UNHCR | The UN Refugee Agency's Global Donations Platform

The Blueprint: One Platform, Many Markets

The architectural goal was simple: one platform, many markets, one governance model. Built on Varbase (Vardot’s Enterprise Drupal distribution), the donation platform allows UNHCR to add and expand markets through configuration, not custom rebuilds.

Centralized Admin & Market Governance

To allow multinational teams to work quickly without data fragmentation, Vardot utilized Drupal’s permission system to strictly facilitate the delegation of responsibilities.

• Market-Specific Access: Users assigned to specific markets (e.g., "Italy Admin") only have access to their own campaigns and data. This prevents local teams from accidentally altering global settings or other regions' campaigns.
• Bird’s Eye View for HQ: While local users see a granular view of their market, Global Admins retain a "bird's eye view" across all regions, campaigns, and user permissions from a single dashboard.

• Tailored Dashboards: Campaigns and donation dashboards were customized to suit specific department needs, ensuring that a single, centralized platform could simultaneously serve 35+ markets and independent regional programs with distinct languages and currencies.

   

Advanced Campaign Creation: The 15-Minute Workflow

Seconds matter in this field. The donations platform reduced campaign launch time from days to a maximum of 15 minutes. This velocity is achieved through a suite of solutions designed to streamline the workflow for non-technical teams:

• Cloning & Inheritance: Since every campaign is unique, editors can simply clone an existing high-performing campaign to bypass repetitive setup. A new campaign inherits the approved structure, requiring only content updates to go live.
• Layout Builder & Predefined Layouts: Users start by selecting a page layout from a drop-down list of predefined templates. If customization is needed, they use Varbase Layout Builder to rearrange elements, edit blocks, or add new media sections without touching code.
• Granular Field Customization: Editors have amazing flexibility to customize form fields. They can specify exactly which fields to include and toggle whether they are required or optional based on local data laws.

• Flexible Campaign Logic: Editors can further customize the campaign by specifying donation types (monthly, one-off, or both), minimum amounts, currency options, and even fee amounts.

   

Smart Geotargeting & Routing

To manage global traffic effectively, we needed to ensure donors landed on the right page for their region immediately.

• Smart IP Detection: We implemented custom Geotargeting logic using the Drupal GeoIP module. The platform detects user IPs upon entry to serve the correct region’s language and currency.
• Region vs. Campaign Level Control: Admins can define single or multiple countries as one region. They can then configure redirects at the broad Region Level (e.g., "EU visitors go to EU site") or override this at the Campaign Level based on urgency (e.g., "EU visitors see the Ukraine Emergency appeal first").
• Centralized Redirect Dashboard: All active redirects are managed from a single centralized dashboard. This allows the team to instantly view and change which campaigns users see in real-time without digging into individual page settings.

• Redirect Types: Admins can choose between Forced Redirects (hard) or Popup Suggestions (soft), including configuring the specific popup message for soft redirects.

   

The Donation Experience & Payments

UNHCR operates across diverse payment landscapes. The platform supports multiple gateways, enabled by market configuration. This allows a single platform to process payments via:

• Stripe, Worldpay, PayPal (including Express recurring), PagBrasil, and more.
• Localized "Thank You" Workflows: Beyond the payment, markets can override default "Thank You" messages to provide localized donor reassurance or specific tax information at the campaign level.

Tailored Integrations & Data Intelligence

To optimize the overall experience, Vardot integrated the platform with the existing tech stack to ensure a seamless flow of data.

• External Services: Beyond the core CMS, we integrated iRaiser, Google Tag Manager, and Google Analytics directly with the platform’s core functionalities.
• Salesforce Sync: We developed a custom Campaign ID field that directly integrates with Salesforce. This ensures that every dollar processed is accurately attributed in the CRM, keeping donor data synchronized.

• Real-Time Optimization: We integrated Google Analytics Enhanced Ecommerce to provide granular behavioral insights. Having behavioral and real-time information in one dashboard allows the team to "crunch the numbers" instantly, informing near real-time improvements during crisis campaigns rather than waiting for post-campaign reports.

   

Robust Hosting & Security

• Upsun Partnership: To handle traffic surges during global emergencies, we partnered with Upsun (formerly Platform.sh). This provides a resilient hosting environment with 99.99% uptime and enables quick deployments, allowing the team to push urgent updates and fixes instantly during a crisis.
• Granular Security: The platform logs every transaction with a unique ID for security auditing before sending it to Salesforce.
• Access Control: High-level security measures, including Two-Step Authentication (2FA) and risk controls (allow/deny lists), were implemented to protect sensitive donor data.

OUTCOMES

As of December 2025, the HEROS platform has transformed UNHCR's digital fundraising capability:

• $67 Million+ in donations processed.
• 2,500+ campaigns published.
• 35+ markets supported (countries and regional programs).
• 15-minute maximum campaign launch time.

Vardot’s technical knowledge, understanding, experience, and dedication are impressive. They’re very dedicated to their work, and they strive to deliver quality products. - UNHCR

KEY FEATURES & CAPABILITIES

Global SEO & Performance

• SEO-Optimized Structure: Clean URL structures and automatic Canonical Tags to prevent duplicate content issues across regions .
• Hreflang Support: Automated XML sitemaps with hreflang geotargeting suggestions to ensure search engines serve the correct regional site to users .

Multilingual & Multiregional

• Translation Workflow: Streamlined workflows for translating campaign content across 10+ languages .
• Multi-Currency: Native support for defining different currency options and price points per market.

Integrations Ecosystem

• Salesforce: CRM-ready data ownership with custom Campaign ID syncing.
• Analytics: Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics Enhanced Ecommerce.
• Payments: Integration with Stripe, PayPal, Worldpay, PagBrasil, and iRaiser