software case study
Building RunRaise
RunRaise is a fundraising platform built and operated by Rare Digital. It gives schools, PTSAs, sports teams, and community groups a transparent alternative to platforms that take a percentage of every donation.
The Problem
Many fundraising platforms take 20% to 45% of the money a community raises or lock organizers into long agreements. That makes costs difficult to predict and leaves less funding for students, teams, and local projects. We wanted to build a model that was easier to understand and gave organizers more control.
What We Built
We designed RunRaise as a participant-based event platform using modern frameworks and managed services. Organizers can create an event, add participants, set goals and prizes, and follow progress in real time. Participants receive individual fundraising pages and QR codes. Secure payments, automated fee handling, reporting, and post-event deposits are built into the experience.
The product was shaped around a flat event fee and per-participant pricing rather than percentage cuts. This keeps the model transparent for organizers and lets schools understand the cost before the event begins.
Launch and Learning
Schools have now raised more than $80,000 through RunRaise, including more than $22,000 during the original PTSA pilot. Working directly with school organizers gave us practical feedback about setup, sharing, reporting, and participant motivation. We used those lessons to refine both the product and the support around it.
RunRaise 2.0
Version 2.0 adds team leaderboards, participant photo uploads, custom event themes, QR codes, advanced analytics, real-time notifications, and automated prize tracking. Schools using RunRaise save an average of 35%, and funds are typically deposited within 3 to 5 business days after an event ends.
A Product We Continue to Operate
RunRaise is not only a client-style build. It is a product we maintain and improve ourselves. That ongoing work informs how we plan architecture, support launches, respond to real users, and make careful product decisions for every software project.
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