Cornucopia

What Cornucopia does

Cornucopia is a Brisbane-headquartered, privately held fundraising agency founded in 2000 by Gregor Drugowitsch that delivers face-to-face fundraising, telefundraising and social media fundraising services to more than 100 charity partners across Australia and New Zealand. The company deploys trained 'cause-driven' fundraisers in streets, shopping centres, workplaces and call centres on behalf of charity clients, recruiting regular givers and achieving 12-month retention rates of 74-82%, materially above the 42% industry benchmark. Notable anchor clients include Royal Flying Doctor Service Queensland, Hato Hone St John, Plan International Australia, OzHarvest, Bush Heritage Australia, RSPCA, Guide Dogs and Médecins Sans Frontières; Plan International Australia alone raises $24 million annually through Cornucopia's programs.

The company operates a technology platform layered on top of its field services, including CallBI for 100% speech-to-text call monitoring, Primed for AI-driven propensity scoring and personalised communication journeys, Fansdonate for supply chain and lead management, SequenceShift for PCI/DSS-compliant payment tokenisation, and the newly launched Peak Fundraising Systems for campaign optimisation. Cornucopia is PCI/DSS compliant and aligned with the Australian Privacy Act 1988 and HITECH requirements for donor data handling.

Cornucopia generates revenue through professional services and commission-style fees tied to successful donor acquisition and retention outcomes for charity partners, with a horizontal GTM targeting non-profits across environmental conservation, animal welfare, humanitarian, healthcare, maritime safety and education verticals. The company distributes services through direct field teams, inside-sales phone operations, social media fundraising channels and a subcontractor network, supported by partnerships with Telefund NZ, AWS-recognised technology providers and a Brisbane-based innovation ecosystem. It is led by Managing Director Ross Howe (since 2008) and has remained independent with no disclosed institutional funding.

Name

Cornucopia

Legal name

Cornucopia

Website

https://cornucopia.com.au

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Non-profit Fundraising Services

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311)

akta.pro primary industry

Fundraising & Donor Acquisition Calling (Nonprofit) (BPAAADAJ)

Keywords

• Charity fundraising services
• Face-to-face fundraising
• Telefundraising campaigns
• Regular giving programs
• Donor acquisition services

Headquarters

HQ city

Brisbane

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Fundraising Services: Cornucopia provides professional fundraising services to charity partners, including face-to-face fundraising, telefundraising, and social media fundraising. The company recruits regular donors for charities and raises funds through commission or service fees based on successful donor acquisition and retention.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Cornucopia is a fundraising agency that helps charities acquire and retain regular donors through face-to-face, telephone, and social media fundraising campaigns across Australia and New Zealand. The company deploys trained, cause-driven fundraisers to engage members of the public on behalf of charity partners, raising over $1 billion in lifetime funds for more than 100 charity clients. Operations are supported by proprietary technology for speech analytics, AI-driven donor propensity scoring, and PCI-compliant payment processing.

Product overview

Cornucopia is a fundraising consultancy offering a unified platform combining face-to-face fundraising, telefundraising (Cornucopia Calling), and AI-powered innovation solutions. The core products include direct engagement services (telefundraising and face-to-face fundraising), supported by technology add-ons: Primed for AI-driven donor propensity scoring and communication optimization, CallBI for speech analytics, Fansdonate for supply chain management, Declines Microsite for payment recovery, and Peak Fundraising Systems for investment optimization. The company has raised over a billion dollars for charity partners through these integrated services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• 74.2% retention rate for RFDS QLD (25.1% above industry average of 42%)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability6 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Telefund NZcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 30 November 2023Partnership with Kiwi-based telephone fundraising agency serving over 50 charities including Heart Foundation New Zealand, ChildFund New Zealand, Cancer Society Auckland & Bay of Plenty, Forest & Bird, and Leprosy Mission New Zealand. Provides sophisticated outbound calling technology and PCI-compliant data integration.
• More StrategiccoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTechnology and innovation partner in the award-winning FIA Most Innovative Campaign for machine learning and AI application with acquisition campaigns.
• ConversrcoreTechnology or IntegrationInnovation partner in award-winning campaign applying speech-to-text technology and AI to fundraising acquisition.
• LemonTreecoreTechnology or IntegrationInnovation partner in award-winning campaign for AI and machine learning with acquisition campaigns.
• SequenceShiftcoreTechnology or IntegrationPayment processing technology provider offering state-of-the-art card capture software with tokenization for secure real-time transaction processing.
• ChaplainWatchminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBrisbane-based charity partner providing compassionate presence in entertainment districts. Cornucopia staff volunteer at events and support fundraising.
• Alex Makes MealsminorGTM or Marketing PartnerMelbourne-based food relief charity. Cornucopia participated in annual 'Feast to Feed Victoria' event, raising over $25,000 on the night.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Pareto Fundraising: Australia-headquartered fundraising agency offering face-to-face, telefundraising and digital fundraising services to charities. Directly comparable in service mix, geography and target customer base to Cornucopia, and one of the main competitors in ANZ.
• Telefund NZ: New Zealand-based outbound telephone fundraising agency serving 50+ charities including Heart Foundation NZ and Cancer Society. Direct peer in the telefundraising channel and Cornucopia's November 2023 partner, making it both collaborator and competitor.
• Global Philanthropic: International fundraising consultancy providing campaign strategy, prospect research and interim fundraising management for charities. Comparable as a fundraising-services peer serving nonprofit clients, with broader geographic reach including Australia.

Broad incumbents

• Donor Services Group: One of the largest private face-to-face and telefundraising agencies globally, operating across the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Shares Cornucopia's service model but at much larger scale, representing the international incumbent benchmark.
• Pursuant: US-based full-service fundraising agency combining data, analytics and multichannel campaigns for nonprofits. Comparable in end-to-end campaign management and data-driven donor engagement, though skewed toward digital/strategic services rather than field fundraising.
• Bloomerang: US-based nonprofit CRM and donor retention platform with strong reporting on donor lifetime value. Comparable in focusing on retention metrics and analytics that mirror Cornucopia's data-driven retention edge.

Emerging players

• Dataro: Australian AI-driven donor analytics and propensity-scoring platform for nonprofits. Comparable because it directly overlaps with Cornucopia's Primed AI offering and represents a software-only challenger in the same fundraising tech layer.
• Funraise: US-based nonprofit fundraising platform providing online giving, CRM, and donor engagement tools. Comparable as a tech-led alternative to agency-driven fundraising and a potential displacement risk to Cornucopia's service model.
• Classy: Online fundraising and donor management platform serving thousands of nonprofits globally. Relevant as a software-driven alternative channel for donor acquisition and retention that competes for charity marketing budgets.

Others

• Public Fundraising Regulatory Association (PFRA): Australian industry self-regulatory body for face-to-face and street fundraising. Cornucopia's MD sits on its board; included as a relevant industry ecosystem participant that shapes the operating environment rather than as a competitor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/FundraisingCornucopia
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cornucopiaau

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cornucopia