Project overview
Wheelchairs For Kids Australia (WFKA) is a volunteer‑driven charity based in Wangara, Western Australia. From their factory, hundreds of volunteers build fully adjustable, rough‑terrain children’s wheelchairs that meet World Health Organization guidelines . Since 1998, they have gifted more than 67,000 wheelchairs to children in over 90 locations worldwide , giving children freedom of movement and dignity. As part of their mission, WFKA needed a modern, fast and user‑friendly website to engage donors, volunteers and supporters. PrimeSites Digital was engaged to deliver this project.
Client overview and industry context
WFKA operates in the not‑for‑profit, humanitarian and assistive‑technology sectors. Their primary audience includes donors, corporate supporters, volunteers (many of them retirees), schools, community groups and partner NGOs. The organisation is based in Wangara but serves a global mission. They manufacture wheelchairs following WHO guidelines and rely heavily on volunteers and donations . Our portfolio page emphasises this context to attract potential clients in the non‑profit, humanitarian and disability‑services space.
Website goals
- Reflect the mission: Communicate WFKA’s story, mission and global impact – emphasising that every child deserves mobility .
- Improve donations: Make donating intuitive by placing clear calls‑to‑action and linking to the external Shout For Good platform.
- Support volunteers: Provide information and forms for volunteering, highlighting the vital role volunteers play in building wheelchairs .
- Enhance performance and accessibility: Ensure the site loads quickly on all devices, is accessible to users with disabilities, and meets modern web standards.
- Enable easy updates: Create custom post types and fields so WFKA staff can add stories, events and supporters without technical assistance.
- Optimise for SEO and AI: Implement structured data using Rank Math to improve search visibility and AI discoverability.
Services provided
- Website development & design: Custom Divi‑based theme with accessible colour palette, high‑contrast text, clear headings and large buttons. Flexible layouts for pages like About, What We Do, Volunteer, Stories & News and Donate.
- WordPress hosting & maintenance: Hosting on an Australian server with SSD storage, automatic backups, staging environment and SSL. Ongoing maintenance covers core updates, plugin upgrades, security monitoring and performance tuning.
- Technical support: Help desk for content updates, training and troubleshooting. Prompt responses ensure WFKA staff are never left stranded.
- SEO and performance optimisation: Implementation of Rank Math schema, caching via Cloudflare, image compression and lazy loading. In performance tests, page load time showed a good improvement.
- WooCommerce and integrations: Donation links to Shout For Good; WooCommerce configured for memorial plaques and merchandise; Gravity Forms for volunteer and contact forms; Mailchimp for newsletter sign‑ups; Google Tag Manager and analytics.
- Long‑term support and improvements: Periodic UX audits, updates to reflect new initiatives, and content creation guidance (e.g., stories, blog posts, photo galleries).
Technical highlights
- Mobile‑first responsive design ensures pages load elegantly on phones, tablets and desktops.
- Custom post types power news, stories, volunteers and supporters, making content consistent and easy to manage.
- Performance optimisation with caching, minification, server‑level gzip, Cloudflare CDN and HTTP/2. Images are served via WebP. DNS prefetch and lazy loading reduce render blocking.
- Rank Math schema integration adds structured data for WebPage, Organization, Service, Review and more, improving search snippets and AI understanding.
UX, mobile and performance improvements
The redesign dramatically improved user experience. The previous site had slow load times, unstructured navigation and forms that were not mobile friendly. Our work delivered a responsive design, simplified navigation, accessible fonts and colours, keyboard‑friendly forms and descriptive alt tags.
Long‑term support relationship
PrimeSites continues to support WFKA through a subscription that includes hosting, maintenance, updates, performance checks and strategic advice. As part of this relationship, we monitor uptime and security, update the site with new pages or features, and provide training for WFKA’s staff and volunteers.
Local relevance and community impact
WFKA’s factory is located in Wangara, Western Australia, and many volunteers are local retirees . Including locality taxonomies such as Wangara, Perth and Western Australia ensures the portfolio page conveys local connection. By showcasing a not‑for‑profit based in our region, we demonstrate to potential clients that PrimeSites understands local business needs as well as global missions.
Operational complexity and integrations
WFKA’s website is more than a brochure site – it is a complex platform supporting donations, volunteer recruitment and global storytelling. The project required careful integration of third‑party services: Shout For Good for donations, WooCommerce for merchandise, Gravity Forms for volunteer/contacts, Mailchimp for newsletters and Cloudflare for caching and security. The site also includes a news blog, photo and video galleries, distribution partner information and a volunteer application system with dynamic field options .
Website Screenshots
Homepage
About Us
Get Involved
Stories and News
Donate
Contact Us
