Technology at ActionStation

ActionStation uses many tech tools, code and processes to support our staff and allow members to get updates and contribute. We are committed to making our code more efficient and less expensive so more funds go to our campaign mahi. During 2020 we achieved a number of milestones.

Donations made easier

Our donation page was improved to give the option for members to update their credit card details, or use their existing saved details to donate faster via a secure method. A number of our donors have also opted to cover payment processing fees. Thank you!

Also, we have streamlined our donation information from bank transfers and other payment methods, so we have the most accurate data from all our donation methods in one place.

For our members

We developed a specific members application to handle credit card updates and donation increases. The process is automated and we also have human support (via email or phone) when there are any issues.

We have added improvements to readability, accessibility and against spam (ensuring our emails are verified and authorised).

All of this means less admin for our staff and more time spent on campaigning.

Tech for good collaboration

Earlier this year we had the pleasure to work with our first tech volunteer. Mark graciously donated time to improve our code and add new features to our systems. To better manage volunteering in general, an internal app was built to help organise it.

We recently started two free and open source projects, one in joint collaboration with JustSpeak. Anyone interested in volunteering with us can reach out via [email protected]

Security is important

We have strengthened the security not only of our tools, but also our computers and credentials. From upgrading to get the latest bug fixes to enforcing two factor authentication, we are committed to protecting ourselves from any cyber attacks and keeping our data and member's privacy.

A new architecture

As part of our efforts to reduce tech costs, we are implementing new features using serverless architecture. This will allow us to be flexible in responding to increased or decreased activity in our tools and only pay for what we use, generally reducing costs. Combined with other code called API, we can integrate with third party software and provide even more functionality.

Looking ahead

We have started even more improvements towards making our code accessible and will roll these out in January 2021. We'll continue to investigate how to reduce payment processing fees, improve our data management and analytics, and modularise our tools so our partner organisations and movements can use them.