Case Study: How I Rebuilt the Kenzi's Causes Website and Replaced DonorPerfect With a Custom Platform

Some clients become so much more than clients. Kenzi's Causes is one of those for me.

We have been working together for 16 years, which makes them one of my longest-standing clients. In that time, I've built, rebuilt, and refreshed their WordPress website several times.

And every time we redid it, the same thing happened. The organization grew, and the website grew right along with it.

Today, Kenzi's Causes runs on something very different. Not just a new website, but a complete custom platform built around exactly how this nonprofit works.

A Website That Kept Growing

Kenzi's Causes is a Colorado nonprofit that supports low-income children and their families through four causes: Kenzi's Kidz, Packz4Kidz, Sportz4Kidz, and the Toy Shops.

That means a lot of moving parts. Events where they give back to the community. Fundraising events. A blog that is constantly updated. Ways to support the organization that are always improving and changing.

By the time we started this project, the website had:

• Over 50 pages
• Over 500 blog posts
• Over 80 sponsors and supporters
• Nearly 1,900 images and files in the media library

It also had traffic. Over 30,000 visits a year, growing year after year. A website that busy needs a platform that can handle it without crashing.

Keep the Brand. Lose the Limits.

Here's the tricky part of redesigning a big website: you don't want to lose what you've built.

The Kenzi's Causes brand identity had been carefully curated over years of previous websites. We were not about to throw that away.

But when a site has that many pages, something else happens. Some of the older pages simply never get updated. There are too many of them. Redesigning a website this large by hand is almost impossible.

This is where AI changed everything.

Pulling AI into the process to do the heavy lifting was monumental. It let me move the entire site off WordPress and onto modern hosting and modern code, while bringing every page up to the same standard. The organization has a platform built to grow, so they can raise even more money for the kids and families they serve.

Sponsors Who Come and Go

Sponsors are the lifeblood of a nonprofit. At Kenzi's Causes, their logos live on all kinds of pages.

And sponsors change. Some come, some go. Keeping those logos current used to be a chore. Now sponsors are managed from one simple admin dashboard, so updating them is quick and easy.

Saying Goodbye to DonorPerfect

Here's the part I'm most proud of.

Kenzi's Causes was paying nearly $10,000 a year for DonorPerfect.

It was called DonorPerfect. It was far from perfect.

It was hard to use. It was hard to run reports. And creating a fundraising event was anything but simple.

Since we were already rebuilding the website, we had the chance to do something bigger. We built a donor database designed specifically for what this organization needs.

Here's what it does:

• Quick, clear dashboards showing what's been raised so far this month and this year, and how that compares to previous years
• Cleaned-up donor records. Every donor has been organized and deduplicated
• A donor portal where donors can log in and download their own yearly giving receipts, with no manual work at the end of the year
• Simple recurring donations that keep the organization running
• QuickBooks integration so deposits are mapped out correctly, without the manual work

Events, Registrations, and Email

Events are a huge part of how Kenzi's Causes raises money and gives back, so we built a custom events calendar and the software to manage it.

That includes event registrations and the more complex registration forms that things like golf events and galas need. Volunteer signups and reporting are built right in, too.

A Portal for the Families They Support

This one matters a lot to me.

The families supported through Kenzi's Kidz now have their own portal, where they can access their information.

On the organization's side, they can keep track of what's going on with the families they support. They can send correspondence directly to families. And they can gather updates from families that can be shared with donors.

It keeps everyone connected, and it takes work off a team that would rather be out in the community.

One Platform Instead of a Pile of Tools

Before this project, running the organization meant juggling:

• Constant Contact
• DonorPerfect
• WordPress
• SignUpGenius
• QuickBooks
• Stripe
• And the list goes on and on

None of them were built to talk to each other.

Now it's simplified. Instead of trying to fit into a handful of software programs that don't communicate, the organization uses one platform that was built for them. QuickBooks and Stripe connect right into it.

That means the team can spend less time on day-to-day operations, and more time raising money and helping the community.

We're Not Done

Here's what I love about building custom: the wish list keeps getting better.

Every time the team has an idea for how something could work even better, we can build it. That's a very different experience from waiting for a software company to add a feature, or building yet another workaround.

A project like this, a full website rebuild, a custom donor database, an events platform, and a family portal, used to mean a big team and a big budget. AI-assisted development has changed that for small organizations. A nonprofit shouldn't have to spend its donations fighting its software.

Is Your Organization Juggling Too Many Tools?

If your website has grown into something that's hard to manage, or you're paying for software that makes your job harder instead of easier, there's a better way.

Take a look at the finished site at kenziscauses.org, then learn more about my AI website design services.

When you're ready to talk about what's possible for your business or organization, book a free consultation. I'd love to help.