Just four months after a transaction that tied together EveryAction, Social Solutions and CyberGrants in what might be one of the largest ever roll-ups of providers of social good tech, Chief Executive Stu Trevelyn is stepping down as of Dec. 1.
Erin Mulligan Nelson, who previously served as chief executive officer of Social Solutions, leading the company into the merger with EveryAction and CyberGrants, and Calytera, will replace Trevelyn as CEO.
Trevelyn was also a co-founder of CTSG, which pioneered many of the best practices and tools for online fundraising and advocacy. He had been chief executive officer of EveryAction.
“We are incredibly grateful to Stu who has been a leader and pioneer in the social good software space for over two decades and who has played a critical role in the creation of the new company, and for his leadership as three companies embarked on a complex integration process,” Jason Wright, a partner of Apax and a director of the newly-formed firm, said via a statement. The deal was being put together by Apax Partners, a London-based investment firm that focuses on sustainability and impact.
“We are excited to partner with Erin in this next phase of the company’s growth, innovation, and market leadership,” Wright’s statement continued.
The new entity has an undisclosed legal name but a process has begun to brand the umbrella organization. The platforms have continued with each now offering access to fundraising and digital marketing from Washington, D.C.-based EveryAction, case management and outcomes software via Austin, Texas-based Social Solutions and grant-making and employee engagement software from CyberGrants in Andover, Mass. The new company had combined annual revenue of more than $200 million at the time of the deal.
Trevelyan said via a statement: “After a more than 26-year marathon of growing EveryAction/NGP VAN and CTSG before that, helping nonprofits and campaigns do more good with technology, then leading EveryAction into the merger with Social Solutions and CyberGrants and overseeing the combination and creation of the company, it’s time.”
He also was quoted in the statement as saying: “I am grateful to Apax for the opportunity to be part of the creation of such a landscape-defining company. And it has been the honor of a lifetime to do more good, first with the awesome EveryAction team and clients, and then with the new social software platform, and to build and support the best in class innovative products that have turned us into the fastest-growing and second-largest nonprofit software company in the world.”
Nelson was president of the company prior to the promotion. She has more than 25 years of technology, marketing and go-to-market leadership experience and had led Social Solutions, according to the company’s statement.
“I am delighted to be appointed as CEO and to lead this amazing company, now over 1,000 employees strong, where we have the opportunity to redefine the way social good gets powered. We have a tremendous platform full of potential, able to better serve nonprofits, the public sector and funders alike,” she was quoted in the announcement.
The combining of the three firms, announced this past August, came just two months after EveryAction acquired Salsa Labs, one of the best-known software companies serving nonprofits. Terms of that deal were not disclosed. That deal followed EveryAction’s acquisitions of GiveGab, ActionKit, BSD Tools, DonorTrends and Mobilize since receiving a growth investment from Insight Partners in 2018.
Other venture firms were involved individually with the three companies that comprised the deal – Insight Partners, Vista Equity Partners, and Waud Capital Partners. Apax became the major investor with Insight selling a majority of its stake in EveryAction to Apax. Vista continued a minority stake and Waud exited its investment, selling to Apax.
Apax was co-founded by Sir Ronald Cohen, an impact investing pioneer. In 2006, Apax established the Apax Foundation to focus on grants and employee donations that enable social mobility in underserved communities; since its inception, it has contributed more than $30 million to those efforts. CyberGrants has a large overseas presence.
