How BrightLeaf Giving uses GravityKit to bolster business operations

BrightLeaf Giving, a nonprofit fundraising platform, built a centralized client communication system entirely on WordPress. Led by Gil Amminadav, BrightLeaf uses Gravity Forms and GravityKit to manage one-to-one messaging, admin workflows, and client assignments without relying on third-party tools. The result is a streamlined, cost-effective platform that keeps all communication in one place.

Meet Gil Amminadav

Gil is an operations manager with decades of experience helping entrepreneurs validate and refine their ideas. He is currently the COO at BrightLeaf Giving, a platform that helps organizations raise money.

From scholarships and community support funds to short-term campaigns and full donation websites, BrightLeaf handles compliance, donor receipts, and infrastructure. The result is a simple, transparent way to raise money, engage supporters, and scale impact without the usual administrative burden.

Discovering GravityKit

Gil started using GravityView around a decade ago—well before the GravityKit rebrand—and has been a long-time user ever since. Today, GravityKit is essential to operations at BrightLeaf, powering interfaces for business administration, marketing, sales, client support, and financial reporting.

Gil chose GravityView for its well-structured front end that can be easily styled with CSS and enhanced with JavaScript. Its extensive configuration options, hooks, and API also allow BrightLeaf to automate workflows and extend the system as needed.

GravityView is the best way to create custom user interfaces for Gravity Forms data!

Building with GravityKit

BrightLeaf developed a messaging platform that leverages tools from the Gravity Forms ecosystem to power a one-to-one messaging app embedded within their client dashboard.

Below is the client interface, which leverages the {user} merge tag to filter the message view and pre-fill the messaging form with the correct CRM record.

The admin interface, on the other hand, uses a URL parameter and the {get} merge tag to both filter the View, populate the admin messaging form, and customize the page header.

The primary messaging form acts as a ledger and individual entries (messages) are displayed on the frontend using GravityView. The UI consists of two separate Views filtered by user, allowing for custom interfaces for both admins and clients.

Admins are assigned messages to reply to, and they add messages to the thread via Gravity Flow. The technical breakdown is elegant:

One messaging form serves as the central ledger.
The user interface is powered by GravityView, which filters messages by user automatically.
Gravity Flow handles admin message assignments via Form Submission Steps: Admins must fill out the Admin Messaging form (which includes templates!) for each client message.
Everything is embedded in a central dashboard. Here, admins can see a table of assigned messages.

The entire UI is through GravityView. The messaging form is embedded in a custom code widget at the bottom.

This innovative system enables BrightLeaf to keep all customer communications in a central platform with a full message history that’s easily searchable. No confusing email chains. No third-party messaging tools. No expensive custom code. Just intelligent use of the Gravity Forms ecosystem!

GravityKit is essential to our operations, enabling us to build interfaces for business administration.

The impact

GravityView enables BrightLeaf to create clean, well-structured front-end interfaces for Gravity Forms data without custom development. The flexibility of its configuration options, hooks, and API makes it easy to layer in automation, custom styling, and dynamic behavior as the platform evolves.

By rethinking the problem as one-to-one messaging rather than complex threaded conversations, BrightLeaf built a streamlined messaging system entirely within WordPress. Using Gravity Forms and GravityView, all client interactions now live in a single, organized interface—eliminating external tools, email sprawl, and unnecessary complexity.

A foundation for long-term growth

GravityKit has become a core part of BrightLeaf’s operational stack. Beyond messaging, the team has built robust accounting and nonprofit management systems using GravityView, Gravity Flow, and GravityMath, with more projects already in the pipeline.

Takeaways

GravityKit isn’t just another tool for BrightLeaf, it’s the foundation of their operations. Gil’s messaging system proves you don’t need complex platforms or expensive developers to build sophisticated business solutions. You just need the right tools!

For WordPress users facing similar challenges, BrightLeaf’s messaging platform offers a valuable example of how GravityKit can streamline business operations. Not just forms and data display, but complete operational workflows that help improve business outcomes.

Under BrightLeaf Digital, Gil and his team have also developed several plugins and code snippets that add functionality to Gravity Forms and GravityKit. You can view them here.