Case Study · Salesforce Implementation

Four Campuses, One GivingPlatform

Red Van built a top-ranked Midwest research university a giving platform on Salesforce Commerce Cloud that runs four branded campus experiences from a single instance. It launched on schedule after a nine-month implementation, and advancement teams now launch campaigns through configuration rather than development requests.

What problem did the university need to solve?

The existing advancement infrastructure was fragmented, difficult to scale, and reaching its operational limits.

Campus programs ran independently with no unified donor experience. Recurring gift management was error-prone, and the Foundation had limited ability to tie gifts back to specific campaigns or funds for reporting. Advancement teams could not launch new campaigns, campuses, or giving experiences without developer involvement, which put the pace of fundraising on the IT roadmap. The platform needed to support multiple campus brands within one advancement ecosystem, let donors authenticate with existing alumni credentials, and handle the full spectrum of modern philanthropy: one-time gifts, recurring donations, pledge schedules, and in-honor dedications.

Requirements that defined the architecture

Unify giving across campuses
Authenticate donors via single sign-on (SSO)
Support multiple giving models
Centralize gift processing and reporting
Automate donor communications
Enable campaign management without development

How did Red Van solve it?

Red Van built a university giving platform on Salesforce Commerce Cloud using the Autobahn framework, backed by Salesforce Order Management and Marketing Cloud, with donation funds modeled as configurable objects.

Modeling funds as configurable Commerce Cloud objects is the decision the rest of the platform rests on. It gives advancement teams configuration-level control over hundreds of funds, designations, ask amounts, and campaign pages, which means new fundraising initiatives launch through configuration rather than custom development. Everything downstream, from campaign deep links to reporting, follows from that.

What the platform includes

Multi-Campus Giving Platform

A single Salesforce Commerce Cloud instance serving four branded experiences, including a global giving experience and dedicated campus sites. Each keeps its own catalog structure, navigation, and content, managed through shared back-office configuration rather than separate codebases, with brand context carried through the URL structure so donor sessions stay in the right experience.

Alumni SSO with Salesforce Core

Commerce Cloud authenticates against Salesforce Core via OAuth and creates or syncs the donor account on the fly, carrying unique ID, graduation year, school, and giving history. Donors get a personalized experience and the data stays synchronized across systems.

Comprehensive Giving Support

One-time gifts, monthly recurring subscriptions through CyberSource, multi-payment pledge schedules using split captures, and virtual pledges pre-authorized at checkout with a future capture date, all within one platform. Eligible payment options are presented dynamically based on the selected giving model.

URL-Powered Campaign Deep Links

Advancement teams build zero-code campaign experiences by constructing URLs that direct donors to pre-configured funds, amounts, and gift types. Day of Giving campaigns, capital appeals, and targeted initiatives launch without developer involvement.

Bonus Product Promotions

Donors giving above set thresholds receive physical recognition gifts. Salesforce Order Management splits these into a separate Fulfillment Order automatically, and Marketing Cloud sends shipment confirmation with tracking, completing the fulfillment loop rather than ending at checkout.

In Honor and In Memory Giving

Donors dedicate gifts at checkout, and a Marketing Cloud journey fires automatically for In Memory Of dedications, sending a personalized notification to the family of the person being honored.

Marketing Cloud Journeys and Corporate Matching

Journeys connected directly to Commerce Cloud and Order Management events, covering donation and recurring gift confirmations, abandoned cart and abandoned browse campaigns, and In Memory Of notifications. Corporate matching prompts on the confirmation page seed the employer field automatically from checkout.

CyberSource Modernization

Following CyberSource's retirement of its legacy recurring billing API, Red Van migrated the platform to the modern REST architecture, protecting recurring giving programs while modernizing payment infrastructure.

What were the results?

The platform launched on schedule after a nine-month implementation, establishing a scalable foundation for future fundraising growth. Advancement teams now have flexibility, visibility, and control over fundraising initiatives without relying on custom development, and donors get a personalized experience tied to their own alumni record.

Four branded giving experiences from a single Salesforce Commerce Cloud instance
Unified giving experience across multiple campuses
Support for one-time, recurring, pledge, and future-dated giving models
Personalized donor experiences through Salesforce Core integration
Campaign and content management without developer involvement
Automated donor communications and stewardship workflows
Corporate matching gift support and physical donor incentive fulfillment
Modernized payment infrastructure supporting recurring giving programs

The university now operates a scalable, connected advancement platform that unifies multiple campuses, supports every major giving model, and delivers personalized donor experiences across the fundraising lifecycle. The measure of it is not the launch. It is that a Day of Giving campaign no longer needs a developer.

Frequently asked questions

How do you run giving across multiple campuses on one platform?

Through shared back-office configuration rather than separate codebases. A single Salesforce Commerce Cloud instance serves four branded experiences for this university, each with its own catalog structure, navigation, and content. Brand context is carried in the URL structure so donor sessions stay within the correct giving experience throughout.

Can advancement teams launch fundraising campaigns without developers?

Yes, when funds are modeled as configurable objects rather than hard-coded pages. This university's advancement teams build campaign experiences by constructing URLs that direct donors to pre-configured funds, amounts, and gift types. Day of Giving campaigns and capital appeals launch with no development request.

How do you support recurring gifts, pledges, and future-dated giving online?

Each model needs different payment handling. This platform supports one-time gifts, monthly recurring subscriptions through CyberSource, multi-payment pledge schedules using split captures, and virtual pledges pre-authorized at checkout with a future capture date. The platform presents only the payment options eligible for the selected model.

What happens when a payment provider retires an API you depend on?

It becomes urgent work. When CyberSource retired its legacy recurring billing API, Red Van migrated this university's platform to the modern REST architecture, protecting active recurring giving programs. Payment infrastructure changes are one of the clearest arguments for ongoing managed services rather than a launch-and-leave engagement.