How HappyTree IT built a scalable civic engagement platform using GravityKit

HappyTree IT used GravityKit to build a citizen-driven platform for Wir Machen Wien, a nonprofit initiative focused on making Vienna more climate-friendly and livable. Using Gravity Forms and GravityView, the team created a flexible, user-friendly system that supports collaboration and grassroots action. The result is a scalable platform that empowers citizens to share initiatives, resources, and ideas for positive change.

Meet Angie Weikmann

Angie Weikmann is a web designer and WordPress expert at HappyTree IT, a company she co-founded in 2019 with her husband, Martin. Angie describes herself primarily as a web designer, occasionally working with code when needed, but focusing mainly on usability, structure, and visual clarity.

At HappyTree IT, she leads web design and WordPress projects, while Martin brings his background as an IT consultant. HappyTree IT specializes in helping small organizations grow their digital presence, with a strong focus on nonprofits based in Vienna, Austria.

Discovering GravityKit

Angie first learned about GravityKit through a recommendation from a previous client while working on another project. The timing proved ideal, as she was soon involved in building a platform with complex user-generated content requirements.

The Wir Machen Wien project grew out of a grassroots campaign launched in Vienna in 2019, where citizens came together to advocate for a more sustainable, people-friendly city. The campaign gained significant momentum, collecting more than 60,000 signatures and inspiring a wave of smaller, citizen-led initiatives across the city. With funding secured, the decision was made to create a central platform to showcase and coordinate these efforts.

GravityKit plays a key role across multiple areas of the site. GravityView allows users to manage their profiles and contribute content—such as events, petitions, and shared resources—entirely from the front end. Entry approval and advanced filtering ensure users can only view and manage their own submissions, maintaining privacy and control without exposing the WordPress admin.

After deciding to use Gravity Forms, it made sense to also use GravityKit, which provides an array of different tools covering a spectrum of functionality for fulfilling different use-cases and needs.

Building with GravityKit

Wir Machen Wien showcases initiatives that advocate for more sustainable town planning, more/better infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists, and more green spaces in the city.

When new initiatives are approved, users can sign up to get an account on the site. This is handled using Gravity Forms and the User Registration Add-On. GravityView enables users to edit their information directly from the front end of the site.

GravityView fulfills several other functions on the site as well, giving users the ability to post events related to their initiative, put up equipment for sharing, highlight relevant petitions, and more!

Here’s the website’s Calendar page (powered by GravityView’s DIY layout) that showcases upcoming events. Users browsing the site can search for events by keyword or date range.

Clicking on an event allows users to view more information about that specific event:

Wir Machen Wien also uses GravityView’s table layout to showcase a list of active petitions that they believe are worth supporting.

And last but not least, their “Equipment Share” page is powered by the GravityView DataTables layout:

The impact

GravityKit has enabled Angie to deliver complex, user-driven WordPress projects without needing to rely on custom development. Working exclusively with WordPress and coming from a design-focused background, she values having flexible, well-supported tools that can be adapted to a wide range of use cases across nonprofit projects.

Using premium, well-maintained plugins is central to Angie’s approach. GravityKit provides long-term reliability, giving her confidence that projects will remain stable, documented, and supported.

Strong support has also been a key factor. The GravityKit team provided patient, hands-on assistance throughout the project, helping resolve challenges and implement solutions effectively. As a result, GravityKit has become a tool Angie confidently recommends to other WordPress site builders working on complex, mission-driven platforms.

I work exclusively with WordPress, and I’m not a developer, so having access to tools like Gravity Forms and GravityKit is very helpful!

Takeaways

Gravity Forms and GravityKit enabled HappyTree IT to build a robust platform for showcasing citizens’ initiatives in the city of Vienna, Austria. GravityView’s flexible layouts and front-end editing capabilities make it a top choice for web designers looking to get a head start and create interfaces without custom code.

This exciting case study serves to showcase how GravityKit’s flexible suite of plugins offers powerful solutions for nonprofits looking to build complex websites and apps. Our thanks go out to Angie for chatting with us and sharing her experience.