The Cleveland Foundation Selects ChesterCAP’s Dotche Platform for Its Web-Based Grant Application Solution

November 6, 2006, Cedar Knolls, N.J.--ChesterCAP, the company that bridges the gap between the philanthropic community and the financial services world, is proud to announce that it has reached an agreement with The Cleveland Foundation to provide its proprietary technology product, Dotche, to serve as the foundation's web-based grant application solution.

"We are thrilled to be working with the nation's oldest and third largest community foundation," says Eric Swerdlin, CEO of ChesterCAP. "The leaders at The Cleveland Foundation were readily able to see how Dotche can make their already robust grants management system even more efficient and user-friendly for the foundation, staff, donors, reviewers, and grantees."

Dotche, which stands for "Donor and Community Exchange," is a unique online philanthropic marketplace that changes the paradigm of the donor-grant seeker relationship. Dotche allows much greater collaboration among grantmakers, either the Foundation itself or donors, and grantseekers; those organizations or individuals who are looking for grant money to do meaningful philanthropic work. Dotche allows donors to get far greater visibility about specific programs, projects, and scholarship opportunities. It also allows grantors to unite online to evaluate grant proposals, scholarship applications, and other opportunities available to them. ChesterCAP, LLC acquired the rights to Dotche in June 2005 from Arizona Community Foundation (ACF).

Jim Bickel, Director of Technology at The Cleveland Foundation, first saw Dotche when ACF introduced it in 2002. Initially, he wasn't sure the new product and the foundation were ready for each other, but today, he can give several reasons why ChesterCAP and Dotche are such a good fit for The Cleveland Foundation.

"First, we were seeking a group that has the technical know-how to integrate their product with what we already had," explains Bickel. "We already have a server-based grants management system integrated with our financial and gifts management systems, so we were really looking for something to serve as a front layer to what we already have. ChesterCAP afforded us the experience and expertise to make that happen."

A second benefit of ChesterCAP's offering that appealed to Bickel and his staff was that unlike other applications in the marketplace, Dotche serves both sides of the grantmaking structure.

"Community foundations like ours are different than private foundations in that we have donors and grantees, and all of the applications we saw on the marketplace only served the grantee side of the equation," explains Bickel. "What made ChesterCAP's offering so attractive is that their application handles both sides of the arena for us. There aren't any other products out there that have the ability to serve both the community foundation marketplace and the private foundation arena. That's a huge feather in their cap."

Add to ChesterCAP's experience and versatility, the third element that endeared Bickel and his team to ChesterCAP is availability.

"Another big reason we made the decision to align The Cleveland Foundation with ChesterCAP was because there were no other innovative solutions to the marketplace, says Bickel.” Eric and his team have a product that has been out there for a while, they've got a second release coming out soon, and they've been able to do some interesting things with it.”

Swerdlin hopes that other community foundations across the country will take notice of what ChesterCAP's solution can do for their organization and follow The Cleveland Foundation's lead.

"Jim and his staff have given ChesterCAP and Dotche an invaluable endorsement,” says Swerdlin. "We look forward to cultivating our relationship with The Cleveland Foundation and beginning relationships with other foundations, large and small."

"Like any business, we want to be more efficient in our grant review and grant making decisions," concludes Bickel. "The byproduct of our relationship with ChesterCAP will be improved interaction with prospective grantees and those who have been selected, as well as a lot better information to share with our donors."

About ChesterCAP, LLC
ChesterCAP, LLC bridges philanthropy and the financial services industry with solutions designed to simplify the complex transactions among philanthropists, financial advisors, and nonprofits. The software components of our solutions are offered as web-based services on the pay-as-you-use ASP model, for recognized efficiencies of deployment and maintenance. We offer a compelling synergy of solid technology, expertise in the back office operations of nonprofits and financial firms alike, and innovative approaches to the stewardship of charitable assets.
www.chestercap.com 

About The Cleveland Foundation
The Cleveland Foundation, a public charity dedicated to improving the quality of life in Greater Cleveland, is the oldest and third -largest community foundation in the nation. Its establishment in 1914 is cited as one of 10 events that most heavily influenced the development of the nonprofit sector in the 20th Century and it continues to be a leader in its field. Since its inception, The Cleveland Foundation has served as the model for more than 600 community foundations across the nation and around the world. It is widely regarded as a local and national philanthropic leader. For more information, please visit.
http://www.clevelandfoundation.org.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Scott Tanner (For ChesterCAP, LLC)
Millennium Media Consulting, Inc.
(703) 519-1922
SCTanner33@AOL.com

Scott Tennant
The Cleveland Foundation
(216) 615-7153
stennant@clevefdn.org