Custom Domains & Branding

Overview

PurposeTech supports full white-labelling — your volunteers see your brand, your domain, and your colours. No PurposeTech branding is visible to them. This guide covers domain configuration, visual branding, copy overrides, and campaign-level customisation.

Domain options

Default subdomain

Every tenant automatically gets a subdomain on PurposeTech's domain:

your-org.purposetech.io

This works immediately with HTTPS — no DNS configuration needed. It's perfectly usable for getting started, but most organisations want their own domain for a professional, branded experience.

Each campaign can also get its own path:

your-org.purposetech.io/campaign-slug

Custom domain

Use your own domain for a fully branded experience:

volunteers.yourcharity.org.nz

Or per campaign:

street-appeal.yourcharity.org.nz

With a custom domain, the URL bar shows your brand — not ours.

Setting up a custom domain

Step 1: Add the domain in PurposeTech

1. Go to Settings > Domain in the admin portal
2. Enter your custom domain (e.g., volunteers.yourcharity.org.nz)
3. PurposeTech generates the DNS records you need

Step 2: Configure DNS at your registrar

Add a CNAME record at your domain registrar:

For the example volunteers.yourcharity.org.nz:

• Name/Host: volunteers
• Points to/Value: cname.purposetech.io

Step 3: Wait for propagation

DNS changes typically propagate within minutes to an hour. PurposeTech automatically detects when the DNS is configured and begins serving your site on the custom domain.

Step 4: SSL certificate

SSL certificates are provisioned automatically via Let's Encrypt. Once DNS propagates, HTTPS is enabled within minutes — no manual certificate setup needed. Your custom domain is served over HTTPS by default.

DNS scenarios

Subdomain (recommended)

The simplest setup. Use a subdomain like volunteers.yourcharity.org.nz:

CNAME  volunteers  →  cname.purposetech.io

Root domain

If you want to use a root domain (e.g., yourcharity.org.nz directly), standard DNS doesn't allow CNAME records on the root. You'll need a registrar that supports CNAME flattening or ALIAS records:

• Cloudflare — supports CNAME flattening (free)
• Route 53 (AWS) — supports ALIAS records
• DNSimple — supports ALIAS records

If your registrar doesn't support this, use a subdomain instead.

Campaign-specific domains

Each campaign can have its own custom domain:

CNAME  street-appeal-2026  →  cname.purposetech.io

This is useful when different campaigns need completely distinct URLs (e.g., a co-branded event with a partner organisation).

Multiple domains

You can have different custom domains for:

• Your tenant (e.g., volunteers.yourcharity.org.nz)
• Individual campaigns (e.g., street-appeal.partner-org.nz)

Each needs its own CNAME record and will get its own SSL certificate.

DNS troubleshooting

Domain not connecting

If your custom domain isn't working after adding DNS records:

1. Verify the CNAME record — use a DNS lookup tool (like dig or MXToolbox) to confirm the record exists
2. Check for typos — ensure cname.purposetech.io is spelled correctly (common mistake: cnames.purposetech.io)
3. Wait longer — some registrars take up to 24 hours for propagation, especially if you recently changed nameservers
4. Check for conflicting records — if you have an existing A record on the same subdomain, it may conflict with the CNAME. Remove the A record first
5. Check your registrar's CNAME format — some registrars want the full domain in the "points to" field (e.g., cname.purposetech.io. with a trailing dot)

SSL certificate not issuing

SSL certificates require DNS to be correctly configured first. If you see HTTPS errors:

1. Confirm DNS is propagated — the CNAME must resolve before a certificate can be issued
2. Wait a few minutes — certificate provisioning happens automatically after DNS propagation
3. Check for CAA records — if your domain has CAA DNS records, make sure they allow Let's Encrypt (letsencrypt.org)
4. If issues persist, contact support@purposetech.io

Redirect from old domain

If you're moving from a different domain, PurposeTech doesn't handle redirects from your old URL. Set up a 301 redirect at your old hosting provider or registrar to point to the new PurposeTech domain.

Branding

Visual identity

Customise the look of your volunteer-facing site so it matches your brand:

Style overrides

PurposeTech uses a CSS variable system that lets you override the default theme. Common overrides:

Style overrides are set via the Style Data JSON field in tenant or campaign settings. Your PurposeTech onboarding contact can help you set these up, or you can configure them directly if you're comfortable with CSS variables.

Copy overrides

Customise text throughout the volunteer experience without writing code:

Copy overrides are set via the Copy Data JSON field — a flexible key-value structure for text replacements. This is also how translations work for non-English volunteer sites.

Campaign-level overrides

By default, campaigns inherit all branding from the tenant. When you need a campaign to look different:

1. Go to the campaign's Settings
2. Enable Override Tenant Settings
3. Set campaign-specific values for any setting — logo, colours, copy, header/footer, email templates

When to use campaign-level overrides

What inherits vs. what doesn't

Branding checklist

Before going live, make sure:

• Logo is uploaded and displays well at small sizes (header) and in emails
• Colours match your brand — check on both desktop and mobile
• Header/footer — auto-generated from your site or manually configured
• Email templates — previewed with your branding (use Test Send)
• Copy — any text overrides are in place (especially if running in a non-English language)
• Custom domain — CNAME record added and SSL certificate issued
• Campaign site — visited in an incognito browser to see exactly what volunteers will see

Next steps

• Organisation Setup — full tenant configuration
• Email & Messaging — email template design and scheduling
• User Management — manage admin access