Enhancing a Political Fundraising Software with Customization and New Features

The Client

Our client is a US-based technology company that specializes in providing a comprehensive suite of digital solutions for political campaigns and organizations. Their primary goal is to bridge the gap in the online political campaign landscape by offering innovative and cost-effective alternatives to existing platforms.

The company's product lineup includes digital solutions for online fundraising, political canvassing, and text communication. With a significant presence across 45 states, our client's mission is to democratize access to advanced digital campaign tools. They aim to empower political campaigns and organizations of all sizes by providing sophisticated technology that was previously only available to larger, well-funded operations.

The team at Binary Studio is fully engaged with our project and brought fresh ideas to the table.

Their proactive approach and willingness to go the extra mile helped take our platform to the next level. These guys are real problem-solvers, not just order-takers. We're stoked with the results and couldn't have done it without their commitment.

Political Fundraising Software

Co-founder

Enhancing a Political Fundraising Software with Customization and New Features-1 USA

Objectives

As the 2024 elections approach, the Client sought to enhance the performance and user experience of their fundraising platform. Binary Studio had previously developed their canvassing app from scratch, and the client was confident that Binary Studio would deliver excellent quality on time, demonstrating a strong sense of product ownership and proactively offering efficient solutions.

The details of this successful collaboration on building the canvassing app can be found in this case study.

Despite the fundraising platform being built on a different technology stack compared to the canvassing app, the Client chose to work with Binary Studio due to our proven track record of success and adaptability to various technologies and requirements.

By leveraging Binary Studio's expertise and resources, the Client aims to enhance the fundraising platform, providing a more robust and feature-rich solution for their users.

01

Streamline the donation process and increase donor engagement

The fundraising platform aims to simplify the donation experience for users, making it easy for individuals, organizations, and political campaigns to discover, engage, and mobilize donors for their campaigns. By offering highly customizable campaign pages for candidates, it seeks to create a more engaging and personalized experience for donors, encouraging them to support their chosen campaigns.
02

Address customer requests and expand platform capabilities

As the platform was released several years ago, the Client now focuses on developing new features based on customer requests and evolving needs, particularly during the active election period when fundraising efforts are at their peak.

Solution and Outcome

Binary Studio's Full Stack Ruby on Rails Engineer joined the product team to help refine the platform's existing functionality, optimize its performance, and further expand its set of features.

Ruby on Rails

PostgreSQL

HTML

CSS

JavaScript

Docker

AWS

Stripe

BitPay

Stage 1
In the initial stage of the project, Binary Studio's team concentrated on enhancing the existing functionality and resolving any bugs within the fundraising platform. It enables candidates to create highly customizable campaign pages, allowing users to make donations seamlessly from any device. The platform already offered a comprehensive set of features:
- Payment method integrations: Integration with Apple Pay and Google Pay to offer a convenient donation experience for mobile users, along with support for cryptocurrency payments.
- One-click donations: Streamlined donation processing that enables efficient giving for donors, reducing friction and increasing conversion rates.
- Compliance compatibility: Direct integration with compliance tools to ensure accurate and automated reporting, helping campaigns maintain transparency and adhere to regulations.
- Revenue share / Vendor pay: Functionality to fulfill revenue share agreements or pay vendors in real-time as donations are made, simplifying financial management for campaigns.
- Allied fundraising: Enabling donors to contribute to multiple campaigns on a single contribution form, encouraging supporters to maximize their impact.
- Custom URL slugs: Implementing customizable URL slugs to improve website SEO and make campaign pages more memorable and shareable.
- Advanced reporting tool: A detailed reporting tool that allows campaign managers to quickly identify the donor behind every transaction, enabling better tracking and analysis of fundraising efforts.
By fixing bugs and fine-tuning the existing features, Binary Studio helped provide a more polished and user-friendly experience for campaigns and donors alike. These improvements set the stage for the upcoming phases of the project, where new features and enhancements would be introduced to further strengthen the platform's capabilities.
Stage 2
Building on the progress made in the previous stage, we entered an active development phase to further enhance the fundraising solution. The primary goal was to address customer requests and evolve the platform to better serve the needs of political campaigns in the lead-up to the 2024 elections.
Binary Studio worked closely with the product owner, who provided valuable insights into customer needs and shared ideas for new features. Our team leveraged their technical expertise to translate these concepts into actionable solutions, taking the lead in designing user interface enhancements and proposing technical implementations that would bring the client's vision to life.
To accommodate the fast-paced nature of the election season, Binary Studio adopted a flexible and agile development approach. This allowed the team to quickly iterate on ideas, incorporate client feedback, and efficiently deliver features that effectively addressed customer requirements.
First, the team implemented the redesign of the platform to create a more user-friendly and visually appealing interface for both candidates and donors. It focused on improving navigation, organizing information more effectively, and providing a more engaging and professional appearance.
We also significantly expanded the customization options available to campaigns. The team worked to make every element of the campaign pages highly customizable, right down to the smallest details like button text and parameters. This level of customization allowed campaigns to create unique and branded fundraising pages that truly resonated with their supporters and reflected their specific political identities.
Another important feature implemented by Binary Studio was a recurring payment system integrated with Stripe for credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and BitPay for cryptocurrency payments. This feature enabled donors to set up automatic monthly contributions, providing campaigns with a more stable and predictable source of funding.
As new features are introduced, we work diligently to ensure that they integrate seamlessly with the existing platform, maintaining a cohesive and intuitive user interface. The team also places a strong emphasis on performance optimization and scalability, guaranteeing that the platform can handle the increased traffic and usage that comes with the heightened activity of the election season.

Political Fundraising Software Development That Makes an Impact

The fundraising platform has become a top choice for political campaigns, with both local and federal organizations relying on it to streamline their efforts and maximize their potential.
Users have praised the application for its cost-effectiveness, user-friendly interface, robust tracking and metric tools, and innovative features such as video fundraising and cryptocurrency payment options. They have also commended the platform's smooth onboarding process and the excellent support provided by the team.
As the 2024 election season progresses, our client's application is well-positioned to support an increasing number of campaigns in their fundraising efforts. With Binary Studio's ongoing commitment to enhancing the platform and delivering innovative solutions, it is poised for continued growth and success. The app empowers campaigns to build stronger connections with their supporters and drive meaningful change in the political landscape.

About Binary Studio

Binary Studio is a boutique software development company, regularly praised for its unique blend of engineering excellence and product ownership that enables its clients to build robust and scalable software products.
With our development team made up of top 0.5% international tech talent, we build web and mobile platforms using Node.js, .NET, React Native, Flutter, and integrating AI and ML. We also offer full-cycle QA and project management services to ensure the efficient delivery.
Our clients see us as a trusted partner dedicated to turning visions into great products. This is proven by 200+ delivered projects, more than two decades of business excellence, and stellar customer reviews.

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