Sector(s)
Project Team
Karthik Kalimuthu: CTO
Technical strategy, solution architecture, and platform direction
The Client
Founded in 1999, Big Fundraising Ideas is a Texas-based fundraising solutions provider that helps schools, clubs, and community organizations raise money. The platform supports a wide range of product-based programs, including food items, gift products, discount cards, and custom merchandise, along with online storefronts and traditional catalog sales.
The Situation
The organization's website had been running on an older version of Drupal with largely static pages. Over time, this setup became difficult to maintain and difficult to compete with. Minor content updates required developer involvement, the design no longer reflected modern expectations, and the platform lacked features available on more competitive fundraising sites. Long-term sustainability of the aging platform was also a growing concern.
The Challenge
The team confronted several interconnected challenges:
- Manual, error-prone content updates that depended on technical resources
- Outdated design that limited engagement and weakened conversion rates
- Missing modern capabilities such as optimized checkout, product reviews, and intelligent lead capture
- Slow page load times affecting user experience and search visibility
- Limited scalability that blocked new features and integrations
- Basic lead capture with no integrated way to nurture prospects
About the project
The Solution
BinaryWorks recommended to rebuild the site on Drupal with a focus on content agility, conversion, and customer experience.
Flexible content management: A component-based authoring approach replaced rigid static pages. Non-technical editors can now create and publish content independently, removing the developer bottleneck.
Conversion-focused redesign: User journeys were rebuilt with cleaner navigation, stronger product discovery, and storytelling-led product pages designed to build trust and drive purchase intent.
Streamlined checkout: A custom one-step checkout flow replaced the legacy multi-step process, reducing friction and drop-offs.
Integrated lead generation: Custom online forms, a chatbot powered by artificial intelligence, and integration with the customer relationship management system formed a connected ecosystem to capture and nurture leads.
Product reviews: A native review system was added to build credibility and encourage engagement.
Performance and search engine optimization: Caching, image optimization, and infrastructure tuning improved load times and strengthened search performance.
Cloud infrastructure: The site was deployed on Amazon Web Services for a secure, scalable hosting environment.
Reliable migration and adoption: Content was moved through structured mapping, validation scripts, and manual quality checks, with system-to-system integrations ensuring consistency across connected platforms. Training sessions, documentation, and an intuitive backend supported confident team adoption.
Agile delivery: Iterative releases over a four-month timeline kept the project aligned with business priorities and minimized disruption.
The Results
The Drupal team is taking its game to a new level with a coordinated effort to help us reach and exceed our sales goals. The teams continue to work hard and are responsive to our input as we collaborate to address various challenges.
- Clay Boggess, Founder
Stronger lead generation: Lead capture grew by 25 to 30% through new forms, the chatbot, and customer relationship management integration.
Better performance: Website performance improved by around 30%, resulting in faster load times and stronger search rankings.
Improved engagement: Bounce rate dropped by 15 to 20%, reflecting clearer navigation and a more compelling user experience.
Content team autonomy and cost efficiency: The marketing team now creates and updates content independently, shortening time to market for campaigns and lowering operational costs previously tied up in developer queues.
Better customer experience and brand perception: A modern design, smoother navigation, and an effortless checkout strengthen customer satisfaction and position the organization as competitive in its industry.
Higher morale and smarter decisions: Removing routine technical bottlenecks lifted team productivity, while integrated tools and richer data capture support more informed marketing decisions.
A scalable foundation: The platform is ready to support new features, integrations, and campaigns without major rework.
Why Drupal was chosen
Drupal was selected for its flexibility, scalability, and ability to give content editors full control without developer dependency. Its component-based approach to content matched the organization's need to evolve quickly and connect with other business systems such as customer relationship management. As an open platform backed by a strong community, Drupal also offered the long-term sustainability the organization needed after years of being constrained by an aging setup.
Technical Specifications
Drupal version:
