Scroll Top
The Client:

Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People is the only hospice in the East Midlands dedicated to supporting families facing life-limiting or life-threatening conditions. Providing end-of-life care, symptom management, short breaks, and respite, Rainbows’ vision is to offer compassionate care—whether families are at the hospice, in the hospital, or within the broader community.

what we did?

Discovery & Audience Workshops

We held in-depth sessions with Rainbows’ team to identify website pain points and address each core user group’s needs—families, professionals, supporters, and staff.

User-Centric Wireframes & SEO

Informed by these workshops and keyword research, we created wireframes that balanced brand storytelling, user needs, and search engine optimization.

Dynamic WordPress Build

To maintain Rainbows’ bold, engaging identity, we introduced dynamic animations and adhered to best-practice coding for high performance and accessibility.

The resulting site now scores 90+ on Google PageSpeed Insights across mobile and desktop devices.

ThankQ Integration & Streamlined Donations

We developed a custom plugin to integrate Rainbows’ donation process directly with thankQ, capturing essential data such as contact details, communication consent, GiftAid preferences, donation intent, and payment information.

Multiple payment methods (PayPal, Stripe, direct debit) ensure donors can give with ease.

Efficient Content Migration

To save time, we exported over 600 news articles from the old Drupal 7 site using SQL queries, then seamlessly imported them into WordPress—retaining all essential content without manual duplication.

the challenge

Over 17 years, the number of children and young people with life-limiting or long-term conditions skyrocketed from 26.7 per 100,000 to 66.4 per 100,000. With only 15% of its income from government sources, Rainbows relies heavily on donations. Their website had become an essential tool for fundraising and awareness, yet it was burdened by technical debt, an inflexible CMS, and suboptimal online donation workflows. Rainbows challenged Maksol Technologies to create a modern, future-proof website that seamlessly served families, supporters, and staff alike—raising both funds and awareness while preserving the bright, uplifting nature of the Rainbows brand.

The Results:

By merging Maksol Technologies’ digital expertise with Rainbows’ vision for a brighter, more user-friendly online presence, the new website delivers a significantly improved experience for both families and donors:

Increase in pages per session
46%
Increase in average session duration
37%
Decline in bounce rate
16%

Additionally, technical performance vastly improved. Slow loading and technical debt once caused user frustration, but now Google PageSpeed Insights scores 98 on mobile and 100 on desktop. Overall, Rainbows can better serve its community, promote fundraising efforts, and strengthen public engagement—ensuring more children, young people, and families benefit from Rainbows’ vital support.

Leave a comment