eTapestry has joined Microsoft and Sun Microsystems in serving as exclusive vendors for the Higher Education Cooperative Purchase Consortium, the nation's largest cooperative consortium.

eTapestry is the only online donor/alumni management software vendor for the consortium, which is a group of 1,800 colleges that have pooled together for better vendor prices. The program is operated by the Foundation for California Community College at www.collegebuys.org. Consortium members can save 8 percent on eTapestry's online donor database and communications management software.

"We're looking for vendors that could help college foundations," said Dave Stuart, chief operations officer for the Foundation of California Community Colleges. "We found that eTapestry was a great example of that. That's why we're excited to have eTapestry as one of our vendors."

The consortium has about 75 vendors, most of which represent exclusive vendors in their market.

"It's an honor to join this great roster of vendors," said Steve Rusche, eTapestry vice president and chief operations officer. "eTapestry looks forward to helping more colleges build better relationships with their alumni and keep track of their contributions."

The Foundation for California Community Colleges, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, is the official auxiliary foundation for the California Community Colleges system. FCCC founded in 1999 the Higher Education Cooperative Purchase Consortium, which currently has more than 1,800 members, including more than 1,100 community colleges and 700 independent colleges and universities in the United States. The consortium has special, negotiated prices with more than 70 vendors. For more information see www.collegebuys.org or www.foundationccc.org.

Indianapolis-based eTapestry is the first Web-based donor database and communications management software. Founded in 1999, eTapestry rents its software to customers and delivers it on the Internet. eTapestry is less expensive and more versatile than traditional fundraising software applications. It is used by nonprofit organizations of all types and sizes. For more information on eTapestry, go to www.eTapestry.com.