vlad parole
WordPress · Charity Crowdfunding & Event Management Platform
One Gift Wonder set out to solve a common problem with children’s birthday parties: receiving an overwhelming number of gifts that often go unused. The platform introduced a more meaningful alternative by allowing parents to create celebration campaigns where family and friends could contribute toward one desired gift, with a percentage of every contribution automatically supporting a nominated charity.
I was responsible for both the design and development of the platform, building the front-end experience alongside the underlying content architecture that powered campaigns, charities, blog content, and promotional pages. The result was a custom WordPress application that combined event management, fundraising, and storytelling into a simple, family-friendly experience.
Role
design + build
Timeline
10 weeks | 2019
Tech Stack
Deliverables
The platform needed to feel approachable for parents while supporting a surprisingly complex user journey behind the scenes. Users needed to create an event, configure a desired gift, nominate a charity, collect contributions from multiple participants, and share the campaign through a simple link.
From a development perspective, the challenge was balancing WordPress’ content management strengths with application-like functionality. The system also had to remain flexible enough for administrators to manage campaigns, charities, and marketing content without requiring developer intervention.
The application was built on WordPress using a modular architecture that separated marketing content from campaign data.
Frontend
Content Layer
Backend
CMS
WordPress provided an ideal balance between editorial flexibility and custom application development. Advanced Custom Fields and Custom Post Types enabled structured campaign and charity data without introducing unnecessary complexity, while Elementor allowed marketing teams to evolve landing pages independently. Custom PHP and JavaScript handled the application’s business logic, creating a tailored user experience without sacrificing the maintainability of the CMS.
One Gift Wonder transformed a traditional gift registry into a socially conscious fundraising platform, enabling families to celebrate special occasions while supporting charitable causes. By combining campaign creation, online contributions, and charity selection into a single streamlined experience, the platform demonstrated how WordPress could be extended beyond content management into a purpose-built web application with meaningful social impact.
Next Step
[email protected] · +63 969 318 9430 · Hagonoy, Bulacan, PH