How We Rebuilt a Failing App for a Children’s Charity in Africa

Mobile accounted for 52% of visits to nonprofit websites in 2025 and 43% of donation transactions. Yet only 8% of mobile visitors to a primary donation page completed a gift, compared with 11% on desktop.

For a non-profit supporting children across rural Africa, the mobile app did more than take donations. Donors gave through it, and field workers used it to document their work. The organization also relied on it to coordinate resources across regions with unreliable internet.

The app a previous team had built wasn’t working. Donations were failing, and the design was hard to navigate. The app also needed a constant connection, which field workers in rural areas rarely had.

We rebuilt the donation system and redesigned the interface. We also made the app work offline, so field workers could capture data without a signal and sync it when they reconnect. Donations now go through reliably, and the organization has restored donor confidence.

01The Starting Point

The app served two user groups with different needs. Donors needed a simple way to give, while field workers needed to record their activities and track progress while working in rural areas. The organization relied on both groups to use the app to coordinate resources across the regions it covered.

A previous development team had built the app, and it carried a lot of technical debt. The donation functionality was broken, which meant funds weren’t reaching the children they were meant for. The design was outdated and hard to navigate, so donors who wanted to help ran into friction. The app also needed a constant internet connection, so field workers in areas with limited or no signal could barely use it.

Without a working app, the non-profit couldn’t process donations efficiently or let field workers operate independently.

02Assessing What the Previous Team Left Behind

We started with a full assessment of the app. The goal was to find the technical debt and broken functionality blocking the organization’s work before deciding what to rebuild. The donation flow, the interface, and the app’s dependence on a constant connection were the problems standing in the way.

03Rebuilding the Donation System

We overhauled the donation system and rebuilt the payment processing flow from the donor’s side through to the organization. Donors can now give through the app reliably, and the money reaches the programs it was given for.

04Building for Field Workers Without a Signal

Connectivity was the biggest barrier for the organization’s field teams. According to GSMA’s 2025 connectivity report, Sub-Saharan Africa is the least covered region in the world for mobile internet, and adults in rural areas there are 48% less likely to use mobile internet than those in cities.

By building the app to work offline first, field workers can now capture data, document activities, and track progress with no cell signal. The app keeps that information on the device so that when the phone reconnects, the app syncs it automatically, and nothing captured in the field is lost.

Field teams can work independently wherever they are and they no longer have to wait for a connection to record what they’ve done.

05Redesigning the Interface

We modernized the app’s design with a cleaner, easier-to-navigate interface, so that donors can get to the donation flow without friction, and field workers can find what they need more easily. The new design also reflects the organization’s professionalism and the seriousness of its mission.

06The Results

Donations work reliably again and the non-profit has restored donor confidence.

Supporters can give through the app without running into technical problems, and the funding reaches the children it’s meant for. The redesign has made the app easier for donors to engage with and for field workers to navigate.

Field workers can use the app in areas with no signal, and the data they capture syncs once they reconnect.

07What Nonprofits Should Expect From an App Partner

If you’re a nonprofit choosing a development partner, especially after a build that didn’t work, these are the things we would ask for.

1. An assessment before any new work. A partner taking over an existing app should review it first and tell you what to keep and what to rebuild.
2. Donations tested end to end. Test the donation flow from the donor’s first tap to the funds arriving in your account, on the phones your donors actually use.
3. A plan for where your team works. If staff or volunteers work in areas with poor connectivity, offline capture and sync need to be part of the original plan. They are hard to add later.
4. Ownership of what’s built. The code and the accounts should belong to your organization, so you can change partners without starting over.

08Work With Ghost Savvy

Ghost Savvy starts every engagement by working out what the organization actually needs. For this non-profit, that meant assessing the app before rebuilding anything, then focusing on the donation flow and the connectivity problems its field teams faced.

Everything we build is yours. The code, the accounts, and the ability to run the app without us belong to your organization.

If your organization’s app isn’t doing what your donors or your team need, tell us what you’re trying to solve. Send us a brief, an RFP, or a rough description of what isn’t working.