2009/01/13: Nonprofit website redesign

NetTuesday/Triangle 501 Tech Club

Location: Triangle United Way, 1100 Perimeter Park Dr,
Morrisville, NC 27560

Speakers: Leandra Ganko of LeGa Design Group and Elizabeth Turnbull of Turnbull Marketing Group

Nonprofit case study (website redesign + marketing plan): Leandra Ganko of LeGa Design Group and Elizabeth Turnbull of Turnbull Marketing Group will present a case study of a small nonprofit's online transformation. They'll present the process that went into choosing a direction, the elements of execution, and how the organization's improved web presence attracted a high profile visit and national press coverage. Finally, they'll share the secrets on how you can get the same results for your organization.

Website: http://www.meetup.com/TriangleNetTuesday/calendar/9327638/

Presentation slides: http://www.tbullgroup.com/NetTuesday.pdf

Notes and discussion:

  • The Web site they redesigned is isohimpact.org.
  • ISOH/IMPACT has a four star (highest) rating in Charity Navigator. People would find out about the organization from Charity Navigator, but the ISOH/IMPACT Web site was confusing and they were losing potential donations.
  • They integrate printed material with the Web site.
  • They use a lot of good photos.
  • The Virtual Library is in WordPress. The rest is HTML.
  • Leandra and Elizabeth started working on the site in Spring 2008 and it was up in about 8 weeks.
  • The Virtual Library was added in the fall.
  • Cost - about $5,000.
  • Elizabeth does the writing, Leandra does Photoshop.
  • When they started on the site, the Executive Director said -- don't change much because I like it. So they asked what she liked -- the colors and pictures.
  • Discussion about browsers: Test Web site in several browsers. What does it look like in a text only browser (lynx)? What does it look like on a cell phone?
  • Flash is slow.
  • Check out: CharityNavigator.

Sign-In and Evaluation Form

There were about 28 people.
About 19 forms collected.

How did you hear about this meeting:

  • NetTuesday site/email list: 6
  • 501 Tech Club site/email list: 5
  • Another email list (please specify): 1 NTEN, 7 meetup groups, 3 North Carolina IT Professional Meetup, 2 RTPnet advisors, 1 php programmers users group
  • A friend/colleague:
  • Other (please specify):

Suggestions for future meetings:

  • Topics I Could Present On:
    • Salesforce for Beginners
    • Database design, SDLC, proj mgmt, Java, Oracle, Relational Database, most any IT tech but MS stuff
  • Topics I'm Interested In:
    • CMS/Joomla
    • Nonprofit management & development
    • What tools will help us get our great new web page out to the community?
    • How do you harness the Internet for marketing?
    • Databases, esp. free ones, nptech of all kinds
    • CMS for nonprofit
    • Internet, Networking, Software, Hardware
    • Cross-browser compatibility
    • Marketing & web sites/online technology
    • ebay, PCs, Cisco, IT Job Market
    • More back-end content-management technology
  • I'd like to join the organizers group to help plan meetings:
  • Good meeting places:
    • TUW is excellent - esp. this larger room.
    • Perimeter Park
    • This place is nice
    • AlphaMicron off of Capital Blvd.; Wake Tech.
  • Other suggestions:
    • Begin each meeting ala TriLUG, with "Have A Job" & "Want A Job" - just a minute a piece.

Evaluation of this meeting:

  • Previous knowledge of the topic:
    • I was unaware of this technology before hearing about this meeting. 2
    • I've heard of the technology, but don't use it yet. 3
    • I use this technology. 5 -- Liked hearing about other technology.
    • I could give this talk. 2
    • Other 2
  • Was the meeting what you expected? 8 Yes, No
    • I didn't expect anything.
    • I expected more of a deeper dire of material but this was fine.
    • Had no expectations
    • Not quite - expected more on front end process.
    • Didn't really have expectations.
    • Sort of
    • Mostly
  • Was the meeting worth your time? 14 Yes, 1 Yes!, 1 ?
  • Do you expect to use the info from this meeting: Immediately? 6 Yes 3 No      Within six months? 7 Yes, 1 Hopefully, 2 No, 1 Maybe, 1 Don't know
  • Do you want to learn more on this topic? 4 Yes, 4 No, 1 Not now, 1 Maybe later
    • Would be interested in a roundtable type thing with people showing before/after websites and/or talking about redesign projects and what technology they used, what problems they had, etc.
    • I have learned most of this before. I appreciated the speakers and learning more about them and the networking opportunities.
  • Comments:
    • Thank you for your efforts
    • Interesting
    • Thank you!
    • Well done team program.
    • Gained some knowledge
    • Probably would not make it too much about a specific topic (i.e.,donations) make it a little more general.