As the church technology market continues to consolidate, the most recent news comes from publically traded Pushpay Holdings Limited (NZSX:PPH, ASX:PP). Late December 12, 2019, Pushpay announced the combination of their solutions with Church Community Builder–the two businesses to deliver a best-in-class, fully integrated church management system (ChMS), custom community app, and giving solution for customers in the US faith sector.
Church Community Builder is a US-based, leading provider of ChMS solutions to over 4,000 churches in the US faith sector. Pushpay has entered into an agreement for, and completed, the acquisition of 100% of the ownership interests in Church Community Builder.
Established in 1999 and based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, US, Church Community Builder has over 4,000 customers in the US faith sector and is a market leader in ChMS solutions, providing a platform that churches use to connect and communicate with their community members, record member service history, track online giving and perform a range of administrative functions. Church Community Builder's customer retention is excellent, with most customers entering into annual paid in advance arrangements.
Church Community Builder complements Pushpay's custom community app and giving solution, and aligns strongly with Pushpay's core strategy of providing innovative, market-leading solutions for customers.
The Church Community Builder team has developed a strong culture led by a highly capable management team. Pushpay is pleased to announce that Chris Fowler, Church Community Builder Founder, will continue with the business as Visionary and join the Pushpay Board of Directors as an Executive Director, to provide strategic, US faith market insights3. In addition, Church Community Builder's management team, including CEO Don Harms, will remain with the business.
Pushpay's CEO, Bruce Gordon, said,
We are excited to announce the business combination of Pushpay and Church Community Builder. This strategic partnership enables us to better serve our customers as we strive to be the number one partner to the US faith sector by providing a fully integrated ChMS, custom community app and giving solution. With a shared passion to serve the faith sector, we look forward to bringing continued investment and support to our Customers with a truly differentiated, innovative product offering.”
Church Community Builder's Founder, Chris Fowler, said,
The partnership of Church Community Builder with Pushpay comes at a crucial time for customers in the US faith sector. We are excited for what the future holds and confident that together, we will enable the church to inspire generosity by equipping them with industry leading tools to build community, engage people and grow ministries.”
Key Highlights Include
- Pushpay and Church Community Builder have a shared vision to provide our combined 10,000 Customers with innovative, market-leading technology solutions
- Church Community Builder's leading ChMS offering is highly complementary to Pushpay's custom community app and giving solution, with the platforms already delivering a two-way integration
- The combined business will have a greater range of capabilities and resources to invest in product enhancement and developing the next range of products and services for Customers
- Chris Fowler (Church Community Builder Founder, and a prominent figure in the US faith sector) will continue his involvement with the business as Visionary and will join the Pushpay Board of Directors as an Executive Director, and Don Harms will continue as Church Community Builder's CEO, reporting directly to Pushpay's CEO, Bruce Gordon
- Pushpay acquired 100% of the ownership interests in Church Community Builder for a total cash consideration of US$87.5 million, subject to customary adjustments, funded through a combination of cash on hand and proceeds from an amortizing senior secured debt facility of US$62.5 million
- Interests associated with Chris Fowler1 have also entered into a separate agreement with interests associated with Chris Heaslip to acquire US$15.0 million of Pushpay shares2
- Pushpay and Church Community Builder intend to maintain their respective existing integrations with other software providers for the continued convenience of their Customers
- The combined Pushpay and Church Community Builder teams look forward to working together to deliver market-leading, complementary solutions to enable customers to increase participation and build stronger relationships with their communities
The increased scale and greater breadth of product offering and capability of the combined business will further enable Pushpay to execute on its strategy to deliver innovative solutions for the church and is expected to enhance revenue growth and margin improvement.
For more details on this acquisition, read the full announcement here or visit Pushpay's blog here.
