I couldn’t be more excited to announce our Series C funding round led by Susquehanna Growth Equity (SGE). This new investment represents a huge step forward for Virtuous in our mission to create $10B in net new generosity for the nonprofits that we serve.
At Virtuous, our goal has always been to provide nonprofits with best-in-class software, support, and training—all designed to drive increased giving and nonprofit team effectiveness. This funding round simply accelerates our ability to accomplish our goals and provide more value to the nonprofits we serve.
If you’ve been around the nonprofit sector for a while, you’ve likely noticed that an increasing number of private equity funds have invested in nonprofit technology companies. Some of these investments have led to true innovation in our space, and as a result, nonprofits have experienced massive upgrades in the quality of their software options. Unfortunately, there have also been several investments in our sector that have had a negative impact on the nonprofit community. In some cases, good companies were either abandoned or unnaturally combined with larger conglomerates based on the financial needs of their new owners.
Given that backdrop, I want to provide clarity around our newest capital investment and what this capital investment means for the future of Virtuous.
What this investment means for Virtuous and our customers
The team at Virtuous believes that we are at a pivotal moment in the evolution of nonprofit technology. Nonprofits deserve tools that are equal to or better than the tools used by their for-profit counterparts. The tide is beginning to shift, and forward-thinking nonprofits are leaning into technology to help expand their impact.
At Virtuous, we believe that our team is well-positioned to drive this new wave of innovation forward over the next decade.
After several months of conversations with the team at Susquehanna, it became clear that they see Virtuous as the clear innovation leader in our sector, and they believe we are fast becoming the de facto platform for nonprofits. Our shared vision for the future of fundraising made Susquehanna the perfect partner for our next stage of growth. Effectively, Susquehanna is investing in what you’ve always known to be true—that innovation, durable growth, and longevity matter.
Taking on new capital from a proven leader in software investing means that we now have expanded capital and expertise to accelerate feature enhancements to our platform and to drive customer success through improved customer training, education, playbooks, and more. Our biggest priority remains growing global generosity by serving our customers well and building leading-edge solutions faster than anyone else in our space.
Our plan is to double down on the success of our existing customers while continuing to invest in exciting new solutions in data analytics, AI-enabled fundraising, and digital donor engagement.
What this investment doesn’t mean
To be clear, we didn’t get “bought.” We simply have a new minority partner at the table who believes deeply in our culture, product roadmap, and leadership team. We also have no plans to start buying other companies without carefully considering the impact it might have on our customers.
The Susquehanna team is patient, cares deeply about our customers, and wants to do things the “right” way. This isn’t to say that we will never buy another company. But our decisions will always be guided by the question: “What is best for our customers?”
This investment also doesn’t mean that we will degrade our culture or “lose our soul.” Our culture and team are the X factors that have driven our success up to this point. We carefully chose our new partner based on their belief in our team, our culture, and the success of the nonprofit customers that we serve.
Finally, this investment doesn’t mean that we are running out of money. Virtuous has always been fiscally responsible. We have always been focused on playing the long game, and we’ve intentionally avoided the riskier ”growth at all costs” financial strategies employed by many software companies on the coasts.
Susquehanna shares this mindset and is willing to play the long game as well. Their partnership simply allows us to invest in key initiatives and ultimately become the most widely used platform in our sector.
What should you expect from us over the coming year?
Well, the short answer is “more of the same… but even faster.” We have several big product launches and expanded service offerings planned over the next few quarters, including:
- Virtuous Insights: With Virtuous, you can now predict donor behavior with the power of AI. Insights combines third-party wealth and demographic data with first-party giving and engagement data to provide the most holistic donor behavior and insights engine on the market.
- Virtuous AI: AI can be a game changer for nonprofits. Virtuous is leveraging AI to power natural language queries (just type the data you want and it magically appears!), email/letter copy creation, and giving behavior predictions.
- Virtuous 7: We have made big platform upgrades to increase performance. In our testing, we are seeing 20x performance improvements in key areas of the application.
- RaiseDonors Enhancements: We continue to push the envelope to create frictionless, high-performing online giving experiences. Enhancements to RaiseDonors include A/B split testing, expanded international currency support, and card-present giving.
- Expanded Professional Services: Our goal is to be a partner in your success. With that in mind, we are expanding our services offering to include custom report creation, integration setup, online giving form optimization, and more.
In addition to new product development, we’re doubling down on supporting our existing product features. Our core enhancements this year will include email deliverability/reporting upgrades, volunteer check-in upgrades, split pass-through giving, acknowledgment upgrades, and much more.
At Virtuous, our first core value is to “Build Better.” We say that “We build audacious ideas to accelerate philanthropy and dismantle the status quo.” Our new investment partner represents the next step in our evolution to see this value become a reality—and we couldn’t be more excited for what the future holds.
