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Youth Empowerment Center News The Joyful Child Foundation - In Memory of Samantha Runnion Announces First Annual Holiday CD with Guest Performance by Tony Orlando WESTMINSTER, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 8, 2004-- The Joyful Child Foundation, founded by Erin Runnion in memory of her daughter Samantha Runnion, announced today its first annual holiday CD, "If I Could Have One Wish...A Joyful Christmas," which is available for the holidays with a $10 and up donation to The Joyful Child. The CD is the result of a partnership with The California Conservatory of the Arts, and features eight original songs performed by The Kids Next Door with guest appearances by Tony Orlando and Broadway veteran Stephanie Block, who recently appeared with Hugh Jackman in "The Boy from Oz." A Christmas special has also been taped for broadcast on KOCE, Southern California's PBS affiliate, during the holiday season. The entire project is underwritten by BP, Erin Runnion's employer. The CD "If I Could Have One Wish...A Joyful Christmas" is available at participating ARCO ampm retail locations throughout Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties and at www.thejoyfulchild.org. The Joyful Child Foundation was begun by Erin Runnion in 2002, following the tragic and highly publicized abduction and murder of her daughter, Samantha. The Joyful Child is devoted to the protection and enrichment of children, and recently launched its first program called Samantha's PRIDE, a community-based child watch program. "If I Could Have One Wish...A Joyful Christmas," is the foundation's first partnership with The California Conservatory of the Arts, and also is its first major fundraising effort. The California Conservatory of the Arts (CCA), located in Orange County, Calif., provides pre-professional training to talented youth with aspirations for careers in the arts. Members of The Kids Next Door, in residence at CCA, are between the ages of 14 and 18 and are selected to participate through an audition process. This prestigious group performs nationally on television and radio, and has headlined in Las Vegas. Each year, The Kids Next Door produces a holiday CD with proceeds given to select charitable organizations. "The Kids Next Door are an extraordinary group of young people, and I am overwhelmed by their passion, talent and generosity," said Erin Runnion. "Their commitment to this project, and its beautiful result, remind us all of the joy and accomplishment that our young people are capable of. We each have a responsibility to nurture and share this joyous spirit in all our children." "I am so grateful to BP for their ongoing support of The Joyful Child," Runnion continued. "BP has encouraged our efforts in ways too numerous to count, from offering rewards the day Samantha was taken, to their contributions each summer for our Children's Arts Festival to bringing this wonderful holiday project to life. Without their unflagging support, our success to date would not be possible." "It is a privilege to perform in memory of Samantha and in honor of Erin's remarkable courage to carry on her legacy. This year's program really is about 'kids helping kids'," said David Green, executive director of CCA. "Protecting children should be paramount to each of us; I am also so impressed by Erin's embracing of the arts and her encouragement of creative expression by our youth. She is an inspiration to us all, and her work enriches our children, our communities and our nation." For more information about The California Conservatory of the Arts or The Kids Next Door, please call 949-487-7253. For more information about BP, please visit www.bp.com. For more information about The Joyful Child Foundation or to order "If I Could Have One Wish... A Joyful Christmas," please visit www.thejoyfulchild.org or call 866-7-JOYFUL. Contributions to The Joyful Child Foundation will help in the prevention of child abuse and abductions through programs that raise awareness, engage communities in the active protection of children and share Samantha's love of the arts. Big Brothers Big Sisters of America Expands Relationship with Kintera; Kintera Will Provide Big Brothers Big Sisters with Comprehensive Enterprise Fundraising and Web Marketing Tools SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 19, 2005--Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA) today announced it has signed a multiyear agreement with technology partner Kintera(R), Inc. (Nasdaq:KNTA), the leading provider of software as a service to the nonprofit industry. Under the terms of the agreement, Kintera will serve as the donor database of record for BBBSA.
