Environmental Defense Spins Off Private Firm To Web-Enable Member Organizations

Environmental Defense, a leading US non-profit advocacy organization, today announced its spin-off of LocusPocus (www.locuspocus.com), a for-profit internet services company. LocusPocus will help membership-based organizations recruit, engage, and retain members, and will enable them to leverage the power of their constituencies for online advocacy. Environmental Defense will hold a minority ownership interest in LocusPocus.

“We are delighted to help launch this private-sector initiative for the public interest,” said Environmental Defense executive director Fred Krupp. “This new relationship with LocusPocus will result in significant cost savings for our online advocacy and member outreach programs - it will also help other organizations make their mark on the internet.”

LocusPocus’ products grew out of pioneering technology developed by Dr. Bill Pease and his team for Environmental Defense’s Action Network (www.actionnetwork.org) and Scorecard (www.scorecard.org), which LocusPocus will continue to power. The launch of LocusPocus marks the establishment of a new company by Dr. Pease and his team as well as the release of two new services: GetActive and BeLocal.

Both of these services are delivered online, and clients need no special software or hardware to get started. GetActive builds on the foundation laid by Action Network, and provides e-activist muscle to advocacy groups. It helps users contact political and corporate leaders about pressing issues by fax or email with the click of a mouse. BeLocal combines the environmental knowledge base from Scorecard with sophisticated matching technology to help clients publish and syndicate compelling localized content.

Over twenty organizations have already contracted with LocusPocus to use GetActive or BeLocal, including: Independent Sector, National Council of Nonprofit Associations, New York State Bar Association, two Chapters of the American Lung Association, Sierra Club of New Jersey, and Environmental Defense. Dennis Schvejda, Conservation Chair of the Sierra Club’s New Jersey Chapter, recently described GetActive as “an invaluable tool helping us realize our legislative goals.”

LocusPocus investors include leading entrepreneurs Bob Epstein (cofounder of Sybase, Colorado MicroDisplay) and Lisa Gansky (GNN/AOL, Critical Path, cofounder of Ofoto), as well as New Millennium Capital Partners.