Feb 13, 2018

Acquisition of $1B fundraising services company will enable Bold Orange to drive community loyalty and brand loyalty February 12, 2018 08:30 AM Eastern Standard Time MINNEAPOLIS--( BUSINESS WIRE )-- Bold Orange , a human connections company that works to modernize loyalty, customer relationship management (CRM) and digital experiences for brands, today announced the acquisition of Great Lakes Scrip Center (GLSC), the largest gift card fundraising company in the country. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Twin Cities business leader and entrepreneur Margaret Murphy recently launched Bold Orange with a two-fold purpose: to create business and societal progress. The acquisition of the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based company that provides the gift card fundraising platform ShopWithScrip.com complements both of those principles. “Great Lakes Scrip Center has done a fantastic job of deepening connections among communities, loyal supporters and the brands they love, and we are excited to build on that legacy and drive greater engagement for our partner and retail organizations and the millions of families that are connected through this powerful network,” said Margaret Murphy, Bold Orange founder and CEO. “Together with their talented team of employees, we plan to blend traditional scrip fundraising with a more modern digital experience – connecting with people in ways that are even easier, more relevant, and more meaningful.” “Building this company over the last 23 years has been an incredibly fulfilling journey for my family and all of our dedicated employees,” said Jack Smith, former GLSC CEO. “We are thrilled to be handing over the leadership at this exciting time in our industry to Margaret Murphy and Bold Orange.” For more than two decades, GLSC has helped over 48,000 local organizations and nonprofits such as schools, community groups, sports teams, and churches raise more than $680 million for needs such as computers, tuition, band instruments, athletic equipment, or church operations all while driving $9 billion in revenue to partner brands. Those brands include Starbucks, Target, Amazon, Safeway, Best Buy and Delta Air Lines among more than 750 others. GLSC works with the local organizations to sell the branded gift cards to their supporters, who in turn, use the cards to shop at their favorite stores, both online and at brick-and-mortar. A percentage of every gift card purchase is returned to the organization as a rebate and can be used to fund its initiatives. Thousands of private K-12 schools across the country also allow families to apply a portion of the funds they raise toward their family tuition. Bold Orange will be investing in the online experience and marketing tools to make GLSC even easier for organizations, their supporters, and brand partners to engage. “This move is a significant step for Bold Orange, and a natural extension of our goal to help companies relate in more personal and relevant ways,” Murphy added. “By making them part of an experience built around local initiatives people care about, brands become everyday allies in community development.” The acquisition also allows Bold Orange to partner with companies on a deeper level, helping them not only create a local community platform and drive sales through gift cards, but also helping them transform their own business through modern loyalty and CRM experiences. In connection with the acquisition, Bold Orange secured backing from Denver-based private equity firm Mountaingate Capital. “Great Lakes Scrip Center has built a powerful network of national and local brands, community based organizations, and dedicated families that has been disruptive to the fundraising industry. We are extremely bullish on the prospects for expanding this network under Margaret Murphy’s leadership and will be investing aggressively to support her efforts at Bold Orange to execute our shared vision,” said Colton King, Mountaingate managing director. Lincoln International served as the exclusive financial advisor to GLSC in the transaction, working closely with the company’s management team and shareholders throughout the process. About Bold Orange Company Bold Orange, based in Minneapolis, Minn., is a human connections company with a two-fold purpose: business and societal progress. Bold Orange modernizes loyalty, CRM and digital experiences for both consumer and business-to-business brands. The company’s purpose creates opportunity for employees to be inspired and empowered to impact brands and their local communities alike. For more information, visit Bold Orange , follow us on Twitter , Facebook , Instagram , and LinkedIn . About Great Lakes Scrip Center Great Lakes Scrip Center (GLSC) has over 23 years of experience helping organizations succeed with their fundraising needs without the traditional fundraising hassle of selling products and running events. The largest scrip fundraising provider in the United States, GLSC enables supporters to raise money in the course of their normal shopping routines, which allows them to offset expenses such as school tuition, athletic equipment, church operations, and band instruments. By shopping through the shopwithscrip.com platform, people don’t have to spend any extra dollars to contribute to the things they love. Over 48,000 organizations have been helped with over $680 million raised for initiatives that matter to them. For more information, visit ShopWithScrip.com and follow us on Facebook . About Mountaingate Capital Mountaingate Capital is a private equity firm based in Denver that specializes in building and empowering lower middle market companies with strong growth potential and engaged leadership teams. The firm was launched by a team of partners with deep investment expertise in four distinct market sectors: marketing services, business/industrial services, specialty distribution and specialty manufacturing, including medical devices. Mountaingate’s focus on organic growth coupled with its proven customer-centric buy-and-build approach for add-on acquisitions and shared equity ownership with management creates more value for the end customer, while forging stronger, more collaborative, and more successful investment partnerships with management teams. In 2017, Mountaingate announced the close of its first fund with $395 million in capital commitments. Mountaingate targets investments in new platform companies typically with $5 million to $25 million of EBITDA. For more information on Mountaingate, please visit  http://mountaingatecap.com/ . Contacts