Non-Profit Association
Grey Muzzle: A Redesign That Earns the Donation, On Time for Fundraising
THE CHALLENGE
A nonprofit with a broken site and a fundraising deadline approaching
The Grey Muzzle Organization funds programs for at-risk senior dogs nationwide. Their website was how they made the case to donors. A previous migration had left it with critical bugs, and a fundraising period was approaching.
- A previous Drupal migration introduced critical, high-priority bugs affecting performance and user experience
- A Drupal 10 upgrade needed careful planning so bug fixes weren't done twice
- The organization had specific periods where securing donations was crucial; changes during those windows risked disrupting the donation flow
- Messaging needed to shift toward clearer, more upbeat communication of the mission
THE SOLUTION
Fixing the broken to build what was missing
Bug remediation before redesign
The highest-priority bugs from the previous migration were addressed first, with lower-priority fixes planned into the Drupal 10 upgrade itself so the work wasn't duplicated.
- High-priority bug fixes addressed first
- Lower-priority fixes planned into the Drupal 10 upgrade to avoid duplicate work
- Internal QA process applied before customer testing and production release
Drupal 9 to 10 migration and custom theme
The migration to Drupal 10 was integrated into the redesign rather than run separately. Specbee built a custom theme using its in-house theme generator (Drupal-theme-init), with the homepage built on Layout Builder and Custom Block Types.
- Drupal 9 to Drupal 10 migration, integrated with the redesign
- Custom theme built with Specbee's Drupal-theme-init theme generator
- Homepage built with Layout Builder and Custom Block Types
- BEM class naming conventions for consistent styling and fewer naming conflicts
- CKEditor styles for a consistent visual effect across text sizes
- eslint and Stylelint used for JS/CSS code quality; SVG icons for image resizing and transitions
- Layout Builder Modal, Layout Builder Styles, and Layout Builder Restrictions modules integrated for a smoother authoring experience
Redesign focused on mission clarity and donation conversion
The new site leads with clearer mission communication and more upbeat messaging, aimed at boosting donations and engagement. It launched before the critical funding window.
- Complete UI/UX redesign
- Clearer, more upbeat messaging aligned to the mission
- Launched before the critical funding deadline
Ongoing support and SEO services
Specbee continues to provide ongoing Drupal support and maintenance, including minor version updates, bug fixes, and consulting, along with analytics services. The redesign also produced measurable gains in average engagement time across traffic sources:
- Paid traffic: 1:53 → 2:36 average engagement time (38.58% improvement)
- Referral traffic: 1:12 → 2:03 average engagement time (69.30% improvement)
- Organic video traffic: 31s → 46s average engagement time (48.34% improvement)
- Organic traffic: 1:15 → 1:19 average engagement time (5.59% improvement)
- Ongoing Drupal maintenance: minor version updates, bug fixes, and consulting
BACKGROUND
Grey Muzzle's mission is easy to connect with. The challenge was that the website wasn't making that connection quickly enough, and bugs degrading the experience on top of a dated design widened the gap between the organization's impact and its digital presence.
KEY INSIGHT
The bug backlog was doing double damage.
It was degrading the site for visitors and creating uncertainty about the Drupal 10 upgrade. Fixing the bugs first, before the redesign, meant doing the right work in the right order rather than firefighting after launch.
"The site looks fantastic!!! Huge thanks to the entire Specbee team for making the new site a reality! As a virtual organization, our website is so critical to our success, and this big improvement will ultimately make more second chances possible for senior dogs. They send their thanks as well!"
The Results
A nonprofit site that earns its donation
Bug backlog cleared, redesign delivered on schedule, mission-forward design live, with measurable engagement gains.
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Critical bugs | High-priority backlog | Cleared before redesign |
| Platform | Drupal 9 | Drupal 10 |
| Launch timing | Risked missing the fundraising window | Delivered before critical deadline |
| Donation messaging | Factual, low-emotion | Mission-forward, compelling |
| Design | Dated | Full custom redesign |
| Paid traffic engagement | 1:53 avg. time | 2:36 avg. time (+38.58%) |
| Referral traffic engagement | 1:12 avg. time | 2:03 avg. time (+69.30%) |
| Organic video engagement | 31s avg. time | 46s avg. time (+48.34%) |
| Organic traffic engagement | 1:15 avg. time | 1:19 avg. time (+5.59%) |
On time
Critical launch met
Grey Muzzle went into fundraising with a redesigned site.
Cleared
Bug backlog
High-priority bugs resolved before redesign began.
Drupal 10
Platform current
Migration integrated into the redesign, not duplicated.
Mission-led
New design
Clearer mission messaging leads every page.
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