Company description
Tivix is a San Francisco based technology startup. They have an
interesting proposition for nonprofits: easy to use tools that tap into
two of the largest social networks delivering over 450 million active,
passionate users and featuring no software to buy, install, or manage +
added benefit of saving the environment (plus other hard costs) by
decreasing reliance on expensive direct mail campaigns.
Tivix's
suite of social media applications help nonprofits connect to their
supporters for both fund raising and advocacy purposes. The ability to
centralize your social media communication efforts within the largest
social media network - Facebook - is also extremely appealing...after
all 63.3% of American Adults 25+ spend over an hour on Facebook daily.
Tivix's applications give nonprofits the ability to centralize and
integrate their social media activity into Facebook (Twitter, YouTube,
RSS feeds, etc.), allows for sharing with supporters' social networks
for advocacy and donor relationship purposes (Support Us) and features a
strong call-to-action for fundraising (Donate4Good, Shop4Good).
The
majority of nonprofits survive on some mix of grant + foundation monies
along with individual contributions; some are lucky to have a few high
net-worth individual donors but for the most part it's a very insecure
existence. A recent Chronicle of Philanthropy poll reported that
consumers are giving less, with one-third of the 395 charities it
surveyed expecting donations to fall by 10% or more. But the work that
Nonprofits do is vital to our local and global communities and they are
"failing to connect with potential givers using the communication media
those givers increasingly are using" (see
http://www.ssireview.org/opinion/entry/charities_missing_out_on_digital_giving/).
Tivix's
solutions give nonprofits the touch point preferred by the present and
next generation of donors and advocates, as well as, the ability to
harness social media to its full capacity - for fundraising, awareness
of the work being done, increasing their supporter base - all the things
that bring nonprofits closer to achieving a sustainable, viable
operation.
The applications reside prominently as a tab at the
top of the organization’s Facebook page and can be customized for brand
identity purposes. They can also be incorporated into a nonprofits’
existing website, giving organizations the benefits of social media and
the open web.
Tivix's applications are available on a monthly
subscription basis ranging from $10-$50 per month; nonprofits can go
generic or pay a little extra (customization starts at $500) for a fully
branded application; the applications are pure cloud-based software so
there's no hardware to purchase or software to download or install.
Team
Bret Waters, a Silicon Valley executive with a passion for social entrepreneurship, is the founder of Tivix. He was co-founder of Metagraphics (an early leader in web-based publishing), Founder and CEO of Artmachine (acquired by eMotion, now OpenText, NASDAQ:OTEX). As a current board member of the Stanford University School of Education he is involved in driving a major new $75 million fundraising initiative for the University, and he has also led major fundraising initiatives in his previous roles as Chief Operating Officer for Stanford New Schools and as Executive Director of the Woodside School Foundation (both 501(c)3 organizations dedicated to K-12 education improvement.
Sumit Chachra is an expert in engineering hosted, on-demand software applications. Most recently he was Technical Architect for Omniture (NASDAQ: OMTR), the leading provider of hosted applications enabling marketers to optimize their efforts online. He came to Omniture via the acquisition of Offermatica by Omniture, for $65 Million. Previously he was a Software Engineer with Yahoo!, where he worked at the Yahoo! Publisher Network (YPN).
Sumit holds a Masters Degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Arizona, and a Bachelor of Technology Degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), where his thesis was awarded the best thesis in his class. He taught C Programming and the Principles of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Arizona, and has authored several peer-reviewed research papers on a variety of topics such as Distributed AI and Multi-agent Systems.
Business model
Tivix's business model is the SaaS model with a combination of monthly
hosting/subscription fee coupled with a per transaction fee. We charge
a standard, 1x fee if our client wants the application to be fully
customized and branded, or white-labeled. We also do project-based
application development which is quoted.
Competitive advantage
Our applications can run both in the Facebook environment, as well as,
on the open
web as a microsite, or as part of our client's existing website; applications and campaigns are efficient and cost-effective; offer a fully white-labeled platform
Founder & CEO Bret Waters brings extensive knowledge of enterprise
software applications along with unique insights into the challenges
and needs of the nonprofit sector based on firsthand industry
experience. This, coupled with his passion for social change and a
fervent desire to help nonprofits achieve a sustainable and viable
operation, has resulted in useful and necessary applications to help
nonprofits in their day to day operations as they relate to fundraising
and advocacy.