Glossary

Recurring Donations are automatically debited from the payment method at predefined intervals. At Soulclick, donors can choose to donate monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually, and they receive an email notification before and after each debit. Recurring donations are commonly used for memberships, patronages, or digital sponsorships.

A Release (or software release) refers to the launch of a new version of a software product – it typically includes new features, improvements or bug fixes. There are three different types of releases:

• Major release (e.g. from version 1.9 to 2.0): significant new features or structural changes
• Minor release (e.g. from 1.4 to 1.5): smaller improvements and feature updates
• Patch release (e.g. from 1.2 to 1.2.1): short-term bug fixes and stability improvements

At Soulclick,we also publish regular new releases - with each new version, the platform is extended by new fundraising features, usability improvements or technical optimizations. Upcoming releases are communicated transparently through release notes on our website and regular release call webinars.

Remarketing, also known as retargeting, focuses on reaching users who previously interacted with a brand (e.g., through a website visit) via ads on third-party platforms, such as Gmail and social media. These additional touchpoints increase the likelihood that users will take the desired action, such as making a donation. In online fundraising, remarketing is an effective tool for re-engaging supporters and drawing their attention to current fundraising campaigns, petitions, or similar activities.

Reply Management is a discipline of customer service management which is also utilized by nonprofits. It involves systematically capturing and responding to feedback and inputs from supporters and donors. Using Customer Insights, feedback is actively solicited. Ideally, valid feedback is directly integrated into the ongoing development of communication and fundraising strategies.

Requirements engineering refers to the process of gathering, defining, documenting, and managing customer requirements in IT projects. It plays a particularly important role in large, complex digital projects in charities and companies alike. In this context, needs are captured in the form of user stories and implemented iteratively through agile sprints. It is a common method of 

A Requirements Specification (german: Lastenheft) outlines the expectations and requirements of a charity for a software system ("What do we want to achieve?"). It defines the key goals, functions, and parameters of the planned solution from a business perspective. A requirements specification is often created to evaluate an online donation tool or CRM software and serves as a foundation for the pre-selection of suitable tools as well as for developing a functional specification document ("How do we implement it?").

Responsive Design is a web design approach that ensures websites dynamically adjust to the user’s viewport, device, or orientation (such as landscape mode). This approach, a major milestone in web development, was introduced by Ethan Marcotte in 2010. It relies on a flexible grid system that allows for scalable design, accommodating screen sizes from the smallest to the largest.

Ideally, responsive design is implemented using a UX/UI design system (such as Figma) that defines the standards and key parameters for web developers. Additionally, responsive design provides the foundation for building digital products with a mobile-first approach.

Responsiveness refers to a website's or application's ability to adapt flexibly to various screen sizes, devices, and orientations (landscape and portrait), delivering an optimal user experience for online fundraising. While responsive design lays the groundwork for layout adjustments, responsiveness also encompasses the technical implementation needed to ensure seamless functionality across all devices and screen formats.

Responsive Retrofitting involves scaling down an existing desktop-first website to make it mobile-friendly and responsive. This approach is particularly common fro large-scale, older media websites (such as newspapers) that face challenges in fully transitioning their digital presence into the mobile-first era. Responsive retrofitting typically includes:

• Simplifying navigation to suit touchscreens

• Prioritizing essential content and reducing secondary elements,

• Optimizing images and assets to improve load times on mobile devices

• Reordering layouts to improve readability and accessibility on smaller screens

While responsive retrofitting helps bring legacy websites into the mobile-friendly realm, a mobile-first or progressive enhancement approach is clearly preferred for new projects to ensure an optimal experience across all devices.

ROAS stands for Return on Advertising Spend and is a commonly used key performance indicator in online fundraising. ROAS is primarily evaluated in paid digital campaigns on platforms like Google or Meta, showing the ratio between donation revenue and advertising spend. For example, a ROAS of 3 means that for every Swiss Franc invested in advertising, CHF 3 in donations was generated.

The robots.txt file allows web developers to specify which subpages of a website may or may not be crawled by search engines. For example, admin pages can be specifically excluded from crawling using the Disallow directive, while other pages can be permitted with the Allow directive.