Case study · humanitarian reliefFebruary 2025

Human Aid Foundation

A complete digital transformation for Human Aid Foundation UK (Charity No. 1200059) — the website was rebuilt for speed and security, organic sessions grew from 1 to 716, page load times halved, and iCHARMS cut appeal publishing to under two hours while lifting donor retention 40%.

WordPress RedevelopmentiCHARMSCharity SEOGoogle Ads & GrantsManaged HostingAnalytics

client

delivered in · Ongoing partnership

Sector

Humanitarian relief

Charity no.

1200059

Policy

100% donation

Platform

WordPress + iCHARMS

Organic sessions

1 → 716

Lighthouse

10 → 25

Ramadan share

64% of giving

Appeal publishing

< 2 hours

Outcomes

The numbers that moved.

01from a standing start

716

Organic sessions per month

1→716

GA4

02days → hours

under 2 hours

Appeal page publishing

3–4 days→under 2 hours

client workflow record

03+20 pts

70%

Recurring donor retention

50%→70%

client donation records

04+15 pts

Lighthouse score

10→25

Lighthouse mobile audits

05de-duplicated

deduplicated

Duplicate donor records

Widespread→Near zero

iCHARMS migration record

06largest appeal

64%

Ramadan share of giving

64%

client donation records

Trends

Growth, visualised.

Campaign share of tracked giving

Ramadan64%
Qurbani13%
Website (general)12%
Other appeals11%

How giving splits across appeals. Source: client donation records during the transformation period. Shares of total, not a trend over time.

Before vs after — key measures

BeforeAfter

Lighthouse score10→25

Recurring donor retention50→70

Two measures on a shared 0–100 scale: Lighthouse composite score (out of 100) and recurring donor retention (%). Source: Lighthouse mobile audits and client donation records.

The full picture

Every number, in detail.

Search Console performance (last 6 months)

Moving from zero organic visibility to a measurable, growing search footprint.

281

Total clicks

12.6K

Impressions

2.2%

Click-through rate

26.2

Average position

ranking pages 2–3

Google Analytics (GA4)

Meaningful audience engagement across organic, paid, direct and referral channels.

5.4K

Active users

97K

Events

~18 per user

Tracked purchases

completed online donations

Google Ad Grants

Building awareness across charity search queries with the $10K/month grant.

174

Clicks

3.42K

Impressions

Conversions

£11.85

Average CPC

£2.06K

Grant spend

Paid Google Ads

Strong cost efficiency alongside the Ad Grants channel.

1.6K

Clicks

25.4K

Impressions

Conversions

£0.60

Average CPC

£967

Ad spend

Campaign share of tracked giving

Ramadan was the dominant vertical — evidence that Islamic-calendar-aligned campaigns matter most.

Campaign	Share of tracked giving
Ramadan	64%
Qurbani	13%
Website (direct online)	12%
Other appeals	11%

Source: client donation records. True digital influence is higher, as many donors discover via the website then give by phone, bank transfer or in person.

Keyword ranking performance

Keyword	Position	Landing page
qurban appeal	10	Qurbani Appeal
qurbani uk	15	Qurbani Appeal
pay zakat online	15	Zakat Calculator
donate qurbani	18	Qurbani Appeal
kaffarah online	19	Kaffarah Page
ramadan appeal 2026	20	Ramadan Appeal
pay fidya online	21	Fidya Page
pay kaffarah online	23	Kaffarah Page
sponsor a hafiz	29	Education / Hifz

Source: rank-tracking reports. Ranking across Qurbani, Ramadan, Zakat, Kaffarah and Fidya verticals.

Website performance — before vs after

Metric	Before	After	Change
Organic sessions per month	1	716	from a standing start
Lighthouse score (of 100)	10	25	+15 pts
Bounce rate	70%	45%	−25 pts
Appeal publishing	3–4 days	under 2 hours	days → hours
Recurring donor retention	50%	70%	+20 pts
Duplicate donor records	Widespread	Near zero	de-duplicated

Sources: GA4 (sessions, bounce rate), Lighthouse mobile audits (score), client donation records (retention) and the iCHARMS migration record (duplicates). Where a measure is a percentage, the change is stated in percentage points rather than as a percentage of a percentage.

The brief

What we set out to solve.

Weak online visibility

Just 1 organic session was recorded at an average position of 26.2, with negligible organic click volume.

WordPress limitations

Very slow page loads, plugin conflicts and security vulnerabilities made the site hard to scale, with a 70% bounce rate and a Lighthouse score of 10/100.

Manual workflows

Appeal pages took 3–4 days to publish, with no standardised templates or CMS workflows in place.

Donor data issues

Duplicate records were widespread, scattered across spreadsheets, with donor retention at just 50%.

Our approach

How it came together.

A calm, four-step rhythm — we listen first, sketch in the open, build in tight loops, then tend the result long after launch.

Audit & strategy

We ran a digital strategy and SEO audit, then set a roadmap for growth, paid media and data-driven fundraising.

Rebuild

A complete, mobile-first WordPress redevelopment delivered dramatically faster load times, hardened security with SSL, firewall and vulnerability scanning, and streamlined donation journeys.

SEO & content

Technical SEO, donor-intent keyword research and an Islamic-calendar content plan built topical authority across Zakat, Qurbani, orphan and water verticals.

iCHARMS & operations

iCHARMS unified donor records, automated receipts and follow-ups, and cut appeal publishing to under two hours — with Google Ads and Grants driving awareness.

What we shipped

8 deliverables

Complete mobile-first WordPress redevelopment
Dramatically faster load times and a Lighthouse score up 15 points
iCHARMS donor CRM with duplicate records reduced to near zero
Sub-2-hour appeal publishing workflow
Charity SEO taking organic sessions from 1 to 716
Google Ads and Google Ad Grants campaigns
Security hardening: SSL, firewall and vulnerability scanning
GA4, Search Console and conversion tracking

Gallery

A look at the work.

Human Aid Foundation homepage and appeals — Homepage — appeals front and centre

iCHARMS donation creation screen — Create a donation

iCHARMS donor list — Single-view donor list

"Techno Serve transformed our digital presence and streamlined our operations. Their expertise in the charity sector, combined with measurable results, makes them a partner we trust completely."

Human Aid Foundation UK

Charity team

The story

Background

Human Aid Foundation UK (Charity No. 1200059) is a UK Islamic charity operating a 100% donation policy across Gaza, Zakat, Sadaqah, orphan, water, food, education and Qurbani appeals. Techno Serve delivered a complete digital transformation spanning website development, SEO, paid advertising, analytics, CRM and operations.

Challenge

The legacy WordPress site recorded just 1 organic session, loaded very slowly, scored 10/100 on Lighthouse and carried a 70% bounce rate. Appeal pages took 3–4 days to publish, donor data held “super high” duplication, and recurring retention sat at 50%.

Approach

We rebuilt the website mobile-first for speed and security, dramatically improving load times, then built a technical SEO foundation and an Islamic-calendar content plan. iCHARMS unified donor records and automated stewardship, while Google Ads and Ad Grants drove awareness across high-intent charity queries.

Outcome

Organic sessions grew from 1 a month to 716 — effectively from a standing start. Page load time halved and the Lighthouse mobile score rose from 10 to 25 out of 100, with further headroom still to work through. Ramadan generated 64% of tracked giving, supported by improved digital experiences and paid advertising. Appeal publishing dropped from 3–4 days to under two hours, recurring retention rose from 50% to 70%, and duplicate donor records went from widespread to near zero.

Selected work