Use case · Alumni fundraising website
An appeal page with a goal and a running total, a record of every gift, a numbered receipt emailed to each donor, and a CSV the treasurer can open. Money reaches your bank account the way it does today: AlumDeck records gifts; it does not take payments. $49 a year, and no percentage of anything.
The problem
A form on a platform nobody knows, linked from one email, does badly. An appeal inside the site people visit for news and reunions arrives with context around it.
A bursary, a roof, eighty chairs for the reading room. A single costed goal raises more than a general fund, and lets you report back with a fact.
Next year's appeal needs to know who gave and who gives every year unasked. On one volunteer's laptop, that record goes at the next handover.
A platform at thousands a year suits a university raising six figures. For $4,000 for a bursary, the software eats the appeal. At $49 a year it does not.
How it works
A title, a summary, the story, a cover image, a goal and optional start and end dates. Two switches decide what the public sees: the running total and the donor list.
The giving page has a button you point at wherever you already collect money: your bank details, your institution's payment page or a form you already use.
Date, amount, method (bank transfer, card, online, cash, cheque or other), a reference, and the donor, linked to a member or typed in. Tick anonymous if they asked. Every gift carries the name of whoever recorded it.
The receipt number, such as RCPT-2026-0212, is allocated so that two people recording at once never get the same one. Send receipt emails the donor after checking that email is set up.
Export the gifts as CSV for the treasurer. Write a news post on what the money did, then close the appeal; its page stays up as a record.
What it does
Appeals
Each appeal has its own page with the amount raised, the goal, a progress bar and the number of gifts. Run several at once, close one when it passes its target, and keep it online as a record.
Three appeals, one closed
Donor wall optional
The gift ledger
Filter by appeal, method or date. The dashboard shows each appeal against its goal, and this year and last year in total, grouped by currency and never converted.
Money
Gifts
RCPT-2026-0212, Ana Martins$50.00
RCPT-2026-0211, James Okafor$120.00
RCPT-2026-0210, anonymous$25.00
RCPT-2026-0209, Class of 1985 fund$500.00
Receipts
The prefix is yours, and the footer can carry a charity number. Send receipt checks that email is set up first, and shows you the real error if it is not.
Gift receipt
RCPT-2026-0212
DonorAna Martins
Amount$50.00
AppealLibrary fund
MethodTransfer
Given12 Sep 2026
ReferenceTRF 88421
FooterCharity no.
The ask
Write the appeal email in Markdown and choose the audience: a class-year range, cities, engagement bands, mentors or volunteers. Count it, send yourself a test, then queue it; it goes out at 60 a minute, checking each member's consent again as it sends.
Email campaign
Library appeal
AudienceClasses 1980 to 1995
Members412
Test sentYes
Written inMarkdown
Pace60 a minute
StatusQueued
Check it yourself
Check it
The demo Library Restoration Appeal: running total, gift count and named donors.
Open the appealCheck it
Sign in as the demo admin and open Gifts: every row has a receipt number.
Demo sign-inCheck it
$49 a year is the whole software cost, however much you raise.
PricingCheck it
It records money; it does not take it. The whole list.
LimitationsCheck it
Planned for release 1.2, on the public roadmap.
RoadmapCheck it
Gift records live in your database, on your hosting.
SecurityYour first month
Most gifts arrive in the first two days and the last two. Plan the reminder for the second.
| Week | The committee | In AlumDeck |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pick one finishable thing and cost it honestly. | Draft the appeal: the story, the goal, the closing date and a cover image. |
| 2 | Agree how money arrives: transfer details, your payment page, cheques. | Point the giving page button at it. Set the receipt prefix and the footer. |
| 3 | Send the ask to the classes most likely to care. | Open the appeal, email a segment, record gifts as they land. |
| 4 | One reminder near the close; thank people by name where they allow it. | Send receipts, export the CSV for the treasurer, post the result. |
Appeal
Library appeal
Pays forRoof, wiring
And80 chairs
StatusOpen
Donor wallIf they agree
ReceiptsNumbered
AmountsNever shown
Sample data in the live demo
The demo association's Library Restoration Appeal pays for a new roof, rewiring and eighty chairs. Every gift is recorded, receipted and listed on the donor wall if the donor agreed.
Try it in the demoThe honest part
The rest is on the full list of what AlumDeck does not do, and each planned item is on the public roadmap.
Questions
No. The licence is $49 a year per live site and that is the whole software cost. There is no platform fee, no per-gift cut and no merchant account, because no money passes through AlumDeck at all.
The way it does today: a bank transfer, your institution's own payment page, a standing order, a cheque at the reunion. The giving page has a button you point at wherever you already collect money. When a gift arrives, someone with the giving area records it, and AlumDeck sends the receipt.
Yes, each with its own page, goal, dates and switches for the running total and the donor list. For a first appeal we would still run one at a time: two asks in the same month usually raise less than one clear ask.
Yes. Each appeal and each gift stores its own currency code, amounts are kept in whole minor units (a 1,000 yen gift is 1,000 yen), and dashboard totals are grouped by currency and never converted. Amounts print as 1,234.56 with the symbol in front, whatever the currency.
No. Gift records live in your database on your hosting, and we have no copy and no access. The software checks its licence about twice a day, sending the key and your hostname; nothing about a donor is in it.
A CSV of all gifts or a selection, filtered by appeal, method or date range, with spreadsheet formulas neutralised on the way out. The dashboard shows each appeal against its goal and this year and last year in total, by calendar year.
Also for
RSVPs against the hall capacity, free QR tickets, check-in at the door and a room for each year.
Plan a reunionA timeline, In Memoriam with the family's consent, a hall of fame and a photo archive.
Keep the historyVolunteer committees that change at every AGM. A site the next committee inherits, with a login for every post.
For associationsSign in as the demo admin and open Money: the appeals, the gift ledger and the receipt numbers are all there. It puts itself back every night.
Sign-in details on the demo pageResets every night