"Big Brothers Big Sisters doubled the number of children it served in the last four years and with plans to double that number again, we are pleased to partner with Kintera," said Vredenburgh. "Their technology solution will help fuel the required fund development and growth, allowing us to bring our proven service to many more children." Highlights of the Big Brothers Big Sisters' online technology package provided by Kintera include: -- Contact Relationship Management (CRM) tools designed to enable secure storage, management and use of millions of constituent records, as well as customized email and web communication with donors and participants. The tool suite includes contact and registration forms and a task manager built on a unified database. -- Technologies that enable fundraisers to identify top prospects for major gifts. -- Content Management System (CMS) technology that provides a sophisticated yet simple-to-use editor that allows the efficient creation and delivery of web content for the national organization and the local agencies' websites. -- Tools for email and e-newsletter communications that enable Big Brothers Big Sisters to effectively communicate targeted and personalized messages to its supporters. -- Kintera's Friends Asking Friends solicitation system designed to maximize donations by offering supporters personalized websites and an email system to encourage contributions. For the past three years, Kintera has provided the infrastructure for the organization's national web site, www.bigbrothersbigsisters.org, and provided online, event-based fundraising and marketing tools. The partnership between BBBSA and Kintera has resulted in increased awareness and participation in the organization's "Bowl for Kids' Sake" event that is Big Brothers Big Sisters' signature fundraiser among some 450 agencies around the country. Many local Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies have increased event participation and donations by offering participants Kintera's Friends Asking Friends(TM) service, which includes customizable websites and easy-to-use Internet tools to send solicitation emails to friends and family. This tool enhances the reach and efficiency of solicitation that traditionally had been done on paper. "Our relationship with Big Brothers Big Sisters has been extremely successful over the last three years," said Dr. Harry Gruber, CEO and founder of Kintera. "We are excited to continue partnering with them to reach their fundraising goals as well as further their overall mission to mentor even more youth throughout the U.S. in the coming years." About Big Brothers Big Sisters of America Big Brother Big Sisters is the oldest, largest and most effective youth mentoring organization in the United States. It helps children reach their potential through one-to-one relationships, professionally supported, with measurable results. The organization serves 225,000 children, ages 6 through 18, in all 50 states. National research has shown that the positive relationships between youth and their Big Brothers and Big Sisters have a direct, measurable and lasting impact on children's lives. The national office is located in Philadelphia. For additional information, visit www.bigbrothersbigsisters.org. About Kintera, Inc. Kintera(R), Inc. (Nasdaq:KNTA) provides an online solution to help nonprofit organizations deliver The Giving Experience(TM) to donors -- including giving convenience, financial transparency, feedback about the social impact of their gifts, and a sense of belonging and appreciation. More than 15,000 accounts in the nonprofit, government and corporate sectors use Kintera's "software as a service" innovations, including the Friends Asking Friends(R) fundraising program and Kintera Sphere(TM), an enterprise-grade software platform that provides a secure, scaleable and reliable system for customer relationship management (CRM), a web content management system (CMS), eMarketing and directed giving applications. Additionally, Kintera FundWare(R) provides award-winning financial management software developed for nonprofit organizations and governments. Kintera recently introduced the Kintera GivingFund(TM) payment option offering donors Internet convenience for Donor Advised Funds (DAF) financial services. Nonprofits may now provide higher customer service to philanthropists through this new, innovative way to make major gifts online. A one-time DAF, CharityGift(TM), is available for purchase at Kintera's The Giving Communities(TM) interactive website at www.kintera.org. The site is also a destination for consumers to connect with thousands of causes and organizations. For more information about Kintera's software and services, visit www.kintera.com. Kintera, Kintera Sphere, Friends Asking Friends, The Giving Experience, The Giving Communities, GivingFund, CharityGift and FundWare are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Kintera, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Forward-Looking Statements In addition to historical information, this press release contains forward-looking statements (including, without limitation, express or implied statements regarding the adoption of software solutions by Big Brothers Big Sisters of America) that involve risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements represent our estimates and assumptions only as of the date hereof. These statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are based on assumptions and subject to risks and uncertainties. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation: our limited operating history; our history of losses; our dependence on increased acceptance by nonprofit organizations of online fundraising; lengthy sales cycles for major customers; our need to manage growth; risks associated with accounting for and processing large amounts of donations; the rapidly changing technologies and market demands; and other risks identified in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. |
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