akoyaGO has always been a company powered by people driven to help their communities. Our mission centers around using technology to foster philanthropic pursuits because we know that when technology works alongside your processes, foundation teams are able to focus on the important initiatives that matter most to their communities.
As any foundation knows, the story of how something started shapes what it is today. We have experienced this first hand over the last few years—with changes to our name, our team, and our software—but our dedication to empowering foundations through technology remains the same. We want to share the story of how we became who we are today and how we’ll continue building on our legacy by supporting foundations through technology.
akoyaGO’s Reputation 40 Years In-The-Making
akoyaGO was founded in 1978 by Henry Bromelkamp who created the company with the mission of using technology to enhance philanthropy. Described in the Star Tribune as a “benevolent dictator,” Henry drove the vision for software to support philanthropy long before anyone else knew where the industry was headed. His magnetic personality attracted a team of values-based, compassionate, and highly driven individuals who shared his dedication to making foundations more effective as a whole.
“Henry coined a motto for the company: Never type the same thing twice. I believe this set the standard for integrated software long before it was commonplace in the industry. This philosophy still guides our product development to this day.”
- Meghan Davignon, Director of Client Services
Few people have as deep a connection to the philanthropy industry as Henry. He is passionate about spreading goodwill through the many groups he supports including St. Stephen’s Human Connection, Africa Classroom Connection, Action for Children – Zambia, and Books for Africa to name a few.
Creating The Path Forward for akoyaGO
From the first release of Pearl to our present-day version of akoyaGO, Henry led the charge to adapt foundation software based on the needs that today’s teams face. Today we are proud to offer grantmakers and foundations akoyaGO’s full suite of grant, fund, and donor management tools to enable growth, without software becoming obsolete.
“Grants management systems have advanced a lot over the past forty years, most notably moving from entirely local systems to web-based systems. Bromelkamp made a choice to build akoyaGO on the Dynamics CRM platform at a time when most other nonprofit-facing and philanthropy-facing software companies were betting on other commercial or proprietary platforms.”
- Karen Graham, Managing Director, Education and Outreach at Tech Impact
Technology has empowered foundations to focus on the work that truly has an impact in their communities—which has been the driving goal for our team since day one.
Henry suffered a horrible accident in 2019 and was forced to step down to focus on his recovery. He left a clear path forward for the company, as noted by Meghan Davignon:
“Henry’s focus was always to build a software solution to answer a philanthropic need. The mission of our clients has always been in the forefront of our minds, and it reflects Henry’s personal passion for philanthropy. For many clients this is what drew them to our software, and for many employees it is what drew us to work here. Much of our staff came to us from nonprofits and grantmaking organizations, and we are driven by the success of our clients in their work because it is work we believe in.”
- Meghan Davignon, Director of Client Services
Henry built our reputation over 40 years, and today we’re set up with the people, the software, and the passion to continue living our founding values.
Carrying on akoyaGO’s Mission
Henry’s departure led to John Long joining akoyaGO as CEO, bringing with him just as much vigor as Henry did.
“Henry was—and IS—the life force and North Star for our values and ethics. He believed in building this Community. While I will never be able to fill his shoes—or match the size of his heart—my intensity in building a thriving, positive community runs deep. I hope you feel this new commitment to the akoyaGO Community.”
- John Long, CEO
Henry was in personhood what John is in business, but they both share a passion for working with people.
As we embrace the changes, we want to pay homage to our legacy. Our company stays rooted in our core purpose: to use technology to free our clients to focus on the mission of their own organizations. akoyaGO’s cloud-based software provides an all-encompassing suite of tools for grantmakers and foundations that adapts as businesses grow. Explore our solutions.