Services Provided:
The Challenge
The National Peace Corps Association needed to migrate away from a proprietary CRM and website platform that managed its national website, contacts, donations, and more than 40 affiliate group websites—without disrupting its membership community.
Our Solution
FatLab migrated all websites from the legacy SilkStart system, developed a custom WordPress network for the national site and affiliate groups, and provided technical consulting on the Blackbaud CRM integration.
Project Details
## Project Overview
The **National Peace Corps Association (NPCA)** is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that supports the Peace Corps community after their service ends. With a mission that spans member support, public advocacy, and legislative affairs, their digital infrastructure is central to keeping thousands of returned volunteers connected and engaged.
NPCA approached FatLab with a major technical challenge: they needed to transition away from a proprietary SilkStart system that handled both CRM and website operations. This legacy platform managed not only the national website but also over 40 affiliate group websites. At the same time, NPCA was migrating to Blackbaud CRM for contact and donation management.
## Technical Implementation
### Legacy Platform Replacement & Multi-Site WordPress Development
FatLab replaced the SilkStart system by building a custom WordPress ecosystem capable of managing:
- The main NPCA national website
- 40+ affiliate websites, each with their own branding, content, and membership base
- A central admin interface to manage global content, shared resources, and updates
- Affiliate-specific content controls and user permission systems
The network was designed for ease of use, scalability, and cost-efficiency—giving NPCA long-term control without the constraints of a proprietary system.
### CRM Integration & Technical Strategy
FatLab provided strategic consulting and hands-on implementation to align the new website infrastructure with NPCA’s new CRM—**Blackbaud**. Integration points included:
- Membership verification and status syncing
- Donation and contact record linking
- Secure API connections between WordPress and Blackbaud systems
By decoupling web and CRM functionality, NPCA gained more flexibility while retaining real-time data flow and long-term compatibility.
## Security Measures
With nearly 50 live websites under its umbrella, NPCA required a security model built for scale. FatLab delivered:
- Centralized hosting with site-level isolation and hardened WordPress instances
- Imunify360 malware scanning and auto-remediation across all sites
- SSL certificates and HTTPS enforcement for every domain
- Cloudflare WAF and CDN for all national and affiliate domains
- Weekly plugin, theme, and core updates at scale
- Multi-tiered backups and restore workflows across the entire network
## Ongoing Support
Under a full-service agreement, FatLab continues to support NPCA’s national and affiliate digital infrastructure with:
- Fully managed WordPress hosting
- Ongoing support for new features and site improvements
- Affiliate group technical assistance and content support
- Performance optimization for all sites
- On-call assistance for staff and partner organizations
This long-term relationship allows NPCA to focus on its mission—supporting the Peace Corps community—while trusting FatLab to manage the scale, complexity, and security of their nationwide digital footprint.
The **National Peace Corps Association (NPCA)** is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that supports the Peace Corps community after their service ends. With a mission that spans member support, public advocacy, and legislative affairs, their digital infrastructure is central to keeping thousands of returned volunteers connected and engaged.
NPCA approached FatLab with a major technical challenge: they needed to transition away from a proprietary SilkStart system that handled both CRM and website operations. This legacy platform managed not only the national website but also over 40 affiliate group websites. At the same time, NPCA was migrating to Blackbaud CRM for contact and donation management.
## Technical Implementation
### Legacy Platform Replacement & Multi-Site WordPress Development
FatLab replaced the SilkStart system by building a custom WordPress ecosystem capable of managing:
- The main NPCA national website
- 40+ affiliate websites, each with their own branding, content, and membership base
- A central admin interface to manage global content, shared resources, and updates
- Affiliate-specific content controls and user permission systems
The network was designed for ease of use, scalability, and cost-efficiency—giving NPCA long-term control without the constraints of a proprietary system.
### CRM Integration & Technical Strategy
FatLab provided strategic consulting and hands-on implementation to align the new website infrastructure with NPCA’s new CRM—**Blackbaud**. Integration points included:
- Membership verification and status syncing
- Donation and contact record linking
- Secure API connections between WordPress and Blackbaud systems
By decoupling web and CRM functionality, NPCA gained more flexibility while retaining real-time data flow and long-term compatibility.
## Security Measures
With nearly 50 live websites under its umbrella, NPCA required a security model built for scale. FatLab delivered:
- Centralized hosting with site-level isolation and hardened WordPress instances
- Imunify360 malware scanning and auto-remediation across all sites
- SSL certificates and HTTPS enforcement for every domain
- Cloudflare WAF and CDN for all national and affiliate domains
- Weekly plugin, theme, and core updates at scale
- Multi-tiered backups and restore workflows across the entire network
## Ongoing Support
Under a full-service agreement, FatLab continues to support NPCA’s national and affiliate digital infrastructure with:
- Fully managed WordPress hosting
- Ongoing support for new features and site improvements
- Affiliate group technical assistance and content support
- Performance optimization for all sites
- On-call assistance for staff and partner organizations
This long-term relationship allows NPCA to focus on its mission—supporting the Peace Corps community—while trusting FatLab to manage the scale, complexity, and security of their nationwide digital footprint.
Results
NPCA now operates a secure, scalable network of nearly 50 interconnected websites. FatLab continues to provide hosting, support, optimization, and CRM integration under a long-term full-service agreement.