Cambridge Incubator Announces Winner of Get.ORGanized Business Plan Competition, Unveils New State-of-the-Art Workspace.

Business/Technology Editors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 1, 2000

Secure Sponsorship(TM) Becomes Fifth Member Company in

Cambridge Incubator's New Active Incubation Environment

Cambridge Incubator (CI), the Boston area's first e-business incubator, announced that it has awarded $250,000 in funding and services to Secure Sponsorship, winner of CI's Get.ORGanized 2000 nonprofit business plan competition. Cambridge Incubator announced this at the public opening of its new state-of-the-art workspace on April 27. Secure Sponsorship joins BrandStamp, Etineraries, PeopleStreet and Veritas Medicine as the Incubator's fifth member company unveiled to the public. Support for this award was provided by Cambridge Incubator, RoweCom, Akamai Technologies, Sun Microsystems, iXL and others.

Cambridge Incubator launched the Get.ORGanized 2000 competition in December, 1999 as the world's first nonprofit Internet business plan competition. One of 139 entries, Secure Sponsorship takes one-time special events and transforms them into opportunities for nonprofit organizations to build lifetime relationships with their donors.

In its first version, Secure Sponsorship will automate communication and contributions between participants who take part in special events, donors who support individual participants and charities. This method is expected to add tremendous value to charities by significantly increasing collected donations, dramatically reducing back-office processing costs and creating the opportunity to build direct relationships with special event donors.

Secure Sponsorship was co-founded by Laurie and Michele Geronimo, graduates of Wellesley College, who left senior-level positions to launch their nonprofit e-business. Laurie Geronimo has spent over eight years working with such institutions as the Children's Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where she managed several cancer and HIV research labs. Her sister, Michele Geronimo, left a position as a senior credit analyst with BankBoston, where she researched and analyzed emerging companies in the telecommunications industry.

Founders Laurie and Michele Geronimo were chosen as the winners by a distinguished panel of judges including Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus Development Corp.; Julia Moffet, senior representative of the Markle Foundation; Alice Jelin, executive director of the Massachusetts Dot.Commonwealth initiative; Lisa DeSisto, general manager of Boston.com; Kelly Fitsimmons, founding partner of New Profit Inc.; Barbara Paige, recently vice president of Access Capital Strategies; Douglas Baird, president and CEO of Associated Day Care Services; David Matheson, senior vice president of The Boston Consulting Group; and Philippe Villers, founder of ComputerVision and member of Cambridge Incubator's Board of Directors.

"Secure Sponsorship combines a tremendous opportunity for social impact with a well thought-out, highly executable business plan," said Tim Rowe, CEO and co-founder of Cambridge Incubator. "Both Laurie and Michele Geronimo have shown true passion in pursuing this worthy cause, and we are excited to welcome them as our newest member company. This is a great first step in our plans to bring the benefits of our active incubation environment to the nonprofit community."

"We are thrilled to have been selected as the winner of the Get.ORGanized 2000 competition," said Michele Geronimo, co-founder of Secure Sponsorship. "This is a unique opportunity for a nonprofit to benefit from the wealth of resources offered by Cambridge Incubator, and we look forward to working with and learning from the tremendous team they have assembled to help Secure Sponsorship grow quickly and successfully."

In addition to the announcement of the Get.ORGanized 2000 winner, Cambridge Incubator's open house event offered an opportunity to formally welcome Boston's entrepreneurial and venture capital community to Cambridge Incubator's new facilities. Over 400 people attended this gala event, held at CI's One Broadway location in the heart of Kendall Square.

Cambridge Incubator's new facility encompasses both a physical environment and a cultural approach defined by an open exchange of ideas among entrepreneurs. To this end, the physical space is designed to foster speed, flexibility, economy and ingenuity. CI's award-winning Directors of Design, Sven Schroeter and David Hamilton, as well as partners Ad Inc. and Kirkland Construction Co. have created a dynamic, flexible, state-of-the-art facility that includes open work areas; multi-use conference rooms; private one-person alcoves; and a large auditorium for hosting professional and social events.

About Cambridge Incubator

Based in Cambridge, MA, Cambridge Incubator has pioneered Active Incubation, a new business model that creates successful e-businesses in record time, bringing together an unprecedented level of collaboration, applied industry experience and capital. Through its unique Venture Campus environment, Cambridge Incubator helps emerging e-businesses develop and execute winning strategies to rapidly navigate the course from idea inception to market success. A partial list of Cambridge Incubator's member companies includes: BrandStamp, PeopleStreet, Veritas Medicine and Secure Sponsorship. Visit www.cambridgeincubator.com for more information.