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A cause we couldn't say no to
Sarah Wheeler's Outback Long Ride raises awareness and funds for upper gastrointestinal cancer research.
We heard about her cause and offered to build the site pro bono.
Industry: Fundraising and cancer research awareness
Work: Website design and development, pro bono
/ theoutbacklongride.com.au
The starting point: a story that hit close to home.
Sarah Wheeler was preparing something enormous: a horseback journey of nearly 5,500 kilometres across Australia with her two horses, Sally and Shifty, to raise awareness and money for upper gastrointestinal cancer research. The ride honours her late mother, Terri, who died from a rare upper GI cancer. An inspiring journey of resilience, love and hope.
A campaign like that lives or dies on whether people can find it, understand it and give to it. Sarah had the story, the route and the cause. What she didn't have was one clear place online to send people: media, sponsors, communities along the route, anyone who heard about the ride and wanted to help.
Manon had had childhood cancer herself, and Sarah's story touched her enough to offer the build for free, no brief required, just a cause worth backing. Creative Baguette took it on pro bono, with the ride's preparation clock already ticking.
A hub to explain the story and collect donations, needed fast.
The decisions that mattered
Built as
a one-page hub
Story and donations, together
One focused page holds the whole cause: Sarah's story, the reason behind the ride and a clear path to donate, without splitting attention across a bigger site.
Delivered
in a week
Pro bono did not mean slow
The site was designed and built in one week, treated with the same urgency and care as any paid project.
Imagery that carries
the emotion
Resilience, love and hope
Warm, personal photography leads the site, so visitors feel Sarah's story before they read a single word.
What shipped
One page at theoutbacklongride.com.au that holds the whole campaign. Sarah's story and the reason behind the ride sit up front, told through her own warm, personal photography rather than charity-brochure stock. Below that, the practical layers: why upper GI cancer research needs the support, a timeline of the journey and its stops through rural NSW, and who Sarah is.
Donations were the part that had to work hardest, so the page gives them two clear paths: one to the Pancare Foundation for upper GI cancer research, and one to A Daughter's Way, Sarah's own charity supporting rural families going through grief. Both are integrated directly, so a moved visitor can give in the same minute, not bookmark it for later and forget.
The whole thing went from nothing to live in one week, treated with the same urgency and care as any paid Creative Baguette project. Pro bono never meant second-rate.
The result: a cause with a real home online.
The Outback Long Ride went from an idea to a working fundraising hub in a week, giving Sarah's cause a clear, dedicated place to share her journey and collect support. Every share, article and roadside conversation now has somewhere to point.
Related: Website design & development · Websites for not-for-profits · All case studies
Free 20-minute chat. No pressure, no perfect brief needed.
Let’s sort your websiteQuestions we get about projects like this
Does Creative Baguette take on pro bono projects?
Occasionally, when a cause genuinely hits home. It is not a standing offer.
But The Outback Long Ride shows what it looks like when it happens: the same process, the same urgency, the same care as a paid build.
Can a fundraising website really be one page?
Often it should be. A single page keeps the story, the reason to care and the donate button together, so nobody gets lost in menus between feeling moved and giving.
More pages usually means more places to drop off.
How fast can a site like this go live?
This one was designed and built in a week. That pace works when the scope is a focused single page and the client can share their story and photos quickly.
One chat, one first draft, then refine and launch.
