TRANSFIRST Forms Strategic Partnership with SofTrek, a Leading Fundraising Technology Provider

Partnership to deliver an end-to-end solution for fundraising organization

(PRWEB) April 12, 2005 -- Dallas-based TRANSFIRST, a leading provider of transaction processing services and payment enabling technologies, and the SofTrek Corporation, creator of PledgeMaker Fundraising Software, today announced a strategic partnership to deliver a front- and back-end solution to help fundraising organizations achieve a streamlined and cost-efficient donation process. Brought to TRANSFIRST through its ePayment Services division, this partnership will provide fundraising professionals the ability to accept charitable contributions through a full-service donor management and payment processing package.
   
This agreement combines TRANSFIRSTs specialized and comprehensive suite of transaction processing products and services with SofTreks PledgeMaker software, a fully-integrated, turn-key system that helps charities with a multitude of management functions including tracking of major gifts and planned giving. The combination of SofTreks front-end technology and TRANSFIRSTs back-end technology gives fundraising professionals a one-stop solution for all of their donation management needs and will provide them with quick access to their funds.
   
TRANSFIRST recognizes that fundraising organizations are continuously seeking new ways to improve upon operational efficiencies and reduce administrative costs to ensure that charitable contributions are fully maximized for their philanthropic endeavors," said Bruce Froendt, president of TRANSFIRSTs ePayment Services division. Based on our understanding of these needs and our mission to deliver the most innovative and comprehensive solutions to our customers, we have partnered with SofTrek to enhance our product and service offerings to this market. Now, through this partnership, fundraisers have access to one of the industrys leading, full-service donation management packages. We have eliminated the fundraising organizations task of finding multiple vendors, in turn helping them meet their goals of increasing efficiencies and reducing administrative expenses."
   
PledgeMaker gives fundraising organizations access to all of their information, enabling them to make more intelligent marketing decisions, and ultimately, to raise more money for their causes," said Dave Spacone, CEO of SofTrek. This new strategic partnership with TRANSFIRST enables our customers to collect funds online, making donations easier for their clients."
   
Payment processing services available through this partnership include credit and debit card acceptance, ACH and electronic check processing, real-time authorization, and 24/7 online access to comprehensive transaction reporting. With this solution, fundraising organizations also have the ability to establish recurring billing for repeat donations. A fundraising organization currently taking advantage of this partnership is the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ).

About SofTrek
SofTrek Corporation, creators of PledgeMaker fundraising software and appitatSM services, was founded in 1987. Headquartered at their state-of-the-art datacenter in Amherst, New York, they have built a reputation as Oracle application experts with secure reliable hosting of their Application Service Provider (ASP) and dominance of the online fundraising software market. Visit www.appitat.com for more information about SofTreks appitat services.

SofTrek currently has 350 clients of which the company hosts 100 at its facility in Amherst. The appitat service has already contracted with a large mail production and printing firm located in Lincoln, Nebraska, to provide an environment for their Oracle applications. Growth of the new appitat business will bring jobs to the Buffalo area.

SofTrek originally started managing and hosting systems seven years ago by providing that service for their award winning software, PledgeMaker. PledgeMaker is a software package specifically for non-profits and is at use at many of the largest organizations in North America. Visit www.pledgemaker.com for more information about SofTreks PledgeMaker software. For more information, visit: www.pledgemaker.com or call 1-716-691-2800.

About TRANSFIRST
A premier provider of transaction processing services and payment enabling technologies, TRANSFIRST offers a first-rate suite of products and services and customized processing programs uniquely tailored for the special business needs of financial institutions, independent sales organizations and agents and its referral and reseller partners. Through its in-depth industry knowledge, partnership strategy and innovative solutions, TRANSFIRST provides a specialized approach to transaction processing for healthcare providers, public entities, online and other non-traditional merchants, as well as brick and mortar retailers. Founded in 1995, TRANSFIRST is a market leader in strategic mergers and acquisitions, which has allowed the company to gain significant market share and world-class expertise in growing and profitable industry segments. Built on a platform of personal service, customer commitment and flexible pricing, TRANSFIRST is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has operations facilities in Louisville, Colo., Omaha, Neb., Kansas City, Kan., Newport Beach, Calif., Milwaukee, Wis. and Langhorne, Penn. TRANSFIRST was recapitalized in 2000 by GTCR Golder Rauner LLC, a leading private equity investment firm. Company wide, TRANSFIRST currently processes approximately $20 billion in annual sales volume for more than 160,000 merchants and mormore than 760 financial institutions. TRANSFIRST can be reached at 1-888-541-9800 or at www.TRANSFIRST.com.

SofTrek Media Contact:
Media Contact:
Robert Bellitto
SofTrek Corporation
Office (800) 442-9211, Ext. 108
Cell Phone (716) 570-3829

TransFirst Media Contact:
Jennifer Mehaffey
The Point Group
(214) 378-7970 ext. 266
jmehaffey@thepointgroup.com

###