MPower Named Finalist for Prestigious SourceForge Award Honoring Best New Open Source Project

2008-07-10 00:22:09 -

www.mpoweropen.com - MPower Susie Tull, 512-577-2956 susie.tull@mpoweropen.com MPower - which provides the most open, flexible, and powerful software for nonprofit constituent relationship management (CRM) and fundraising - has been named a finalist for SourceForge's Community Choice Awards in the "Best New Project" category.

SourceForge is the world's largest online repository of open source code and applications, with more than

100,000 projects and 1,000,000-plus registered users. The organization's growing annual Community Choice awards competition recognizes today's most significant open source initiatives in a dozen categories and is open to all open source projects, not just those on SourceForge. Members of the SourceForge community vote for both the finalists and winners so these awards truly reflect the knowledge and spirit of today's open source community.

To join the SourceForge community to become eligible to vote (and also enjoy additional membership benefits), please visit sourceforge.net/account/registration. Once registered, go to sourceforge.net/community/cca08-vote, click on "Best New Project" and select MPower from the drop-down menu.

Voting is open through Friday, July 18, and winners will be announced at SourceForge's July 24 awards party in Portland, Oregon, in connection with the OSCON conference, one of the leading conferences for the open source community.

"Being selected by our peers as a finalist for SourceForge's 'Best New Project' is not only a huge honor - it's strong, third-party recognition from open source and nonprofit professionals that MPower provides critical software for charitable organizations that are serious about fundraising in today's more complex, multi-channel world," said Randy McCabe, Founder and CEO, MPower.

MPower's Chief Technology Officer, Leo D'Angelo, who is a longstanding advocate of open approaches to technology, said, "The list of nominees for these awards is a 'who's who' of the next generation of software leaders - many already have strong and accelerating footholds in both the nonprofit and commercial sectors. We're thrilled to be in such good company, especially just a few months after making MPower available as an open source solution."

Other finalists in various categories for this year's SourceForge awards include Drupal for content management, FireFox for Internet browsing, Linux for PC operating systems and OpenOffice, which is an alternative to Microsoft Office.

The Open Software Advantage

Although MPower has always been a full feature, powerful and highly flexible CRM solution for nonprofits, in March, the company switched to an open source model, making its market-leading software available to all charitable groups without licensing fees and with full access to its source code. By providing access to source code, MPower gives users freedom to modify the software for integration with other mission-critical applications and developing the features and functionality their organizations uniquely need for managing constituent relationships and driving donations.

In contrast, other CRM software solutions for nonprofits are proprietary and remain closed. Users cannot modify the software to meet their needs and are held hostage by vendors who: 1) are locked into product roadmaps that may not include new features and functionality that an organization needs; and/or 2) charge extra for custom development and tend to be slow on delivery.

About MPower

Dallas-based MPower provides the most open, flexible, and powerful suite of software and services for fundraising and constituent relationship management for today's nonprofits. MPower enables organizations to manage important daily operations (including donation processing, fulfillment, event and volunteer management, call center activity tracking and major donors relations) and also capture and leverage key constituent data from all channels for building strong, lifetime relationships. MPower serves hundreds of nonprofits of all sizes with diverse missions and constituencies, including some of the world's largest and most sophisticated direct marketers. For more information, please visit www.mpoweropen.com.

Voting for Winners is Now Open Through July 18 at SourceForge Web
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