Friends of the Good Samaritans is a nonprofit organization committed to transforming the lives of children living in the slums of India by providing access to free education and holistic care. Operating through The Good Samaritan School — a $3.5 million, debt-free facility — the organization aims to reach and empower up to 4,400 students through education.
With over 350 million children under the age of 14 currently out of school in India, Friends of the Good Samaritans works tirelessly to rewrite the future for those who need it most.
FOTGS engaged Playbook Marketing to rebuild their outdated website and create a custom connection to their donor management system (Virtuous CRM) — all under an extremely tight deadline ahead of a critical annual fundraising event.
The Challenge
Friends of the Good Samaritans faced a situation that many nonprofits can relate to: big goals, limited time, and aging technology that was no longer fit for purpose.
- Their website had not been updated in over 7 years
- It was built on outdated software and a deprecated version of PHP
- Major security vulnerabilities made it unsafe for donations or contact forms
- Virtuous CRM, their donor platform, had sunset its official WordPress plugin
- The organization was weeks away from a major annual fundraising campaign — and needed a solution, fast
These technical issues posed a direct threat to the fundraising mission. Without a secure, functional website integrated with their CRM, the ability to generate and track donations — the very lifeblood of their programs — was at risk.
Our Game Plan
Playbook Marketing stepped in to modernize and stabilize the organization’s digital infrastructure — with three clear goals in mind:
- Protect donor data and restore trust in the donation process
- Launch a modern website that communicated the heart of FOTGS’s mission
- Reconnect the website to Virtuous CRM despite the lack of plugin or documentation
Website Redevelopment
The website was completely redesigned and rebuilt from the ground up, prioritizing speed, mobile responsiveness, and security. Key features included:
- A clean, mission-forward design that highlighted the impact of giving
- A donation experience that felt personal, intuitive, and trustworthy
- SSL encryption and updated hosting infrastructure for secure transactions
- Strategic content updates to make the mission, programs, and needs crystal clear
CRM Integration with Virtuous API
Because Virtuous had deprecated their WordPress plugin — and offered no support or documentation — Playbook had to dive deep into their API documentation and reverse-engineer a solution.
- Built a custom API integration that connected the website to Virtuous
- Enabled donation forms, donor profiles, and campaign attribution
- Ensured all data synced securely and reliably without manual entry
- Created fallback logic and error handling to ensure resilience
This development allowed FOTGS to keep using their CRM investment without disruption and gave their team a seamless backend experience moving forward.
On-Time Delivery Against the Odds
Despite the complexity of the project and the lack of documentation from Virtuous, Playbook Marketing delivered a secure, functioning, fully integrated website in time for FOTGS’s annual fundraising event.
The launch was smooth. Donations came in without a hitch. Stakeholders were able to focus on storytelling and donor relationships — not troubleshooting technical issues.
Post-Game Summary
With a brand-new website and custom CRM integration in place, Friends of the Good Samaritans now has a digital foundation they can grow on.
- Donors can safely give online, knowing their data is secure
- Administrators can track donor activity inside Virtuous without manual entry
- The organization can confidently promote upcoming campaigns and initiatives
Playbook Marketing remains a strategic partner, continuing to monitor the integration and advise on digital growth strategies.
Friends of the Good Samaritans is proud to call Playbook their trusted partner — one that delivers under pressure, solves complex problems, and helps them fulfill their mission to open hearts and change lives.