Transparent Donations MVP

Transparent donation tracking for churches and NGOs powered by Stellar.

This MVP enables organizations to create fundraising campaigns, receive donations, and record donation activity with optional on-chain settlement using the Stellar testnet.

Why This Exists

Many churches and nonprofit organizations struggle with donor trust and transparency. Donors often have limited visibility into:

• Where funds are allocated
• Campaign progress
• Spending accountability
• Donation history

Transparent Donations aims to improve trust through verifiable donation records and transparent campaign tracking, with blockchain-backed recording as an optional layer.

Features

Organization Management

• Create and manage churches or NGOs
• Create fundraising campaigns per organization

Donation Tracking

• Record donations in SQLite
• Associate donations with campaigns
• Categorize donations

Stellar Testnet Integration

• Optionally submit on-chain testnet payments
• Record verifiable payment activity on Stellar
• Uses a platform-funded account for MVP testing

Dashboard

• View campaign details
• Track donation activity
• Access campaign metrics through dashboard endpoints

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Current MVP Scope

This is an early prototype focused on validating the donation transparency workflow.

Current implementation includes:

• Basic organization management
• Campaign creation
• Donation recording
• Optional Stellar testnet transactions
• Simple dashboard endpoints

Not yet included:

• Authentication
• Role-based access control
• Production payment flow
• Donor wallet signing
• Restricted spending verification
• Advanced analytics

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Architecture Overview

Frontend/UI
    ↓
Express API
    ↓
SQLite Database
    ↓
Stellar Testnet (optional)

Key Components

API Server

Handles:

• Organization creation
• Campaign management
• Donation processing
• Dashboard aggregation

Database

SQLite is used for lightweight local persistence during MVP development.

Stellar Integration

If configured, the server submits a testnet payment from a platform account to a campaign Stellar account.

For production, donor-signed transactions or a compliant custodial payment flow should be used.

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Quick Start

1. Clone the repository

git clone <repository-url>
cd transparent-donations

2. Configure environment variables

Copy the sample environment file:

cp .env.sample .env

Edit .env and optionally configure:

PLATFORM_SEED=

PLATFORM_SEED should be a Stellar testnet secret key.

If omitted, donations will still be recorded off-chain.

3. Install dependencies

npm install

4. Start the application

npm start

5. Open the app

Visit:

http://localhost:4000

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API Endpoints

Organizations

Create an organization

POST /api/orgs

Request body:

{
  "name": "Celebration Church"
}

---

Campaigns

Create a campaign

POST /api/campaigns

Request body:

{
  "org_id": 1,
  "name": "Community Outreach",
  "goal": 100000,
  "categories": ["food", "medical"]
}

Get all campaigns

GET /api/campaigns

Get a campaign

GET /api/campaigns/:id

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Donations

Create a donation

POST /api/donate

Request body:

{
  "campaign_id": 1,
  "amount": 5000,
  "donor_name": "John Doe",
  "category": "food"
}

---

Dashboard

Get campaign dashboard data

GET /api/dashboard/:campaignId

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Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Required
PLATFORM_SEED	Stellar testnet account secret for on-chain transactions	No

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Roadmap

Phase 1 — MVP

• Organization creation
• Campaign management
• Donation recording
• Stellar testnet support
• Dashboard endpoint

Phase 2 — Platform

• Authentication
• Organization onboarding
• Campaign UI
• Donor accounts
• Recurring donations

Phase 3 — Transparency Layer

• Restricted spending categories
• Expense verification
• Public transparency dashboards
• Donation impact reporting

Phase 4 — Monetization

• Organization subscriptions
• Premium analytics
• Recurring billing

Security Notes

The current implementation uses a server-side platform account for testnet transfers.

For production:

• Avoid storing production signing keys directly in the server
• Prefer donor-signed transactions
• Add KYC/compliance where required
• Implement proper access control and auditing

License

No license specified.