Convio Web Services are designed to empower clients and partners with the ability to implement data synchronization with external systems such as donor databases and also to provide external applications with flexible access to the data captured and stored in the Convio system.
”Convio’s web services has made it possible for us to efficiently and effectively help clients move massive amounts of data back and forth between Convio and Revolution Online,” said Gina VanderLoop, President & CEO, ROI Solutions. “By embracing open technologies, Convio is helping to break down the barriers between systems and is making it easier to access and share data than ever before. The impact is great and allows clients to have up-to-date information in one place and provides better and more strategic marketing opportunities for our clients.”
Convio Web Services follow the SOAP standard, in which all messages between the client and server follow a particular secure XML format. In addition, all supported operations are described in a machine-readable document written in the Web Services Description Language (WSDL). The combination of SOAP and WSDL makes it easy to create Convio-aware applications with most popular development environments, including Java and .NET.
ADVANCEMENT OF OPEN APIs
An application programming interface (API) is the interface that a computer system or application provides in order to allow requests for service to be made of it by other computer programs, and/or to allow data to be exchanged between them. Convio’s rich set of APIs empowers organizations to create custom experiences that result in higher activity levels and deeper engagement. For instance, using Convio’s constituent API with a Facebook application, an organization can reach and acquire new constituents without ever taking the constituent out of the Facebook environment. Convio currently offers APIs to customize the constituent management, donation, team fundraising, events and authentication experience, and now there are new capabilities offered through the API set, including:
· Designated Giving –Allows the organization to incorporate designated giving options into their custom built donation forms
· Flexible Sustainer Giving –Allows the organization to incorporate donor defined recurring giving schedule options into their custom built donation forms
· Participant Center –Allows the organization build a custom participant center experience for their race participants
· Address Book –Allows the organization to build a custom address book management experience for their constituents
“Convio’s open platform has helped nonprofits integrate with Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other social media outlets in new and innovative ways to reach, engage and inspire people to support their causes like never before,” said Donna Wilkins, president of Charity Dynamics, a provider of comprehensive online solutions for nonprofits and authorized partner in the Convio Solution Provider (CSP) program. “With Convio’s APIs for fundraising, donor management and social media, we have been able to help organizations of all sizes to use video, mobile applications and other tools to more effectively customize and enhance the donor experience while achieving new levels of success. Our Boundless Fundraising application, for example, leverages Convio’s open platform and has enabled nonprofits to raise more than $8 million since the beginning of 2009 alone. As the Internet continues to redefine online marketing and fundraising, it is critical that nonprofits are able to tie their online efforts to fundraising, advocacy, donor and constituent relationship management systems if they want to fulfill their missions—open platforms like Convio make that possible.”
Charity Dynamics is one of a number of partners and developers that have leveraged the open platform to connect applications for the iPhone, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon Payments, etc., to Convio’s online fundraising, marketing and advocacy platform. Convio’s open platform easily integrates to build solutions with Salesforce.com and other cloud-computing environments.
Client, Partner and Developer Resources
Convio has relaunched the Open website with a redesign intended to maximize the efficiency and value to the developer community. The site, www.open.convio.com, includes updated news, documentation, and examples that will make it easier for developers to be successful in their use of Convio’s open technology.
“Leveraging APIs, web services and excellent documentation allows us to create highly extensible and personal campaigns around Convio,” said Tom Camerlinck, CIO, Greenpeace. “Having access to quality documentation around an open platform allows our developers to focus their time and effort on value added integration and applications. Our technical staff leverages the core Convio product to create and integrate applications that meet our unique needs and the unique expectations of our donors and other supporters.”
