Galway father-and-son reveal story behind iDonate success

When the Coynes in Tuam set up a ‘very simple’ online platform for collecting charitable donations in 2011, they could hardly have envisaged what it would become.

But over the past decade, iDonate has become the country’s leading digital fundraising platform for everything from local sports clubs to national cancer charities.

Operated out of a small office in the N17 Business Park in Tuam, iDonate was set up by father-and-son team, Paddy and Alan Coyne – the pair having worked on developing websites for various Galway charities beforehand through their original company, Western Webs.

“My father Paddy set up Western Webs with me in 2007,” recalls Alan.

“We were working with a number of local charities like Western Alzheimers and Galway Rape Crisis Centre, developing websites. And they were looking for alternative fundraising platforms.”

Out of that, Alan says they developed iDonate – then “a very simple platform with no bells and whistles”.

It started as a social enterprise but has continued to grow and since redirecting their focus in 2015 towards iDonate, it has grown to become an industry-leading company, synonymous with fundraisers.

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