raised and our database growth during our first campaign using Kintera, we already have plans to expand our use of Kintera products."

PlayPumps plans to establish a micro site using Kintera Sphere CMS that will serve as an educational portal for global water issues. The organization also plans to use Friends Asking Friends Kintera Thon, Kintera's online events fundraising software solution, to get churches and schools involved to raise money to build and install a single pump.

Result Highlights

• Secured almost seven percent of campaign donations online, surpassing the average of 2-5 percent
• Increased database by 120 percent in three months
• Increased newsletter subscriptions by 64 percent in three months
• Can easily update and create Web pages

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