11.30.2006 - 11:03am ET

(CSRwire) LANCASTER, PA, November 30, 2006- Mission Research, an innovative software and research company specializing in affordable donor management software for the nation's 1.8 million nonprofits, has closed a Series A round of venture financing of around $1.5 million. The investment was led by Underdog Ventures, a socially responsible venture firm committed to financial, community and environmental results. The rest of the round was provided by founder Charlie Crystle, company advisors, and friends and family.

"We're thrilled to have David Berge and Underdog Ventures invest in our mission to help nonprofits do more at less cost," said Charlie Crystle, Co-Founder and CEO of Mission Research. "As a socially responsible business, we highly value patient capital and an investor who understands the value of our commitment to the triple bottom line. The mainstream venture world and startups would greatly benefit from a similar approach."

Mission Research makes GiftWorks Fundraising Software, donor management software recognized in the industry for its ease of use and reasonable cost. "Nonprofits have for a very long time been limited by poorly designed donor databases, high software costs, and expensive training. GiftWorks is fundraising software anyone can use and everyone can afford. That's why we're the fastest growing software company serving nonprofits," Crystle added.

The GiftWorks nonprofit software platform technology merges the power of the desktop with the utility of the Web, in what the company calls the Hybrid Web™. Customers can seamlessly receive new functionality through the platform, or send data to the web to do things like mapping donors and sending email appeals. According to Crystle, "Our platform is part of what makes us so attractive to customers, consultants, and third party developers. It's a truly unique approach to software development, and is especially valuable to nonprofit customers."

"This is exactly the kind of investment we like to make in Underdog Ventures," said David Berge, president of Underdog Ventures Legacy Fund. "All over the country, small nonprofits are trying to keep track of their donors and volunteers on scraps of paper and homemade spreadsheets. Mission Research designs software to help those nonprofits spend less time and be more effective in tracking and contacting donors, so they can spend more time helping their communities."

"With Mission Research we don't just see a high-growth software company led by a team which has been successful before," continued Berge. "We see a company which makes a product to benefit nonprofits all over the country. We also see a company led by founders committed to giving back to their community."

About Mission Research

Mission Research is a socially responsible software company focused on serving the nonprofit sector with software that's affordable and easy to use. Started in 2002, the company launched GiftWorks in 2004. The company was founded by Charlie Crystle, David Weaver, and Chris Walker, the original team behind Chili!Soft, which sold for $70 million to Cobalt Networks in 2000; ChiliSoft is now owned by Sun Microsystems [NASDAQ:SUNW]. Mission Research company partners with Avery Dennison, Intuit [NASDAQ:INTU], and the United Way of America. Mission Research can be reached at www.missionresearch.com, 1-717-431-0200, or info@missionresearch.com

About Underdog Ventures

The Underdog Foundation works to meet community and environmental needs that cannot be met through simple investments. The Underdog Foundation, which does not accept unsolicited applications, supports nonprofit organizations doing important work in our communities through grant making, community investment, technical assistance, and strategic nonprofit/for-profit partnerships. They have special expertise in applying an array of innovative community investment models to provide effective capital to communities and organizations that have compelling needs but may have been excluded from access to capital. For more information, visit www.underdogventures.com.

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