NEP Services bets on the people who pick up

A fundraising call can succeed and still do damage. The donation arrives; the person who gave it would prefer never to hear from you again. In his account of NEP Services’ beginnings, founder Drew Howitt described precisely that bargain. Police organizations could raise more through telemarketing, he wrote, but he believed the calls were spending something harder to replace: the community’s goodwill.

He favored direct mail despite its lower returns. His explanation included a sentence almost anyone with a telephone could appreciate: “No one likes telemarketers.” The interesting part was the willingness to accept less money in the immediate transaction. Howitt was betting that a supporter who remained a supporter would matter more over time.

That is a useful place to begin with NEP, a company now selling membership software, fundraising tools, websites, and campaign support. Its delivery methods have changed considerably. Its recurring problem is recognizable: how does an organization keep people willing to respond?

The union office has moved into your pocket

Connect Plus+ is NEP’s answer for the membership side of that question. It puts member records, chats, documents, events, dues collection, and payments into a web and mobile platform. A leader can send updates; a member can find a document or contact the organization. The current product also advertises AI writing suggestions and help completing member profiles.

The appeal is easy to understand if you picture the same work spread across a spreadsheet, an inbox, a website, and a group chat. Each may work perfectly well. Someone still has to remember which information lives where. NEP’s proposition is that the organization can bring those jobs together and get help making the arrangement usable.

The customer names make its market position concrete. IBEW Local 611’s website credits NEP and directs members to Connect Plus+. The Kern County Probation Officers Association also credits NEP for its website. These are organizations with members, officers, news, and recurring administrative obligations. NEP sells into that working routine.

The setup is part of the product

One of the most revealing details on NEP’s homepage is a testimonial attributed to IBEW Local 97. The organization says earlier apps had disappointed it. What it praises about NEP includes preparing its data and fitting the system to the way the union operates.

That account identifies a practical obstacle. Buying software does not automatically produce a usable member directory. The information must be prepared, access arranged, and responsibilities assigned. NEP’s own registration guidance makes the human dependency visible: after a member requests access to an organization, an administrator approves it.

This is also where NEP’s services business matters. Its website team offers to design, launch, and maintain client sites, with client success managers providing help. Its fundraising service similarly assigns a manager. The person buying the service is purchasing access to people who can carry some of the workload.

Specialist alternatives exist. UnionConnect, from Prometheus Labor Communications, also concentrates on union communications. An organization can assemble separate tools, too. The useful comparison is therefore the entire job: the functions required, the data to move, and the help needed after the demonstration ends. A local with capable administrators and a settled system has a different buying decision from one struggling to maintain its contact list.

A countdown clock has a job to do

NEP’s account of its work with IBEW Local 1049 shows what those ingredients can look like under pressure. With contract negotiations stalled, it says it turned the union website into a bargaining hub, adding updates, a countdown clock, and an interactive strike map. It reports helping deliver more than 50,000 texts, emails, and push notifications to support communication with the local’s 1,200 members.

The company says a deal came hours before a planned strike. That is a campaign account, not evidence that software alone produced the agreement. Its useful detail is the arrangement: a central place for information, backed by repeated distribution through channels members could receive.

There is something copyable here without buying anything. Give an urgent campaign a clear information home. Decide who updates it. Make each message point to a useful next step. The technology helps distribute the work; the organization must still decide what it is asking people to do.

When the helper needs help

NEP’s Help a Hero crowdfunding platform addresses a different moment: a first responder is injured, dies, or faces a crisis, and colleagues want to help. Its July 2021 launch announcement reported more than $130,000 raised across six campaigns during a March-to-July soft rollout. The National Fraternal Order of Police and Texas Municipal Police Association had endorsed it, NEP said.

The product lets organizers create a campaign and donors share an advocate link. NEP says donors can cover Stripe processing fees so the recipient receives the full donation amount. That qualification matters: a fee covered by the donor is still a fee. On its broader fundraising page, NEP separately advertises processing at 3.2% plus 30 cents. Applied to $100, that rate comes to $3.50; it is not a quote for every NEP service.

Community Petition handles another kind of support. It offers free petition creation and tools for bringing an issue to community members and elected officials. A signature and a donation require different commitments. Both give someone who cares a concrete action to take.

The software company that kept the service people

Stacey Yudin says she joined NEP in 2012 intending to broaden its offerings beyond direct-mail fundraising. She became CEO in 2023. That expansion helps explain today’s combination of software and communications work: more ways to serve organizations NEP already understood.

There is relevant experience behind the pitch. President Mark Treglio joined in 2021 after leading communications, media, and strategic campaigns at the International Association of Fire Fighters. He had also served as a Jacksonville firefighter. NEP identifies itself as a union workplace associated with CWA Local 9003. Its customers’ work is represented inside the company.

“It’s the mission not the money.”Stacey Yudin, describing advice she values in a July 2025 Orange Coast interview

NEP’s commercial model combines paid software subscriptions with setup and professional services. In May 2026, it reported 30% software-revenue growth over the preceding year and announced promotions across operations, product, and engineering. Those are company-reported figures. They describe an expanding business whose offering continues to depend on both software and staff.

The next request was for a newsletter

In November 2025, NEP announced a media division led by Jordan Tolila, with a January 2026 launch planned. Clients had asked for digital magazines and newsletters, alongside advertising and sponsorship sales that could help offset operating costs. The proposed service covered design, content management, and revenue generation.

It is a wonderfully ordinary request to make of a technology company. A platform gives you somewhere to put the message. You still need a message worth opening next month.

That is also a useful limit on the whole proposition. An app cannot supply a neglected relationship, an absent administrator, or a reason to participate. The IBEW 97 testimonial’s emphasis on preparation offers a better buying test than a feature count: who will do the work that makes the tool useful?

Howitt’s original concern was what happened to the relationship after the money changed hands. The modern version asks what happens after the app is installed. For NEP’s customers, the answer has to show up in ordinary acts: a member finding a document, a supporter reading an update, someone answering when help is needed.