So it's finally here. During DaNGO project, which was funded by Microsoft, two existing modules were updated and three new modules as well as an install profile were produced.

Modules that were produced / updated

Windows Live Messenger - provides an affordable (free) online chat functionality to your website. Developed by Django Beatty from Adub.

Geocode Bing - allows you to use Bing maps to geocode your information e.g. which areas you work in the world. Developed by Benedict Steele from Homemade Digital

Activity dashboard - an API-only module that works with Silverlight to generate a site dashboard-type feature. Useful for generating an overview of the site activity for executives. Developed by Ben Alexander from Homemade Digital.

Email Newsletter - a powerful newsletter module that allows you to stay in touch with your supporters. Developed by Robert Castelo from Code Positive

Fundraising module - allows you to set up fundraising pages with a fundraising menu that gives donors a better idea on how the money is spent, as well as a list of preset donation amount that makes it easier for them to make a decision. Developed by me :)
The actual transaction is handled by the dependent module PG API.

DaNGO install profile - Installs all the modules listed above, as well as their dependent modules.

FAQ: Why didn't we use CiviCRM / Ubercart instead?

For those who wonder why I didn't use CiviCRM, please see my previous post and comments. In short, it's not that we didn't know it existed. What we wanted was a set of lean, Drupal-native tools. CiviCRM is a great package, but it is not a Drupal module that fully utilise Drupal APIs and PHP Template instead of Smarty.

I have also used Ubercart before to set up a donation system that works almost exactly like Fundraising module, but it required a lot of workarounds and hacky solutions to make Ubercart work that way. Besides, for relatively small charities, I find learning how to manage Ubercart just to set up a couple of fundraising pages is a bit too much. So I wanted to use something lighter and simpler and PG API was a better option although it needs some TLC.

Now what?

Since most of my clients are charities and NGOs, I will be utilising these modules for my own project and possibly adding the features that could not be added during the project.
I'm hoping to receive another batch of funding so I can add those nice-to-have features quickly, but I'll take a good care of it in the meantime.

Thanks again to Microsoft for this opportunity!