The way that churches stay in touch with members and involve them in activities is unique in terms of strategy. Now, a local startup is helping them gain some of the advantages of the business world, without having to use software designed for enterprises.
Minneapolis-based
Fresh Vine--previously called Nineteen05--provides software that's designed to help churches increase engagement while still staying true to a larger mission.
"It's different than typical administration or sales software," says company president Paul Prins. "Their goal is not to convert leads into customers. Their goal is getting the community involved in what they're doing. For that, they need to be more proactive with their members, rather than reactive."
Prins got the idea for the software when he was involved in the launch of a new church about seven years ago. He was asked to take a look at their software and what he saw was painful, he says: "I thought that they could be doing such a better job of managing members, events, contributions, everything."
Fresh Vine's tool helps to define what a church should be focusing on in the near future, and see its strengths and weaknesses. The software is picking up customers, and Prins hopes to expand his current team of four into a larger group of developers.
"I love the tech scene in Minneapolis, so I want to have a development team here that can keep growing and innovating," he says. "As the company gets more traction, I'm looking forward to more sales and expansion."
Source: Paul Prins, Fresh Vine
Writer: Elizabeth Millard