12. And weâve slowly built up a community of users
⢠1,500 developer accounts (~10% active)
⢠30-50 charities using our APIs
⢠20-25% of annual revenues driven via API
activity
15. 12 months ago did your charity understand what APIs were?
Source: JustGiving API survey Feb 2014
Yes - we clearly understood
APIs and their potential at the
time
Yes - we had heard of APIs but
didn't really know what they
offered
No - we had no idea what APIs
did at the time
No - we still don't know what
APIs do!
50% had limited or
no understanding
of APIs
16. The APIs landscape in the not-for-profit sector
⢠Charities traditionally have very limited budget
⢠Rarely have in-house developer resource
⢠Short term planning over long term
⢠Reliance on voluntary employees
⢠Understanding of APIs was/is low
18. Lesson 1: Launch and build upon your own APIs
⢠Helps validate your methods
⢠Lifts a lid on what sucks (or whatâs missing)
⢠Forces you to at least plan how to manage and document
them
⢠Gives you some credibility from day 1
19.
20. Lesson 2: Pick a significant launch partner
⢠Our # 1 client
⢠Raised > £40m on JustGiving in 2013 alone
⢠FTSE 100 style organisation - big enough to have an innovation team
⢠In 2010 expressed a desire to âstay ahead of compâ and to âleverage techâ
⢠All their fundraising campaigns today are API driven through JustGiving
⢠Took 3 years to get to this stage
⢠Lots of blood, sweat and tears
⢠Test & learn, test & learnâŚ
21. Lesson 2: Pick a significant launch partner
⢠This trust in our system was a industry wide game changer
⢠They singularly validate our API stack
⢠Both parties learnt loads!
⢠Missing methods
⢠Error handling
⢠Documentation
⢠Educating & Empowering multiple stakeholders
23. But know one knew what they wantedâŚ
How do I get that integration?
CoolâŚWhatâs an API?
Itâs API drivenâŚ
24. Lesson 3: So be prepared to put in the hard yards
25. Lesson 3: Putting in the hard yards
⢠Get out and meet your future clients (e.g. charities, agencies)
⢠Show them real life, tangible examples
⢠Find ways to get round lots of red tape / bureaucracy
⢠Test things quickly (prove/disprove, move on)
⢠Co-fund projects
⢠Be prepared to coach, guide, review and tweak
⢠Demos, flow diagrams etc
⢠Train up those that can broadcast the API message
⢠Account Managers, Bus Dev, PR etc
⢠Prepare for a slow life cycle of development
⢠And meantime plan for what they will want next
27. Lesson 4: Invest in making life easy for others
⢠Get out of their way (whilst supporting them!)
⢠Pick an API service provider
⢠Live or die by your documentation
⢠Provide a reliable sandbox
⢠Build and support a help group. Zero in on your biggest advocates
⢠Empower other staff to answer questions
⢠Plan for CRM & Developer outreach (emails, customer care, doc updates etc)
29. 5. Encourage & Celebrate Innovation
⢠Show what people are building
⢠External communities (PR, blogs, social)
⢠Internal stakeholders (excite your staff)
⢠Partners (âoh I want that!â)
⢠Attend/Sponsor hacks
⢠Find the relevant hack(s) for your business goals
⢠Evangelize your APIs/Platform
⢠Invest in Developer Outreach
⢠Hook up with influencer/guru in your industry
⢠Inspire others
⢠E.G. JustGiving award for technology
⢠White paper / research / infographics etc
30.
31.
32.
33.
34. Good news! 84% of charities say API adoption will grow in next 12 months!
Source: JustGiving API survey Feb 2014
API adoption will
grow
No change
35. 1. Build and launch something yourself to get ahead
2. Pick a partner and go through the growing pains together
3. Be prepared to put in the hard yards
4. Invest in the making life easy for others
5. Encourage and celebrate innovation
In short, we have built a platform, that supports a world where everyone can give will give.
We enable the traditional fundraising model of sponsorship by bringing it online
We are NOT a charity. We reinvest our profits into technology
ÂŁ1bn raised since 2002
Can donate in multiple global currencies
But no one knew what they wanted
They just wanted what Race had!
Raising funds for a childrens hospital by letting Moshi Monster players donate to a pixel by pixel style board
First official Spotify endorsed fundraising application that lets party goers pledge their favourite song to a party playlist
- 6/10
- Need to develop CRM & Dev Outreach
- Redesigning developer site (ux)