Load Fundraise Up data in Python using dltHub
Build a Fundraise Up-to-database or-dataframe pipeline in Python using dlt with automatic Cursor support.
In this guide, we'll set up a complete Fundraise Up data pipeline from API credentials to your first data load in just 10 minutes. You'll end up with a fully declarative Python pipeline based on dlt's REST API connector, like in the partial example code below:
Example code
Why use dltHub Workspace with LLM Context to generate Python pipelines?
- Accelerate pipeline development with AI-native context
- Debug pipelines, validate schemas and data with the integrated Pipeline Dashboard
- Build Python notebooks for end users of your data
- Low maintenance thanks to Schema evolution with type inference, resilience and self documenting REST API connectors. A shallow learning curve makes the pipeline easy to extend by any team member
- dlt is the tool of choice for Pythonic Iceberg Lakehouses, bringing mature data loading to pythonic Iceberg with or without catalogs
What you’ll do
We’ll show you how to generate a readable and easily maintainable Python script that fetches data from fundraise_up’s API and loads it into Iceberg, DataFrames, files, or a database of your choice. Here are some of the endpoints you can load:
- Donations: Retrieve donation records with pagination support and access individual donation details
- Campaigns: Fetch campaign information and view specific campaign data
- Designations: Access designation categories and retrieve specific designation details
- Recurring Plans: Manage and retrieve recurring donation plan information
- Documentation: Access API documentation and reference materials
You will then debug the Fundraise Up pipeline using our Pipeline Dashboard tool to ensure it is copying the data correctly, before building a Notebook to explore your data and build reports.
Setup & steps to follow
💡Before getting started, let's make sure Cursor is set up correctly:
- We suggest using a model like Claude 3.7 Sonnet or better
- Index the REST API Source tutorial: https://dlthub.com/docs/dlt-ecosystem/verified-sources/rest_api/ and add it to context as @dlt rest api
- Read our full steps on setting up Cursor
Now you're ready to get started!
-
⚙️ Set up
dltWorkspaceInstall dlt with duckdb support:
pip install dlt[workspace]Initialize a dlt pipeline with Fundraise Up support.
dlt init dlthub:fundraise_up duckdbThe
initcommand will setup the necessary files and folders for the next step. -
🤠 Start LLM-assisted coding
Here’s a prompt to get you started:
PromptPlease generate a REST API Source for Fundraise Up API, as specified in @fundraise_up-docs.yaml Start with endpoint(s) donations and campaigns and skip incremental loading for now. Place the code in fundraise_up_pipeline.py and name the pipeline fundraise_up_pipeline. If the file exists, use it as a starting point. Do not add or modify any other files. Use @dlt rest api as a tutorial. After adding the endpoints, allow the user to run the pipeline with python fundraise_up_pipeline.py and await further instructions. -
🔒 Set up credentials
API key authentication using Bearer token in the Authorization header. Include the API key as "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" in request headers. All requests must use HTTPS. The API key should be created with minimum required permissions (e.g., "Retrieve donation data") and stored securely like a password.
To get the appropriate API keys, please visit the original source at fundraiseup.com. If you want to protect your environment secrets in a production environment, look into setting up credentials with dlt.
-
🏃♀️ Run the pipeline in the Python terminal in Cursor
python fundraise_up_pipeline.pyIf your pipeline runs correctly, you’ll see something like the following:
Pipeline fundraise_up load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset fundraise_up_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/fundraise_up.duckdb location to store data Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs -
📈 Debug your pipeline and data with the Pipeline Dashboard
Now that you have a running pipeline, you need to make sure it’s correct, so you do not introduce silent failures like misconfigured pagination or incremental loading errors. By launching the dlt Workspace Pipeline Dashboard, you can see various information about the pipeline to enable you to test it. Here you can see:
- Pipeline overview: State, load metrics
- Data’s schema: tables, columns, types, hints
- You can query the data itself
dlt pipeline fundraise_up_pipeline show -
🐍 Build a Notebook with data explorations and reports
With the pipeline and data partially validated, you can continue with custom data explorations and reports. To get started, paste the snippet below into a new marimo Notebook and ask your LLM to go from there. Jupyter Notebooks and regular Python scripts are supported as well.
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("fundraise_up_pipeline").dataset() # get donations table as Pandas frame data.donations.df().head()