Scalable Fundraising Innovation: HEKS’ Donation Platform Built with TYPO3

HEKS—the relief organization of the Protestant Churches of Switzerland—pursues the vision of a peaceful and just world in which the dignity of all people is respected and the natural foundations of life are preserved. The organization, which is recognized as a non-profit organization, collects donations and uses them to support development cooperation projects in around 30 countries on four continents. 

The collaboration between HEKS and the hausformat agency began in 2007 with the website for the “Gib e Geiss!” campaign. With a contribution of 30 Swiss francs, people could symbolically buy a goat and thus enable local small-scale projects that were supported by HEKS with start-up aid in the form of a loan.

The campaign website was implemented with TYPO3 v4 at the time: a CMS decision that would prove its worth in this long-term project. Thanks to TYPO3's scalability and reliable roadmap, it was possible at any time to respond to new requirements, keep the website up to date in a technically and socially dynamic environment, and continuously develop it further.

Over the years, access analyses showed a steady increase in the number of mobile users. This development was both a sign of the times and a consequence of large-scale advertising campaigns in public spaces. In 2013, the website was therefore optimized for mobile devices as part of a TYPO3 update. This measure proved effective, with the number of visits via smartphone rising to over 50 percent. Based on market analyses, a conscious decision was made not to include an online payment option for mobile use. At the time, trust and acceptance were still too low. Instead, as a first step, it became possible to share the offer on smartphones and draw other people's attention to it.

Relaunch with the Aimeos shop system

The success of the campaign motivated HEKS to expand on the idea. Every year, many people wonder what to give their loved ones for Christmas or their birthday—especially those who haven't had a wish list for a long time. The “Give the gift of help” campaign makes it easy to give someone a meaningful gift. How about a water buffalo, a swarm of ladybugs, or a blackboard? Recipients receive the gift in the form of an originally designed gift certificate. At the same time, they are helping people around the world to improve their living conditions.

In 2017, the campaign was relaunched under the new web address hilfe-schenken.ch. The expanded campaign with a wide range of possible gifts required a scalable e-commerce application. Once again, the decision was made to use an open source solution: hausformat integrated Aimeos into the TYPO3 CMS. Later, the TYPO3 extension RaiseNow, optimized for fundraising processes, was added, now also available for payments on smartphones.

Digital donation certificates

Over the years, the bilingual TYPO3 website has been continuously optimized and maintained, from design and content to system updates. Another milestone was the introduction of digital donation certificates—a growing need among customers and, at the same time, an administrative relief for HEKS. To this end, the hausformat agency expanded the Aimeos shop system with an in-house development.  As an alternative to the printed certificate sent by HEKS by post, users can create a PDF with a personal dedication directly online. There are several calligraphic fonts to choose from, and the result can be checked in a preview before purchase. The automatically generated PDFs are stored on the web server and are available for 60 days.

UX and performance optimization

The ongoing success of the “Give help” campaign has brought the topics of user experience and performance into focus in recent years. A ticker banner provides important information, such as order deadlines before holidays. With the advanced filter options, it's easy to find the right gift. The shopping cart has been optimized with visual feedback and the checkout process has been reduced to a minimum, so that purchases can be completed intuitively with just a few clicks.

In 2024, the website was transferred to its own web server and optimized for high performance. During traditional events, there are peaks with over 10,000 visits per day. Restricted access or even downtime would have noticeable financial consequences, especially during the Christmas season. 

The “Give Help” campaign and its website have become an integral part of HEKS' fundraising efforts to help people in need around the world. TYPO3 CMS has proven itself in this project as a robust and future-proof development platform that can grow with the needs of the project—whether through new TYPO3 functions and technical updates, seamless integration of other applications, or customer-specific in-house developments.