Irish Heart Foundation Website Development
Partnering with Wondr, a leading digital agency, Laposa helped deliver a dynamic new website for the Irish Heart Foundation, enhancing their ability to engage the public, manage donations, and deliver life-saving education.
- Client | Wondr · Irish Heart Foundation
- Industry | Nonprofit
- Technologies | WordPress · ACF · PHP
- Completion Date | 2016
Overview
The Irish Heart Foundation is a vital non-profit organization dedicated to combating heart disease and stroke in Ireland. They focus on raising awareness, educating the public, promoting heart health, and advocating for better health policies.
Recognizing the importance of an engaging and intuitive digital presence, the Irish Heart Foundation aimed to completely redesign their website. The goals were ambitious: modernize their online presence, streamline user interactions, integrate learning management system functionalities, and improve donation conversions.
Akamee provided the foundation’s new brand identity and strategic direction, laying the groundwork for the entire project. Wondr, a Dublin-based award-winning digital agency known for its cutting-edge design and bold project execution, was tasked with leading the project. As a longtime collaborator, Laposa was brought in to handle all backend programming and technical development tasks for the Irish Heart Foundation's new website. The strong partnership between Akamee, Wondr and Laposa helped ensure the successful delivery of this comprehensive, feature-rich platform.
Responsibilities
& Collaboration
This collaboration between Akamee, Wondr, and Laposa resulted in a highly functional, future-proof digital platform that successfully addresses the Irish Heart Foundation’s key objectives of public education, donor engagement, and operational efficiency—while providing the flexibility to grow alongside the charity’s mission.
Akamee’s Role:
- Brand Identity & Strategy: Akamee established the Irish Heart Foundation’s new brand identity and strategic direction, ensuring the organization’s vision and values were clearly communicated throughout the site.
- Design & Art Direction: Akamee crafted the visual guidelines and ensured the brand’s identity was consistently reflected across all design elements, from typography to color schemes and overall tone.
Wondr's Role:
- UX/UI & Site Concepts: Wondr developed the user experience framework and created the site’s mechanics, ensuring users could navigate the platform with ease. Their inventive design approach led to the creation of a flexible, modular content system that would adapt to the foundation’s evolving needs.
- Front-End Development & Testing: Wondr programmed the website’s front end, ensuring the design was fully responsive and functioned optimally across all devices. They performed exhaustive testing to guarantee the highest quality user interactions.
- Project Management: Throughout the project, Wondr took the lead in managing the timeline, coordinating between the strategic, design, and development teams while maintaining constant communication with stakeholders.
Laposa's Role:
- Backend Development: Laposa handled all backend development, translating Wondr's carefully crafted user journeys and component-driven designs into a seamless editorial system on WordPress. This allowed the Irish Heart Foundation team to easily manage content and launch campaigns without external development support.
- API & Platform Integrations: We engineered multiple custom integrations crucial to the charity’s operations. This included syncing the site with the ThankQ CRM to manage donor information and relationships, and integrating a Donation Gateway with Stripe and PayPal’s Braintree, supporting both one-off and recurring donations. Additionally, we integrated MailChimp for email marketing automation, ensuring communications were streamlined and data-driven.
- Custom API Development: To ensure all these systems communicated flawlessly, our team developed bespoke APIs and automated sync scripts that run via scheduled cron jobs, enhancing both operational efficiency and data accuracy.
- Ongoing Technical Support: Beyond launch, Laposa continues to provide technical support and updates, ensuring the site remains robust, secure, and adaptable to the Irish Heart Foundation’s evolving needs. Our ongoing optimization ensures that the charity can count on their website as a long-term asset capable of growing with their mission.
Key Features
An inventive approach to the Irish Heart Foundation’s digital overhaul resulted in an adaptable, feature-rich website that allows customized user experiences for the charity’s varied audience. Each component and feature was implemented to WordPress by Laposa with precision and technical expertise.
1. Modular Editorial System
Under Wondr’s direction, we developed a component-based editorial system. This allows the Irish Heart Foundation to build and manage vital sections of the website via reusable, flexible modules.
