Beyond specific functional capabilities, the proposed digital giving platform must meet fundamental expectations regarding usability, performance, security, and ongoing support. These general requirements are crucial for the platform’s successful adoption by both staff and constituents, its ability to scale with organizational growth, and its long-term viability within the technology ecosystem.
The platform must be easy to use for both staff (technical and non-technical) and constituents (donors, leads). A core objective is to significantly enhance the donor experience through a modern, user-centric design with simple navigation and clear calls to action. For administrators, a user-friendly admin dashboard is required, making it easy to create and manage campaigns and content without needing developer assistance for many tasks. Ease of use for existing donors and new leads is also essential.
The system must be scalable to handle expected transaction volumes and user traffic, particularly large data sets and high-volume operations. This includes the ability to handle significant short-term spikes in volume when a crisis occurs and during peak times like Giving Tuesday or year-end giving. The platform should have the ability to quickly create ‘emergency giving’ pages within hours without requiring significant technical expertise. The infrastructure should be robust to withstand high volume concurrent giving. Scalability is also important as the organization grows and potentially adds new locales (Countries).
The platform must be mobile-friendly and mobile-responsive across devices and browsers. Mobile is often considered the primary use case, with the desktop experience secondary. All constituent-facing interfaces, including forms and the portal, must have a mobile-first design. Adherence to accessibility best practices is critical, ensuring an accessible experience for all users. Pages, forms, and other content must fully support accessibility standards for physically, visually, and hearing-impaired constituents, ideally conforming to WCAG 2.1 AA or better. Users should not have to design independent pages and forms for each device size.
The platform must be secure and protect sensitive donor information, ensuring the secure handling of sensitive data. Compliance with relevant regulations (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) is mandatory. Data encryption (in transit and at rest) is required. The system must include strict access control measures like user authentication, role-based access controls (RBAC), and least privilege principles. Protection against fraud/card spinning and fraudulent activity is essential. The vendor must provide relevant certifications such as SOC 2 and PCI compliance reports. Data ownership rights should reside with the nonprofit, and any features sharing donor information publicly should operate from a “privacy by default” setting, requiring active opt-in.
A user-friendly admin dashboard is needed. The platform should support multiple admin users and role-based permissions. Responsive customer support with defined SLA response times for different priority issues is required, including 24/7 support for critical issues. Clear documentation and training options must be provided. Processes for platform maintenance, updates, and notification are also necessary.
There is interest in the vendor’s development pipeline and plans for future features. The vendor should have a robust development and release pipeline.