How Does Your Website Tell Your Story?

When donors are considering your non-profit, when grants are reviewing your application, when conferences are searching for speakers - your organization's website will always be a place they check

When I was hired to work on the website for URO (Ultimate Re-Entry Opportunity), I found a common scenario. A non-profit doing incredible work -- but too busy & too deep in the weeds to communicate it. They had an old website that contained a mish mash of old and new programming, of awards and reports, of pre-pandemic updates and no new news.

What was particularly challenging was that this organization's focus is strategic change -- which is incredibly difficult to capture, in terms of metrics; but also difficult to explain, in terms of programming.

I sat with the Director for several hour long listening sessions, asking questions about the work, the history, the goals of the org. I walked away with pages of notes - and a new admiration for their work.

The website design became a jenga game of explaining theory, practice, and metrics in ways that overlap and support each other. I worked hard on keeping things high level and simple on the home page, weaving together the elements and creating pathways to follow any of them down a rabbit hole.

I then built out whole menu sections, and individual pages, to put all the elements together. Explaining their Theory of Change, what the work required, and how they were partnering with local academics to record and report on results.