GiveCampus buys Community Funded to boost fundraising software

Educational fundraising startup GiveCampus has acquired competitor Community Funded in a consolidation of non-profit crowdfunding technology providers.

Why it matters: The combined entities have facilitated more than $3.5 billion in charitable giving.

What’s happening: GiveCampus is acquiring Community Funded’s technology and bringing on most of its 10-person team to support while it integrates the product into its own offering.

Between the lines: According to GiveCampus’ founder Kestrel Linder, the deal will strengthen the startup’s product offering, particularly among a certain segment of enterprise customers at large educational institutions.

• Community Funded’s customers include the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Utah, American University, the University of Illinois Foundation, and the University of Colorado system.
• Washington, D.C.-based GiveCampus claims to have facilitated more than $3 billion in charitable giving, compared to $500 million raised by Community Funded.

What they’re saying: “Over the last seven years, we were competing head-to-head. We won most of the time but not all of the time… and they really distinguished themselves at winning in the enterprise segment of the market,” Linder says.

• “They were beating us somewhat consistently in that one segment… and for us, that's a big part of the reason why this acquisition makes sense,” Linder says.

Flashback: The deal follows a $50 million growth equity raise by GiveCampus from Silversmith Capital Partners last September, its first significant financing round since being founded in 2015.

• Meanwhile, Fort Collins, Texas-based Community Funded raised a total of $6.5 million in outside capital since its founding in 2011.