Background

A civic engagement and democracy-focused organization with a 100+ year legacy plays a critical role in empowering voters, educators, students, donors, and policymakers. Its digital platform serves as the primary hub for election information, civic resources, events, and donations.

However, the organization’s existing website, built on Apostrophe CMS, had become difficult to scale, hard to maintain, and increasingly misaligned with accessibility, performance, and integration needs. As digital engagement became more central to its mission, the organization required a modern, flexible, and accessible platform that could support both operational efficiency and public-facing civic participation.

Agenthum Solutions partnered with the organization to redesign and modernize the website while migrating the platform to WordPress, creating a future-ready digital foundation.

 

What They Do

The organization works to strengthen democratic participation by:

• Providing voter education and election-related information
• Publishing civic resources, reports, and policy materials
• Hosting public events and educational programs
• Supporting civic engagement through donations and partnerships
• Serving diverse audiences with varying accessibility needs

This requires a platform that is reliable during high-traffic election cycles, easy for internal teams to manage, and fully accessible to all users.

 

Challenges

Challenge	Description
Legacy CMS Limitations	The existing Apostrophe CMS lacked flexibility, making content updates, structural changes, and long-term scalability difficult to manage.
High Content Management Effort	Publishing and updating pages, events, and resources required significant manual effort and ongoing technical dependency across teams.
Accessibility Gaps	The platform did not fully meet modern accessibility standards, limiting inclusive access for users with diverse needs.
Fragmented Third-Party Integrations	Fundraising, CRM, and voter guide systems operated in silos, creating inconsistent user journeys and operational overhead.
Scalability During Peak Traffic	Election periods and civic campaigns drove traffic spikes that stressed the existing infrastructure and risked performance issues.
Inconsistent User Journeys	Voters, donors, educators, and partners faced unclear navigation and fragmented paths to key actions across the site.

 

Our Approach

Agenthum Solutions adopted a phased, accessibility-first, and component-driven approach focused on long-term sustainability rather than cosmetic redesign.

Key principles included:

• Migrating to WordPress for flexibility and editorial ease
• Designing modular components to simplify content creation
• Building accessibility into every layer of the platform
• Ensuring seamless integration with third-party civic and fundraising tools
• Minimizing downtime and operational risk during migration

The goal was to deliver a platform that empowered internal teams while improving public engagement and trust.

 

Solution Overview

Agenthum Solutions delivered a fully redesigned and modernized WordPress-based platform with the following capabilities:

• A custom WordPress theme built with modern, standards-compliant code
• Modular content architecture using reusable components and custom post types
• Accessibility-first design aligned with WCAG 2.1 AA standards
• Integrated event management, donation, and voter guide systems
• Multilingual support for serving diverse communities
• Performance-optimized infrastructure for high-traffic periods

The platform was designed to be easy to manage, scalable, and resilient during critical civic moments.

 

Architecture 

Migration Strategy Architecture Diagram

 

• Structured Content Management 
  Manage pages, events, resources, and policy content via WordPress post types.
  
  
• Modular Page Building 
  Build pages using reusable blocks without custom development.
  
  
• Secure Donation Workflows 
  Embed secure donation flows connected to external fundraising systems.
  
  
• CRM-Integrated Events
  Sync event data and registrations with the CRM via APIs.
  
  
• Dynamic Voter Guides 
  Surface voter guide content through third-party integrations.
  
  
• Analytics & Monitoring
  Track engagement and performance across the platform.
  
  
• Managed WordPress Infrastructure 
  Run on managed WordPress optimized for speed and uptime.
  
  

Tools & Technologies Used

Category	Technologies Used
CMS & Platform	• WordPress (Custom Theme Development) • Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) Pro • Custom Post Types
Frontend	• HTML5 • CSS3 / Sass • Vanilla JavaScript (ES6+)
Content Architecture	• Modular Page Blocks • Structured Editorial Workflows
Integrations	• Qgiv (Donations) • Bloomerang (Events & CRM) • BallotReady (Voter Guide Integration) • Google Analytics 4
Multilingual & Accessibility	• WPML (Multilingual Content Management) • WCAG 2.1 AA Accessibility Standards
Migration & Deployment	• WP-CLI • Custom Migration Scripts • URL Redirect Mapping (301 Redirects)
Hosting & Performance	• Managed WordPress Hosting • Performance Optimization for Core Web Vitals • Security Hardening & Monitoring

 

KPIs & Outcomes

• Improved content publishing efficiency for internal teams
• Fully WCAG 2.1 AA–aligned accessibility across key site sections
• Faster page load times and improved Core Web Vitals
• Reduced dependency on developers for routine content updates
• Increased engagement with voter guides, events, and donations
• Stable platform performance during high-traffic election periods

Conclusion

By modernizing the website and migrating to a flexible WordPress platform, Agenthum Solutions enabled the organization to better serve its mission of strengthening democratic participation. The new digital platform improved accessibility, streamlined internal operations, and created a scalable foundation capable of supporting civic engagement for years to come.