To support its sponsorship of the London Marathon 2010, Virgin Money Giving looked at providing an online method by which fundraisers and charities could raise money via the marathon and any other event. The competition in the online fundraising marketplace is made up of profitmaking companies who charge a significant percentage of the transaction value as funds are collected. Virgin Money Giving required a solution which offered better features, but provided at a lower cost to charities and would operate as a true ‘not-for-profit’ organization. The end result being a higher percentage of the funds raised would go to the charities.

The London Marathon, founded in 1981, is one of the biggest mass participant long distance races in the world. Aside from the elite runners, most participants use the event to raise vital funds for charities.

The detailed requirements analysis and design phase was composed of a joint team between Arrk Group, Virgin Money and their consultant analysts, Opsera.

Focusing on key user journeys for the charity, fundraiser and donor, along with associated back office support, the requirements included the ability to provide a secure online payments system, being able to accurately validate credit card transactions, and seamlessly integrate with third party financial accounting packages and other software. The system also need a facility to capture donor and fundraiser personal details as well as providing a simple way for registering charities.

A process of continuous integration ensured that multiple teams operating from different locations, on and offshore, collaborated efficiently and effectively.

To reduce both upfront and ongoing operational costs, the architecture was based on a stack of Open Source components, ensuring that the platform would be secure, scalable and robust as an equivalent proprietary based solution.