A leading fundraising software provider came to us, aiming to strengthen its visibility in the nonprofit and donation space.
After 36 months of consistent link building, we delivered a 101% increase in organic traffic and helped them dominate for competitive terms like “fundraising software,” “recurring donation platform,” and “volunteer management software.”
Client background
The client operates a global platform offering tools for nonprofits, NGOs, and charities.
Their software powers fundraising campaigns, donation boxes, recurring giving programs, and volunteer management systems.
While their platform had all the features nonprofits needed, it wasn’t visible enough in search results, forcing them to rely heavily on referrals and paid promotions.
They wanted lasting visibility, organic reach, and recognition as a trusted brand in the fundraising technology space.
The challenge
When our client approached us, their fundraising platform struggled to gain traction against bigger competitors with higher authority websites.
Even though they already had decent baseline traffic, their growth had plateaued. Ranking on pages 2–3 for core keywords limited their inbound acquisition.
The biggest roadblock? Finding authoritative websites in the nonprofit, charity, donation, and fundraising space that were both relevant and open to collaboration.
Despite clear objectives, the project came with several unique challenges:
High DR targets: The client wanted backlinks specifically from authoritative domains relevant to fundraising, software, and nonprofit technology.
However, most of these sites had strict editorial guidelines or limited opportunities for external contributions.
Niche relevance: Getting placements on nonprofit-related websites required highly outreach, carefully crafted content, and strong relationship-building to demonstrate credibility and value.
Maintaining a natural link profile: With a narrow focus on donation and fundraising keywords, it was essential to avoid over-optimization and maintain a healthy mix of anchors across niche edits and guest posts.
Project goals
Together, we outlined two primary objectives:
- Drive long-term organic traffic growth across core product pages and educational resources.
- Improve Domain Rating (DR) to establish stronger authority within the fundraising and nonprofit technology niche.
These objectives aligned closely with the client’s mission to acquire new nonprofits through inbound discovery rather than relying primarily on paid acquisition.
What we set out to do
- Primary goal: Build 20–25 high-quality backlinks every month
- Success metrics: Increase organic traffic and domain rating
- Timeline: 36 months
- Target keywords: fundraising software, volunteer management software, recurring donation platform, crowdfunding campaigns, donation boxes
Our approach
We focused on two proven link-building strategies:
Niche edit links
We secured contextual placements within existing high-authority nonprofit and tech-related articles. These edits allowed us to:
- Utilize aged, indexed content for quick SEO impact
- Drive relevant referral traffic from articles already ranking well
- Maintain a natural and diverse backlink profile
Key takeaways
- Patience drives growth: With consistent effort, major results started becoming visible in the second and third years.
- Relationships secure placements: Our best backlinks came from publishers we built genuine trust and value-driven relationships.
- Relevance beats volume: 25 links per month from sector-specific sites outperformed generic placements at scale.
- Content quality wins: Links placed inside educational, context-rich content outperformed those in thin or purely promotional articles.
This case study highlights how a focused, sustained strategy can deliver remarkable growth even in a highly competitive fundraising software niche.
From rejection to results
Many nonprofit-related publishers were selective about their external contributors, instead of accepting generic pitches.
We led with value by providing content on donation growth strategies, volunteer engagement, and recurring fundraising best practices.
This shifted the conversation from “link request” to “valuable contribution,” allowing us to earn placements even on stricter domains.
High-authority backlinks secured
Through persistence, we secured links from industry-leading domains such as:
| Domain | DR |
| opencart.com | 92 |
| envato.com | 92 |
| beehiiv.com | 89 |
| flexclip.com | 78 |
| quaderno.io | 73 |
| selectedfirms.co | 72 |
| axerosolutions.com | 70 |
Results: 101% growth in 36 months
The surge in traffic brought highly targeted visitors who were genuinely interested in fundraising solutions.
This not only increased visibility but also created more opportunities for engagement and conversions across the platform.
Traffic expansion
Starting point: 100K monthly organic visits
Final result: 201K monthly organic visits
This wasn’t just a traffic increase; it brought in high-intent nonprofit audiences searching for donation and fundraising solutions, improving engagement and conversion.
Domain rating growth
Starting point: DR 55
Final result: DR 76
The jump in DR created a flywheel effect, enabling faster ranking improvements across both primary and long-tail keywords.
Keyword Rankings Surge
Starting point: 6,200 ranking keywords
Final result: 13,500 ranking keywords (118% increase)
- Primary keywords: “Fundraising software” and “recurring donation platform” moved into the top 10.
- Long-tail keywords: Dozens of mid-intent terms like “donation boxes” and “volunteer management tools” reached the top 5 positions.
The real impact
The surge in keyword visibility, from 6,200 to 13,500, meant the platform was now ranking for terms that nonprofits actively use throughout their fundraising journey.
This created a steady stream of qualified, high-value traffic, positioning the client as a trusted resource for organizations worldwide.
The bottom line
101% organic traffic growth
This wasn’t just about bigger numbers; it was about better traffic. The new visitors were nonprofit professionals, charities, and NGOs actively looking for fundraising and donation solutions.
This led to stronger engagement, demo signups, and recurring customer growth.
The platform moved from stalled growth to dominating the first page for high-value fundraising keywords, cementing our client’s position as a trusted name in the nonprofit software space.
