SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- Groundspring.org (formerly eGrants.org), the nonprofit technology organization created by Tides Foundation, has launched EmailNow, a state-of-the art email messaging service designed to help nonprofits send out eNewsletters, raise money online and communicate with supporters. EmailNow allows a nonprofit to easily and safely store thousands of email addresses and to conveniently conduct email outreach campaigns.

"We've designed EmailNow to be of service to small and medium-sized nonprofits that are looking for powerful, affordable and trustworthy tools," says Michael Stein, Groundspring.org Associate Director, and co-author of the recent book The eNonprofit: A Guide to ASPs, Internet Services and Online Software (published by CompassPoint Nonprofit Services). "Nonprofits with limited staff and financial resources often can't afford the setup and monthly fees of the larger, for-profit integrated systems, and they're fed up with the ads and reckless privacy policies of the free services. EmailNow is now available as an alternative."

EmailNow is designed to work in conjunction with Groundspring.org's other service, DonateNow, which allows nonprofits to accept credit card donations directly through their Web site. Combined together, a nonprofit can easily create an online fundraising campaign, email supporters to make an appeal or announce a campaign, and then drive traffic to their Web site where credit card contributions can be collected. EmailNow also works as a standalone online software application to power email broadcasts.

Features of EmailNow include:

• capacity to send upwards of 10,000 emails per hour;
• easily plugs into a nonprofit Web site;
• nonprofits have access to complete delivery statistics for an email campaign;
• nonprofits can track the number of recipients that click-through on hypertext links in the body of a message;
• it's integrated with the Groundspring.org DonateNow service, which allows nonprofits to track donation details;
• nonprofits can maintain a "master" opt-out list to maintain high privacy standards;
• nonprofits can create subsets of email addresses for specific campaigns;
• EmailNow supports a number of different email message types including plain text, HTML, text and HTML, and AOL;
• nonprofits can send test messages to verify formatting and content;
• EmailNow has an import utility that cleans up invalid email addresses and removes duplicate addresses;
• EmailNow can import email addresses from other online services or from in-house databases;
• EmailNow can export email address to other software programs;

ONE-TIME SETUP FEE:

• $49
• Current DonateNow customers will benefit from a 50% signup discount. Watch for other special launch promotion pricing.

• The basic monthly fee is $19.95 for up to 10,000 emails sent per month.
• Between 10,001 and 100,000 emails sent per month, the monthly pricing is $19.95, plus $1.00 per thousand emails.

• Between 100,001 and 250,000 emails sent per month, the monthly pricing is $109.95, plus $0.75 per thousand emails.
• Between 250,001 and 500,000 emails sent per month, the monthly pricing is $222.45, plus $0.50 per thousand emails.

ABOUT GROUNDSPRING.ORG

Groundspring.org (formerly eGrants.org) is a nonprofit organization created by Tides Foundation to help nonprofit groups use the Internet effectively to increase resources for positive social change and environmental sustainability. Groundspring.org provides online donation services (DonateNow) that nonprofits use to raise money on the Internet, and an email messaging service (EmailNow) designed to help nonprofits send out eNewsletters, raise money online and communicate with supporters .

Groundspring.org offers several learning programs on online fundraising and Internet strategy, including national training workshops, a free, downloadable "Online Fundraising Handbook," an Internet Techniques Series of free Internet strategy , and a monthly e-newsletter.

To date, Groundspring.org has processed more than $4.25 million in online donations to nonprofits, has provided training to more than 350 nonprofits nationwide in online fundraising and Internet strategy, and provides Internet services to more than 800 nonprofits across the United States.

Contact:
Groundspring.org (formerly eGrants.org)
The Presidio, San Francisco, CA
Tel: 415.561.7807   Email: support@groundspring.org   Web: www.groundspring.org

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