2. Learning Management System
To support the Irish Heart Foundation’s educational initiatives, we integrated a learning management system. This system allows users, including teachers and students, to register for CPR and other health-related courses, track progress through interactive dashboards and receive certifications upon completion
3. Seamless CRM Integration with ThankQ
To streamline donor management, Laposa developed a custom API to integrate the highly trusted ThankQ CRM. This ensures all donor data is synced securely via SOAP API using scheduled cron jobs. The integration helps the Irish Heart Foundation manage its vast donor base and improve long-term relationships with its supporters.
4. Custom Donation Gateway with Stripe and PayPal’s Braintree
A key function for any charity is managing online donations, and we took this a step further by building a highly configurable Donation Gateway integrated with both Stripe and PayPal’s Braintree.
The system supports one-time donations as well as monthly recurring contributions, providing a flexible and reliable way for donors to contribute to the cause. The payment gateway is fully secured, ensuring donors can give with complete peace of mind.
5. MailChimp Integration for Email Marketing
Keeping donors, volunteers, and supporters informed with the latest news and campaigns is crucial for the charity. To help, Laposa seamlessly integrated MailChimp via API.
6. Health Wiki & Full-Text Search
As part of their mission to educate the public, we developed a Health Wiki that lists key medical terms related to heart disease, offering easy-to-understand definitions. Paired with a full-text search, users can find the information they need quickly, whether it's looking for medical resources, publications, or recipes.
7. Resource Database with Optional Payment
To organize their vast library of materials, we built a resource database where users can download various educational publications, such as brochures. Some resources are available for free, while others come with an optional payment feature tied to the donation gateway.
8. “In Your Area” Map Search
We conceived a highly intuitive map-based search feature titled In Your Area. Users can search for local events, support groups, and resources based on their geographic location. The interactive map allows them to view results from their county and surrounding areas, providing a holistic view of services available in their region.
9. Campaign & Appeal Pages
One of the most impactful mechanics implemented was the campaign tools feature. Previously, the Irish Heart Foundation had to rely on commissioned micro-sites for each fundraising appeal. Now, the charity can quickly launch and manage campaigns within the main site, saving them both time and development costs without compromising the user experience.
10. Healthy Recipes Section
To promote heart-healthy living, we integrated a Recipes section, providing visitors with a variety of health-focused recipes. The section includes user-friendly filters, allowing users to easily navigate through recommended meal plans.
11. Rich Content Publishing Components
Wondr invented an array of modular content components for rich publishing, and Laposa brought them to life via custom development inside WordPress’s content management system. The components include:
- Full-page sliders, image galleries, and video players for engaging storytelling
- Community components to present teams, quotes, or testimonials
- Event forms and news index for managing real-time updates
- Newsletter capture forms to build a mailing list dynamically
These components not only ensure visually stunning web pages but also enable the Irish Heart Foundation to tailor their content to their audience's diverse needs.
Results and Impact
The successful relaunch of the Irish Heart Foundation’s website delivered:
Simplifying Donor Management and Increasing Donations
The donation gateway with support for one-off and recurring donations has streamlined the charity’s donor relations, while also enhancing user trust with easy-to-use, secure payment options on their own peace of mind.
Easier Course Management & Public Education
The flexible LMS ensures that the Irish Heart Foundation can provide public health courses efficiently, increasing accessibility and certification rates.
Enhanced User Experience
The fresh UX/UI design, paired with intuitive navigation and rich content components, makes it easy for users to engage with the foundation’s resources, sign up for events, and browse educational materials.
Reduced Future Development Costs
By consolidating campaign tools into the main site, the charity will no longer need to commission costly microsites for every new fundraising appeal, saving time and resources.
Conclusion
By working together, Wondr and Laposa delivered a transformative website for the Irish Heart Foundation that’s not only visually stunning but highly functional, future-proof, and aligned with their mission to combat heart disease and stroke in Ireland.
From inventive front-end solutions to the robust backend infrastructure, this project is a true testament to the power of strategic collaboration, resulting in a website that empowers the charity and increases its societal impact.
Next Step
If you're looking to build a custom website that not only looks stunning but also delivers powerful functionality tailored to your organization's unique needs, Laposa is here to help.
With over a 15 years of experience in backend development, custom API integrations, and scalable web solutions, we have the technical expertise to bring your vision to life. Whether it's creating dynamic content systems, or integrating complex third-party services, our team is ready to tackle your next digital challenge.
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