International Brotherhood of Teamsters Announces New Fundraising and Engagement Software with The Network Companies

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                                Contact: Mike Jaconi

Wednesday, October 8, 2008                                                                                                                      (202) 552-5835

Today the Network Companies LLC, in partnership with FreeCause, Inc., announced the launch of a new Teamsters branded toolbar.  The Teamsters Toolbar, which can be downloaded by Teamsters members and supporters at the Teamsters website, http://www.teamster.org/toolbar, serves as a unique way for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to communicate with their constituency, as well as raise funds for their operations. 

“The Teamsters is an internationally known and respected labor organization,” said John Weaver, Senior Partner at the Network Companies LLC, “and The Network Companies is proud to aid them in their effort to improve communications while simultaneously raising funds.  We look forward to working with Mr. Hoffa and his forward-thinking leadership team.”

The Teamsters Toolbar is a revolutionary online communication device which allows the Teamsters leadership to stay constantly in touch with its membership base.  With auto-updatable RSS feeds and news feeds, links to pages on the organization’s websites, and all the components offered by the Google and Yahoo! toolbars such as the weather and email checker, the toolbar provides important information for the Teamsters. 

The most powerful component of the Teamsters Toolbar, the messaging component, creates an inbox on the browser for all toolbar users.  Through the messaging component, organizations like the Teamsters are able to segment messaging based on demographic data – providing a powerful tool for micro-targeting and broadcasting key messages and user-specific calls to action.

In addition to its communications benefits, the toolbar also provides the Teamsters with a revolutionary and cost-effective fundraising tool.  The application raises money every time a supporter performs a search through the Yahoo! powered toolbar.  Also, when supporters purchase items through the toolbar at thousands of internet retailers’ websites, a portion of the sale amount is directed back to the organization.  The toolbar application provides organizations the opportunity to monetize supporters’ every day activities – generating new revenue streams for their cause with a limited investment of time or money. 

“The search engine marketplace is perhaps the most lucrative marketplace ever created, and our toolbar technology allows organizations like the Teamsters to tap into this market while utilizing the communications benefits we have developed.”

The Network Companies LLC, a multi-service firm offering public affairs and crisis management, political consulting, and affinity and direct marketing is based in Washington, DC.  The Network has the exclusive rights to all domestic and international political clients of the FreeCause toolbar application.  FreeCause, Inc. is a software and technology development firm based in Boston, MA.

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