Voodoo Leatherworks is a volunteer-run community center and educational venue offering classes, events, and community-building programs. Their space serves a large and active membership, supported almost entirely by volunteers who rely on the website to manage roles, events, and communication.
Project Overview
Voodoo’s existing website had grown increasingly unstable and no longer supported the daily needs of the organization. Hosting issues, plugin conflicts, and years of accumulated data made the site difficult to update, and event management was spread across three different platforms. There were no site based tools for volunteer shift coordination, no ability to target information to specific member roles, and no clear structure for content security.
The site lacked basic organizational features such as CTAs, merchandise shop support, and SEO foundations that would help members and new visitors find what they needed. With multiple user roles and no system for managing role-based content, communication became inconsistent and confusing for volunteers and leadership.
The organization needed a reliable website that could centralize events, membership data, role management, volunteer workflows, and day-to-day updates in one secure and easy-to-use system.
My goal was to rebuild the site so it was stable, intuitive, and aligned with how the organization actually operates.
The Problem
The previous site struggled under a combination of outdated plugins, inconsistent data, and a backend that had been modified by many hands over many years. Important content, including recurring classes, volunteer shifts, and member information often broke or disappeared.
The issues included:
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The site was not mobile friendly.
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No way to post announcements and target to the proper audience.
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Events were being displayed via Google Calendar with no onsite Event management.
- User roles and capabilities that didn’t match real operational needs
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Legacy member data split across multiple sources
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Hosting performance problems, including timeouts and caching issues
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A backend structure that made it difficult for volunteers to safely update content
What Voodoo needed was a stable, organized system that supported the community instead of creating more work for the people running it.
The Solution
I rebuilt the site from the ground up, beginning with a full hosting migration and database repair. Membership data was mapped, cleaned, and imported so roles and capabilities reflected how staff and volunteers actually function day-to-day.
The Events Manager system was restructured to support recurring events, overrides, and now will be used to sync events in Google Calendar. This included a complete rebuild of the calendar logic, testing, and documentation so leadership could manage updates confidently.
Behind the scenes, I reorganized the WordPress admin to be intuitive and accessible for non technical users. Reusable templates were created for events, posts, and pages reducing the risk of formatting issues. Step-by-stop how-to articles and site documentation has been provided to ensure knowledge transfer of important site information.
The result is a reliable, scalable website that finally reflects how Voodoo operates. It supports the organization’s mission by giving volunteers a stable digital foundation for classes, events, and member communication.
More About Voodoo Leatherworks
Established in 2013, Voodoo Leatherworks is a long-standing Colorado Springs community organization run entirely by volunteers. Their mission centers on education, empowerment, personal growth, and creating a safe space for people to learn, explore, and connect.
The organization offers classes, skill-building workshops, community events, and opportunities for members to volunteer and contribute. Their leadership team relies heavily on well-organized digital tools to keep the community informed and supported.