How ongoing maintenance fixed the performance, security, and accessibility problems that were quietly costing Meridian Relief Network donations during its biggest campaigns. No rebuild required.
The Challenge
Meridian Relief Network had never had a real maintenance plan: just fixes whenever something broke badly enough for staff to notice, usually mid-campaign. For an organization that depends on donations arriving at the exact moment someone decides to give, that timing couldn’t have been worse. By the time we ran the first audit, performance, uptime, security, forms, and accessibility all had issues stacking up at once, with several of them only surfacing under the traffic spikes a real campaign brings.
Slow website performance: key pages took 5.9s to load during campaign traffic spikes.
Image optimization, caching, and a CDN rollout, load-tested against real campaign traffic.
1.9s average load time, −68%.
Frequent website downtime: worst timed during the biggest fundraising pushes.
24/7 uptime monitoring with proactive alerts and hosting sized for traffic spikes.
Zero outages across the last three campaigns.
Security vulnerabilities: outdated plugins on a site processing donor payment data.
Monthly patching, malware scanning, and a web application firewall.
Zero security incidents in 10 months.
Donate button silently failing under load, with no alert to staff.
Automated form and payment-flow testing, with real-time failure alerts.
100% donation form deliverability restored.
Mobile experience issues: most campaign traffic arrives from social and email on a phone.
Responsive layout fixes and a full mobile QA pass.
Mobile bounce rate down 39%.
Accessibility issues: failed WCAG 2.1 AA checks, excluding donors who rely on assistive tech.
Full accessibility audit and remediation, plus ongoing monitoring.
WCAG 2.1 AA compliant, ADA risk reduced.
The Approach
Performance, security, accessibility, and donation-flow testing across every page to build a prioritized fix list.
Patched vulnerabilities, restored the donate flow, and resolved the worst performance bottlenecks in week one.
Brought the site to WCAG 2.1 AA and fixed the mobile layout issues flagged in the audit.
Uptime, security, and donation-form monitoring wired in, with load testing ahead of major campaigns.
Monthly patching, reporting, and a standing support SLA for anything that comes up.
The Work
The Results
| Metric | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Page load timeLCP, mobile | 5.9s | 1.9s | −68% |
| Unplanned outagesper month | 4 | 0 | −100% |
| Open security vulnerabilitiesat time of scan | 13 | 0 | −100% |
| Donation form failure ratecheckout & recurring giving forms | 16% | 0% | −100% |
| Mobile bounce ratesitewide | 57% | 35% | −39% |
| WCAG 2.1 AA violationssitewide audit | 44 | 0 | −100% |
| Completed donationsduring the next Giving Tuesday campaign | baseline | +52% | +52% |
Built to hold up under the traffic (and scrutiny) a real fundraising campaign brings
In Their Words
“We used to brace for every campaign, wondering if the donate button would hold up. Now we just watch the numbers climb.”Development Director, Meridian Relief Network
What's Included
Tell us where donors, volunteers, or members are getting stuck and we'll tell you honestly whether this is what fixes it.
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