New responsive website has positive results for local charity

30th September 2015

The Cathedral Archer Project is dedicated to helping the homeless and vulnerable, and donations from the public - be it monetary or physical are a lifeline to the charity.

This year the Project has seen a boost in donations and a rise in online visitors that has been vital to the charity's fundraising efforts. Tracy Viner, Marketing and Development Manager at the Cathedral Archer Project explains how a new effective and responsive website has helped to achieve these results. -The old website was designed for free by a group who wanted to give back to the community. This was great to begin with but as time went on we noticed that we needed the website to do more and it was becoming increasingly difficult to update in real time. She approached Sheffield digital design agency Hydra Creative after being recommended to them by another organisation. Tracy commented, -we hit it off with them right away, they were down to earth and very easy to talk to. Any jargon that was in the initial concept was then explained in plain English. They had great ideas and were enthusiastic about what solutions they could provide for the new website. Key innovative features of the new website include an easily updatable events calendar for visitors to see what's going on and how they can get involved. A live weather feed linked to BBC weather for Sheffield, encouraging visitors to empathise with the struggles the homeless face when sleeping and living outside. For anyone wishing to help the Project, there is an 'in short supply'section. This is responsive to the weather app and wanted donations will change depending on the weather. If it is cold, the page will ask for warm clothes and food that can be heated. If it is raining the request will be for items such as waterproof clothing. Since its launch the website has seen over 1000 session views per month and during the first week of the website's launch the charity received a substantial donation from a company that came directly from the donation section on the website. Tracy added, -We have received so much positive feedback about the website and great success stories relating to donations. During the Christmas period a business wanted to donate to a local homeless charity, they chose the Archer Project over another local charity. The website was the deciding factor for why we were chosen, which resulted in a £5k donation, as well as participation in other fundraising activities. it was a fantastic result for our charity. Improvements to the website continue to be made based on user feedback. The charity regularly combs through the website to ensure every page is as user-friendly as possible, which can now all be updated in-house by the Archer Project team as required.   With the success of the website, Tracy has a few tips for picking a designer to help similar organisations about to embark on the process. -There are so many design agencies that it's important to go by recommendation, if other people are satisfied with the work it's a good starting point for your own project. Sit down with your designer, talk through and brainstorm your ideas and see how you work together. However, the most important thing to understand is how vital a good website is particularly to a charity. The donations and positive response we have had about the website has more than paid for the cost of producing it. We quickly realised that the website would now be an integral part of our marketing and social media strategy because of its success it no longer sits alongside our marketing planning but is a key component and we couldn'tbe more grateful to Hydra Creative for helping us through the process.   For more information about the Cathedral Archer Project or to make a donation, visit www.archerproject.org.uk