A Charity Platform With Stripe Donations, Fundraisers, and a Full Admin Dashboard
We built a full-stack donation platform for a UK Islamic charity — Stripe + PayPal payments, fundraiser campaigns, and an admin dashboard to manage it all.
Sector
Charity / Nonprofit
Year
2025
Timeline
8 weeks
The brief
As-Subah Outreach is a UK-registered Islamic charity (reg 1180159) operating across 5 countries — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Gambia, and Palestine. They run food distribution, water well projects, education programmes, and livelihood support under a 100% donation policy. But their digital infrastructure didn't match their ambition.
- No online donation system — all giving happened via bank transfer or in person
- No way for supporters to create and share fundraiser campaigns
- Admin team had zero visibility into donation data or campaign performance
- Recurring giving (monthly Sadaqah, Zakat) was tracked manually in spreadsheets
- No automated receipts or donor communication
- Mobile experience was poor — most donors browse on phones
Our approach
We didn't just build a website — we built the operational backbone of a charity. The platform needed to handle one-off donations, recurring subscriptions, user-created fundraiser campaigns with milestones, and give the admin team a real-time dashboard to manage it all. Every feature was designed around one question: does this make it easier for someone to give?
What we built
- 01
Payment Infrastructure
Full Stripe integration — card payments, Google Pay, and recurring subscriptions. PayPal as a second gateway for donors who prefer it. Webhook handlers process every transaction in real-time and update donor records, campaign totals, and admin dashboards instantly. All amounts in GBP with automatic receipt generation.
- 02
Fundraiser Campaign System
Any registered user can create a fundraiser campaign that auto-publishes immediately. Each campaign gets its own page with a progress bar, donor count, and shareable link. Milestone emails fire automatically at 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%. Weekly digest emails keep campaign creators informed. The admin gets notified of every new campaign.
- 03
Admin Dashboard
A full campaign management dashboard — track donations by campaign, view donor lists, export reports, manage active campaigns. Real-time stats: total raised, donor count, average donation, recurring vs one-off breakdown. Built with role-based access: admin vs donor portals with separate auth flows.
- 04
Donor Experience
Clean, fast donation flow — choose a campaign, pick an amount or enter custom, add an optional voluntary contribution, pay via Stripe or PayPal, get an instant receipt. Returning donors can log in to see their giving history. The voluntary contribution is stored separately and never mixed with the donation amount.
How it came together
- 01
Discovery & Architecture
Mapped donation flows, fundraiser mechanics, admin needs. Designed database schema (campaigns, donations, users, fundraisers) and 40+ API endpoints.
You get: Stakeholder interviews, Database schema design, API endpoint mapping, Payment flow wireframes
- 02
Backend + Payment Integration
Built the Express API with MongoDB. Integrated Stripe (cards, Google Pay, subscriptions) and PayPal. Set up webhook handlers for real-time donation processing.
You get: Express API (40+ endpoints), Stripe integration, PayPal integration, Webhook handlers, Email automation
- 03
Frontend + Admin Dashboard
React frontend with donor portal, fundraiser creation wizard, and a full admin dashboard. Role-based routing and auth.
You get: Donor portal, Fundraiser creation flow, Admin dashboard, Campaign management, Reporting & exports
- 04
Launch + Automation
Deployed frontend to Vercel, backend to Railway. Set up email templates for receipts, milestones, weekly digests, and end-of-campaign reports.
You get: Vercel deployment, Railway deployment, 6 email templates, Milestone automation, Production monitoring
The outcome
- From bank transfers to a live online donation platform
- 8 weeksFrom bank transfers to a live online donation platform
- Payment gateways live, Stripe and PayPal
- 2Payment gateways live, Stripe and PayPal
- Countries with appeals running on the platform
- 5Countries with appeals running on the platform
“We went from bank transfers and spreadsheets to a full online donation system in 8 weeks. Stripe, PayPal, recurring giving, fundraiser campaigns — everything we needed. The admin dashboard alone saved us hours every week.”
Built with
React 18 · TypeScript · Tailwind CSS · shadcn/ui · Redux Toolkit · TanStack Query · Express · MongoDB · Mongoose · Stripe API · PayPal API · JWT Auth · Vercel · Railway
Want something similar?
Tell us about your project. We’ll reply by email with how we’d approach it, drawing on what we learned building for As-Subah Outreach.
What happens next
- 1
We reply by email with any questions that sharpen the brief.
- 2
A free 30-minute call to agree the goal, timeline and budget.
- 3
A written scope and price so you know what you’re paying for before any work starts.
Unit 21, 384 Abbott Road, London E14 0UX
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“We went from bank transfers and spreadsheets to a full online donation system in 8 weeks.”