IICO: Enhancing Efficiency and Transparency in Charitable Giving
The International Islamic Charitable Organization (IICO) is one of the largest humanitarian organizations in the Muslim world, working in countries affected by war, disasters, and other crises.
Field: Charity Country: Kuwait Website: IICO
IICO approached us with the need to develop an online platform for managing donations to various charitable projects. With no existing website or technical infrastructure in place, the primary challenge was to build a secure, user-friendly, and modern service that would make donating easy for users while enabling the organization to manage its campaigns effectively.
Key Objectives:
- Develop a user-friendly platform for collecting donations for specific initiatives.
- Ensure an intuitive, secure interface for users.
- Automate donation management and reporting processes.
- Create a scalable system to grow with an increasing number of projects and donors.
We executed the project from scratch, starting with requirement analysis and design and continuing through to a full launch. Our collaboration with IICO remains ongoing as we regularly update and improve the platform.
What We Did:
Created a Donation Platform
We utilized the CS-Cart platform, typically used for e-commerce, and adapted it for charitable purposes. Instead of products, users see various donation campaigns like medical aid or educational initiatives for orphans. Each campaign is displayed as a card with a brief description and suggested donation amounts.
- The donation process mirrors that of an online purchase: users can select a campaign, choose the donation amount, and add it to their cart. They can support multiple projects at once, just as they would add multiple products in an online store.
- Once a user completes the payment process, the funds are directed to the respective charitable accounts. Donors can also opt to receive notifications via email or SMS regarding their donations. Admins have control over these notifications and can set triggers for important milestones, like when a campaign reaches its target.
- We retained the intuitive interface of CS-Cart but customized it to simplify the donation process.
Personalized Donations
In the IICO platform, we implemented a feature for personal donations. This allows users to support specific individuals, such as paying for the education of orphans. Each beneficiary has their own project card, showing the target amount and funds raised.
Donors receive personalized reports detailing how their contributions have been used and the progress made by the individual they are supporting. This personal touch adds transparency and allows donors to see the direct impact of their contributions.
Flexible Project Settings
We provided administrators with extended options for managing donation campaigns. They can set start and end dates, customize the appearance, add links, and define keywords to improve search engine visibility.
A unique feature was also introduced for humanitarian projects, such as those aimed at providing clean water in remote areas. While donations are collected in Kuwaiti dinars, the project cards display them differently. For instance, if a donor contributes in dinars, the system automatically converts the amount into liters of water. This makes the progress bar clearer and more tangible — donors can track how close the project is to reaching its goal, such as securing one million liters of water.
This feature makes the donation experience more engaging, as people can see the real-world impact of their support.
Referral Program
We developed a referral system that allows IICO to attract donors through partners. Admins can add partners as affiliates, who receive unique codes to share via messaging apps like WhatsApp or during livestreams. When new donors follow the link and contribute, the system automatically tracks this and rewards the partner with a percentage of the amount.
A dashboard enables the organization to monitor affiliate performance, including how many donors they’ve brought in and the projects they’ve supported. This system operates automatically, without needing admin intervention.
Licensing for Projects
In some regions, organizations must obtain government licenses to run fundraising campaigns. We integrated a feature that allows IICO to attach these licenses to each project, ensuring full compliance with legal requirements and transparency.
Payment Methods and Subscriptions
For IICO, we added support for regional payment systems like Knet and Fatoorah, which are automatically suggested based on the donor’s location.
Additionally, we introduced a recurring donation feature. Donors can select a project, set a donation amount, and choose the frequency (e.g., monthly). The system will automatically process the donation on the specified schedule, making it easier for donors to contribute consistently.
User-Centric Design
Our design for IICO prioritized ease of use and functionality. Key features include:
Homepage
Project Page
Shopping Cart and Checkout
Personal Account
Gift Certificates
We introduced a feature that allows donations to be made in honor of another person using gift certificates. Users can:
- Select a charitable campaign.
- Make a donation on behalf of someone else.
- Send an electronic card notifying the recipient of the donation.
Advanced Reporting
We developed an extensive reporting system that enables IICO to generate both standard and customized reports. Admins can track donations by time periods, campaigns, events, top users, and more. This flexibility helps the organization manage its campaigns more effectively.
We built a modern, user-friendly platform that significantly simplified the donation process. Leveraging CS-Cart, we created a flexible, scalable service that enhances donor engagement and helps IICO efficiently manage its charitable projects.
- Easy-to-use donation platform with a streamlined interface.
- Scalable and flexible, accommodating growth in projects and donors.
- Automated management and reporting, reducing admin workload.
- Personalized donations, allowing donors to support individuals and receive detailed reports.
- Advanced project settings for administrators, improving project management and visibility.
- Clear progress tracking in understandable units like liters of water, motivating continued support.
This project demonstrated that CS-Cart can successfully power not just e-commerce, but also highly functional platforms for charitable organizations.
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