UPstream

UPstream International is a Christian non-profit working in Cité Soleil, Haiti with local partners who run schools, feeding programmes and emergency relief. What it sells is giving rather than goods: classroom sponsorships, named funds and recurring memberships, handled as products with prices, a cart and a checkout. The site runs on Givecloud, and the header states a merger, “Upstream + Proco being UNITED now gives us even more opportunity for impact”.

Website Design

Montserrat over Open Sans. Headings use Montserrat, set in caps for section labels such as WE ASSIST, WE BUILD, WE EDUCATE and WE NOURISH, with Open Sans carrying body copy. The type does little work beyond separating levels.

A four-colour palette on a Bootstrap grid. Primary is a steel blue #4e6878 with a deeper slate #254151 for panels and footers, terracotta #d35447 for donate buttons and mustard #eec857 for highlights. Layout is a standard Bootstrap 4 container, so sections stack as full-width bands.

Photography carries the argument. Almost every band pairs a short statement with a documentary photograph of students, meals or classrooms, and partner biographies use portraits rather than stock imagery.

Shopping Experience

A funds page that behaves like a catalogue. Funds and Causes lists eight entries, among them the Cité Soleil Community School Fund, Better Than Bullets, an Emergency Relief Fund and a meal fund, each with a View link and an Add to Cart button. Where a range applies it is printed on the card, $5.00 to $50.00 for one and $0.00 to $300.00 for classroom sponsorship.

Frequency chosen before amount. The give box opens with a frequency row of One-Time, Annually, Monthly and Quarterly, then a payment day selector offering the 1st or the 15th, a currency selector and a first-payment-today toggle.

Dedication built into the cart. Before adding, a donor can dedicate the gift In Memory or In Honor, name the individual, and enter a recipient so a notice and personal message are emailed.

A full commerce checkout. Billing collects individual or organisation details, offers card, bank transfer, PayPal and saved methods, and adds a Keep me anonymous checkbox and a How did you hear about us field. Accounts open with a password, through Google, Microsoft or Facebook, or by login link.

Brand Storytelling

Local leadership as the stated model. The positioning line is “we help people who are helping people”, and the approach section has Haitian leaders assess community needs first, under the heading “Community Needs, Community Created Solutions”.

Partners given full biographies. Four named Haitian partners each get a portrait and several paragraphs of life history, including a founder described as serving the same school for more than fifteen years.

Sponsorship change explained. A long passage sets out why individual child sponsorship was replaced with classroom sponsorship, citing family displacement and staff workload.

Notable Features

A tiered giving club. The Five Dollar Fight Club sells single, five-member and ten-member monthly memberships at $5, $25 and $50, packaging group giving as one product.

Financial disclosure in the footer. A Gift Acceptance Policy sits beside a Financials link that resolves to the organisation’s IRS Form 990 filing.