UK Fundraising
35,000 articles and counting
See how we rebuilt a legendary fundraising site that originally launched in 1994
A website with history
The UK Fundraising website was originally launched in 1994, making it the longest-running and most successful online resource for charity fundraisers. We were honoured to be asked by the founder, Howard Lake, to redevelop the website from scratch.
This was a large project spanning several months. We clarified the core objectives of the website and set about rebuilding it. Our chosen platform was WordPress, and a large part of the work was migrating content (some dating back over 25 years!) to the new database. Around 35,000 pieces of content were brought across to the new website, and we designed the platform specifically to be visually clean, easy to use and fast-loading in order to bring its content to people as quickly as possible regardless of the device they’re using.
Key project objectives
A website of this size and stature had several clear objectives for growth.
Income diversification
UK Fundraising has helped millions of fundraisers over the years, and was now looking for ways to generate additional revenue. We built in the ability to pay for sponsored content, as well as partner listing spots. All handled by a sophisticated back-end system.
SEO
Having been established over almost three decades, the UK Fundraising website needed to not only preserve its status in search rankings, but improve them. We created a lean, fast-loading website that was well-structured, accessible and focused on user intent.
Improved look and feel
The previous website has grown organically over time, with the help of various developers. This redesign was an opportunity to take a fresh look from the ground up. We created a simple, templated system that put the article content front and centre, focusing on functionality first.
A website of this size required careful planning to ensure it not only preserved its status as a leading resource for fundraisers, but embedded itself more deeply within the community.
Handling a massive migration project
The most challenging aspect of this project was dealing with the sheer volume of content. Having launched in 1994, the website had accumulated tens of thousands of pieces of valuable content and articles, all of which needed to be rehoused in the new website.
Thanks to our standardised development process, the migration went off without a hitch – though it did take several days!
Requirement scoping
To begin understanding project scope, we brainstormed functional requirements and user journeys on a whiteboard, before honing in on the core needs of the website.
Layout planning
To support the many different types of content for UK Fundraising, such as articles, partners and book recommendations, we developed simple layout templates.
Content migration
We developed a process for automating the export and import of over 35,000 pieces of content, spanning over 25 years. This took several days, but immediately breathed life into the project.
Website launch
UK Fundraising had a complex DNS setup due to the many iterations of the website over the years. Launching was not simple, but it was rewarding to see 5 months of work come to fruition.
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