Challenge
Make It Donate, a UK-based startup, asked Upsilon to develop a donation platform that allows users to make charitable donations based on their spending habits or other real-world events, such as sports results, celebrity tweets, or a friend’s workout routine.
They wanted to build a custom web application that can trigger donations automatically for any charity the applicant wants. Based on integration with IFTTT (‘If This Then That’) service, the Make-it-Donate application would help charities get and manage donations and make their virtues.
We needed to create a full-featured solution that must include the following functional parts of online charity platform:
- Stripe payment integrations;
- Recurring payments configuration;
- Integration with IFTTT service to connect donations with user actions or real-world events;
- Customization of charity lists and assigning favorite charities for different users;
- Donations: management and storage;
- User authentication;
- Responsive, mobile-friendly design.
Solution
Before starting the project, we analyzed all the requirements and documentation provided. After all investigations, we determined the project tech stack, agreed on all aspects with the client and started the development process of a charity platform.
To deliver all platforms' features according to the specifications, we built its core functionality on React. To make most of React's capabilities, TypeScript and Redux Thunk technologies were applied to the project. For UI development, we used Redux-Toolkit and Material-UI.
Weekly demos were an essential point of the project development process. During one such demonstration, we decided to amplify the Credit Card entry component and utilize default Stripe's one field component. It became more progressive and user-friendly because Postcode is linked to the card's issued country. It took 1.5 days to implement such an improvement to the donation online platform.
The seamless integration of Make It Donate API with the IFTT service makes users able to link their charitable giving to a wide variety of actions that aren't necessarily financial in nature. For instance, users could set up their accounts to donate to a clean-water charity whenever they buy a coffee cup. Or send money to a women's empowerment fund whenever Beyoncé posts on Instagram. Such a model helps attract new donors and encourages regular donations, making them a part of people's everyday lives.
Business Results
The Upsilon team provided Make-it-donate with web development services and responsive design, implemented all the necessary tests, fixes, and modifications, and ensured the web platform for donations was up and running.
The client got a charity donation app that is currently gaining popularity in the UK. The number of charities who joined the Make It Donate web application, and the amount of registered users is continuously growing. It has a strong potential to scale up globally and help develop a new consumer donation behavior.
If you have a similar project or an idea or you are looking for a software development partner, don’t hesitate to contact us. We will walk you through the web development process and make sure you get the best custom solution for your business needs.