The challenge
Fundraising ran on disconnected tools. Online donations went through a high-fee platform with rigid forms. Gala sponsor pledges came in through a generic form builder, and staff re-keyed the details into Salesforce. Prospect research meant a $1,500-a-month subscription.
What I built
- Custom donation system: branded, campaign-specific donation pages with recurring giving, automatic receipts, and every gift synced to Salesforce
- Gala sponsor pledge forms: pledges flow directly into the right Salesforce fields with a generated PDF confirmation, so nobody re-types anything
- Prospect research app: pulls from free public records (foundation filings, federal grants, business affiliations) into a mobile app the CEO and development team use before an ask, with results written back to the donor's Salesforce record
- Peer-to-peer fundraising platform: a custom event fundraising site for a charity ride, with personal and team fundraising pages, a live leaderboard and goal tracker, matching gifts, automatic social share images, and gift alerts to fundraisers. Every gift syncs to Salesforce, with no third-party platform fees.
Results
- About $18,000 a year saved by replacing a paid prospect research subscription
- Donation processing fees cut from 10% to 2.9%
- Recurring donations up after the new donation experience launched
- Every donation and pledge lands in Salesforce automatically, with richer data on how donors interact with the page