Fundraising software provider BidPal has been fortunate to win three Mira awards since the company’s founding 10 years ago: the Information Technology Gazelle award in 2011, the 2013 Mobile Technology Excellence and Innovation award and the 2013 Emerging Technology Company of the Year award.

Since winning these awards, BidPal solutions have helped nearly 2,800 organizations raise more than $1 billion through 8,300 events, and connect with well over one million unique donors.

Last year was a particularly successful year for BidPal — the total number of event fundraisers powered by BidPal grew by 33 percent, and the company increased its software subscriber count by 32 percent. They helped their clients run more than 2,500 campaigns, raising hundreds of millions of dollars for their respective causes. Most recently they launched a new SmartPay Anywhere payment solution and BidPal Connect app for Salesforce.

Rachel Clark, vice president of product & technology at BidPal, holds the TechPoint Mira Award for Mobile Technology Excellence & Innovation with (left to right) Greg Rexing of BKD and TechPoint President and CEO Mike Langellier. PHOTO CREDIT: Banayote Photography
James Rischar, vice president operations & events at BidPal, accepts the Mira Award for Emerging Tech Company of the Year during the TechPoint Mira Awards at the JW Marriott. PHOTO CREDIT: Banayote Photography

In December, BidPal raised an additional $6 million in funding, which will help the company to significantly accelerate product development of its mobile fundraising platform, integrated payment processing solutions, and analytics suite.

We asked CEO Steve Johns and VP Marketing Karrie Wozniak about the impact winning Mira Awards has had on the business and their team at BidPal. Here are some of their answers.

Since winning a Mira award, how has your company grown/transformed?

JOHNS: The future of fundraising is mobile and BidPal has built the leading mobile digital giving platform for nonprofits. We initially launched with our mobile bidding solution that automates the bidding process and auction wrap up for our customers at their events and galas. Silent auctions forever changed across the country, making paper bid sheets a thing of the past and streamlined efforts for the nonprofit. Their proceeds were incrementally increased, guests were having fun and there was no hassle at auction end.

Next, we continued to open up additional revenue streams for the nonprofit to take advantage to fuel their mission even further. We built out BidPal’s suite of digital giving solutions to include online campaigns, event management, mobile bidding, Text2Give® and an integrated payment processing platform – SmartPay® Anywhere.

While our fundraising software has traditionally been event-based, we believe the future of fundraising is in creating everyday giving opportunities. New efforts will improve and extend our products so that they can be used “beyond the ballroom” to connect and engage with more donors year round.

What role do you feel winning the Mira award played in this growth/transformation?

WOZNIAK: Winning Mira awards helped us raise awareness of our company and products. By sharing our Mira success, we were able to position ourselves as a rising start-up in the Indianapolis tech community. This allowed us to attract top talent in product development, sales and customer support.

The recognition was also helpful as we raised new investment funds, as it provided credible support for our vision and our team. Last, but certainly not least, we believe winning the Mira provided our teams additional confidence in the knowledge that the community is rooting for us!

How did you share the news of your win after the Mira Awards?

WOZNIAK: Winning a Mira Award is cause for celebration. Immediately after the awards ceremonies, we communicated to the entire team how proud we were of everyone’s efforts in helping us win. We could not have done it without our employee’s collective passion and drive helping nonprofits further their missions with our mobile technology. We were literally changing the way fundraising was done onsite at events and galas across the nation.

The momentum and excitement that all of us had working hard every day truly hit home when we won these awards from TechPoint. We were on the map in the Indy tech community! We issued press releases and promoted the wins on our website with the Mira Awards logo and winner badges and in our email marketing campaigns to our customers and partners.

What does it mean to you and your team to be Mira Award winners?

WOZNIAK: Winning a Mira Award is a very gratifying experience. When we were in the room at the awards dinner it was very surreal as we were amongst our friends and mentors that we aspire to be like in the future. Indianapolis is such a great place to live, grow a company and be surrounded by very talented people that are all rooting for one another. It did not feel competitive, but a way to recognize those companies that are making a difference, experiencing huge strides in their businesses and moving the needle in technology.

We were able to say, “We are in the company of all these other prestigious nominees and winners that are all building great companies making an impact and a difference.” The Mira Awards are the pinnacle for tech companies in Indiana. Our entire team was very excited to be selected.

What’s next for your company? How are things going?

JOHNS: We are focused now on building new mobile fundraising tools that meet the needs of our nonprofit clients and lead the industry in innovation. We believe the future of fundraising is in creating everyday giving opportunities. Our new development will extend our product to be used “beyond the ballroom” for events such as runs, walks and rides.

This year we are investing heavily in product development, as well as sales and marketing. There will be new career opportunities at BidPal for people who share our mission.