The Duck Race With a Difference: Kintera's Internet Technology Generates 61 Percent of Proceeds for Special Olympics New York.

Business/Feature Editors

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 31, 2001

Online Team Competition Drives Popularity and Fundraising Success of

the Million Dollar Duck Race

Take one Duck Race to benefit a noble cause, add easy-to-use online fundraising tools, stir in a bit of healthy competition -- and it's a winning formula for success, according to Special Olympics New York.

In just two and a half weeks before their recent Million Dollar Duck Race, nearly a half million hits were logged by the event Web site as thousands of New Yorkers helped the charity raise $100,000 in critically needed funds. Using innovative Web-based technologies provided by Kintera, the leader in Internet marketing services for nonprofits, event participants divided themselves into teams and competed online to create a frenzy of duck "adoptions" -- demonstrating that, while "quacky" at times, New Yorkers do indeed have a heart.

The Million Dollar Duck Race on June 28 was the first time that the Internet has played an integral role in a fundraising event for Special Olympics New York. Almost 3,000 participants adopted -- for a $5 donation -- thousands of sunglass-attired rubber ducks by logging onto a special Web site. The organization's initial goal was to adopt 5,000 ducks. But with an overwhelming response from participants, a total of 10,000 ducks were sold out before race day, where they were dropped into the East River under the Brooklyn Bridge, floating to the finish line at the South Street Seaport before a huge crowd of cheering spectators. By melding traditional fundraising with online marketing, the organization reached a larger number of participants who contributed to a great cause.

For Special Olympics New York, the key to generating 61 percent of the total duck adoptions through online registrations was the Internet team competition. Motivated by their need to help, but fueled by competitive juices -- and the incentive to win a party for 500 -- two leading teams provided a hectic ping-pong of fundraising fun that made a difference in the success of this event. Although the "Sofa Kings" and "Lodi H.S. Alumni" might have had varied reasons for their involvement in the event, it was the competition between the two teams that resulted in nearly 350 team participants together raising over $8,000.

"When I heard about the Duck Race, I thought it might be a fun thing for our classmates to get involved with ... then it snowballed!" said Carrie Hook, captain of the Lodi High School Alumni Duck Race Team, which won an outdoor party for 500 people at Manhattan's South Street Seaport for their efforts.

"I keep a database of names and contact information as our high school reunion organizer, so I emailed everyone to ask them to help Special Olympics. As it got closer to the race day, we were running neck and neck with the Sofa Kings, a team of Wall Street professionals. We couldn't let these people take away our party -- in fact, we raised the final $2,000 during the last two days before the event!"

Matthew Tyrrel, captain of the runner-up Sofa Kings team, reported, "I thought the Duck Race was a fun idea, for a good cause. I sent emails to about 150 people asking them to buy a 'quack pack,' they sent to people they knew and it just grew. The web site made it very easy to get involved and to see how we were doing. If it weren't for the competition between the Lodi H.S. Alumni team, we wouldn't have raised $4,000. We were spurred on because Lodi Alumni was ahead of us. In fact, on the last day when the two teams were very close, my friends kept calling me at work, trying to find more participants so we could win!"

Dr. Jeane Chen, executive vice president of engineering at Kintera, noted, "As other Duck Race participants saw the competition heat up between the Lodi H.S. Alumni team and the Sofa Kings, more than 100 donors were recruited to change from their existing teams. The competitive spirit that grew with this event made a huge difference in the final fundraising totals, which is a great example of the 'Friends Asking Friends(TM)' concept that Kintera's personalized email and website tools make possible."

Special Olympics New York was pleased with the speed and ease of use facilitated by online tools. "Kintera's website production and support contributed to the overwhelming success of the Special Olympics New York Million Dollar Duck Race," added Neal J. Johnson, president and chief executive office of the organization. "With Kintera's help, we hope to organize an even bigger and better Million Dollar Duck Race next year."

About Special Olympics New York

Special Olympics New York provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in 22 Olympic-style sports for people with mental retardation. Special Olympics New York is the largest program of its kind, with nearly 40,000 athletes throughout New York state, including 18,000 athletes in the New York metropolitan area.

About Kintera Inc.

Kintera is an Internet marketing service provider offering advanced Internet fundraising solutions to nonprofit organizations. Kintera's solutions leverage the power of the Internet to enrich user experiences when interacting with nonprofit organizations, thereby enhancing donor recruitment, cultivation and stewardship programs. Kintera's end-to-end Internet services meld traditional fundraising with online marketing solutions to augment overall fundraising activities. For more information and job opportunities, visit the Kintera Web site at www.kintera.com or call 858/795-3000. Kintera is located in San Diego.

Kintera: When knowledge interacts with emotion(TM).

The release contains information about future expectations, plans and prospects of Kintera Inc. and constitutes forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.