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RailsConf 2017: High Performance Political Revolutions by Braulio Carreno Bernie Sanders popularized crowdfunding in politics by raising $220 million in small donations. An example of the challenges with handling a high volume of donations is the 2016 New Hampshire primary night, when Sanders asked a national TV audience to donate $27. Traffic peaked at 300K requests/min and 42 credit card transactions/sec. ActBlue is the company behind the service used not only by Sanders, but also 16,600 other political organizations and charities for the past 12 years. This presentation is about the lessons we learned building a high performance fundraising platform in Rails.
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The video titled "High Performance Political Revolutions," presented by Braulio Carreno at RailsConf 2017, focuses on the development and challenges of building a high-performance fundraising platform using Rails, particularly in the political domain. Carreno elaborates on the rise of crowdfunding in politics, notably popularized by Bernie Sanders, who raised $220 million through millions of small donations during his campaign. The presentation emphasizes the operational intricacies faced during significant donation spikes, such as the New Hampshire primary in 2016 when requests peaked at 300,000 per minute. Key Points Discussed: - **Foundations of ActBlue**: ActBlue serves over 17,000 organizations and has facilitated $1.6 billion in contributions across 31 million transactions in 13 years. It allows candidates to set up donation pages easily, manage compliance, and streamline donation processes with single-click options for returning donors. - **Impact of Citizens United**: The Supreme Court ruling allowing unlimited donations has shifted power dynamics, prompting a push for empowerment through small donations. - **Performance Metrics**: Continuous performance improvement is essential; the team constantly analyzes metrics to identify bottlenecks. Metrics include contributions per minute, traffic to the site, and latency concerning bank authorizations. - **Technical Challenges**: Carreno discusses strategies to address challenges encountered during high-traffic periods, including efficient handling of web service calls and the necessary architecture for scaling. This includes load balancing, caching, and database performance management. - **Microservices and Queue Systems**: Leveraging microservices helps in better handling isolated concerns such as compliance with payment processing. Queue systems allow for processing tasks asynchronously, enhancing system reliability during traffic peaks. - **Caching Strategies**: Using content delivery networks (CDNs) for caching significantly reduces the load on servers, ensuring that a majority of traffic does not hit the main servers directly. - **Scaling and Future-Proofing**: Emphasizing the importance of designing systems with scalability in mind to accommodate future growth without significant overhauls. Conclusions and Takeaways: - The continuous improvement of backend processes and performance metrics is vital for maintaining a robust fundraising platform. - Understanding the intersection of technology and regulatory requirements is crucial in political fundraising environments. - Effective architecture design, including the use of microservices and caching technologies, can enable better performance and user experiences during critical fundraising moments.
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